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In this work, the authors provide a case study of time series regression techniques for water quality forecasting. With the constant striving to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the need for sensitive and reliable water management tools has become critical. Continuous online surface water quality monitoring systems that record time series data about surface water parameters are essential for the supervision of water conditions and proper water management practices. The time series data obtained from these systems can be used to develop mathematical models for the prediction of the temporal evolution of water quality parameters. Using these mathematical models, predictions can be made about future trends in water quality to pinpoint irregular behaviours in measured data and identify the presence of anomalous events. We compared the performance of regression models with different structures for the forecasting of water parameters by utilizing a data set collected from the Kis-Balaton Water Protection System (KBWPS) wetland region of Hungary over an observation period of eleven months as a case study. In our study, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) regression models with different structures have been compared based on forecasting performance. Using the resulting models, trends of the oxygen saturation, pH level, electrical conductivity, and redox potential of the water could be accurately forecast (validation data residual standard deviation between 0.09 and 20.8) while in the case of turbidity, only averages of future values could be predicted (validation data residual standard deviation of 56.3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a comprehensive investigation was conducted to determine the radioactivity levels of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) in heap pads/soil and water samples within and around the operational area of Tarkwa Gold Mine in Ghana. Gamma-ray spectrometry was used to determine the activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in heap pads/soil, and 226Ra, 228Th, and 40K in water samples. The average activity concentrations of 226Ra and 228Th in all water samples were below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended guidelines for drinking water. Similarly, the average activity concentrations of measured radionuclides in heap pads/soil samples taken from depths of 0–20 cm and 20–50 cm were found to be below the worldwide average reported values. The annual effective dose to the public was estimated to be around 0.16 mSv, which is below the recommended limit. The values of the hazard indices are also below the recommended limits, implying that if heap pads/soils are used for building purposes and construction, they will not pose any significant radiation hazard. The results of this study indicate that radiation levels are within the natural background radiation levels reported in the literature and are consistent with findings from similar studies conducted in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disruption in the descending pathways may lead to gait impairments in Cerebral Palsy (CP) children. Though, the mechanisms behind walking problems have not been completely understood. Objective: We aimed to define the relationship between the structure of the corticoreticular tract (CRT) and walking capacity in children with CP. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective, observational, and cross-sectional study. Twenty-six children with CP between 4 to 15 years old participated. Also, we used existed data of healthy children aged 4 to 15 years old. CRT structure was characterized using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The DTI parameters extracted to quantify CRT structure included: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean (MD), axial (AD), and radial (RD) diffusivity. Balance and walking capacity was evaluated using popular clinical measures, including the Berg balance scale (BBS), Timed-Up-and-Go (TUG; balance and mobility), six-minute walk test (6 MWT; gait endurance), and 10-meter walk Test (10 MWT; gait speed). Results: There are significant differences between MD, AD, and RD in CP and healthy groups. Brain injury leads to various patterns of the CRT structure in children with CP. In the CP group with abnormal CRT patterns, DTI parameters of the more affected CRT are significantly correlated with walking balance, speed, and endurance measures. Conclusion: Considering the high inter-subject variability, the variability of CRT patterns is vital for determining the nature of changes in CRT structure, their relationship with gait impairment, and understanding the underlying mechanisms of movement disorders. This information is also important for the development or prescription of an effective rehabilitation target for individualizing treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since cerebral palsy (CP) is a corollary to brain damage, persistent treatment should accompany an alteration in brain functional activity in line with clinical improvements. In this regard, the corpus callosum (CC), as a connecting bridge between the two hemispheres, plays an essential role. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of occupational therapy (OT) on CC functional activity and walking capacity in children with cerebral palsy. Material and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 4 children with CP (8.25±1.71 years) received 45 min OT sessions 3 times weekly for 8 weeks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired while conducting passive motor tasks to quantify CC activation. The pre-post activation changes in CC following therapy were quantified in terms of activated voxels. Walking capacity was evaluated using the timed-up-and-go (TUG), 6-minute walk test (6 MWT), and 10-meter walk test (10 MWT) in pre-and post-treatment. Results: The number of activated voxels in CC indicated significant improvement in participants. Post-treatment activated voxels substantially exceeded pre-treatment active voxels. Clinical measures, including TUG, 6 MWT, and 10 MWT are improved by 11.9%, 12.6%, and 25.4%, respectively. Conclusion: Passive task-based fMRI can detect the effects of OT on CC functional activity in children with CP. According to the results, OT improves CC functional activity in addition to gait and balance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, groundwater has emerged as an alternative drinking water source for populations in Ghana's gold mining communities due to high pollution levels in surface water resources caused by artisanal miners. This study presents the findings on different radioactivity levels in groundwater, their sources, the characteristics of aquifers in the study area, and the impact of radionuclides on human health as a factor of water quality. The mean activity concentrations of radionuclides in groundwater samples were 0.1 ± 0.04 Bq/L for Ra-226, 0.36 ± 0.05 Bq/L for Ra-228, and 1.41 ± 0.10 Bq/L for K-40. The activity concentration of 228Ra exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline level of 0.1 Bq/L. The elevated levels of Ra-228 in groundwater were found to be of natural origin, emanating from the aquifer rocks in the study area. Groundwater resources near mining zones showed higher radioactivity levels. The corresponding committed effective dose from consuming such groundwater was estimated to be higher than the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) recommended value of 0.3 mSv/y for children and infants, indicating potential health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radon concentration was measured in 11 thermal spas in Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). The results showed that in 84% of spas radon activity concentration is less than 400 Bq·m−3. However, areas with radon activity concentration exceeding 1000 Bq·m−3 were found in the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well. Preliminary analyses indicated that the highest radon activities in spas were found in places with thermal pools. Radon concentration in waters used in spas ranged from 0.5 Bq/l to 384 Bq/l. The influence of radon activity concentration in water on radon activity in the air inside the spa was observed. It was found to increase indoor radon with increasing radon in the waters. Correlation with indoor radon and radon in water was more significant for baths and less significant for pool waters. In the cases filling of the bath from water taps, significantly contribute to the increased radon was observed in the pool and bath areas of the spa.

Owing to the high potential of radon to increase the risk of lung cancer, health organizations are enforced to update their regulations and recommendations regarding indoor radon levels each year. In this study, the indoor radon concentrations of three randomly selected thermal baths in Hungary using CR-39 and an AlphaGUARD radon monitor were measured with regard to the new updated standards of the European Basic Safety Standard (EU BSS, Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom, 2014). The annual average of indoor radon concentrations in Parad Medical Bath, Igal Health Spa and Eger Turkish Bath were measured as 159 ± 19, 176 ± 27 and 301 ± 30 Bq/m3, respectively. Indoor radon concentration in all measurement locations were determined to be below the reference level, with the exception of the main pool, small pool and sparkling bath areas in the Eger Turkish Bath that were measured as 403 ± 42, 315 ± 32 and 354 ± 36 Bq/m3, respectively. In light of the results, the estimated annual average radon concentration in the thermal baths was below the EU BSS reference level of 300 Bq/m3. Personal dosimetry is required to estimate the annual effective dose from inhaled radon by the workers at the Eger Turkish Bath. This procedure is required in order to justify the application of the mitigation process of decreasing working hours, improving the ventilation rate or increasing the number of classified employees in response to the official radiation surveillance programme.

Objectives The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (3rd ed.; Bayley III) are widely used to assess cognitive, language, and motor development of children aged 1--42 months. It is unclear whether or not the reference norms of the Bayley III are acceptable for use in other populations or lead to over- or underestimating the developmental status of target children. This study aimed to compare the Tehran norms to the reference norms. Materials & Methods We used Bayley III norms to assess cognitive, language, and motor development of 1,674 healthy children from health care centers in Tehran. Differences between the scaled scores were calculated based on the Tehran and reference norms. A one-sample multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to control the mean difference scores over all subtests. When MANOVA showed significant differences between the scaled scores based on the Tehran and reference norms, we used univariate analysis to see which subtest and age group led to these significant differences. Finally, the proportions of children with low scores (scaled scores <7 or -1 SD and <4 or -2 SD) based on 2 norms were compared using the McNemar test to determine the over- or underestimation of developmental delay. Results The scaled scores based on the Tehran norms varied across values based on the reference norms in all subtests. The mean differences were significant in all 5 subtests (p < .05) with large effect sizes for receptive and expressive communication, fine and gross motor subtests of .20, .23, .14, and .25, respectively, as well as with a small effect size for the cognition subtest of .02. Large effect sizes for all age groups were found for cognition, expressive communication, and fine motor subtests. More children scored below 1 and 2 SD using the Tehran norms. Using the reference norms resulted in underestimation of developmental delay regarding cognitive, receptive and expressive communication, and fine and gross motor skills. Conclusion Population-specific norms should be used to identify children with low scores for referral and intervention. The Tehran norms differed from the reference norms for all subtests, and these differences were clinically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Seizure is the most common neurological disorder in pediatric medicine. This disorder is often chronic and requires continuous treatment. Developmental disorders are conditions that can occur due to abnormal development or damage to the brain and central nervous periods (out-of-hospital). However, in most studies, the severity of seizure relapse is mistakenly considered the same for each period. The present study aimed to identify factors related to the recurrence of seizure in children with developmental disorder. Materials & Methods In this retrospective cohort study, 228 children with developmental disorder and a history of seizures referred to the emergency department of the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Tehran, Iran in 2016. Relapse times, admission duration and discharge time, age, sex, birth weight, type of delivery, parental relatives, maternal age during pregnancy, mother's history of medication use and disease during pregnancy, history of seizure with fever, family history of seizure, maternal delivery problems, length of pregnancy, history of admission to neonatal intensive care unit were recorded as factors affecting recurrence of seizure. Inclusion criteria were having developmental disorder and a history of seizure recurrence. The patients who were hospitalized for any reason other than seizure were excluded from the study. No intervention was performed in this study. Patients' information was recorded with their permission and based on ethical principles and the results were presented in the form of tables. Survival model was used to investigate the effect of risk factors on the seizure recurrence. If the seizure recurrence in children was controlled in hospital by medical staff, response variable (relapse time) was considered as censored. A frailty parameter was used to explain the correlation between recurrence of seizures in one subject, and a correlation parameter was used to justify the difference in in the rate of correlation between seizures in a hospital and in somewhere other than hospital. The collected data were analyzed using frailty model for recurrent event by considering restraint period. To achieve an effective and flexible approximation for estimating base intensities, the piecewise constant intensity method was used. Estimation of the parameters was performed using the Gaussian quadrature method and by NLMIXED procedure in SAS V. 9.2 software. Results Of 228 children, 125 (54.8%) were boys and half of them were under 3 years of old. The mothers of 200 children (87.72%) had age of 18-35 years at the time of pregnancy; 96 (41.67%) of these patients were admitted to neonatal intensive care unit during neonatal period. The birth weight of 199 (28.27%) children was about 2.5-4 kg and 119 did not experience any seizure during the restraint period (in the hospital). The frequency of seizure recurrence in hospital ranged from 1 (25.88%) to 16 times (0.44%), while in out-of-hospital, it ranged from 1 (7.46%) to 11 times (0.44%). The duration of seizure recurrence was between 1 to 6196 days. Furthermore, children aged 1-2 years (P<0.001) with a history of admission to neonatal intensive care unit (P<0.001) whose mothers were 18-35 years of old during pregnancy (P=0.022) experienced more out-of-hospital seizure recurrence, while children aged 1-2 years (P=0.007) with a birth weight of 2.5-4 kg (P= 0.037) experienced less seizure recurrence in hospital. Conclusion Considering the meaningful relationships and appropriate planning, the recurrence of seizure can be reduced in children with developmental disorder during hospitalization or after withdrawal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We aimed to assess the distribution of the Bayley screening test by age, and compare developmental risk category distributions between Persian language children and reference norms. Materials & Methods A representative sample of 417 children, 1 to 42-months-old, by consecutive sampling from health-care centers were enrolled, during 2014 to 2015 in Tehran, Iran. The cognitive, language and motor development of children were evaluated using Bayley screening test. For determining cut-off point for the subtest scores, two cut-offs were determined for each age group, that classified children to the at risk, emerging, and competent categories. We estimated the agreement of the risk categories between the two samples using weighted kappa statistics. Results About 70%-80% of all tests operated to the participating children were classified as normal by both norms. Weighted kappa coefficients for the five subtests ranged from 0.56 to 0.89 suggesting moderate agreement between two classification norms. Expressive and receptive communication had the lowest kappa scores (0.56 and 0.59, respectively), and classification of gross motor revealed the highest level of agreement (0.89). Conclusion Developmental disabilities are common disorders that impose important functional limitations on the affected children. Identifying infants at risk for developmental disorders by screening is a main step to minimize complications. Dependence on reference-based norms for the Bayley screening test in Persian language children results in misclassification of risk category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory elements and genetics have major roles in febrile seizures (FS) pathogenesis. Seventy patients were enrolled and compared with 139 controls. The allele and genotype frequency of the IL- 2 gene at -330 and +166 positions and the IFN-γ at +874 position were determined. A significant positive association with GG genotype at position -330 in the patient group was found (P=0.003). Further, a positive association was detected in simple and complex FS groups at the same position (P=0.03, P=0.004). IL-2 GT haplotype was significantly more common in the patients compared to controls (P=0.0008). Higher frequency of GT haplotype was detected in simple FS patients in comparison to controls (P=0.0003). Contrary, IL-2 TG haplotype frequency was lower in complex FS group (P=0.005). Overrepresentation of certain alleles, genotypes and haplotypes in IL-2 gene in FS patients could predispose individuals to this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Bayley Scales of infant & toddler development is a well-known diagnostic developmental assessment tool for children aged 1-42 months. Our aim was investigating the validity & reliability of this scale in Persian speaking children. MATERIALS & METHODS: The method was descriptive-analytic. Translation- back translation and cultural adaptation was done. Content & face validity of translated scale was determined by experts' opinions. Overall, 403 children aged 1 to 42 months were recruited from health centers of Tehran, during years of 2013-2014 for developmental assessment in cognitive, communicative (receptive & expressive) and motor (fine & gross) domains. Reliability of scale was calculated through three methods; internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, test-retest and interrater methods. Construct validity was calculated using factor analysis and comparison of the mean scores methods. RESULTS: Cultural and linguistic changes were made in items of all domains especially on communication subscale. Content and face validity of the test were approved by experts' opinions. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was above 0.74 in all domains. Pearson correlation coefficient in various domains, were ≥ 0.982 in test retest method, and ≥0.993 in inter-rater method. Construct validity of the test was approved by factor analysis. Moreover, the mean scores for the different age groups were compared and statistically significant differences were observed between mean scores of different age groups, that confirms validity of the test. CONCLUSION: The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development is a valid and reliable tool for child developmental assessment in Persian language children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]