Cumulative incidence of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders: A retrospective cohort study.

This article examines the modernization of internal control systems within Brazilian public administration, emphasizing the need to overcome the historically fragmented and reactive approach to this function. Grounded in international frameworks such as COSO and the Three Lines Model of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the study proposes a systemic, integrated, and risk-oriented approach. It highlights conceptual challenges embedded in current legislation, such as Law No. 14,133/2021, and the need for a shift in organizational culture. Additionally, it presents concrete opportunities for improvement, including inter-unit integration, the adoption of technology, and best practices implemented by institutions such as CGU, TCU, and TCE/PA. The central proposal is to transform internal control into a strategic tool for governance and the creation of public value.

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a crucial step in the diagnostic and therapeutic management of colorectal carcinoma (CRC). This study aimed to explore the feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of general-purpose vision-language models (VLMs), specifically Gemini (2.5 Pro) and ChatGPT-4.0, for the automated classification of MMR status using immunohistochemical whole-slide images (WSIs). A retrospective cohort of 50 CRC cases, stratified by reference MMR phenotype, was analyzed, with models performing a dual assessment: individual IHC evaluation and an overall result (Proficient Mismatch Repair, pMMR, or Deficient Mismatch Repair, dMMR). The AI models achieved 100% specificity in correctly classifying cases with retention of all four MMR proteins as pMMR (20/20 cases). However, the overall sensitivity for detecting dMMR cases was 65% (13/20 cases), with lower concordance observed for MSH2/MSH6 loss (60%) compared to MLH1/PMS2 loss (70%). This drop in sensitivity was attributed to the models' reluctance to confirm true protein loss, often categorizing the result as "Indeterminate" or "Inadequate". Crucially, the diagnostic certainty of the AI models increased dramatically only when a clear Internal Positive Control (IPC) was visible in the image, establishing the IPC as an indispensable feature for robust dMMR identification and differentiating true biological loss from technical artifacts.

Internal model control framework for power and current regulation of grid-connected inverters with LCL-Filter

Neural substrates of Indian classical percussive Improvisation: A case study investigation of tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain.

MAGF-CCL: Multi-level attentive graph fusion with cross-modal complementary learning for internal control material weaknesses prediction

Development of end-point and quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays to detect and discriminate between blueberry scorch virus and blueberry virus S.

The success of every organisation depends on her financial capacity, which plays a fundamental role in production. In recent time, poor financial capacity among industries in the Nigerian productive sector has resulted into poor internal Control policies. This study investigated the impact of internal control and financial performance on small and medium scale enterprises in Kebbi State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design research was adopted. The estimated workers’ population of all respondents selected as of 2025 were 2,200 which consist of CEO’s, Managers, and Internal control units of the various SMEs in Kebbi State, Nigeria. A total of 338 respondents were sampled for the study using simple random sampling technique. A self-designed questionnaire was administered. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Analysis was employed to test the five hypotheses with a two-tailed test of significance at P<0.01 level. The results revealed that there is a significant relationship between individual internal control components and financial performance of small and medium enterprises in Kebbi state Nigeria. There also exists combined relationship between the internal control components (control environment, risk assessment, control activities, monitoring, information, and communication) and financial performance of small and medium enterprises in Kebbi state NNigeria. The study recommends regular and timely financial audits to help SMEs detect any gaps in their financial systems and financial performance. The management of the SME should conduct an annual evaluation of the financial reporting process and implement an internal audit system that permits monitoring of operational efficiency. The study also suggests that a frequent risk assessment be conducted so that SME management may determine whether or not their goals will be reached. In addition to implementing proper controls in the custody and disposal of assets, the management of a small to medium-scale enterprise (SME) should consider; control activities and information, and communication in order to improve financial performance.

Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) have been evaluated as an alternative to S100 calcium binding protein B (S100B), which is mentioned in the Scandinavian guideline for managing mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Preanalytical, analytical and diagnostic performance of GFAP/UCH-L1 must be assessed before clinical use. GFAP/UCH-L1 were quantified using the TBI assay on Abbott Alinity. Precision was estimated using internal quality controls, and matrix effects were evaluated using serum and plasma from 30 outpatients. Repeatability and stability at different conditions (25, 4, -20, and -80°C) were evaluated on serum and plasma. GFAP and UCH-L1 serum levels in 30 healthy individuals were determined and compared to S100B levels. Inter-instrumental precision was ≤4.2% for both biomarkers. Random outliers were observed for UCH-L1 in plasma, where 5 measurements deviated >25%. Acceptable storage stability was found for GFAP and UCH-L1. All healthy individuals had GFAP values within the manufacturer's reference interval (6.6 to 70.9 ng/L) and two exceeded the upper limit for UCH-L1 (44.7 to 226.8 ng/L). Four healthy individuals (13%) had GFAP results above cutoff without S100B exceeding its cutoff, while one individual had values of S100B above cutoff but GFAP below cutoff. The analytical precision and storage conditions of GFAP/UCH-L1 were satisfactory. Serum and plasma can be used for measurement of GFAP, whereas UCH-L1 measurement in plasma is not advised until further evaluations are conducted. The manufacturer's upper reference limits may not be suitable for our population. Thorough research on cutoff values is necessary.

ABSTRACT This study examines internal and external social control (SC) within Israeli nudist and naturist communities, by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 community members. Analysis revealed that these communities function as spaces of acceptance and personal liberation, due to marginalization by society. Also, non-sexual nudity is perceived as a symbol of equality and freedom, maintained through informal rules and peer monitoring. Enforcement of norm violations vary between groups as sanctions are either immediate or lenient. Participants preferred resolving breaches internally, while avoiding police involvement. These insights contribute to informal social control discussion and emphasize autonomy and safety in nude communities.

The present study assessed the added diagnostic value of histopathology in complementing molecular detection of World Organization for Animal Health-listed viral pathogens during Colombia's national shrimp health surveillance program. Pooled samples of pleopods from 1,470 whiteleg shrimp Penaeus vannamei (5 animals/pool for a total of 294 pooled samples) were screened for white spot syndrome virus, Taura syndrome virus, and yellow head virus using standardized PCR/reverse transcription PCR assays in accordance with Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario protocols. A subset of 81 shrimp was taken for whole-body histopathology analysis following standardized protocols and a semiquantitative G0-G4 lesion grading scale. Lesions were classified by organ system, and histopathological findings were compared to molecular results. All PCR assays were negative, with internal and external controls performing as expected. Using histopathology, lesions were identified in 77% of the shrimp examined, and lesions were primarily mild. Frequent findings included integumentary and gill colonization by Zoothamnium spp.; hepatopancreatic tubular necrosis with hemocytic granuloma-like reactions compatible with bacterial infection; intranuclear inclusion-like bodies, possibly of parvoviral origin; and focal myofiber necrosis, with organisms consistent with microsporidia. Autolysis was common but did not preclude lesion interpretation. Histopathology provided diagnostic information that was not captured by targeted molecular assays, revealing subclinical, opportunistic, and nonviral processes relevant to shrimp health. Incorporating histopathology into routine surveillance programs enhances pathogen detection and strengthens health assessments to certify disease-free status of shrimp production systems, as recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health.

Intraoperative fluorescence molecular imaging (FMI) is increasingly used to distinguish benign from malignant tumors; however, existing quantitative methods are predominantly data-driven, requiring large datasets and exhibiting limited adaptability in rare diseases or low-incidence tumor surgeries. Furthermore, high false-positive rates and substantial inter-operator variability remain significant challenges, hindering further application of FMI-guided surgery. This study introduces a novel, self-referenced clustering framework that overcomes these limitations by leveraging internal tissue controls and rapid, data-independent analysis. We developed a two-stage clustering framework (K-means followed by Fuzzy C-Means, K-FCM) to process and analyze the tumor FMI results in NIR-II spectrum (wavelength 900-1880nm). Unlike conventional models, our method utilizes each patient's adipose tissue as an internal reference, enabling individualized thresholding without reliance on large external datasets. This strategy was validated on 16 patients undergoing orbital tumor resection (with injecting indocyanine green, ICG). The diagnostic performance of the proposed framework was compared with the traditional tumor-to-normal ratio (TNR) thresholding strategy. The self-referenced K-FCM clustering framework demonstrated substantial improvements over the TNR method, achieving higher sensitivity (0.909 vs 0.818), specificity (0.800 vs 0.600). The use of internal tissue controls effectively normalized fluorescence variability, minimized ICG-related false positives, and enabled accurate intraoperative differentiation of malignant tumors. Furthermore, the proposed framework does not require a large amount of clinical data for training, so it has greater clinical practicality and can be used even for rare tumors. Our self-referenced, data-independent clustering framework provides fast and reliable intraoperative analysis for fluorescence-guided tumor navigation. By lowering false-positive rates and the dependency on operator experience, the method enhances the accuracy and promotes the clinical application of FMI-guided tumor surgery. On 14th November 2020, the study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2000039908) and the data shown herein are part of this study.

Lean Accounting (LA) is increasingly adopted as a means to embed operational relevance into financial measurement systems, thereby improving the visibility of waste, flow, and value creation from an accounting perspective. However, its performance outcomes remain inconsistent and under-explored, particularly in the Chinese context. Drawing on Contingency Theory, this study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model to examine how LA practices influence firm financial performance, with overproduction costs acting as a mediating variable and internal control quality as a boundary condition. Using panel data from 27,991 individual company-year observations across multiple industries in China (2014–2023), we found that LA practices are positively associated with financial performance and negatively associated with overproduction costs. Further analysis confirms that overproduction costs partially mediate this relationship, while strong internal controls amplify both the direct and indirect effects of LA on performance. The study contributes to the production control literature by validating the role of LA in reducing costs and enhancing performance under specific contextual conditions.

This study aims to examine how auditor competence, supervisory independence, and internal control systems influence internal audit quality and fraud prevention in Indonesia's public sector, with particular focus on the moderating role of auditor integrity in shaping the effectiveness of these oversight mechanisms. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), this study analyzes data from 53 auditors at the Buleleng Regency Inspectorate to test six direct relationships and six moderating effects of auditor integrity on internal audit quality and fraud prevention. The study reveals three key findings. First, all direct effects prove significant: internal control systems emerge as the strongest predictor of internal audit quality (β=0.431, p<0.001), while auditor competence most powerfully influences fraud prevention (β=0.408, p=0.001). Second, auditor integrity exhibits complex and counterintuitive moderation patterns: it negatively moderates the competence-audit quality relationship (β=-0.264, p=0.034) and independence-audit quality relationship (β=-0.095, p=0.029), indicating compensatory mechanisms or contextual pressures in corrupt environments. Third, integrity does not moderate any relationships with fraud prevention nor internal control system relationships with either outcome, revealing that fraud prevention is more heavily determined by structural factors than individual ethical characteristics.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of corrupt practices on public sector accounting performance in Kano State, with a focus on how corruption affects transparency, accountability, and efficiency in financial reporting and resource management. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive research design. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale. The population comprised 75 personnel from the Kano State Ministry of Finance, including accountants, auditors, cashiers, and other financial officers. Due to the manageable population size, a census sampling technique was employed. Out of 75 questionnaires administered, 66 were completed and returned, yielding an 88% response rate. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation in SPSS. Results and conclusion: The results indicate that corruption persists in Kano State's public sector, substantially undermining transparency, accountability, and overall accounting performance. It was concluded that corrupt practices significantly distort financial information, weaken internal controls, and reduce the efficiency of public sector accounting functions. Implication of findings: The findings reveal that corruption severely undermines public sector accounting performance, erodes trust in institutions, and hampers effective resource management in Kano State, necessitating urgent reforms for transparency and accountability.

Purpose: This study investigated the influence of accounting activities outsourcing on accountability in small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. Methodology: The survey research design was employed for the study, with the population of the study consisting of 120 registered small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) operating in Osogbo. The convenience sampling technique is adopted in selecting 100 respondents from the SMEs to make up the sample size of the study. Data for the study were collected using questionnaires. The study adopted correlation and regression analysis to examine the relationship and effect of the explanatory variables on the dependent variables. Results and conclusion: The study found that accounting activities outsourcing has a positive significant effect on transparency while it has a negative effect on the relevance of financial activities. Also, accounting activities outsourcing has a non-significant effect on accountability. The study therefore recommends that SMEs should engage professional accounting services to improve transparency, ensure outsourced accounting functions are properly monitored to maintain relevance, and complement outsourcing with internal controls to enhance overall accountability. Implication of findings: The implication of this study is that outsourcing accounting activities can improve transparency in SMEs but may reduce the relevance of financial information if not properly managed. It also suggests that outsourcing alone does not guarantee accountability without adequate supervision. SMEs should therefore manage outsourced accounting functions strategically to enhance transparency, relevance, and accountability.

This article provides a comprehensive literature review on the impact of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) implementation on the performance, resilience, and sustainability of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). MSMEs are vital contributors to economic growth, employment, and innovation, yet they are particularly vulnerable to external shocks due to limited financial resources, weak internal controls, and dependence on owner-managers’ intuition. Traditional silo-based risk management approaches are considered inadequate in increasingly volatile and uncertain business environments. ERM is presented as an integrated and strategic framework that aligns risk management with corporate governance, objective setting, and performance management. The reviewed empirical evidence, especially from emerging economies, indicates that ERM adoption is generally associated with improved financial performance, sales growth, revenue stability, enhanced access to external financing, and stronger organizational resilience during crises such as global pandemics. However, the literature emphasizes that the benefits of ERM depend on the maturity level of implementation and the extent to which risk management is embedded in organizational culture and daily decision-making processes, rather than adopted merely as a formal compliance mechanism. The article also discusses commonly used ERM frameworks, determinants and barriers to adoption, including resource constraints and lack of expertise, and highlights managerial and policy implications. It concludes by identifying research gaps and calling for more longitudinal and cross-country studies to better understand the long-term value creation of ERM in MSMEs.

The information quality embedded in financial reports disclosure by the Chinese listed companies is very important. However, the lack of the detecting mechanism on accounting information reliability leads not to increase the agency cost, but also to affect the development of the Chinese capital market. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to build an effective indicator to measure the reliability of accounting information, specialized in the earnings releases of the firm. Because the enterprises announce both the GAAP earnings and non-GAAP numeral information, this study applies the accounting conservatism to the mediator of my detecting model. My empirical results show that the indicator calculated by the absolute value of the average correlated coefficients among the GAAP diluted EPS, the non-GAAP numbers and the accounting conservatism is statistically significant. Instead, by the standardization of the Pearson correlated coefficient, my indicator holds the comparability in one firm among different period or in one period among different firms. At last, in robustness I divide my samples into the profitable and the loss firms, and find that the level of the information reliability detected from the profitable firms is significantly larger rather than that from the loss firms. My empirical results contribute to the non-GAAP literature dispute in monitoring earnings quality. Thus, this study could make contributions on the firm’s internal control, the security valuation from outside investors, and the monitoring costs paid by the regulators.

Tax compliance in microenterprises within the commercial sector represents a significant challenge for fiscal systems, mainly due to the administrative, accounting, and organizational limitations that characterize these small business units. These weaknesses frequently result in delays in tax declarations, inconsistencies in accounting records, and low levels of business formalization. In response to this issue, the present study aimed to analyze the influence of organizational determinants on tax compliance in commercial microenterprises. The research was conducted under a quantitative approach with a non-experimental explanatory design, using statistical information derived from institutional reports produced by national and international organizations related to tax administration and business development. For data analysis, inferential statistical techniques were applied, specifically the Pearson correlation coefficient and a multiple linear regression model, in order to identify the relationship between organizational variables such as accounting information management, tax training, internal control mechanisms, and the use of technological tools for fiscal management. The results reveal that accounting information shows the strongest relationship with tax compliance (r = 0.71) and the greatest explanatory effect in the regression model (β = 0.42), followed by tax training (β = 0.36), internal control (β = 0.28), and the use of technological tools (β = 0.19). These findings highlight that strengthening the administrative and accounting capacities of microenterprises significantly improves levels of tax compliance.

This project examines the tax compliance and auditing practices followed by an organization, with reference to Consortax Consulting Private Limited, Hyderabad. The study focuses on income tax calculation, tax auditing procedures, and overall compliance systems to ensure adherence to statutory requirements. The study first analyses Income Tax procedures, including computation of taxable income, application of deductions, calculation of tax liability, advance tax payments, TDS provisions, and filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR). Proper maintenance of financial records and reconciliation of tax data are also examined to ensure accuracy and transparency. Secondly, the project evaluates Tax Auditing practices. Tax auditing involves systematic verification of financial statements, books of accounts, and tax returns to confirm compliance with the Income Tax Act and other regulations. Audit checks help identify errors, reduce risks, and prevent non-compliance. Finally, the study reviews Tax Compliance mechanisms such as timely filing of returns, payment of taxes, GST compliance, and response to statutory notices. It identifies possible compliance gaps and suggests measures like improved documentation, internal controls, and periodic review systems for effective tax management. The study concludes that strong tax compliance and auditing practices are essential for avoiding penalties, ensuring legal conformity, and maintaining financial stability within the organization.