Comparison between Highly Complex Location Models and GAMLSS.

This paper presents a discussion regarding regression models, especially those belonging to the location class. Our main motivation is that, with simple distributions having simple interpretations, in some cases, one gets better results than the ones obtained with overly complex distributions. For instance, with the reverse Gumbel (RG) distribution, it is possible to explain response variables by making use of the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape (GAMLSS) framework, which allows the fitting of several parameters (characteristics) of the probabilistic distributions, like mean, mode, variance, and others.

Sweet Orange Fruit Age and Inoculum Concentration Affect the Expression of Citrus Black Spot Symptoms.

Citrus black spot (CBS), caused by , affects different citrus species worldwide. CBS is mainly expressed as false melanose and hard spot symptoms. There is no consensus in the literature about the period when fruit are susceptible to infection and the length of the CBS incubation period.

Predicting survival function and identifying associated factors in patients with renal insufficiency in the metropolitan area of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil.

Renal insufficiency is a serious medical and public health problem worldwide. Recently, although many surveys have been developed to identify factors related to the lifetime of patients with renal insufficiency, controversial results from several studies suggest that researches should be conducted by region. Thus, in this study we aim to predict and identify factors associated with the lifetime of patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) in the metropolitan area of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil, based on the generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS) framework.

Predicting the cure rate of breast cancer using a new regression model with four regression structures.

Cure fraction models are useful to model lifetime data with long-term survivors. We propose a flexible four-parameter cure rate survival model called the log-sinh Cauchy promotion time model for predicting breast carcinoma survival in women who underwent mastectomy. The model can estimate simultaneously the effects of the explanatory variables on the timing acceleration/deceleration of a given event, the surviving fraction, the heterogeneity, and the possible existence of bimodality in the data.

Longitudinal impact of clinical and socioenvironmental variables on oral health-related quality of life in adolescents.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of oral diseases, socioeconomic status, and family environmental factors on changes in the perception of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in adolescents. A prospective cohort study was conducted in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, with a sample of 286 twelve-year-old adolescents from public and private schools, selected by means of multistage random sampling. The adolescents were clinically examined for dental caries experience (number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth - DMFT index), presence of bleeding, and orthodontic treatment needs.