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This study aimed to compare religiosity and religious coping (RC) between Brazilian and Dutch patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to examine associations with physical and psychological health. Religiosity, RC, and physical and psychological health were cross-sectionally assessed in 161 patients with COPD (74 from Brazil and 87 from the Netherlands). Brazilian participants showed the greatest religiosity (p < 0.05), and weak correlations were observed between religiosity/RC and exercise capacity and quality of life (p < 0.05 for all analyses). Brazilian patients with COPD had higher religiosity than Dutch patients, and religiosity correlated with functional exercise capacity and quality of life., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

We propose a multivariate regression model to handle multiple continuous bounded outcomes. We adopted the maximum likelihood approach for parameter estimation and inference. The model is specified by the product of univariate probability distributions and the correlation between the response variables is obtained through the correlation matrix of the random intercepts. For modeling continuous bounded variables on the interval ( 0 , 1 ) we considered the beta and unit gamma distributions. The main advantage of the proposed model is that we can easily combine different marginal distributions for the response variable vector. The computational implementation is performed using Template Model Builder, which combines the Laplace approximation with automatic differentiation. Therefore, the proposed approach allows us to estimate the model parameters quickly and efficiently. We conducted a simulation study to evaluate the computational implementation and the properties of the maximum likelihood estimators under different scenarios. Moreover, we investigate the impact of distribution misspecification in the proposed model. Our model was motivated by a data set with multiple continuous bounded outcomes, which refer to the body fat percentage measured at five regions of the body. Simulation studies and data analysis showed that the proposed model provides a general and rich framework to deal with multiple continuous bounded outcomes.

Purpose: Evaluate the impact of implementing Bowel Management Program (BMP) on quality of life (QoL) in children with fecal incontinence (FI)., Methods: Children 3-12 years referred to the Children's Treatment Center of FI were included and categorized accordingto the tendency to constipation (dilated colon; group 1) or diarrhea (non-dilated colon; group 2). Evaluations were performed before and after 3 months of BMP implementation. Perceptions from parents and children about QoL were assessed by the instrument PedsQL4.0 and the severity of FI by the fecal incontinence index (FII) of Wexner scale., Results: 43 children (mean age of 7.7 ± 3.1) were studied. 32 (74.4 %) belonged to group 1 and 11 (25.6 %) to group 2. After 3 months of BMP, it was noticed a significant improvement of the FII (14.5 ± 3.7 versus 2.8 ± 2.5; p < 0.001) in both groups. QoL perception by the parents and children increased on PedsQL4.0 evaluation (p < 0.001). There was a medium inverse statistically significant correlation of the FII and the total PedsQL4.0 score among children and parents (r = -0.47, p = 0.009 and r = -0, 39, p = 0.03, respectively)., Conclusion: The BMP applied by a multidisciplinary dedicated team significantly improves the QoL of children with FI in the short-term period.