Background & Aim: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) with painful blisters and erosions on skin and mucosa can significantly impair patient’s social life. There are few studies that have focused on the socioeconomic status (SES) of these patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the SES of newly diagnosed PV patients who were referred to our clinic.
Methods & Materials: A total of 153 patients with PV participated in this case–control study. Among them, 58 patients had the disease for < 1 year. The control group was 70 patients without immunobullous diseases who were selected from general clinic. A Persian questionnaire was used for evaluation of SES along with demographic characteristics and disease-related information.
Results: Level indicator of the family socioeconomic was 13.10 ± 6.08 (range 6-28) and  19.32 ± 6.24 (range 9-33) in the case and control groups, respectively. The difference between these two groups was statistically significant (P ˂ 0.00100). There was an association between socioeconomic level and forbearing of some of their diagnostic or treatment process (P = 0.00900). Comparison between patients from urban and rural area showed that patients from rural area had significantly lower level of socioeconomic (P = 0.00698). Comparing new onset PV patients with those with disease > 1 year did not show any significant difference (P = 0.41000) .
Conclusion: SES of PV patients was significantly lower than controls, and this difference was not related to disease duration. This situation was more significant in rural patients. Hence, by recognizing these groups, we could help them more effectively.
Results: Level indicator of the family socioeconomic was 13.10 ± 6.08 (range 6-28) and  19.32 ± 6.24 (range 9-33) in the case and control groups, respectively. The difference between these two groups was statistically significant (P ˂ 0.00100). There was an association between socioeconomic level and forbearing of some of their diagnostic or treatment process (P = 0.00900). Comparison between patients from urban and rural area showed that patients from rural area had significantly lower level of socioeconomic (P = 0.00698). Comparing new onset PV patients with those with disease > 1 year did not show any significant difference (P = 0.41000) .
Conclusion: SES of PV patients was significantly lower than controls, and this difference was not related to disease duration. This situation was more significant in rural patients. Hence, by recognizing these groups, we could help them more effectively. 

Background & Aim: In clinical dental studies, each participant has usually several visits, and since the review and ongoing monitoring of the subjects are often expensive or even impossible, so people are examined periodically during regularly pre-scheduled visits. Therefore, discrete or grouped clustered failure time data are collected. We aimed to show the use of Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) and the non-informative prior in a Bayesian framework in multilevel modeling of clustered grouped survival data.
Methods & Materials: A two-level model with additive variance components model for the random effects was considered. Both the grouped proportional hazards model and logistic regression with logit link function model were used. Using grouped proportional hazards method, we could approximate intracluster correlation of the log failure times. The statistical package OpenBUGS was adopted to estimate the parameter of interest based on the MCMC method. A cohort study was used in which 1011 persons visited at clinic dentistry of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, between the years 2002 and 2013 for dental implant and 2368 implants were placed for them in total. Clinical status of dental implants was evaluated in three periods after placement, thus clustered grouped failure times of the dental implants were recorded.
Results: The grouped proportional hazards model showed that clustering effect among the log failure times of the different implants from the same person was fairly strong (correlation = 0.99). Complication and biomaterial variables had no effect on the implant failure, and there was no difference in the failure times related to the molar, premolar, canine, primary, and incisor since 95% credible interval (CI) included 0. The CI related to the gender and place of teeth not including 0, so these variables were significant in the model. The estimates of the baseline parameters (γ1, γ2, and γ3) were increasing indicating increasing hazard rates from interval 1-3. Results of logistic regression were similar to grouped proportional hazards model with wider confidence intervals.
Conclusion: The use of MCMC approach and non-informing prior in Bayesian framework to mimic maximum likelihood estimations in a frequentist approach in multilevel modeling of clustered grouped survival data can be easily applied with the use of the software OpenBUGS

Background & Aim: Health locus of control (HLC) is a construct that refers to how person’s beliefs influence on his/her health. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and construct validity of multidimensional HLC (MHLC) scale in a representative Iranian samples.
Methods & Materials: This cross-sectional study was done among 881 subjects over 15 years old in Bandar Abbas, in the south of Iran through cluster sampling. Translated Persian version of MHLC questionnaire was administered to participants. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to compare three different models. Multiple groups CFA were conducted to examine the measurement equivalence across gender (390 men and 391 women) in EQS software. Reliability assessment was done by Cronbach’s α coefficient in SPSS v.16 software.
Results: Based on CFA, 18-item with three correlated factor had good fit (goodness-of-fit index = 0.92 and comparative fit index = 0.9). The results established full configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender. Cronbach’s α for subscales was ranged from 0.65 to 0.74.
Conclusion: Eighteen items Persian version of MHLC scale in three oblique subscales was introduced as a valid and reliable tool for assessing HLC among the general population in Iran. Furthermore, it is derived that the MHLC was full invariant across gender.

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