Objective(s): It is believed that frequent use of Interne might be harmful for health. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) is one of the most practical tools for diagnosing Internet addiction. The aim of the present study was to investigate validation of the Persian version of the questionnaire using Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analysis. DIF evaluates how people in different subgroups comprehend the same questionnaire item. Methods: A cross section study on a sample of 317 students of Mashhad University of Medical was conducted. To collect data, the Internet Addiction Questionnaire and demographic information and Behavioral Features Checklist were administered. Multiple Indicator Multiple Causal model (MIMIC) and Multiple Group Multiple Indicator Multiple Causal model (MGMIMIC) were used to investigate the differentiating of items. Results: The mean score of the IAT questionnaire was 40. 92± 11. 70, which based on the cut-off point of 46, 29. 5% of students were addicted to the Internet. The results of the MIMIC models indicated that there was no difference in each of the IAT questionnaire items. Also, considering the grouping structure did not have much effect on identifying DIF, because the results of the MG-MIMIC model were almost the same as the MIMIC model. Conclusion: Due to the lack of significant DIF in IAT questions and having measurement invariance this study can be considered as empirical support for the IAT questionnaire as a valid and structurally stable tool.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) misdiagnosis has many broad implications for the patient and the neurologist. Potentially curative treatments exist for certain ALS MIMIC syndromes, but delay in starting these therapies may have an unfavorable effect on outcome. Hence, it is important to exclude similar conditions. In this review, we discuss some of the important MIMICs of ALS.

Purpose of the present study is to estimate the fiscal illusion index, using Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model, using longitudinal data during the period of 2001 to 2021, for 31 provinces of Iran country. The results indicate that the most important causal variables of fiscal illusion index are educational costs and tax burden (with a negative effect) and economic participation rate (with a positive effect), and the most important indicators of fiscal illusion were Herfindahl index (with a negative coefficient), budget deficit, inflation rate, indirect tax ratio, real effective exchange rate and Oil revenue (with a positive coefficient) (and all are statistically significant). Also, the results showed that the average value of the estimated fiscal illusion index, among of the provinces, the lowest average value belongs to Khorasan Shomali and the highest value belongs to Khozestan province. Furthermore, the lowest average value of fiscal illusion index in the country level belongs to 2001 & 2002 and the highest is in 2021.