Additional file 1 of Meet���Test���Treat for HCV management: patients��� and clinicians��� preferences in hospital and drug addiction services in Italy
Additional file 1. List S3.
Harmonized benchmark labels of the hippocampus on magnetic resonance: The EADC-ADNI project
Abstract Background A globally harmonized protocol (HarP) for manual hippocampal segmentation based on magnetic resonance has been recently developed by a task force from European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium (EADC) and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Our aim was to produce benchmark labels based on the HarP for manual segmentation. Methods Five experts of manual hippocampal segmentation underwent specific training on the HarP and segmented 40 right and left hippocampi from 10 ADNI subjects on both 1.5 T and 3 T scans. An independent expert visually checked segmentations for compliance with the HarP. Descriptive measures of agreement between tracers were intraclass cor…
Optimizing patient referral and center capacity in the management of chronic hepatitis C: Lessons from the Italian experience
Abstract Aims In 2017 the Italian Drug Agency (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, AIFA) revised the criteria for access to therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C as part of a three-year plan to eradicate HCV. We conducted a Delphi study to determine strategies to identify and treat patients with HCV and to develop through a shared pathway, a model to manage patient referral and optimize prescription center capacity with the overall aim of increasing access to therapy. Methods The process took place in two phases – Phase I (January 2017), before the criteria for treatment of HCV were revised and Phase II (May 2017) when AIFA developed a framework for the eradication of HCV infection in Ita…
Cognitive dysfunction in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, in the literature there are inconsistent reports on the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction, and separate data for the relapsing-remitting (RR) type of the disease are not always presented. In this study, we submitted 461 RRMS patients to a battery of neuropsychological tests to investigate their impairment in various cognitive domains. As a consequence of the exclusion criteria, the sample is not fully representative of the entire population of RRMS patients. In this selected sample, when only the eight scores of a core battery (Mental Deterioration Battery) were considered (with respectiv…
Meet–Test–Treat for HCV management: patients’ and clinicians’ preferences in hospital and drug addiction services in Italy
Abstract Background It has been estimated that the incidence of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) will not decline over the next 10 years despite the improved efficacy of antiviral therapy because most patients remain undiagnosed and/or untreated. This study aimed to investigate the opinion of relevant target populations on the practicability, effectiveness and best modalities of the test-and-treat approach in the fight against HCV in Italy. Methods A survey was delivered to patients with HCV from the general population, patients from drug addiction services, hospital physicians and healthcare providers for drug addiction services. Results For both hospital clinicians and SerD HCPs, tolerabil…
The EADC-ADNI Harmonized Protocol for manual hippocampal segmentation on magnetic resonance : Evidence of validity
BackgroundAn international Delphi panel has defined a harmonized protocol (HarP) for the manual segmentation of the hippocampus on MR. The aim of this study is to study the concurrent validity of the HarP toward local protocols, and its major sources of variance.MethodsFourteen tracers segmented 10 Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cases scanned at 1.5 T and 3T following local protocols, qualified for segmentation based on the HarP through a standard web-platform and resegmented following the HarP. The five most accurate tracers followed the HarP to segment 15 ADNI cases acquired at three time points on both 1.5 T and 3T.ResultsThe agreement among tracers was relatively low…
<p>Early management of COPD: where are we now and where do we go from here? A Delphi consensus project</p>
Purpose There is a lack of consensus on the most appropriate early diagnostic strategy, criteria for early access to treatment and follow-up approach for patients with COPD. Materials and methods A Delphi consensus project investigated the early management of COPD. We formulated two questionnaires for completion by pneumologists in Italy. Results A total of 207 specialists completed questionnaire 1 and 184 of them questionnaire 2, between November 2016 and October 2017. Early diagnosis of COPD was considered uncommon for 93.2% of the expert panel. Regardless of the definition of "early diagnosis" - a diagnosis made before the clinical manifestation of the disease for most responders (60.4%)…