Search results for " Accuracy"

Improving the Diagnostic Accuracy of the Distress Thermometer: A Potential Role for the Impact Thermometer

2015

Abstract Context Screening for and management of distress in clinical practice is an important issue in the field of psycho-oncology. The Distress Thermometer (DT) is a common screening tool, but other methods recently have been proposed, with the aim of improving its diagnostic accuracy. Objectives To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of the DT alone and combined with the Impact Thermometer (IT), via the use of two possible combination methods. Methods A heterogeneous sample of 385 adult patients with cancer completed the DT, the IT, and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18. Results The results of the DT were comparable with those found in previous studies, indicating that the DT was adequate …

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2015

The old and new tests for celiac disease: which is the best test combination to diagnose celiac disease in pediatric patients?

2011

BACKGROUND In the diagnosis of celiac disease (CD), serum assays for anti-endomysium (EMA) and anti-transglutaminase (anti-tTG) antibodies have excellent diagnostic accuracy. However, these assays are less sensitive in young pediatric patients. Recently, a new ELISA test using deamidated gliadin peptides (DGP) as antigen has proved to be very sensitive and specific even in pediatric patients. In addition, anti-actin IgA antibodies (AAA) is another test that can be used in CD patients because antibody concentrations correlate with the degree of villous atrophy. This study evaluated the clinical accuracy of anti-tTG, EMA, AGA, anti-DGP and AAA and the effectiveness of these in different combi…

Diagnostic accuracy of computed tomographic colonography for the detection of advanced neoplasia in individuals at increased risk of colorectal cance…

2009

CONTEXT: Computed tomographic (CT) colonography has been recognized as an alternative for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in average-risk individuals, but less information is available on its performance in individuals at increased risk of CRC. OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of CT colonography in detecting advanced colorectal neoplasia in asymptomatic individuals at increased risk of CRC using unblinded colonoscopy as the reference standard. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a multicenter, cross-sectional study. Individuals at increased risk of CRC due to either family history of advanced neoplasia in first-degree relatives, personal history of colorectal adenomas, or positiv…

Ein kalorimeter für hochenergetische elektronenstrahlen

1968

Abstract Construction details and experimental data are given for a total absorption calorimeter used for electron beams of several hundred MeV and for beam power up to 15 kW. In order to obtain high precision, precautions were taken to obtain very high heat insulation, specially by using a temperature controlled radiation shield. The heat loss of the 700 kg copper block corresponds to less than 10 −3 °C/h. Due to design calculations and confirmed by preliminary comparison tests with other beam monitors we consider the absolute accuracy to be 1% or probably better.

Accuracy and Transparency in Medical English Terminology. A Focus on Suffixes, with Particular Reference to the Use of -itis

2022

The prominent position of English in medical research makes term accuracy a very important feature in the successful transmission of meanings. Accuracy refers to the correctness of a term; it represents a very important feature of medical communication together with other principles, such as transparency. The latter is the possibility of immediately decoding the meaning of a term through an analysis of its surface form. Transparency does not always overlap with accuracy. In this respect, medical English terminology shows terms that, despite being transparent, are not used with the meaning an analysis of their form would suggest but are referred to different concepts. Starting from Tanchev’s…

Independent Validation of Sepsis Index for Sepsis Screening in the Emergency Department

2021

(1) Background: The early detection of sepsis is still challenging, and there is an urgent need for biomarkers that could identify patients at a high risk of developing it. We recently developed an index, namely the Sepsis Index (SI), based on the combination of two CBC parameters: monocyte distribution width (MDW) and mean monocyte volume (MMV). In this study, we sought to independently validate the performance of SI as a tool for the early detection of patients at a high risk of sepsis in the Emergency Department (ED). (2) Methods: We enrolled all consecutive patients attending the ED with a request of the CBC. MDW and MMV were measured on samples collected in K3-EDTA tubes on the UniCel …

Detection of RAS mutations in circulating tumor DNA: a new weapon in an old war against colorectal cancer. A systematic review of literature and meta…

2019

Background: Tissue evaluation for RAS (KRAS or NRAS) gene status in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients represent the standard of care to establish the optimal therapeutic strategy. Unfortunately, tissue biopsy is hampered by several critical limitations due to its invasiveness, difficulty to access to disease site, patient’s compliance and, more recently, neoplastic tissue spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Methods: The authors performed a systematic literature review to identify available trials with paired matched tissue and ctDNA RAS gene status evaluation. The authors searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane, www.ClinicalTrials.gov , and abstracts from international meetings. In to…

Generalized differential transform method for nonlinear boundary value problem of fractional order

2015

Abstract In this paper the generalized differential transform method is applied to obtain an approximate solution of linear and nonlinear differential equation of fractional order with boundary conditions. Several numerical examples are considered and comparisons with the existing solution techniques are reported. Results show that the method is effective, easier to implement and very accurate when applied for the solution of fractional boundary values problems.

A normalized iterative Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method

2020

Abstract In this paper we investigate on a normalized iterative approach to improve the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) estimate of a function. The method iterates on the residuals of an initial SPH approximation to obtain a more accurate solution. The iterative strategy preserves the matrix-free nature of the method, does not require changes on the kernel function and it is not affected by disordered data distribution. The iterative refinement is further improved by ensuring linear approximation order to the starting iterative values. We analyze the accuracy and the convergence of the method with the standard and normalized formulation giving evidence of the enhancements obtained wit…