Search results for "Decision Support Techniques"
showing 10 items of 45 documents
Perceptual commensuration in decision tables
2017
This paper calls attention to design features that could enhance the helpfulness of the decision table to decision makers trying to get a better intuitive grasp of the choices facing them. The experiments reported here show that the grey scale is more facilitative than the number scale for problem comprehension as measured by the identification of dominance and the identification of non-additivity, each of which requires a view of the decision problem that is sensitive to patterns across attributes. Additional design features that could enhance the decision makers’ grasp of the choices facing them are suggested for further research.
Evaluation of the performance of Dutch Lipid Clinic Network score in an Italian FH population: The LIPIGEN study
2018
Abstract Background and aims Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited disorder characterized by high levels of blood cholesterol from birth and premature coronary heart disease. Thus, the identification of FH patients is crucial to prevent or delay the onset of cardiovascular events, and the availability of a tool helping with the diagnosis in the setting of general medicine is essential to improve FH patient identification. Methods This study evaluated the performance of the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network (DLCN) score in FH patients enrolled in the LIPIGEN study, an Italian integrated network aimed at improving the identification of patients with genetic dyslipidaemias, including FH.…
Features Associated with Recurrence Beyond 5 Years After Nephrectomy and Nephron-Sparing Surgery for Renal Cell Carcinoma: Development and Internal V…
2014
Background: Approximately 10-20% of recurrences in patients treated with nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) develop beyond 5 yr after surgery (late recurrence). Objective: To determine features associated with late recurrence. Design, setting, and participants: A total of 5009 patients from a multicenter database comprising 13 107 RCC patients treated surgically had a minimum recurrence-free survival of 60 mo (median follow-up [FU]: 105 mo [range: 78-135]); at last FU, 4699 were disease free (median FU: 103 mo [range: 78-134]), and 310 patients (6.2%) experienced disease recurrence (median FU: 120 mo [range: 93-149]). Interventions: Patients underwent radical nephrectomy or nephron-…
Prognostic ability of BCLC-B subclassification in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing transarterial chemoembolization
2018
Prognostic ability of BCLC-B Subclassification in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Undergoing Transarterial Chemoembolization Background and aims. A subclassification system for intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was recently proposed to optimize treatment allocation. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic ability of that substaging proposal. Patients and methods This is a retrospective multicenter cohort study including patients with intermediate HCC treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Predictors of survival were identified using the Cox proportional regression model. Results 289 Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) B patients were included. Medi…
iScore for predicting institutional care after ischemic stroke: a population-based study.
2015
Background We assessed whether the iScore could predict the need for poststroke institutional care. Methods Patients with acute ischemic stroke living in Dijon, France, were recorded between 2006 and 2011, using a population-based stroke registry. The iScore was calculated for each patient. A logistic regression model was used to assess the performance of the iScore for predicting the need for placement in a care institution. The discrimination and calibration of the model were assessed using the c statistic and the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test, respectively. Results Of the 1199 patients recorded, 124 were excluded because of early death and 95 because of missing for variables inclu…
Bayesian methods in cost-effectiveness studies: objectivity, computation and other relevant aspects.
2009
In a probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) of a cost-effectiveness (CE) study, the unknown parameters are considered as random variables. A crucial question is what probabilistic distribution is suitable for synthesizing the available information (mainly data from clinical trials) about these parameters. In this context, the important role of Bayesian methodology has been recognized, where the parameters are of a random nature. We explore, in the context of CE analyses, how formal objective Bayesian methods can be implemented. We fully illustrate the methodology using two CE problems that frequently appear in the CE literature. The results are compared with those obtained with other popu…
Development and Validation of a New Prognostic System for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma
2016
Background Prognostic assessment in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial. Using the Italian Liver Cancer (ITA.LI.CA) database as a training set, we sought to develop and validate a new prognostic system for patients with HCC. Methods and Findings Prospective collected databases from Italy (training cohort, n = 3,628; internal validation cohort, n = 1,555) and Taiwan (external validation cohort, n = 2,651) were used to develop the ITA.LI.CA prognostic system. We first defined ITA.LI.CA stages (0, A, B1, B2, B3, C) using only tumor characteristics (largest tumor diameter, number of nodules, intra- and extrahepatic macroscopic vascular invasion, extrahepatic metas…
Utility-based criteria for selecting patients with hepatocellular carcinoma for liver transplantation: A multicenter cohort study using the alpha-fet…
2015
The lifetime utility of liver transplantation (LT) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still controversial. The aim of this study was to ascertain when LT is cost-effective for HCC patients, with a view to proposing new transplant selection criteria. The study involved a real cohort of potentially transplantable Italian HCC patients (n = 2419 selected from the Italian Liver Cancer group database) who received nontransplant therapies. A non-LT survival analysis was conducted, the direct costs of therapies were calculated, and a Markov model was used to compute the cost utility of LT over non-LT therapies in Italian and US cost scenarios. Post-LT survival was calculated using t…
Optimizing the clinical utility of PCA3 to diagnose prostate cancer in initial prostate biopsy.
2015
Background: PCA3 has been included in a nomogram outperforming previous clinical models for the prediction of any prostate cancer (PCa) and high grade PCa (HGPCa) at the initial prostate biopsy (IBx). Our objective is to validate such IBx-specific PCA3-based nomogram. We also aim to optimize the use of this nomogram in clinical practice through the definition of risk groups. Methods: Independent external validation. Clinical and biopsy data from a contemporary cohort of 401 men with the same inclusion criteria to those used to build up the reference’s nomogram in IBx. The predictive value of the nomogram was assessed by means of calibration curves and discrimination ability through the area…
Decomposing encoding and decisional components in visual-word recognition: a diffusion model analysis.
2014
In a diffusion model, performance as measured by latency and accuracy in two-choice tasks is decomposed into different parameters that can be linked to underlying cognitive processes. Although the diffusion model has been utilized to account for lexical decision data, the effects of stimulus manipulations in previous experiments originated from just one parameter: the quality of the evidence. Here we examined whether the diffusion model can be used to effectively decompose the underlying processes during visual-word recognition. We explore this issue in an experiment that features a lexical manipulation (word frequency) that we expected to affect mostly the quality of the evidence (the dri…