Search results for "External validation"
showing 9 items of 19 documents
Validation of clinical scoring systems ART and ABCR after transarterial chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma.
2016
Abstract Purpose To perform an external validation of the Assessment for Retreatment with Transarterial Chemoembolization (ART) and α-fetoprotein (AFP), Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC), Child–Pugh, and response (ABCR) scores and to compare them in terms of prognostic power. Materials and Methods From 2000 to 2015, 871 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma underwent transarterial chemoembolization at a tertiary referral hospital, and 176 met all inclusion and exclusion criteria for both scores and were analyzed. Nineteen percent (n = 34) had BCLC stage A disease and 81% had stage B disease. Thirty-nine patients (22%) presented with elevated AFP levels. Overall survival was calculated. …
Positive/negative symptomatology and experimental measures of attention in schizophrenic patients.
1993
In a search for an external validation of the negative syndrome construct and the attentional impairment item on Andreasen's scale, 49 unmedicated schizophrenic patients were administered the Span of Apprehension Test and a Continuous Performance Test with two levels of difficulty. This schizophrenic sample performed significantly more poorly on the attentional tests than a comparable group of 27 healthy control subjects. Depending on the difficulty of the test we found a number of significant correlations between the SANS composite score and the pertaining attentional impairment item on the one hand and experimental indices of attentional functioning on the other hand, which might corrobor…
Staging systems of hepatocellular carcinoma: A review of literature
2013
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major health problem with a high incidence and mortality all over the world. Natural history of HCC is severe and extremely variable, and prognostic factors influencing outcomes are incompletely defined. Over time, many staging and scoring systems have been proposed for the classification and prognosis of patients with HCC. Currently, the non-ideal predictive performance of existing prognostic systems is secondary to their inherent limitations, as well as to a non-universal reproducibility and transportability of the results in different populations. New serological and histological markers are still under evaluation with promising results, but they requi…
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…
Modeling Natural Anti-Inflammatory Compounds by Molecular Topology
2011
One of the main pharmacological problems today in the treatment of chronic inflammation diseases consists of the fact that anti-inflammatory drugs usually exhibit side effects. The natural products offer a great hope in the identification of bioactive lead compounds and their development into drugs for treating inflammatory diseases. Computer-aided drug design has proved to be a very useful tool for discovering new drugs and, specifically, Molecular Topology has become a good technique for such a goal. A topological-mathematical model, obtained by linear discriminant analysis, has been developed for the search of new anti-inflammatory natural compounds. An external validation obtained with …
Survival Prediction in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: A Proof of Concept Study Using Artificial Intelligence for Risk Assessment
2021
Several scoring systems have been devised to objectively predict survival for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma (ICC) and support treatment stratification, but they have failed external validation. The aim of the present study was to improve prognostication using an artificial intelligence-based approach. We retrospectively identified 417 patients with ICC who were referred to our tertiary care center between 1997 and 2018. Of these, 293 met the inclusion criteria. Established risk factors served as input nodes for an artificial neural network (ANN). We compared the performance of the trained model to the most widely used conventional scoring system, the Fudan score. Pr…
Near Infrared Spectroscopy Detection and Quantification of Herbal Medicines Adulterated with Sibutramine.
2015
There is an increasing demand for herbal medicines in weight loss treatment. Some synthetic chemicals, such as sibutramine (SB), have been detected as adulterants in herbal formulations. In this study, two strategies using near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy have been developed to evaluate potential adulteration of herbal medicines with SB: a qualitative screening approach and a quantitative methodology based on multivariate calibration. Samples were composed by products commercialized as herbal medicines, as well as by laboratory adulterated samples. Spectra were obtained in the range of 14,000-4000 per cm. Using PLS-DA, a correct classification of 100% was achieved for the external validatio…
Engineering faster transglycosidases and their acceptor specificity
2019
Transglycosidases are enzymes that have the potential to catalyze the synthesis of a wide range of high-value compounds starting from biomass-derived feedstocks. Improving their activity and broadening the substrate range are important goals to enable the widespread application of this family of biocatalysts. In this work, we engineered 20 mutants of the rice transglycosidase Os9BGlu31 and evaluated their catalysis in 462 reactions over 18 different substrates. This allowed us to identify mutants that expanded their substrate range and showed high activity, including W243L and W243N. We also developed double mutants that show very high activity on certain substrates and exceptional specific…
Prospective external validation of a predictive score for postoperative pulmonary complications.
2015
Abstract Background: No externally validated risk score for postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) is currently available. The authors tested the generalizability of the Assess Respiratory Risk in Surgical Patients in Catalonia risk score for PPCs in a large European cohort (Prospective Evaluation of a RIsk Score for postoperative pulmonary COmPlications in Europe). Methods: Sixty-three centers recruited 5,859 surgical patients receiving general, neuraxial, or plexus block anesthesia. The Assess Respiratory Risk in Surgical Patients in Catalonia factors (age, preoperative arterial oxygen saturation in air, acute respiratory infection during the previous month, preoperative anemia, upp…