Search results for "REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS"
showing 10 items of 1838 documents
Restless legs syndrome: Epidemiological and clinicogenetic study in a South Tyrolean population isolate.
2006
Genetic contributions to restless legs syndrome (RLS) have been consistently recognized from population and family studies. To determine the clinical and genetic features of RLS in a population isolate and explore linkage to three previously described susceptibility loci on chromosomes 12q, 14q, and 9p, respectively, an isolated population in the South Tyrolean Alps was identified and 530 adults participated in the study. Using a two-step strategy, 47 patients with idiopathic RLS were ascertained. The prevalence in the population was 8.9%. Twenty-eight patients (59.6%) had at least one affected first-degree relative and were classified as hereditary cases. In a single extended pedigree, lin…
Quantitative criteria for the diagnosis of the congenital absence of pericardium by cardiac magnetic resonance
2015
Congenital absence of the left ventricular pericardium (LCAP) is a rare and poorly known cardiac malformation. Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) is generally used for the diagnosis of LCAP because of its high soft tissue contrast, multiplanarity and cine capability, but the diagnosis is usually made by only qualitative criteria. The aim of the present study was to establish quantitative criteria for the accurate diagnosis of LCAP on CMR.We enrolled nine consecutive patients affected by LCAP (mean age 26±8years, 7 males), 13 healthy controls, 13 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), 12 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and 13 patients with right ventricular overload (RVO).…
Intra‐ and interreader reproducibility of PI‐RADSv2: A multireader study
2018
Background The Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADSv2) has been in use since 2015; while interreader reproducibility has been studied, there has been a paucity of studies investigating the intrareader reproducibility of PI-RADSv2. Purpose To evaluate both intra- and interreader reproducibility of PI-RADSv2 in the assessment of intraprostatic lesions using multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI). Study type Retrospective. Population/subjects In all, 102 consecutive biopsy-naive patients who underwent prostate MRI and subsequent MR/transrectal ultrasonography (MR/TRUS)-guided biopsy. Field strength/sequences Prostate mpMRI at 3T using endorectal with phased…
Development of a Peptide-Based Sandwich Elisa for Human Tissue Prokallikrein with No Cross-Reactivity from Mature Kallikrein
2000
Human tissue prokallikrein is the enzymatically inactive zymogen of a serine proteinase involved in the liberation of vasoactive kinin peptides, and it is supposed that an impaired prokallikrein-to-kallikrein conversion is closely related to certain hypertensive and inflammatory disorders. Progress in understanding the biological role of the proenzyme has been limited by the absence of an accurate assay for the kallikrein precursor. We describe a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure human tissue prokallikrein using monospecific anti-peptide antibodies raised against propeptide derivatives. This method could detect a minimum concentration of 60 pg/ml prokallikrein and displa…
Middle patellar tendon to posterior cruciate ligament (PT–PCL) and normalized PT–PCL: New magnetic resonance indices for tibial tubercle position in …
2018
BACKGROUND To demonstrate whether the distance between the middle point of the patellar tendon and posterior cruciate ligament (PT-PCL) calculated on a single axial MR image could be an alternative measure to tibial tubercle-PCL (TT-PCL) distance for TT lateralization without the need of imaging processing. To show that normalization of PT-PCL (nPT-PCL) against the maximum diameter of the tibial plateau may help to identify patients with patellar instability (PI). METHODS MR scans of 30 patients (13 females, age 32 ± 13 years) with known PI and 60 patients (31 females, age 39 ± 19 years) with no history of PI were reviewed. Two operators calculated TT-PCL, and PT-PCL nPT-PCL. Intraclass cor…
Lumbar spine mobility in Marfan syndrome
1993
Low back pain symptoms and lumbar spine mobility were assessed by questionnaires and by clinical and radiological measurements in 32 patients with Marfan syndrome. Frequently occurring low back pain was reported by 19% of the patients, but the disability was slight in all of them. Flexion and extension mobility of the lumbar spine (L1-S1) assessed from radiographs was 59.9 degrees and 13.2 degrees, respectively. Mean lumbar angular mobility between flexion and extension radiographs was 7.4 degrees at L1-2, 13.2 degrees at L2-3, 16.0 degrees at L3-4, 19.3 degrees at L4-5 and 18.3 degrees at L5-S1. No correlation was found between the manual assessment of lumbar segmental instability and radi…
From the Big Five to the General Factor of Personality: a Dynamic Approach
2014
AbstractAn integrating and dynamic model of personality that allows predicting the response of the basic factors of personality, such as the Big Five Factors (B5F) or the general factor of personality (GFP) to acute doses of drug is presented in this paper. Personality has a dynamic nature, i.e., as a consequence of a stimulus, the GFP dynamics as well as each one of the B5F of personality dynamics can be explained by the same model (a system of three coupled differential equations). From this invariance hypothesis, a partial differential equation, whose solution relates the GFP with each one of the B5F, is deduced. From this dynamic approach, a co-evolution of the GFP and each one of the B…
The German hearing in noise test
2020
The aims of this study were to develop a German Hearing In Noise Test (HINT) using the same methodology as with previous HINT tests; to develop sentence lists for measuring speech reception thresholds (SRTs); and to determine test-retest reliability and norms for measures obtained under headphones.The following steps were followed: develop and record sentences, synthesise masking noise, determine the performance-intensity (PI) function, equalise sentence difficulty in the masking noise. Form sentence lists of equal difficulty. Measure SRTs for normal hearing individuals to determine practice/learning effects, test-retest reliability, and norms.Three groups of adults (median age = 25 years) …
Suboptimal performance of APRI and FIB-4 in ruling out significant fibrosis and confirming cirrhosis in HIV/HCV co-infected and HCV mono-infected pat…
2018
Purpose: We aimed to assess the diagnostic reliability of two indirect biomarkers, APRI and FIB-4, for the staging of liver fibrosis using transient elastography (TE) as reference standard, among HIV/HCV co-infected and HCV mono-infected patients. Methods: This is an observational, retrospective study on subjects who had access to the RESIST HCV from October 2013 to December 2016, a regional network encompassing 22 hospitals and academic centers throughout Sicily. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of indirect biomarkers for liver stiffness measurement (LSM) < 9.5 kPa (significant fibrosis) and LSM ≥ 12.5 kPa (cirrhosis) were determined by receiver operator characteristics …
Usefulness of the index of NASH - ION for the diagnosis of steatohepatitis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver: An external validation study
2018
Background & Aims The non-invasive identification of steatohepatitis (NASH) in patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease is an unmet need in clinical practice. Index of NASH (ION) is a new tool for the prediction of NASH. We aimed to externally validate ION and to compare it with CK-18. Since necroinflammation precedes fibrosis, we also tested ION in combination with non-invasive tools for fibrosis. Methods We analysed data from 292 Italian patients (169 Southern cohort, and 123 Northern cohort) with an histological diagnosis of NAFLD. The ION, FIB-4 and NFS scores were calculated according to published algorithms. Serum cytokeratin18-Aspartate396 levels and liver stiffness (LS) by Fi…