Search results for "gold"
showing 10 items of 1320 documents
Administration of Triclabendazole Is Safe and Effective in Controlling Fascioliasis in an Endemic Community of the Bolivian Altiplano
2012
Background Emergence of human fascioliasis prompted a worldwide control initiative including a pilot study in a few countries. Two hyperendemic areas were chosen: Huacullani, Northern Altiplano, Bolivia, representing the Altiplanic transmission pattern with high prevalences and intensities; Cajamarca valley, Peru, representing the valley pattern with high prevalences but low intensities. Coprological sample collection, transport and study procedures were analyzed to improve individual diagnosis and subsequent treatments and surveillance activities. Therefore, a coproantigen-detection technique (MM3-COPRO ELISA) was evaluated, using classical techniques for egg detection for comparison. Meth…
Neuropeptide Y (NPY)-like immunoreactivity in peripheral and central nerve fibres of the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) with special respect t…
1986
Inforimation on the ambient lighting conditions is conveyed from the retina to the pineal organ by a neuronal pathway involving the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which acts as a circadian pacemaker. In the hamster, circadian rhythms have been shown to be influenced by injection of neuropeptide Y (NPY) into the SCN. Since NPY-immunoreactive nerve fibres are present in the rat and guinea-pig pineal glands it appeared of interest to investigate the hamster pineal as part of the circadian rhythm generating/regulating system. For comparison kidney, small intestine and cerebral cortex were studied. Like in the other rodent species so far investigated only a few of the abundant sympathetic nerve f…
Quality control of B-lines analysis in stress Echo 2020
2018
Background The effectiveness trial “Stress echo (SE) 2020” evaluates novel applications of SE in and beyond coronary artery disease. The core protocol also includes 4-site simplified scan of B-lines by lung ultrasound, useful to assess pulmonary congestion. Purpose To provide web-based upstream quality control and harmonization of B-lines reading criteria. Methods 60 readers (all previously accredited for regional wall motion, 53 B-lines naive) from 52 centers of 16 countries of SE 2020 network read a set of 20 lung ultrasound video-clips selected by the Pisa lab serving as reference standard, after taking an obligatory web-based learning 2-h module ( http://se2020.altervista.org ). Each te…
Comparison of the gold standard of hemoglobin measurement with the clinical standard (BGA) and noninvasive hemoglobin measurement (SpHb) in small chi…
2015
Introduction Collecting a blood sample is usually necessary to measure hemoglobin levels in children. Especially in small children, noninvasively measuring the hemoglobin level could be extraordinarily helpful, but its precision and accuracy in the clinical environment remain unclear. In this study, noninvasive hemoglobin measurement and blood gas analysis were compared to hemoglobin measurement in a clinical laboratory. Methods In 60 healthy preoperative children (0.2-7.6 years old), hemoglobin was measured using a noninvasive method (SpHb; Radical-7 Pulse Co-Oximeter), a blood gas analyzer (clinical standard, BGAHb; ABL 800 Flex), and a laboratory hematology analyzer (reference method, la…
Validation of the psychosocial impact of dental aesthetics questionnaire (Pidaq) in Spanish adolescents
2012
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Spanish version of PIDAQ for application in adolescents. Study Design: The questionnaire was translated, cross-culturally adapted and completed by 627 adolescents (366 12-year-olds and 261 15-year-olds). The adolescents were also examined by 4 examiners who had been calibrated against a gold standard and relative to each other (Kappa >0.85) in determining treatment need with the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) and the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) DHC and AC components. Results: Cronbach´s alpha of the translated PIDAQ was 0.90. The 23 items of the questionnaire were divided into four domains t…
The accuracy of flexible spectral imaging colour enhancement for the diagnosis of gastric intestinal metaplasia
2014
Background Targeting biopsies on the basis of visual recognition of mucosal changes in the stomach instead of the currently accepted random biopsy sampling may be attractive. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of endoscopic findings using flexible spectral imaging colour enhancement (FICE) for intestinal metaplasia (IM) in the gastric mucosa. Methods A consecutive cohort of 126 individuals aged over 50 years (27% men) was subjected to upper endoscopy using FICE. Histological assessment (per patient and per biopsy) was considered the gold standard to accuracy estimates. Results Histological assessment revealed IM in 50% of the individuals [OLGIM (operative link on gastric…
Comparison between euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp and surrogate indices of insulin sensitivity in children with growth hormone deficiency
2018
Objective: Data about the impact of growth hormone treatment (GHT) on insulin sensitivity in children are quite controversial, due to the different surrogate indices that have been used. Design: We evaluated insulin sensitivity through the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp, considered the gold standard technique, in 23 children affected by growth hormone deficiency (GHD) at baseline and after 12. months of GHT and in 12 controls with short stature at baseline, and we compared the clamp-derived index (M-value) with the most commonly used surrogate index of insulin sensitivity, as ISI Matsuda, and with circulating plasma markers of insulin sensitivity, as adiponectin and resistin levels. Resu…
Feasibility and utility of a cognitive screening for risk stratification in hospitalized older patients
2017
OBJECTIVES To determine whether the Mini-Cog can be applied by nursing staff to hospitalized elderly patients for cognitive impairment associated risk stratification. METHODS This explorative prospective multicenter cohort study was carried out among 2522 patients aged 70 and older, hospitalized due to physical illness in eight hospitals in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. All patients were asked to conduct the Mini-Cog at the day of admission and were clustered into low-performance, intermediate-performance, and good-performance categories by trained nursing staff and two experienced geronto-psychiatrists as gold standard. Complications in the course of the treatment were monitored. RESULTS …
Immunologic and absorptive tests in celiac disease: can they replace intestinal biopsies?
1993
The sensitivity and specificity of several immunologic and absorption tests were determined in infants with celiac disease (31 male, 39 female; median age, 2.6 years) in different phases of the disease and in a group of control subjects with chronic diarrhea of different etiologies (32 male, 28 female; median age, 1.2 years). Intestinal biopsy was performed both in the patients and in the controls as a 'gold standard' for the diagnosis. The anti-gliadin antibody (AGA) IgG values showed a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 47%; AGA IgA were 69% sensitive and 92% specific; anti-endomysial antibodies (EmA) were 100% sensitive and 97% specific; the xylose test was 71% sensitive and 53% spe…
Heart-type fatty acid binding protein is a sensitive biomarker for early AMI detection in troponin negative patients: a pilot study
2017
Background: Early detecting AMI in individuals presenting to the ED with chest pain continues to be a challenge. cTn is the gold standard for AMI diagnosis but early presenters (<1 hours from symptom onset) maybe cTn negative on admission. We analysed the diagnostic value of h-FABP and hs-TnI in patients presenting to ED with chest pain and no cTnI elevations. Methods: 28 AMI and 28 no-AMI individuals both presented to ED within one hour from pain onset were included. Blood donors were analysed for h-FABP cut-off identification. Among AMI patients, 55% were positive for h-FABP and 34.6% were positive for hs-TnI (p = .015), thus 21% were positive only for h-FABP. The diagnostic accuracy w…