Biomedical subjects

H M Rawnsley

Publications and source records attributed to H M Rawnsley.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1979

Statistical forecasting in a hospital clinical laboratory.

Three forecasting methodologies were applied to monthly laboratory test count data in order to arrive at a best procedure for forecasting ahead to cover the next fiscal year. The purpose of the forecasting was, first, to aid in reimbursement and income decisions and, second, to assist in operations management decisions within the laboratory itself. The Box-Jenkins ARIMA models were found to be superior in all cases, and forecasts for individual test counts (as opposed to packages of tests billed as a unit) were improved if forecasts for inpatients and outpatients were done separately and then aggregated. With 2 years of experience to go on, the annual forecast error stands at around 4.5%.

Clinical Laboratory Techniques↗

PubMed1978

A multivariate data reduction system.

The problem of predictive diagnosis based on laboratory data is approached from a mathematical standpoint. A descriptive system is introduced which examines the current information about a clinical problem and identifies best predictors of the problem. Algorithms are described for the assessment of current diagnostic ability, the evaluation of new laboratory tests, and the identification of patients to study for the development of new procedures. The laboratory approach to the predictive diagnosis of iron deficiency is chosen as an example of the system.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗

PubMed1978

Multivariate approach to predictive diagnosis of bone-marrow iron stores.

The authors constructed a computer-assisted multivariate data analysis system that finds the subset of a group of laboratory tests (i.e., experimental variables) best able to discriminate between previously identified subpopulations. A Bayesian decision-analysis algorithm was devised for predictive diagnosis by the use of sample means and standard deviations of those identified tests. This approach was used on a set of nine hematologic laboratory tests to find a subset capable of efficiently predicting the presence or absence of bone-marrow iron stores. This identified subset proved to have a diagnostic efficiency of 0.90. The success of this system suggests the feasibility of such an approach in finding a "best" subset of loosely related variables.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗

PubMed1975

Plasma cell granulomas in non-lipemic xanthomatosis: apparent induction by indomethacin.

A 71-year-old man with non-lipemic, generalized, plane xanthomas developed nodules and tumors within one month of starting indomethacin therapy. These enlarged and spread during 5 months of daily indomethacin but promptly and spontaneously involuted when the indomethacin was discontinued. Within 4 months, the nodules and tumors were completely gone. The process is viewed as an "indoderma", i.e. a granulomatous drug reaction, analogous to an iododerma.

Aged↗