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PubMed2000

[Clinical characteristics of seafood allergy and classification of 10 seafood allergens by cluster analysis].

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of children who showed sensitization to any type of seafood and to classify the 10 seafood allergens based on IgE reactivities by a cluster analysis. In children with bronchial asthma (BA) and/or atopic dermatitis (AD), we defined the 'seafood' group as 23 patients having any type of seafood specific IgE antibody (CAP system). We analyzed the clinical features, the serum total IgE and each allergen specific IgE level. In addition, ten seafood allergens were also classified by a cluster analysis. Three patients revealed immediate hypersensitivity to some seafood. The frequency of patients with AD and the total IgE in the seafood group were high and the patients in this group were tend to be sensitized to multiple allergens. Seafood allergens were classified into 4 groups, 1) salmon, sardine, horse mackerel and mackerel, 2) cod and tuna, 3) octopus and squid, and 4) crab and shrimp, by a cluster analysis. These findings corresponded to the biological classification and the classification by the reported common allergens among various types of seafood. Based on our findings, this classification is therefore considered to be useful when selecting allergens to screen for sensitization to seafood.

Allergens↗

PubMed2004

Current burden of sudden cardiac death: multiple source surveillance versus retrospective death certificate-based review in a large U.S. community.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the annual incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the general population using a prospective approach. To assess the validity of retrospective surveillance, a simultaneous comparison was made with a death certificate-based method of determining SCD incidence. BACKGROUND: Accurate surveillance and characterization of SCD in the general population is likely to significantly facilitate current and future community-based preventive and therapeutic interventions. METHODS: We performed a prospective evaluation of SCD among all residents of Multnomah County, Oregon (population 660,486) using multiple sources of surveillance. A comprehensive analysis of circumstances of death, medical records, and available autopsy data was performed. Comparisons were made with a retrospective, death certificate-based determination of SCD incidence using International Classification of Diseases-Version 10 codes and location of death. RESULTS: Between February 1, 2002, and January 31, 2003, 353 residents suffered SCD (incidence 53 of 100,000; median age 69 years, 57% male) accounting for 5.6% of overall mortality. Of these, 75 cases (21%) were identified using sources other than first responders. Resuscitation was attempted in 237 cases (67%) and successful (survival to hospital discharge) in 28 (8%). The retrospective death certificate-based review yielded 1,007 cases (incidence 153 of 100,000; median age 81 years, 51% male), and the positive predictive value of this methodology was 19%. CONCLUSIONS: Sudden cardiac death accounts for 5.6% of annual mortality, and prospective evaluation in the general population appears to be feasible. The use of multiple sources of ascertainment and information significantly enhances phenotyping of SCD cases. Retrospective death certificate-based surveillance results in significant overestimation of SCD incidence.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Reliable classification and recombination analysis of porcine endogenous retroviruses.

Prevention of cross-species infection with porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) is crucial for xenotransplantation. Previous studies described the potential risk of infection for the PERV gamma1 subfamilies A, B and C. Replication competent PERV gamma1 proviruses designated to a particular subfamily and hybrid viruses originating from retroviral recombination events between the subfamilies were observed. Future pig genome sequencing projects will reveal multiple novel PERV proviruses from additional breeds and animals. Evaluation of these viral genomes has to be carried out to assess the potential risk of retroviral cross-species infection. In this study, we tested common sequence comparison methods for the classification of PERV sequences and the detection of hybrid clones. The examination of the polymorphic nucleotide positions was found to be the most suitable procedure. We describe a fast and simple method using bioinformatic software tools which can also be applied to analogous analyses of other viral genomes.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The usefulness of 99mTc-tetrofosmin SPECT in the detection of lung metastases from extrapulmonary primary tumors].

PURPOSE: The appearance of pulmonary metastases in neoplastic patients previously submitted to radical operation of an extrapulmonary primary tumor and with no recurrences and/or secondary distant localizations can markedly worsen disease prognosis if the lesions are in advanced stages and no longer removable by surgical procedures. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of 99mTc-tetrofosmin scintigraphy, both planar and SPECT, in the detection of pulmonary metastases from previously treated extrapulmonary primary tumors, comparing the results with those obtained with CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 73 patients, 33 M and 40 F, aged 24 to 79 yrs, had who undergone previously surgical resection extrapulmonary primary tumors; 31 patients had mammary, 13 gastrointestinal, 13 genitourinary, 13 thyroid and 3 laryngeal carcinomas. In all patients CT ascertained single (42 cases) or multiple (31 cases) pulmonary lesions. 99mTc-tetrofosmin scintigraphy, always performed within a week of CT, was acquired 10 min after 740 MBq i.v. tracer injection, using a rectangular, large field of view, dual head gamma camera, equipped with low energy, parallel-hole and high resolution collimators. Conventional planar acquisition, with the patient in the supine position, was followed by SPECT over 360 degrees with body contouring system, using a zoom factor of 1-1.3, a 64x64 matrix size, a 3 degrees angular step and an acquisition time of 30 sec/frame; image reconstruction was performed with the Back Projection Filtered Method using a Metz filter. In the coronal slices of SPECT images a semiquantitative analysis of the lesion was also made and the tumor-to-background (T/B) ratio was calculated; the calculation of the latter, considered indicative for tumor when >1.4, was performed in the lesion with the highest radiotracer uptake in patients with multiple lung lesions. The results of SPECT qualitative images were compared with those of planar scintigraphy and both of these with the data obtained with CT, and statistical difference was calculated with McNemar's test. The definitive diagnosis was achieved after scintigraphy by the analysis of cytologic or histologic specimens obtained by thoracotomy, percutaneous thoracic needle biopsy or bronchoscopic biopsy, and in some cases by the confirmation of instrumental exams at 6-8 month follow up. Pulmonary metastases were ascertained in 65/73 cases, while benign lesions were present in the remaining 8 patients. RESULTS: CT was true positive in 60/65 (92.3%) patients with metastases and false negative in the remaining five, four with a single lesion and one with two lesions in the same lung. SPECT detected metastases in 62/65 (95.4%) patients, including the five CT false negative cases, while it was false negative in three cases with single lesions, all positive at CT, with a size of 1.0, 1.0, 2.0 cm, respectively. Planar scintigraphy was only positive in 23/65 (35.4%) patients, with a sensitivity value significantly (p<0.0005) lower than both SPECT and CT. In the patients with multiple metastases, SPECT, positive in all cases and capable of correctly differentiating the patients with metastases only in one lung from those with bilateral involvement, underestimated the number of micronodular lesions in respect of CT in six patients with >6 lesions < or =0.5 cm in size, while it was more sensitive in three other cases; CT and SPECT were concordant in macronodular metastases detection, except in one case in which SPECT depicted more lesions. Planar scintigraphy had 42 false negative results and, when positive, underestimated the number of multiple lesions in respect of both SPECT and CT; it was positive but CT negative in only one case with two lesions. Specificity was higher for both SPECT and planar scan (87.5%) than CT (62.5%) but not significantly; accuracy was higher for SPECT (94.5%) than both planar scan (42%) and CT (89%), but the difference was significant only in respect of planar. The combined use of SPECT and CT achieved 100% sensitivity and accuracy values. The T/B ratio was >1.ratio was >1.4 in all SPECT positive cases (range: 1.6-5.3), indicating a suspected tumor, while it was 1.2 in the only benign case which turned out to be false positive at qualitative SPECT imaging. CONCLUSIONS: 99mTc-tetrofosmin SPECT seems to be a reliable diagnostic tool in the detection of pulmonary metastases from extrapulmonary primary tumors, in particular in the cases in which CT is indeterminate or false positive, and therefore contributes to a more correct patient classification. Moreover, SPECT image semiquantitative analysis can give additional information for a differential diagnosis between malignant and benign lesions as well as offering a more accurate selection of the lesions to be subjected to biopsy in patients with multiple metastases. However, only the combined use of CT and 99mTc-tetrofosmin SPECT can achieve the highest sensitivity and accuracy values and obtain the correct staging in most patients, thus suggesting that these two procedures must be employed together.

Adult↗

PubMed1985

Nursing workload, medical diagnosis related groups, and nursing diagnoses.

Patient conditions associated with the relative amount of time nurses spent caring for patients were identified in this study. The patient conditions examined were: nursing condition using 37 nursing diagnoses, medical condition using diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), and demographic characteristics of age, sex, and race. Nursing time was estimated using the Rush-Medicus patient classification workload measurement tool. Data were gathered from checklists of nursing diagnoses and the discharge records of 2560 adult inpatients of an acute care community hospital. Using multiple regression analysis nursing condition explained twice the variation in daily nursing workload (52.4%) than medical condition (26.3%). The finding that nursing care time is predicted better by a patient's nursing condition than by either medical condition or demographic characteristics indicates that nursing care is not physician prescribed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Early treatment outcome assessed by the Peer Assessment Rating index.

In this study, the Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) index was used to objectively evaluate early treatment outcomes. Pretreatment and posttreatment casts of 103 consecutively treated patients were analyzed. The mean chronological, skeletal, and dental ages were 9. 82, 9.76, and 9.32 years, respectively. Calibrated examiners scored all models using the PAR ruler. PAR scores were weighed by means of a validation exercise. Cronbach alpha reliability analysis was used to establish the consistency of the subjective rating among 10 orthodontists of the severity of malocclusion. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the association among the orthodontists and the total PAR scores. Multiple regression analysis was used to determined the optimum weight of the PAR scores. Pretreatment and posttreatment differences were evaluated with t tests. The association between PAR scores and classification of malocclusions and treatment categories was assessed by means of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). A reduction in the PAR index was observed for the mean raw and weighted scores, from 15.82 to 8.82 and from 5.28 to 3.73, respectively (P <.001). Twenty percent of the sample greatly improved the PAR index, by a 70% reduction.3 Forty-eight percent improved scores by at least a 30% reduction.4 The remaining 32% did not reduce scores by at least 30%. Subjects with both Class I and Class II malocclusions reduced their scores similarly. There was no statistically significant association between reduction of PAR scores and treatment modalities.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1998

Computerized analysis of breast lesions in three dimensions using dynamic magnetic-resonance imaging.

Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast is known to reveal breast cancer with higher sensitivity than mammography alone. The specificity is, however, compromised by the observation that several benign masses take up contrast agent in addition to malignant lesions. The aim of this study is to increase the objectivity of breast cancer diagnosis in contrast-enhanced MRI by developing automated methods for computer-aided diagnosis. Our database consists of 27 MR studies from 27 patients. In each study, at least four MR series of both breasts are obtained using FLASH three-dimensional (3D) acquisition at 90 s time intervals after injection of Gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA) contrast agent. Each series consists of 64 coronal slices with a typical thickness of 2 mm, and a pixel size of 1.25 mm. The study contains 13 benign and 15 malignant lesions from which features are automatically extracted in 3D. These features include margin descriptors and radial gradient analysis as a function of time and space. Stepwise multiple regression is employed to obtain an effective subset of combined features. A final estimate of likelihood of malignancy is determined by linear discriminant analysis, and the performance of classification by round-robin testing and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. To assess the efficacy of 3D analysis, the study is repeated in two-dimensions (2D) using a representative slice through the middle of the lesion. In 2D and in 3D, radial gradient analysis and analysis of margin sharpness were found to be an effective combination to distinguish between benign and malignant masses (resulting area under the ROC curve: 0.96). Feature analysis in 3D was found to result in higher performance of lesion characterization than 2D feature analysis for the majority of single and combined features. In conclusion, automated feature extraction and classification has the potential to complement the interpretation of radiologists in an objective, consistent, and accurate way.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

PubMed1983

Ploidy and proliferation patterns in colo-rectal adenocarcinomas related to Dukes' classification and to histopathological differentiation. A flow-cytometric DNA study.

The cellular DNA pattern in 66 colo-rectal adenocarcinomas was studied by means of flow-cytometric DNA analysis. The degree of ploidy and the proportion of cells in S-phase were related to the clinical stage according to Dukes' classification and to the histological differentiation. Multiple cell populations were found in about 60 per cent of the tumours but more frequently in advanced clinical stages. According to the DNA index the cell populations were bimodally distributed with one peak in the diploid-peridiploid region and one peak in the tri- to tetraploid region. In the second group there was a higher frequency of more advanced tumours as compared to the first. The proportion of cells in S-phase was higher in pure diploid tumour cell populations of all clinical stages as compared to normal mucosa but lower as compared to peridiploid and aneuploid cell populations with high DNA index. High as well as low S-phase values may occur in all clinical stages, but a significant higher mean value was found for Dukes' C compared to Dukes' B tumours. Distant metastases occur at all DNA indices and with various S-phase values. In conclusion, tumours of different clinical stages and histological differentiation may be subdivided according to DNA index, to the existence of single or multiple cell populations and to the proportion of cells in S-phase. The biological significance of this subdivision can only be evaluated by means of clinical follow-up.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed2005

The effectiveness of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for the treatment of critical limb ischemia: a 10-year experience.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy, safety, and long-term results, including continued clinical improvement and limb salvage, of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). METHODS: From August 1993 to March 2004, 138 limbs in 111 patients with CLI (rest pain in 62 [45%] and ulcer/gangrene in 76 [55%]) were treated by PTA. In iliac lesions, stents were placed selectively for primary PTA failure: residual stenosis (>30%) or pressure gradient (>5 mm Hg). Stent placement was limited in infrainguinal lesions. The most distal affected arteries treated with angioplasty were the iliac artery in 45 limbs (33%; iliac group), the femoropopliteal artery in 41 limbs (30%; FP group), and tibial arteries in 52 limbs (37%; BK group). All analysis was performed according to an intent-to-treat basis. Reporting standards of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery were followed to evaluate initial success, and late follow-up status was evaluated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Patency was evaluated by using ultrasound scanning and ankle-brachial pressure index measurement. RESULTS: There was one (0.9%) perioperative death. Twenty stents were placed selectively in 14 iliac arteries. Mean follow-up was 14.7 months (range, 1-75 months). Overall, initial technical and clinical success rates were 96.4% and 92.8%, respectively. The cumulative primary, assisted primary, and secondary patency; continued clinical improvement; and limb salvage rates +/- SE at 5 years were 31.4% +/- 10.4%, 75.5% +/- 5.7%, 79.6% +/- 5.5%, 36.1% +/- 10.0%, and 89.1% +/- 4.0%, respectively. In each subgroup, the primary, assisted primary, and secondary patency; continued clinical improvement; and limb salvage rates at 3 years were 51.6%, 94.7%, 97.8%, 65.1%, and 95.0%, respectively, in the iliac group; 49.4%, 72.2%, 76.4%, 57.4%, and 92.7%, respectively, in the FP group; and 23.5%, 41.8%, 46.1%, 51.1%, and 77.3%, respectively, in the BK group. Of the 12 predictable variables, hypertension, multiple segment lesions, more distal lesions, and TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus classification type D were significant independent risk factors for the outcomes ( P < .05; univariate log-rank test and Cox regression multivariate analysis). CONCLUSIONS: PTA is a feasible, safe, and effective procedure for the treatment of CLI. The high limb salvage rate is attributed to the high assisted primary and secondary patency rates despite the low primary patency rate. Angioplasty can be the primary choice for the treatment of CLI due to iliac and infrainguinal arterial occlusive disease.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Discriminant analysis to study trace elements in biomonitoring: an application on neurodegenerative diseases.

Quantification of 26 elements was performed in blood of patients affected by neurodegenerative pathologies, i.e., Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple sclerosis (MS), and of a control group to study the potential role of blood elements as markers for the different neurodegenerations. A multivariate discriminant analysis (stepwise method) was applied to determine the best set of variables to discriminate among subjects with different health status. Preliminary results show three classification functions of seven elements, namely Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zr.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Use of the Hand Test in the classification of psychiatric inpatient adolescents.

This study investigates the extent to which 2 Hand Test variables, the Pathology summary score (PATH) and the Acting Out Score (AOS), were able to differentiate among 3 groups of adolescents. Thirty psychiatric inpatient adolescents diagnosed with various Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) behavioral and emotional disorders were compared to 30 outpatient and 30 nonclinical adolescents matched on age, grade, and sex. An analysis of variance demonstrated the ability of both PATH and AOS to significantly differentiate among the 3 groups. Multiple regression equations utilized PATH and AOS as significant predictors of inpatient status (p < .0001) and general patient (inpatient and outpatient) status (p < .0001). Utilizing diagnostic efficiency statistics, overall correct classification was found to be highest for PATH > or = 3 and AOS > or = 2. These findings support the application of the Hand Test as a useful assessment tool for adolescents suspected of having psychiatric disorders and present evidence for the use of PATH and AOS for classification purposes in ways that are clinically meaningful.

Acting Out↗

PubMed2006

Chemotherapy followed by low dose radiotherapy in childhood Hodgkin's disease: retrospective analysis of results and prognostic factors.

PURPOSE: To report the treatment results and prognostic factors of childhood patients with Hodgkin's disease treated with chemotherapy (CT) followed by low dose radiotherapy (RT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective series analyzed 166 patients under 18 years old, treated from January 1985 to December 2003. Median age was 10 years (range 2-18). The male to female ratio was 2,3 : 1. Lymphonode enlargement was the most frequent clinical manifestation (68%), and the time of symptom duration was less than 6 months in 55% of the patients. In histological analysis Nodular Sclerosis was the most prevalent type (48%) followed by Mixed Celularity (34.6%). The staging group according Ann Arbor classification was: I (11.7%), II (36.4%), III (32.1%) and IV (19.8%). The standard treatment consisted of chemotherapy multiple drug combination according the period of treatment protocols vigent: ABVD in 39% (n-65) of the cases, by VEEP in 13 %(n-22), MOPP in 13 %(n-22), OPPA-13 %(n-22) and ABVD/OPPA in 22 %(n-33). Radiotherapy was device to all areas of initial presentation of disease. Dose less or equal than 21 Gy was used in 90.2% of patients with most part of them (90%) by involved field (IFRT) or mantle field. RESULTS: The OS and EFS in 10 years were 89% and 87%. Survival according to clinical stage as 94.7%, 91.3%, 82.3% and 71% for stages I to IV(p = 0,005). The OS was in 91.3% of patients who received RT and in 72.6% of patients who did not (p = 0,003). Multivariate analysis showed presence of B symptoms, no radiotherapy and advanced clinical stage to be associated with a worse prognosis. CONCLUSION: This data demonstrating the importance of RT consolidation with low dose and reduced volume, in all clinical stage of childhood HD, producing satisfactory ten years OS and EFS. As the disease is highly curable, any data of long term follow-up should be presented in order to better direct therapy, and to identify groups of patients who would not benefit from radiation treatment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Analysis of acute myeloid leukemia cells by flow cytometry, introducing a new light-scattering classification.

A combined flow-cytometric evaluation of light scattering and the immunophenotype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells from 71 newly diagnosed consecutive patients was conducted. Light-scattering characteristic of AML cells examined by flow cytometry and multiple surface markers were also analyzed using the same samples, to enable a comparison with the French-American-British (FAB) classification. Our AML cases could be classified into three light-scattering classification (LSC) types according to their physical properties on flow cytometry. These were type A, where forward light scattering (FSC) of the leukemic cell population was larger than that of lymphocytes, while side light scattering (SSC) was the same or larger than that of lymphocytes but smaller than that of monocytes; type B, where FSC of the leukemic cell population was larger than that of lymphocytes and SSC spread toward that of monocytes; and type C, where both FSC and SSC of the leukemic cell population spread beyond those of monocytes. Although a clear relationship between the FAB classification and LSC classification by the light-scattering profile of AML was not established, we observed the following findings. The majority of cases were classified as type A (58%), while type B comprised 25% and type C comprised 17%. While CD7 expression on AML cells is considered to be an immature characteristic, CD7 was expressed more frequently among LSC type A cases. Furthermore, all but one of the FAB M1 cases were classified as type A. On the other hand, CD7 was not expressed on type C leukemic cells. The percentage of cases in which more than 60% of leukemic cells possessed another immature surface antigen, CD 34ö, was 13/18 (72%) among FAB M1 cases, much higher than among FAB M2 (35%) or FAB M4 (27%) cases. A negative correlation was observed between mature antigen CD33 and CD34 among the FAB M2 cases. The frequency of CD7 expression was 25% among the total cases, and CD7-positive cases were frequent among FAB M1 and M2, but not among FAB M3 cases. These findings concerning LSC and immunophenotyping indicate that the scattergram pattern analysis may contribute towards more precise immunophenotyping, in that it reflects the maturation stage of each AML case.

Acute Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Autoregressive and cepstral analyses of motor unit action potentials.

Quantitative electromyographic signal analysis in the time domain for motor unit action potential (MUAP) classification and disease identification has been well documented over recent years. Considerable work has also been carried out in the frequency domain using classical power spectrum analysis techniques. Although MUAP autoregressive (AR) spectral analysis has been suggested as a diagnostic tool by a number of studies, it has not been thoroughly investigated yet. This work investigates the application of AR modeling and cepstral analysis for the diagnostic assessment of MUAPs recorded from normal (NOR) subjects and subjects suffering with motor neuron disease (MND) and myopathy (MYO). The following feature sets were extracted from the MUAP signal: (i) time domain measures, (ii) AR spectral measures, (iii) AR coefficients, and (iv) cepstral coefficients. Discriminative analysis of the individual features was carried out using the univariate and multiple covariance analysis methods. Both methods showed that: (i) the duration measure is the best discriminative feature among the time domain parameters, and (ii) the median frequency is the best discriminative feature among the AR spectral measures. Furthermore, the classification performance of the above four feature sets was investigated for three classes (NOR, MND and MYO) using artificial neural networks. Results showed that the highest diagnostic yield was obtained with the time domain measures followed by the cepstral coefficients, the AR spectral parameters, and the AR coefficients. In conclusion, MUAP autoregressive and cepstral analyses combined with time domain analysis provide useful information in the assessment of myopathology.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2006

Pregnancy complications in women with inherited thrombophilia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine whether women with inherited thrombophilia have an increased risk of developing pregnancy complications. METHODS: All singleton pregnancies with known inherited thrombophilia were compared to those without inherited thrombophilia for deliveries during the years 2000-2002 in a tertiary medical center. Data regarding inherited thrombophilia (International Classification of Disease 9th revision, Clinical Modification code 286.3) were available from the perinatal database in our center. Women lacking prenatal care were excluded from the analysis. Stratified analysis, using a multiple logistic regression model, was performed to control for confounders. RESULTS: Out of 32,763 singleton deliveries that occurred during the study period, 0.2% (n=57) of the women were diagnosed with inherited thrombophilia. Using a multivariate analysis, with backward elimination, the following conditions were significantly associated with inherited thrombophilia: previous fetal losses [odds ratio (OR)=5.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9-10.3; P<0.001], recurrent abortions (OR=9.5; 95% CI 5.5-16.3; P<0.001), fertility treatments (OR=3.7; 95% CI 1.3-10.6; P=0.014), and intrauterine growth restriction (OR=7.2; 95% CI 3.4-15; P<0.001). Perinatal mortality was significantly higher in women with inherited thrombophilia than in those without known thrombophilia 5.3% (3/57) versus 0.6% (477/32,763) P=0.017. However, inherited thrombophilia was not found to be an independent risk factor for perinatal mortality (OR=3.05; 95% CI 0.90-10.3; P<0.073) in a multivariate analysis with perinatal mortality as the outcome variable, controlling for recurrent abortions, IUGR, and gestational age. CONCLUSION: Inherited thrombophilia, associated with previous fetal losses, recurrent abortions, fertility treatments, and intrauterine growth restriction, was not an independent risk factor for perinatal mortality.

Blood Coagulation Disorders, Inherited↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Ensemble of linear models for predicting drug properties.

We propose a new classification method for the prediction of drug properties, called random feature subset boosting for linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The main novelty of this method is the ability to overcome the problems with constructing ensembles of linear discriminant models based on generalized eigenvectors of covariance matrices. Such linear models are popular in building classification-based structure-activity relationships. The introduction of ensembles of LDA models allows for an analysis of more complex problems than by using single LDA, for example, those involving multiple mechanisms of action. Using four data sets, we show experimentally that the method is competitive with other recently studied chemoinformatic methods, including support vector machines and models based on decision trees. We present an easy scheme for interpreting the model despite its apparent sophistication. We also outline theoretical evidence as to why, contrary to the conventional AdaBoost ensemble algorithm, this method is able to increase the accuracy of LDA models.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗

PubMed1990

Screening for asbestos-related pleural disease with digital storage phosphor radiography.

Digital storage phosphor radiography (SR) has a wide dynamic range and unique postprocessing capabilities that may improve the performance of screening studies for asbestos-related pleural disease compared with conventional film radiography (FR). In a group of 32 asbestos-exposed and nine control subjects with established pleural data, we compared the screening performance of FR and SR obtained with a single isoexposure, dual-energy technique (system resolution 0.2 mm, 10 bits). Performance was evaluated for 7320 observations by eight readers using a paired t test (P less than .02 with Bonferroni correction) of averaged receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) areas (Az +/- standard error). We found that SR alone and SR supplemented by dual-energy soft-tissue and calcium images (SRde) were superior to FR in the overall detection of pleural abnormalities (Az = 0.90 +/- 0.01, 0.90 +/- 0.01, and 0.88 +/- 0.01, respectively). In the specific detection of pleural calcification, SRde was superior to FR (Az = 0.91 +/- 0.01 and 0.87 +/- 0.01, respectively; P less than 0.01). Analysis of variance indicated that SRde most closely reproduced an established pleural score based on the International Labor Organization (ILO) classification of the pneumoconioses (P less than 0.05, Scheffé's multiple comparison test). We conclude that isodose SR performs at least as well as FR in screening for asbestos-related pleural disease. SR supplemented by dual-energy images might improve the specific detection of pleural calcifications compared with FR.

Asbestosis↗

PubMed2001

Variation in cervical cancer screening by region, socio-economic, migrant and indigenous status in women in New South Wales.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the extent of association of cervical screening in NSW women with socio-economic status (SES), rurality, and proportions of non-English speaking background (NESB) and Indigenous status. Data on women who had at least one Pap test over two years (January 1998-December 1999) were obtained from the NSW Pap test Register. Each local government area (LGA) was allocated to categories of population proportions of NESB and Indigenous status, a rurality classification based on population density and remoteness, and to an SES quintile. The odds ratios (OR) of having a Pap test were estimated and confounding adjusted by multiple logistic regression analysis. Implied Pap test rates in urban NESB and in rural Indigenous women were estimated from the modelled estimates. The adjusted OR for a Pap test in large rural centres (1.14) was significantly higher than those for metropolitan or capital city residents (0.9 and 1.0 respectively). Adjusted OR for a Pap test in other rural centres (0.73) and other remote areas (0.64) were significantly lower than those for metropolitan or capital city residents. In urban populations the lowest OR were in areas with both low SES and high proportion of NESB. The lowest OR for Pap screening in rural populations occurred in the most remote areas with the highest proportion of Indigenous women. For urban NESB women the biennial Pap test rate was estimated as 50%, and for rural Indigenous women 29%, compared with the NSW average of 59%.

Adult↗