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At least 577 records · Page 32Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Validity of the Fagerström test for nicotine dependence and of the Heaviness of Smoking Index among relatively light smokers.

AIMS: To assess the validity of the Fagerström test for nicotine dependence (FTND, six items) and of a short-form of this questionnaire, the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI, two items), in a population of relatively light smokers. DESIGN: Comparison of item content with published definitions of addiction. Test-retest reliability and multiple tests of construct validity, based on a secondary analysis of a cohort study conducted between November 1995 and June 1996. SETTING: University of Geneva, Switzerland. PARTICIPANTS: Students (82%), academic (12%) and administrative staff (6%): 643 smokers at baseline and 482 smokers at follow-up. MEASUREMENTS: French-language versions of the FTND and HSI, smoking status, saliva cotinine level, self-efficacy for quitting smoking and other variables related to addiction with cigarettes. FINDINGS: A literature review showed that both composite scales fail to assess several recognised aspects of tobacco dependence. In this population of relatively light smokers (average: 12 cigarettes per day), both tests had important floor effects with, respectively, 55% and 63% of participants with scores equal to 0 or 1 on these scales. In addition, two of the FTND items (Difficult-to-refrain and Hate-most-to-give-up) had poor psychometric properties. Even though FTND and HSI correlated about as expected with criterion variables, the number of cigarettes smoked per day performed better than either composite scale on most validation criteria. CONCLUSION: In a population of relatively light smokers, FTND and HSI seem to measure little more than the number of cigarettes per day. Designing a new and more broadly applicable test of addiction to cigarettes is a research priority.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Guidelines in the management of Helicobacter pylori infection in Japan.

BACKGROUND: In preparation of the approval of Helicobacter pylori therapy by the Japanese national health system, the board of directors of the Japanese Society for Helicobacter Research decided to prepare guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of H. pylori infection for physicians in routine medical practice. METHODS: A guidelines preparation committee was formed and six meetings were held. Then, in December 1999, a consensus meeting was held in Kobe to obtain the opinions of general practitioners as well as experts from Europe, North America, and Asia. RESULTS: Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy is recommended in gastric or duodenal ulcer patients. Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy is recommended or gastric mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma but it should be done at specialist institutions. The significance of H. pylori eradication therapy is still under evaluation in patients with hyperplastic polyps, chronic atrophic gastritis, non-ulcer dyspepsia and in patients after endoscopic mucosal resection of gastric cancer and after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. When diagnosing H. pylori infection, at least one of the tests requiring endoscopic biopsy (e.g. rapid urease test, histology, or culture) and tests not requiring biopsy (e.g. measurement of H. pylori antibody or urea breath test) should be used. Multiple tests are recommended to increase the accuracy. The drugs of first choice currently covered by the national health insurance system in Japan are: lansoprazole (30 mg) 1 capsule twice daily, amoxicillin (250 mg) 3 capsules twice daily, and clarithromycin (200 mg) 1-2 tablets twice daily. These three drugs should be administered after breakfast and dinner for 1 week. CONCLUSION: These guidelines are intended for utilization in routine medical practice after the Japanese national health system begins to cover the management of H. pylori infection.

Amoxicillin↗
PubMed2003

Fecal multiple molecular tests to detect colorectal cancer in stool.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Evaluation of molecular alterations in fecal DNA is a potential, noninvasive, alternative tool for the detection of colorectal cancer. We analyzed a large panel of molecular alterations involved in tumor transformation and progression to define their single diagnostic contribution in terms of sensitivity, cost, and time required to carry out the different tests. METHODS: DNA was analyzed in stool from 38 healthy individuals and in paired stools and primary lesions from 56 patients with colorectal cancer. p53 exons 5-8, K-ras exons 1-2, four fragments of adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) exon 15, and 5 microsatellite loci were analyzed. Moreover, DNA amplification was evaluated for 4 exons of both p53 and APC. RESULTS: K-ras (34%) and p53 (34%) mutations were the most frequent alterations in tumors, followed by microsatellite instability (13%) and APC mutations (13%). The most frequent event in stool was DNA amplification (51%), followed by alterations of K-ras (11%), p53 and microsatellite instability (6%), and APC (2%). K-ras and p53 gene mutations increased the capacity of DNA amplification to detect tumor cells by 8%. CONCLUSIONS: K-ras and p53 gene mutations were the most frequent alterations observed in stool from patients with colorectal cancer, but DNA amplification was even more frequent, being present in more than half of patients. If these preliminary results are confirmed in a prospective study on a larger case series, this approach could be used for noninvasive colon cancer diagnosis in screening programs.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Transnasal versus transoral endoscopy for the placement of nasoenteral feeding tubes in critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND: Nasoenteral feeding tube placement with the Seldinger technique using transoral endoscopy is a tedious procedure. This study compared the transoral approach with a new technique that uses a transnasal endoscope without the need for a mouth-to-nose wire transfer. METHODS: Critically ill patients requiring nasoenteral feeding tube placement were randomly assigned to the transoral technique using a standard upper endoscope (n = 80) or the transnasal method using a 5.3 mm fiberscope (n = 80). Procedure time, medication requirement, technical difficulty, patient tolerance, and radiologic tube position were assessed. RESULTS: The two groups were similar with regard to baseline medication, endoscopic findings, as well as overall technical difficulty and patient tolerance. The transnasal technique required less procedure time (median 8.0 versus 12.0 minutes, p < 0.001) and less relaxant medication (p = 0.029). Furthermore, it caused fewer circulatory (p = 0.040) and respiratory (p = 0.016) alterations regardless of the application of sedative or relaxant medication. The transnasal endoscope was inferior with respect to passage through the pylorus (p = 0.003) and duodenum (p = 0.020). These differences were significant in univariate hypothesis testing. Bonferroni correction for multiple testing of data removed the significance at p > 0.0031. Both techniques achieved similar rates of successful tube placement in the small bowel (86% versus 84%, p = 0.82). CONCLUSION: Transnasal endoscopy allows accurate placement of nasoenteral feeding tubes in critically ill patients and is superior to transoral endoscopy in terms of procedure time, medication requirement, and safety.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

An approach to analyzing a single subject's scores obtained in a standardized test with application to the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT).

Methods for the analysis of a single subject's test profile(s) proposed by Huber (1973) are applied to the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT). The procedures are based on the classical test theory model (Lord & Novick, 1968) and are suited for any (achievement) test with standard norms from a large standardization sample and satisfactory reliability estimates. Two test profiles of a Wernicke's aphasic, obtained before and after a 3-month period of speech therapy, are analyzed using inferential comparisons between (groups of) subtest scores on one test application and between two test administrations for single (groups of) subtests. For each of these comparisons, the two aspects of (i) significant (reliable) differences in performance beyond measurement error and (ii) the diagnostic validity of that difference in the reference population of aphasic patients are assessed. Significant differences between standardized subtest scores and a remarkably better preserved reading and writing ability could be found for both test administrations using the multiple test procedure of Holm (1979). Comparison of both profiles revealed an overall increase in performance for each subtest as well as changes in level of performance relations between pairs of subtests.

Anomia↗
PubMed2005

The fallback procedure for evaluating a single family of hypotheses.

In testing multiple hypotheses, control of the familywise error rate is often considered. We develop a procedure called the "fallback procedure" to control the familywise error rate when multiple primary hypotheses are tested. With the fallback procedure, the Type I error rate (alpha) is partitioned among the various hypotheses of interest. Unlike the standard Bonferroni adjustment, however, testing hypotheses proceeds in an order determined a priori. As long as hypotheses are rejected, the Type I error rate can be accumulated, making tests of later hypotheses more powerful than under the Bonferroni procedure. Unlike the fixed sequence test, the fallback test allows consideration of all hypotheses even if one or more hypotheses are not rejected early in the process, thereby avoiding a common concern about the fixed sequence procedure. We develop properties of the fallback procedure, including control of the familywise error rate for an arbitrary number of hypotheses via illustrating the procedure as a closed testing procedure, as well as making the test more powerful via alpha exhaustion. We compare it to other procedures for controlling familywise error rates, finding that the fallback procedure is a viable alternative to the fixed sequence procedure when there is some doubt about the power for the first hypothesis. These results expand on the previously developed properties of the fallback procedure (Wiens, 2003). Several examples are discussed to illustrate the relative advantages of the fallback procedure.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Inbreeding, microsatellite heterozygosity, and morphological traits in Lipizzan horses.

While the negative effects of inbreeding and reduced heterozygosity on fecundity and survival are well established, only a few investigations have been carried out concerning their influence on morphological traits. This topic is of particular interest for a small and closed population such as the Lipizzan horse. Thus, 27 morphological traits were measured in 360 Lipizzan mares and were regressed on the individual inbreeding coefficients, as well as on the individual heterozygosity and mean squared distances (mean d(2)) between microsatellite alleles within an individual. Both individual heterozygosity and mean d(2) were based on 17 microsatellite loci dispersed over 14 chromosomes. The results obtained by multivariate analysis reveal significant effects of stud (P <.0001), age at measurement (P <.0001), and mean d(2) (P =.0143). In univariate analyses, significant associations were obtained between length of pastern-hindlimbs and inbreeding coefficient (P <.01), length of cannons-hindlimb and mean d(2) (P <.01), and length of neck and mean d(2) (P <.001). After adjustment of single-test P values for multiple tests (Hochberg's step-up Bonferroni method), only the association of the length of neck and mean d(2) remained significant (P =.0213). Thus, no overall large effects of inbreeding, microsatellite heterozygosity, and mean d(2) on morphological traits were observed in the Lipizzan horse.

Animals↗