BACKGROUND Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) has been identified as an early biomarker for prediction of acute kidney injury (AKI). However, the utility of NGAL to predict the occurrence of AKI in septic patients remains controversial. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the evidence on diagnosis of sepsis AKI and the prediction of other clinical outco...

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the third most common type of gynecological cancer. Measurements of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) levels have been suggested for improving the specificity of the laboratory identification of OC. For this meta-analysis, the Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched to identify relevant studies. All the included studies for diagnostic performance were combined...

BACKGROUND Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7), inducers of G1 cell cycle arrest, are two recently discovered good biomarkers for early diagnosis of acute kidney injury (AKI). To obtain a more robust performance measurement, the present meta-analysis was performed, pooling existing studies. METHODS Literature in the MEDLIN...

OBJECTIVE We aim to evaluate the accuracy of the 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in the diagnosis of bloodstream infections through a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS A computerized literature search was conducted to identify studies that assessed the diagnostic value of 16S rRNA gene PCR test for bloodstream infections. Study qualit...

The clinical value of Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) to detect early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been questioned due to its low sensitivity and specificity found in recent years. Other than AFP, several new serum biomarkers including the circulating AFP isoform AFP-L3, des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) and Golgi protein-73 (GP73) have been identified as useful HCC markers. In this inves...

The role of 18F-fuorodexoyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) in the staging of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) has been demonstrated extensively. Nevertheless, the role of PET/CT in the diagnosis, staging, prognosis, and treatment evaluation of natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma remains indeterminate. To systematica...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Studies of diagnostic accuracy most often report pairs of sensitivity and specificity. We demonstrate the advantage of using bivariate meta-regression models to analyze such data. METHODS We discuss the methodology of both the summary Receiver Operating Characteristic (sROC) and the bivariate approach by reanalyzing the data of a published meta-analysis. RESULTS Th...

Meta-analytic methods for diagnostic test performance, Bayesian methods in particular, have not been well developed. The most commonly used method for meta-analysis of diagnostic test performance is the Summary Receiver Operator Characteristic (SROC) curve approach of Moses, Shapiro and Littenberg. In this paper, we provide a brief summary of the SROC method, then present a case study of a Baye...

Using resolutions of singularities introduced by Cortez and a method for calculating Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials due to Polo, we prove the conjecture of Billey and Braden characterizing permutations w with KazhdanLusztig polynomial Pid,w(q) = 1 + q for some h. Résumé. On démontre la conjecture de Billey et Braden sur les permutations w pour lesquelles le polynôme de Kazhdan-Lusztig Pid,w(q) = 1...

•The diagnostic performance of abbreviated MRI matches standard breast MRI. •Few studies investigated screening populations alone. mean examination time is significantly reduced. protocols reported are very varied. AIM To undertake a meta-analysis the (ABB) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and full protocol (FDP-MRI) in cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was performed using Preferred Reporting ...