We observed that the pH of positive blood culture broths was significantly lower than that of negative broths. However, significantly pH changes were generally not observed for subculture-positive, macroscopically negative blood culture broths. Therefore, although the pH of most positive blood culture broths was reduced significantly, this change was generally not useful for the early detection...

The aim of this quality improvement initiative was to incorporate a paediatric early warning score (PEWS) and track and trigger system in the routine care of children in an acute general children's ward at a regional hospital in the Republic of Ireland. In the absence of a nationally recommended specific PEWS strategy, a local plan was developed. The experience of structuring and implementing t...

One of the more well-known unsolved problems in number theory is the Collatz (3n + 1) Conjecture. The conjecture states that iterating the map that takes even n ∈ N to n 2 and odd n to 3n+1 2 will eventually yield 1. This paper is an exploration of this conjecture on positive integers of the form 2kb − m and 3kb − 1, and stems from the work of the first author’s Senior Seminar research. We take...

Enthusiasm over scientific progress in prevention, early detection, and treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) remains tempered by the sobering recognition that racial and ethnic disparities in CRC screening, incidence, and mortality exist in the US. According to 2004-2008 data from the NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program, the incidence of CRC is approximately 24% high...

Early detection of hearing loss is considered to be very important for the development of hearing impaired infants. Several audiometrical methods can be used to detect hearing loss as early as possible. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the most commonly used early detection methods.

Because early detection of pancreatic cancer is the best way to cure this disease, investigators continue to try to identify accurate markers of early pancreatic cancer. Because early-stage pancreatic cancer is generally asymptomatic, the only reliable way to detect it is by targeting individuals at increased risk for pancreatic screening.

Objectives It is well known that a sequentially monitored clinical trial that stops early for benefit has a crude treatment difference that overestimates the true treatment effect. This has led to extended debate in the literature, with some researchers arguing that early stopping is an important source of bias in meta-analyses of clinical trials. We therefore investigated the implications of e...