INTRODUCTION Differences between the opinions of patients and physicians on the impact of asthma are common. We hypothesised that patient-physician discordance may negatively affect asthma outcome. METHODS A total of 2902 patients (61% women, mean age 47 years) with moderate-severe asthma and 231 physicians participated in a prospective study. At the baseline visit, data on demographics, clin...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Partnerships that are discordant by demographic and behavioral characteristics or are concurrent may facilitate transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by bridging sexual networks. GOAL : The goal of this study was to examine if STI risk within partnerships is associated with discordance and concurrency using the partnership as the unit of analysis. ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between first-trimester growth discordance and adverse pregnancy outcome in dichorionic twin pregnancies. METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study of consecutive women with dichorionic twin pregnancies undergoing an ultrasound scan at our institution between 7 and 14 weeks' gestation. Study groups were defined by the presence or absence of ≥ 11% crow...

BACKGROUND There is limited evidence that among HIV-infected patients haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values may not accurately reflect glycaemia. We assessed HbA1c discordance (observed HbA1c - expected HbA1c) and associated factors among HIV-infected participants in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). METHODS Fasting glucose (FG) and HbA1c were measured at each semi-annual MACS visit since 19...

BACKGROUND The discordance in oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status between primary and recurrent breast cancer is being intensively investigated and a large amount of data have been produced. However, results from different studies are heterogeneous and often conflicting. To highlight this issue, a meta-analysis of publi...

LANGUAGE OUTCOME AFTER LEFT TEMPORAL LOBECTOMY IN PATIENTS WITH DISCORDANT fMRI AND SODIUM AMOBARBITAL TESTING RESULTS Julie K. Janecek, M.S. Marquette University, 2011 The rationale for this study was to examine 1) language lateralization discordance rates between fMRI and the IAT in pre-surgical epilepsy patients and 2) naming outcome after left ATL in a group of patients for whom IAT and fMR...

BACKGROUND IFN-gamma Release Assays (IGRAs) have been licensed for the diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Their performance may depend on assay format and may vary across populations and settings. We compared the diagnostic performance of an in-house T -cell and commercial whole blood-based IGRAs for the diagnosis of LTBI and TB disease in The Gambia. METHODS New...

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the use of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) by community radiologists by determining the concordance of assessment categories and recommendations assigned to screening mammograms. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study comprised the interpretations of 82,620 consecutive screening mammograms by 18 radiologists between ...

BACKGROUND Current status of external quality assessment (EQA) of laboratory tests for syphilis in Korea was analyzed to find out the problems that should be improved in the future. METHODS Based on the data from the external quality assessment program performed twice a year by the Immunoserology Subcommittee of the Korean Association of Quality Assurance for Clinical Laboratory from the year...

INTRODUCTION In sub-Saharan Africa where HIV/AIDS epidemic is predominantly generalized, majority of HIV infections occur among heterosexual couples. The majority of people do not know their sero-status. Thus, utilisation of Couples' HIV Counselling and Testing (CHCT) services remain to be critical in preventing new infections. The objective was to establish prevalence and predictors of HIV ser...