Reference limits are estimators for 'extreme' percentiles of the distribution of a quantitative diagnostic marker in the healthy population. In most cases, interest will be in the 90% or 95% reference intervals. The standard parametric method of determining reference limits consists of computing quantities of the form X̅±c·S. The proportion of covered values in the underlying population coincide...

During the last two decades, many products, research projects and prototypes were announced with different characteristics capabilities, all adopting “smart” qualifier word. If a smartness property could not be defined simply as true or false, defining suitable range was an easy task. This issue led to proposal of some classification models, frameworks taxonomies for project classifications, bu...

BACKGROUND Net cellular uptake of (18)F-FDG is adversely affected by elevated plasma glucose levels. The purpose of our study was to investigate the influence of hyperglycemic state at the time of (18)F-FDG injection on the diagnostic accuracy of (18)F-FDG PET/CT. METHOD Pre-scan plasma glucose levels of all patients who were referred for PET/CT with an oncologic indication during the year 20...

The performance of a new diagnostic test is frequently evaluated by comparison to a perfect reference test (i.e. a gold standard). In many instances, however, a reference test is less than perfect. In this paper, we review methods for estimation of the accuracy of a diagnostic test when an imperfect reference test with known classification errors is available. Furthermore, we focus our presenta...

Severe traction injuries may damage the brachial plexus at any level from the spinal cord to the axillary outlet. Investigation aims to determine the level of the injury for each of the nerves, trunks or cords, with particular reference to obtaining firm evidence of any intradural (pre-ganglionic) damage. We report the results of computerised axial tomography of the cervical spine in comparison...

INTRODUCTION Consensus Conference Subcommittee 2 was charged with the identification and definition of all diagnostic terms for pulpal health and disease states by using a systematic review of the literature. METHODS Eight databases were searched, and numerous widely recognized endodontic texts were consulted. For each reference the level of evidence was determined, and the findings were summ...