New technologies are revolutionizing diagnostic microbiology, but implementation of methodological advances in test evaluation has been extraordinarily slow. Published reports frequently fail to clearly distinguish between studies of analytical accuracy and those of clinical diagnostic performance. We argue that the evaluation of sensitivity and specificity, while necessary and occasionally pro...

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES The level of evidence and methodological quality of articles published in medical journals are important aids for clinicians in decision-making and also affect journals' impact factor. Although systematic reviews (SR) are considered to represent the highest level of evidence, their methodological quality is not homogeneous and they need to be as carefully assessed as othe...

Objectives To (1) give an overview of commonly used game-specific skills tests in rugby and (2) evaluate available psychometric information of these tests. Methods The databases PubMed, MEDLINE CINAHL and Africa Wide information were systematically searched for articles published between January 1995 and March 2017. First, commonly used game-specific skills tests were identified. Second, the ...

BACKGROUND The last decade has seen a number of methodological developments in meta-analysis of diagnostic test studies. However, it is unclear whether such developments have permeated the wider research community and on which applications they are being deployed. The objective was to assess the uptake and deployment of the main methodological developments in the meta-analysis of diagnostic tes...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the diagnostic utility of electrophysiological recordings during active cognitive tasks in detecting residual cognitive capacities in patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) after severe acquired brain injury. DESIGN Systematic review of empirical research in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane from January 2002 to March 2016. MAIN MEASURES Data extracted...

Wilson's disease is a rare but treatable condition with variable clinical presentations. Its diagnosis depends on a combination of clinical and laboratory findings. We evaluated the clinical and laboratory findings in children with Wilson's disease (WD). Twenty -seven children (4-14 years, 59.2 % male, 40.7% female) with confirmed WD were evaluated between 1994 and 2003 at Imam Khomeini Hos...

wilson's disease is a rare but treatable condition with variable clinical presentations. its diagnosis depends on a combination of clinical and laboratory findings. we evaluated the clinical and laboratory findings in children with wilson's disease (wd). twenty -seven children (4-14 years, 59.2 % male, 40.7% female) with confirmed wd were evaluated between 1994 and 2003 at imam khomei...