The INFLU A.B-Quick and Directigen Flu A+B enzyme immunoassays were compared with direct immunofluorescence and cell culture for detection of influenza A and B viruses in a total of 255 patient specimens. Both assays identified 23 of 42 influenza A viruses (sensitivity, 54.8%; specificity, 100%; positive predictive value [PPV], 100%; negative predictive value [NPV], 91.8%). The INFLU A.B-Quick ...

BACKGROUND Atopic dermatitis is commonly associated with food allergy. In addition to skin prick tests (SPTs) and measurements of specific IgE levels, the atopy patch test (APT) has recently been introduced into the diagnostic procedure for food allergy. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to evaluate whether a combination of allergologic tests could improve the prognostic value of the individual tests for...

OBJECTIVE This study tried to assess sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of procalcitonin for diagnosis of neonatal bacterial infections. METHODS This prospective cross sectional study was carried out during an 18-month period in NICU and neonatal wards of Besat Hospital in Hamedan province, Iran. 39 symptomatic infants with clinical and laboratory findings in fav...

The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the positive predictive value (PPV) curve and the negative predictive value (NPV) curve are three measures of performance for a continuous diagnostic biomarker. The ROC, PPV and NPV curves are often estimated empirically to avoid assumptions about the distributional form of the biomarkers. Recently, there has been a push to incorporate group se...

We retrospectively analyzed the performance of the Architect HIV antigen/antibody (Ag/Ab) combination assay in a tertiary health care center with a situation of low HIV prevalence. The specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) were 99.78% and 31.21%, respectively. However, the specificity and PPV could increase to 99.99% and 89.70% using an arbitrary cutoff value.

Background Abnormal vaginal bleeding (AUB) is among the most prevalent gynecologic complaints, which is responsible for nearly 33% of all gynecology clinic referees. Intrauterine anatomic lesions are one of the etiologies leading to AUB and hysteroscopy is the gold standard method for evaluating these problems. The accuracy of hysteroscopy vary in different intra-cavitary problems. Gold standar...

In this study, the occurrence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in Brazilian agouti (Dasyprocta aguti) was compared by modified agglutination test (MAT) and indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) using anti-capybara conjugate. Sera from 109 animals were tested using MAT (1:25 cut-off) and IFAT (1:16 cut-off); 19% were positive by MAT, and 18% were positive by IFAT. Overall, the 17 IFAT-posi...

Background Müllerian anomalies are associated with infertility. Hysteroscopy as the gold standard of evaluating Müllerian anomalies is an invasive, expensive and risky procedure which requires enough experience. Transvaginal sonography (TVS) and hysterosalpingography (HSG) are less invasive procedures, but their accuracy is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of combinati...

background coronary artery disease is the single most important cause of mortality and morbidity in diabetic patients. electrocardiographic stress test is a non-invasive modality to screen significant coronary involvement in minimally symptomatic diabetics. objectives we investigated the positive predictive value (ppv) of this test in comparison with coronary angiography. materials and methods ...