OBJECTIVE We aim to evaluate the accuracy of the 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in the diagnosis of bloodstream infections through a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS A computerized literature search was conducted to identify studies that assessed the diagnostic value of 16S rRNA gene PCR test for bloodstream infections. Study qualit...

Introduction. In developing countries, a lack of decentralization of perinatal care leads to many high-risk births occurring in facilities that do not have NICU, leading to admission to a PICU. Objective. To assess SNAP II and SNAPPE II as predictors of neonatal death in the PICU. Methodology. A prospective study of newborns divided into 3 groups according to postnatal age: Group 1 (G1), of 0 t...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a substantial therapeutic challenge. A previous prospective study of 63 patients with CDI identified risk factors associated with recurrence. This study aimed to develop a prediction rule for recurrent CDI using the above derivation cohort and prospectively evaluate the performance of this rule in an independent ...

A disk Wang-Bézier type generalized Ball curve is a Wang-Bézier type generalized Ball curve whose control points are disks in a plane. It can be viewed as a parametric curve with error tolerances. In this paper, we discuss the problem of degree reduction of disk Wang-Bézier type generalized Ball curve, that is, bounding disk Wang-Bézier type generalized Ball curves with lower degree disk Wa...

Purpose To evaluate the clinical value of circulating tumor cells as a surrogate to detect epidermal growth factor receptor mutation in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods We searched the electronic databases, and all articles meeting predetermined selection criteria were included in this study. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative...

BACKGROUND The North American non-surgical standard of care for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) includes observation and bracing, but not exercises. Schroth physiotherapeutic scoliosis-specific exercises (PSSE) showed promise in several studies of suboptimal methodology. The Scoliosis Research Society calls for rigorous studies supporting the role of exercises before including it as a tre...