Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide and numerous ongoing research efforts are directed to identify new strategies for its early detection. The development of non-invasive blood-based biomarkers for cancer detection in its preclinical phases is crucial to improve the outcome of this deadly disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a new promising class of circulating biomarkers...

Accurate diagnostic activity in general practice before colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis is crucial for an early detection of CRC. This study aimed to investigate the rates of daytime consultations, hemoglobin (Hb) measurements and medicine prescriptions for hemorrhoids in general practice in the year preceding CRC diagnosis. Using Danish registries, we conducted a population-based matched coh...

AIMS To determine the adjunctive value of CT coronary angiography (CTCA) in the diagnostic work-up of patients with typical angina pectoris. METHODS AND RESULTS CTCA was performed in 62 consecutive patients (45 male, mean age 58.8 +/- 7.7 years) with typical angina undergoing diagnostic work-up including exercise-ECG and conventional coronary angiography. Only patients with sinus heart rhythm...

BACKGROUND Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of test accuracy studies are increasingly being recognised as central in guiding clinical practice. However, there is currently no dedicated and comprehensive software for meta-analysis of diagnostic data. In this article, we present Meta-DiSc, a Windows-based, user-friendly, freely available (for academic use) software that we have developed, pil...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Left ventricular hypertrophy has important prognostic implications. Although electrocardiography is the technique most often recommended in the diagnosis of hypertrophy, its diagnostic accuracy is hampered in the presence of a left bundle branch block. METHODS In 1875 consecutive patients (56±16 years) undergoing studies to rule out heart disease and/or hypertensio...

BACKGROUND Many blood tests have been proposed as alternatives to liver biopsy for identifying fibrosis or cirrhosis. PURPOSE To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of blood tests to identify fibrosis or cirrhosis in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE (1947 to January 2013), the Cochrane Library, and reference lists. STUDY SELECTION Studies that compared th...

BACKGROUND Numerous published studies have shown the high diagnostic performance of both EUS and MRCP compared with ERCP for the detection of choledocholithiasis. DESIGN We undertook a systematic review of all published randomized, prospective trials that compared EUS with MRCP with the primary aim being to compare the overall diagnostic accuracy for the detection of choledocholithiasis in pa...

BACKGROUND Hypothyroidism is a common, potentially treatable endocrine disorder. Since hypothyroidism is not always associated with the signs and symptoms typically attributed to it, the diagnosis is often missed. Conversely, patients with typical signs and symptoms may not have the disease when laboratory tests are performed. AIMS We aimed to determine the accuracy of physical examination in...

Seyfert narrow line region (NLR) emission line ratios are remarkably uniform, displaying only ∼0.5 dex variation between galaxies, and even less within an individual object. Previous photoionization and shock models of this region were unable to explain this observation without the introduction of arbitrary assumptions or additional parameters. Dusty, radiation pressure dominated photoionizatio...

The medical history is a powerful diagnostic technology. However, in seeking to establish an appropriate balance between the history and the other diagnostic modalities more explicit consideration must be given to the performance characteristics of the medical history. Building on recent work undertaken in the UK and elsewhere in Europe it is now feasible to develop a library of setting-specifi...