BACKGROUND Intensive residential treatment (IRT) is effective for severe, treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We sought to characterize predictors and course of response to IRT. METHODS Admission, monthly, and discharge data were collected on individuals receiving IRT. We examined the association between baseline characteristics and percent change in OCD symptoms as measu...

Item response theory (IRT) is concerned with accurate test scoring and development of test items. You design test items to measure various kinds of abilities (such as math ability), traits (such as extroversion), or behavioral characteristics (such as purchasing tendency). Responses to test items can be binary (such as correct or incorrect responses in ability tests) or ordinal (such as degree ...

BACKGROUND Previous cost-effectiveness studies using data from the literature showed that newborn screening for cystic fibrosis (NBSCF) is a good economic option with positive health effects and longer survival. METHODS We used primary data to compare cost-effectiveness of four screening strategies for NBSCF, i.e. immunoreactive trypsinogen-testing followed by pancreatitis-associated protein-...

OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of cloned inhibitor-resistant TEM beta-lactamases (IRTs) on the susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae to amoxicillin/clavulanate. METHODS IRT-2, -4 and -5 genes with various promoters were cloned into control strains of H. influenzae and the amoxicillin/clavulanate MICs were measured using Etests. RESULTS IRT enzymes were able to raise the amoxicillin/c...

In the present research, we used item response theory (IRT) to examine whether effective predictions (anticipated affect) conforms to a typical (i.e., what people usually do) or a maximal behavior process (i.e., what people can do). The former, correspond to non-monotonic ideal point IRT models, whereas the latter correspond to monotonic dominance IRT models. A convenience, cross-sectional stud...

Item response theory (IRT) models are commonly used in the realm of educational and psychological testing. The three commonly used IRT models for responses that are graded as either correct or incorrect are the One-parameter, Two-parameter, and Three parameter IRT models. These models are used to calibrate standardized tests and to assess human latent traits such as student’s overall intelligen...

AIMS Alternative transcription and splicing of the allograft inflammatory factor-1 (AIF-1) gene results in the expression of two different proteins: AIF-1 and interferon responsive transcript-1 (IRT-1).  Here, we explore the impact of AIF-1 and IRT-1 on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) activation and neointima formation, the mechanisms underlying their alternative splicing, and associations o...

The popularity of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) is increasing rapidly. In order to make learning environments more efficient, researchers have been exploring the possibility of an automatic adaptation of the learning environment to the learner or the context. One of the possible adaptation techniques is adaptive item sequencing by matching the difficulty of the items to the learner’s know...

Intensive endurance exercise is known to induce lymphocyte apoptosis, which might affect immune function. Less is known about the effects of resistance exercise on apoptosis and its underlying mechanisms. In this study, subjects performed an intensive resistance test (IRT) and a moderate resistance test, and lymphocyte apoptosis, apoptosis-related parameters, and underlying mechanisms were inve...

High blood trypsin levels during early days of life are found in newborns subsequently diagnosed to be affected by cystic fibrosis. The authors compared the validity of the traditional meconium test with the blood immunoreactive trypsin (IRT) assay, carried out in parallel on 113,302 neonates from three regions of North-eastern Italy. The meconium test showed a sensitivity of 57.7%. The sensiti...