BACKGROUND AND AIM: We sought to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic value of ‎epicutaneous patch testing in patients with oral lichenoid lesions (OLLs).‎ METHODS: Bibliographic searches were conducted in electronic databases such as PubMed, the Cochrane library, ‎EBSCO, Scopus, Web of knowledge and Google scholar from January 1990 to December 2011. Search terms re...

UNLABELLED Imaging protocols for suspected scaphoid fractures among investigators and hospitals are markedly inconsistent. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess and compare the diagnostic performance of bone scintigraphy, MRI, and CT for diagnosing suspected scaphoid fractures. Twenty-six studies were included. Sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio were pool...

From inspection of the literature it is clear that sufficient analytical instruments for the application of oil fingerprinting on soil contamination problems are available. However well defined requirements have to be fulfilled. Among these prerequisites are the availability of unique oil signatures and sufficient variation within the different fuels on the Flemish market. On behalf of the Publ...

BACKGROUND A spectrum effect was defined as differences in the sensitivity or specificity of a diagnostic test according to the patient's characteristics or disease features. A spectrum effect can lead to a spectrum bias when subgroup variations in sensitivity or specificity also affect the likelihood ratios and thus post-test probabilities. We propose and illustrate a methodological framework ...

Our objective was to compare the diagnostic accuracies of and to determine the correlations between the disc damage likelihood scale (DDLS) and anatomical and functional tests used for glaucoma detection. A total of 54 healthy subjects (54 eyes) and 47 primary open-angle glaucoma patients (47 eyes) were included in this cross-sectional observational study. DDLS scores and cup-to-disc (C/D) rati...

The pathological distinction between malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM)and adenocarcinoma (ADCA) of the lung can be cumbersome using established methods. We propose that a simple technique, based on the expression levels of a small number of genes, can be useful in the early and accurate diagnosis of MPM and lung cancer. This method is designed to accurately distinguish between genetically di...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Echo time (TE) can have a large influence on the spectra in proton MR spectroscopy ((1)H-MR spectroscopy). The purpose of this study was to comparatively assess the diagnostic value of 3T single-voxel (1)H-MR spectroscopy with short or intermediate TEs in grading cerebral gliomas. METHODS Single voxel (1)H-MR spectroscopy was performed at 3T in 35 patients with cerebral...

In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the optimal cutoff value for a diagnostic test can be found on the ROC curve where the slope of the curve is equal to (C/B) x (1-p[D])/p[D], where p[D] is the disease prevalence and C/B is the ratio of net costs of treating nondiseased individuals to net benefits of treating diseased individuals. We conducted a structured review of the ...