OBJECTIVES To determine the improvement in positive predictive value of immunological failure criteria for identifying virological failure in HIV-infected children on antiretroviral therapy (ART) when a single targeted viral load measurement is performed in children identified as having immunological failure. METHODS Analysis of data from children (<16 years at ART initiation) at South Africa...

The aim of this study was to investigate the modified Ross criteria score and the diagnostic cut-off level for plasmatic amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in the diagnosis of pediatric heart failure, by analyzing the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The plasma NT-proBNP level was measured in 80 children diagnosed with heart failure according to the modified ...

BACKGROUND We evaluated our previously derived admission criteria for agreement with physician decisions and outpatient failure among patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with pneumonia. METHODS Among patients presenting to seven Intermountain EDs in the urban region of Utah with pneumonia December 1 2009-December 1 2010, we measured hospital admission rates and outpatient failu...

CONTEXT Medical schools in Western societies seek measures to increase the diversity of their student bodies with respect to ethnicity and social background. Currently, little is known about the effects of different selection procedures on student diversity. OBJECTIVES This prospective cohort study aimed to determine performance differences between traditional and non-traditional (i.e. ethnic...

Diastolic heart failure has emerged over the last 10 years as a separate clinical entity. Diastolic heart failure accounts for approximately one third of all heart failure cases, especially in an elderly population, and its natural history, with an annual mortality rate of 8%, is more benign than other forms of heart failure with an annual mortality of 19%. Because of its rising incidence in ag...

There is growing recognition that congestive heart failure (CHF) caused by a predominant abnormality in diastolic function (ie, diastolic heart failure) is both common and causes significant morbidity and mortality. However, there is continued controversy surrounding the definition of diastolic dysfunction and the diagnostic criteria for diastolic heart failure. As a result, clinical therapeuti...

OBJECTIVE The Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI) Group published a consensus definition (the RIFLE criteria) for acute renal failure. We sought to assess the ability of the RIFLE criteria to predict mortality in hospital patients. DESIGN Retrospective single-center study. SETTING University-affiliated hospital. PATIENTS All patients admitted to the study hospital between January 200...