The paper proposes an extension of a known method for heart-beat detection based on ECG reconstruction in a 2D phase space coherent to the delay method to detection of the P-Q-R-S-T characteristic (fiducial) points. The QT Database was used for evaluation and algorithm performance was assessed using sensitivity (Se) and positive predictive value (PPV). Results are 99.19 %, 99.67 % and 94.58 % f...

Objective. To determine the positive predictive value (PPV) of two versus one abnormal FIT in the detection of colorectal neoplasia in a Canadian population. Methods. Three communities enrolled in a colorectal cancer (CRC) screening pilot program from 01/2009 to 04/2013 using 2 FITs. Data collected included demographics, colonoscopy, pathology, and FIT results. Participants completed both FITs ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (ETB), as well as the impact of PCR results on clinical management. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a study of nested PCR tests in 45 patients and a review of patient hospital files, calculating sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negativ...

abstract background: abnormal uterine bleeding (aub) is one of the most common complains in women of any age seeking gynecologic health care and needs early diagnosis and proper management due to its impacts on the quality of life. this study was conducted to investigate the cut-off value of endometrial thickness (et) by trans-vaginal ultra-sonography (tvus) and evaluate its accuracy in the dia...

BACKGROUND Aeroallergen sensitization may predict higher fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) levels. OBJECTIVE We evaluate cut-off values of FeNO in asthmatic children with and without positive specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) to at least one of 5 aeroallergens (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, cat, dog, and cockroach). METHODS 564 patients with asthma and allergi...

OBJECTIVE To determine the diagnostic values of digital rectal examination (DRE), prostate specific antigen (PSA) and trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS) individually and in combinations in men aged 50 years and above presenting with prostatism. DESIGN A prospective, descriptive, cross-sectional, hospital-based study. SETTING The urology ward of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), a 500...

OBJECTIVE Clinicians often overestimate the probability of a disease given a positive test result (positive predictive value; PPV) and the probability of no disease given a negative test result (negative predictive value; NPV). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether experiencing simulated patient cases (ie, an 'experience format') would promote more accurate PPV and NPV estimates ...

urine dipstick is a useful and commonly used test because of its rapidity and low cost; however its diagnostic accuracy is debatable. this research were carried out to determine sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of nitrite (nit) and leukocyte esterase (le) testing in relation to urine culture. this research was conducted on 100 hospitalized patients with clini...

introduction due to limitation of colonoscopy in assessing the entire bowel and patients’ intolerance in inflammatory bowel disease (ibd), in the current study, we aimed to prospectively compare the accuracy of 99m tc(v)-dimercaptosuccinic acid (dmsa) and fecal calprotectin with ileocolonoscopy as new methods for localizing inflammations. methods current prospective study conducted between 2012...

background: according to recent studies comparing magnetic resonance enterography (mre) with ileocolonoscopy for assessing inflammation of small bowel and colonic segments in adults with active crohn’s disease (cd), we aimed to compare the accuracy of these two diagnostic methods in iranian population. method: during 2013-2014 a follow-up study was done on 30 patients with active cd ina gastroe...