Perceptual learning often shows substantial and long-lasting changes in the ability to classify relevant perceptual stimuli due to practice. Specificity to trained stimuli and tasks is a key characteristic of visual perceptual learning, but little is known about whether specificity depends upon the extent of initial training. Using an orientation discrimination task, we demonstrate that specifi...

Before a new test is introduced in clinical practice, its accuracy should be assessed. In the past decade, researchers have put an increased emphasis on exploring differences in test sensitivity and specificity between patient subgroups. If the reference standard is imperfect and the prevalence of the target condition differs among subgroups, apparent differences in test sensitivity and specifi...

The authors tested specificity and the guidance hypothesis by examining the effects of continuous or discrete concurrent feedback during acquisition, retention, and transfer of a 90° phase offset bimanual coordination pattern. The authors tested both groups immediately following acquisition, 1 week later under retention conditions (i.e., identical feedback as acquisition) and under transfer con...

The theory of acupoint specificity is the basis for elucidating the actions of acupoints as employed in clinical practice. Acupoint specificity has become a focus of attention in international research efforts by scholars in the areas of acupuncture and moxibustion. In 2006, the Chinese Ministry of Science approved and initiated the National Basic Research Program (973 Program), one area of whi...

introduction amblyopia is a leading cause of visual impairment in both childhood and adult populations. our aim in this study was to assess the epidemiological characteristics of the amblyopia screening program in iran. materials and methods a cross-sectional study was done on a randomly selected sample of 4,636 iranian children who were referred to screening program in 2013 were participated i...

background in 1996, donovan and colleagues represented a scoring system for better prediction of hirschsprung disease (hd). objectives our objective was to devise another scoring system that uses a checklist of radiologic and clinical signs to determine the probability of hd in suspicious patients. patients and methods in a diagnostic accuracy study, 55 children with clinical manifestations of ...

in endemic area the most challenging problem for brucellosis is to find a reliable diagnostic method. in this case-control study, we investigated the accuracy of elisa test for diagnosis of human brucellosis and determined the optimal cut-off value for elisa results in iran. the laboratory diagnosis of brucellosis was performed by blood isolation of brucella organism with a bactec 9240 system a...

objectives: this study aimed to assess the effect of voxel size and object location in the field of view (fov) on diagnostic accuracy of cone beam computed tomography (cbct) for detection of simulated bone defects. materials and methods: in this in vitro study, bone defects were drilled in four sections of a dry human mandible. bone blocks were fixed on a platform parallel to the horizontal pla...

background: breast cancer is one of the most important diseases in females. malaysian women have not excluded. according to the malaysian oncology society [1], about 4% of women (who are 40 years old and above) have involved by breast cancer. masses and microcalcifications are two important signs for breast cancer diagnosis on mammography. according to our estimation, radiologists could diagnos...