Search

A growing body of public policy and governance scholars recognise the importance of learning in supporting adaptive and responsive governance systems. Fostering learning within policy processes and governance systems, however, can be challenging. Collectively, we often ignore or misinterpret relevant policy information, or we may be incapable of translating new information into policy. Despite significant scholarly attention to learning, knowledge of the barriers to learning remains underdeveloped. To advance theoretical insights, this article integrates research on individual cognitive biases with literature on learning to identify barriers that can block learning or lead to non-learning in policy and governance processes. It also explores how these barriers can be mitigated or exacerbated by different governance contexts. Based on these insights, this paper provides guidance for researchers on how to empirically assess learning barriers across different governance contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of knowledge concerning the validity of the interstitial lung disease (ILD) diagnoses used in epidemiological studies on rheumatic diseases. This paper seeks to verify register-derived ILD diagnoses using chest computed tomography (CT) and medical records as a gold standard. The Norwegian Anti-Rheumatic Drug Register (NOR-DMARD) is a multicentre prospective observational study of patients with inflammatory arthritis who start treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. NOR-DMARD is linked to the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR) and Cause of Death Registry. We searched registers for ILD coded by ICD-10 J84 or J99 among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or spondyloarthritis. We extracted chest CT reports and medical records from participating hospitals. Two expert thoracic radiologists scored examinations to confirm the ILD diagnosis. We also searched medical records to find justifications for the diagnosis following multidisciplinary evaluations. We calculated the positive predictive values (PPVs) for ILD across subsets. We identified 71 cases with an ILD diagnosis. CT examinations were available in 65/71 patients (91.5%), of whom ILD was confirmed on CT in 29/65 (44.6%). In a further 10 patients, medical records confirmed the diagnosis, giving a total of 39/71 verified cases. The PPV of a register-derived ILD diagnosis was thus 54.9%. In a subset of patients who had received an ILD code at two or more time-points and had a CT scan taken within a relevant period, the PPV was 72.2%. The validity of register-based diagnoses of ILD must be carefully considered in epidemiological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the sight-threatening diseases entered the top 10 diseases that cause death worldwide. There has been tremendous growth in diabetic patients in the last decade due to lifestyle, uncontrolled diet and genetic causes. Nevertheless, the detection of Diabetic Retinopathy in an earlier stage may save the vision of many people. Imaging technologies in the medical field play a highly vital role in understanding, modelling, detecting and diagnosis of diseases. Detection of abnormalities in the retinal image will help to detect, classify and grade the disease. However, it is necessary to segment the retinal image and extract the optic disc, optic cup, retinal blood vessels and macula. The final image interprets the diagnosis of retinopathy diseases, obliging the professional medical practitioner and representatives. This paper describes a comprehensive survey of data acquisition techniques, diabetic retinopathy and the performance of purposed models in this field. The survey involves several papers comprising the research direction of a screening system and lesion segmentation of DR, disease severity grading and abnormality detection. Furthermore, research challenges are discussed and directions are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying roads' hazardous locations and solving their problems are key measures in traffic safety management. However, since the traditional hotspot identification (HSID) rests on the yearly-aggregated crashes, two problems appear: locations that become unsafe at specific short periods may remain unidentified as they may not show noticeable crash counts, and results of the problem diagnosis analysis on hotspots' crashes potentially contain a great amount of uncertainty. Even though researchers have recently added the dimension of time and analyzed accidents spatio-temporally to obtain more insights, the mentioned problems have not been addressed fully. Hence, this paper first suggests a new linear DBSCAN-based HSID method and demonstrates its acceptable performance by comparison with KDE+, the well-known clustering technique; Second, employing the proposed technique, the paper presents an algorithm for the spatial analysis of accidents through diverse time dimensions, which categorizes the risky locations based on their periodic reappearance. The tempo-categorization purpose is to enhance diagnosing causative risks by understanding their arising periods. The algorithm is tested using Allegheny highways crash data from 2014 to 2019. Results illustrate the contribution of the suggested method to problem diagnosis and detecting hidden unsafe points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definitions of disability are changing, shifting from a narrow medical diagnosis to a biopsychosocial model of disability, where disability is conceptualised as a series of relational conditions that can potentially disadvantage individuals within environments. Implications of this new understanding of disability will have significant effects in the higher education sector, where there is increasing participation of disabled students. In this paper, we discuss one aspect of these implications through the topic of graduate employability. In doing so, we generate a new concept 'Employability for Inclusion' that can be utilised as an equity-focused lens for universities to consider how employability initiatives are inclusive to disabled and/or diverse students. To unpack this concept, we further illustrate how a biopsychosocial model of disability would impact key employability activities (e.g., work-integrated learning) and provide valuable insights into how the higher education sector can adopt emerging conceptualisations of disability and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeMethodResultConclusionThe identification of developmental language disorder (DLD) is challenging for clinicians who assess bilinguals. This paper introduces a protocol-based approach, the Bilingual Multidimensional Ability Scale (B-MAS), for expert raters to identify DLD in bilinguals.Three bilingual speech-language pathologists (SLPs) reviewed 166 Spanish-English bilingual children’s profiles, which included performance on direct (morphosyntax, semantics, and narrative tasks) and indirect (parent/teacher survey) measures in both languages. A multidimensional scale (0–5) was adopted to rate children’s performance. A diagnosis of DLD was made if at least two raters assigned a summary rating of ≤2.Analysis of the scores on the B-MAS resulted in the identification of 21 children as having DLD. Though different strategies were employed to make decisions, the three SLPs demonstrated high inter-rater agreement across different ratings (intraclass correlation coefficient values ranged from .83 to .90).For bilingual populations that are understudied and for which gold standards of assessment are not available, the B-MAS can be adopted as a starting point to study DLD or as a reference standard to develop new assessment tools in that population. Clinically, this protocol could be tailored and evaluated by a group of SLPs serving a large population of a particular bilingual group for diagnostic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a prevalent tumour with high morbidity rates worldwide, and its incidence among younger populations is rising. Early diagnosis of CRC can help control the associated mortality. Fungi are common microorganisms in nature. Recent studies have shown that fungi may have a similar association with tumours as bacteria do. As an increasing number of tumour-associated fungi are discovered, this provides new ideas for the diagnosis and prognosis of tumours. The relationship between fungi and colorectal tumours has also been recently identified by scientists. Therefore, this paper describes the limitations and prospects of the application of fungi in diagnosing CRC and predicting CRC prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undiagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may represent a diagnostic challenge in people who refer to specialized services for first-episode psychosis (FEP). Similarly, individuals with ASD can present newly-onset psychotic symptoms. The present review aimed to summarize the literature available on ASD and FEP to guide differential diagnosis between the two conditions and discuss the impact of ASD-FEP comorbidity on recovery. The PRISMA-ScR guidelines were followed. After conducting a comprehensive literature search, we screened 204 papers including participants with: (1) a comorbid diagnosis of FEP and ASD; (2) FEP and autistic traits; (3) separate groups of FEP and ASD. A total of 18 studies were discussed and confirmed the high prevalence of ASD or autistic traits in people referring to FEP services (up to 9% and 35% of FEP, respectively), which could negatively impact pathways to care, clinical presentation, and outcomes. Due to some similarities in ASD and FEP presentation (e.g., difficulties in social functioning), a differential diagnosis could be challenging. The features more suggestive of ASD rather than a primary FEP include illogical and concrete thinking, and a longstanding social interaction difficulty. Aberrant salience and suspiciousness can manifest in ASD, but are usually more transient, and stress-related than in FEP. Also, perceptual abnormalities are due to altered sensory processing rather than pathological hallucinations. The co-occurrence of ASD symptoms is associated with a reduced probability of clinical and functional recovery in FEP, a higher risk of suicidal behaviors, and higher unemployment rates. The kaleidoscopic manifestations of FEP require an adequate differential diagnosis that should include ASD. FEP services ought to be equipped for an adequate assessment and diagnostic formulation, which can result particularly challenging should symptoms of autism be present in adult patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic encapsulated intracerebral hematoma (CEICH) is a rare type of intracerebral hematoma (ICH) with peculiar radiological features and presenting as subtle slow-growing lesion exerting mass effect. We performed a systematic review of the literature focused on diagnosis and management of patients affected by CEICH. A literature search according to the PRISMA statement was conducted using PubMed and Scopus databases and pertinent Mesh terms. All papers that reported intraventricular CEICH, or CEICH cases treated conservatively or by CT-guided needle aspiration were not included in this study. A total of 40 papers were included in this review, with 58 patients (38 males and 20 females) and a mean age of 41.44 ± 20.05 years (range 1–80). Neurological symptoms of onset include those related to an increase in intracranial pressure (ICP) in 28/58 cases (48.2%), seizures in 17/58 cases (29.3%), motor deficits in 14/58 cases (24.1%). The most frequent localization is atypical in 45/58 cases (77.6%). Surgical approach is not specified in 21/58 cases (36.2%), craniotomy was performed in 31/58 cases (53.4%), craniectomy in 5/58 cases (8.6%) and only in one case (1.7%) an endoscopic approach was performed. CEICH are usually located in an atypical site. There is not an association with anticoagulants and antiplatelets intake. Arteriovenous malformation is the most frequent cause. Surgery is suggested, and craniotomy is the most used approach even if further investigation should be directed to analyze the efficacy of endoscopic approach of these lesions, which may show favorable outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the experiences of Beth, a university student in the UK, as she comes to be labelled as 'dyslexic', and as she has her diagnosis taken away. Through use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and discourse analysis, the research seeks to understand how Beth made sense of these experiences, and to explore the discursive 'life' of dyslexia within this sense-making. The discussion in this paper proceeds chronologically through Beth's story, from 'struggle', to 'legitimation' to 'derogation', and concludes with a call to recognise the role of diagnosis in the field of special educational needs (SEN) from a social constructionist and relational perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PS-I learning approaches with an initial problem-solving phase (PS) followed by an instruction phase (I) can be optimised by providing adaptive (individualised) instruction that builds on students' problem-solving products. A computer-based implementation of both phases offers the possibility of adaptivity at the transition from the problem-solving to the instruction phase. However, it also poses two challenges for the problem-solving phase, which should allow for (1) complex problem-solving processes (process validity) and (2) accurate diagnosis of problem-solving products. Increased openness of the learning environment can increase the process validity and decrease diagnostic accuracy and vice-versa (complexity-accuracy trade-off). Using two variants of a computer-based learning environment for fraction comparison with different extent of openness (O+ and O-), we investigate whether both requirements (complex problem-solving processes and accurate diagnosis of the problem-solving products) can be met simultaneously. To check process validity (complexity of problem-solving processes), we compare the problem-solving products with those from previous research on an analogous paper-based version. Our results show that valid and comparable problem-solving processes can be achieved in both computer-based learning environments (O+ and O-). Moreover, only the learning environment O- enables an accurate computer-based interpretation of students' products and thus resolving the complexity-accuracy trade-off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: High-grade gliomas (grade 3 and grade 4) are known to be highly locally invasive and distant metastasis though known, rarely manifest clinically due to poor survival. Recently, due to increasing survival in view of early diagnosis at relatively young age, more cases of extra neural symptomatic metastasis are being diagnosed and treated. Among these, symptomatic spinal metastasis is even more rare. Dissemination of GBM to the spinal compartment, albeit uncommon, has an even poorer outcome, with most patients dying within 2-3 months after diagnosis of metastatic disease. Materials and Methods: Here, we present a rare case report of a 25-year-old female with transformed/ histologically progressed tumour in cranial region along with ultra-rapid progression of the spinal disease following metastasis. Proper consent of the patient relatives was taken prior to production of material as patient had expired by the time of writing of this paper. We also present an extensive review of spinal metastasis secondary to intracranial high-grade gliomas starting from 1950. We conducted a thorough and exhaustive systematic search and review of the indexed databases available in PUBMED, COCHRANE and GOOGLE SCHOLAR with key words 'spinal metastasis of glioma', 'spinal metastasis', 'glioma progression', 'secondary glioma', multicentric glioma', 'secondary spinal metastasis' and formulated a comprehensive table of the studies that met the set standards. The studies that included (a) Number of cases, (b) Age and sex of patients, (c) operated primary or non-operated primary with spinal metastasis, (d) time period from the index cranial surgery, (e) outcome after diagnosis of spine metastasis and (f) histopath-ology of both cranial and spinal tumour either following surgery or autopsy have been elucidated herewith. We searched the databases with no particular time period. Out of 42 case reports and series, 28 studies were selected for our publication as they met the standards set, starting from 1950 to 2020. Results: In this case, the primary histopathological diagnosis post cranial tumour removal was Grade-3 anaplastic astrocytoma, whereas Spinal autopsy report done 16 months after the primary diagnosis showed Grade-4 GBM suggestive of secondary transformation (Secondary GBM), it showed same genome of IDH mutation and ATRX loss, neoplastic fibrillary and gemistocytic astrocytes with de-differentiation, foamy histiocytes as seen in primary lesion suggestive of progression and metachronicity rather than multicentricity or synchronicity. What is more peculiar and rare in our case is that the spinal disease was very malignant and it progressed in course of just two days to involve the whole spine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the number of students in the UK with diagnoses of mental health or psychiatric conditions is rising, as are the number of students categorised as having a special educational need or disability (SEND). To support these students' objective evidence of deficit or difficulty is required, this usually takes the form of a legitimising diagnosis. However, in the case of mental health conditions, social, emotional and behavioural problems or even in some neurodevelopmental disorders, diagnosis is less useful as there are fundamental problems with the classification and understanding of mental health conditions. Despite this, the prevalence and importance of diagnosis remains in supporting students in education and those who are categorised as SEND. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss the place that diagnosis has in education and the alternative models that exist in an effort to understand potential other avenues of supporting students and the benefits and limitations of these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melancholia is a severe form of depression that is typified by greater genetic and biological influence, distinct symptomatology, and preferential response to physical treatment. This paper sought to broadly overview potential biomarkers of melancholia to benefit differential diagnosis, clinical responses and treatment outcomes. Given nuances in distinguishing melancholia as its own condition from other depressive disorder, we emphasised studies directly comparing melancholic to non-melancholic depression. A comprehensive literature search was conducted. Key studies were identified and summarised qualitatively. 105 studies in total were identified. These studies covered a wide variety of biomarkers, and largely fell into three domains: endocrinological (especially cortisol levels, particularly in response to the dexamethasone suppression test), neurological, and immunological (particularly inflammatory markers). Less extensive evidence also exists for metabolic, genetic, and cardiovascular markers. Definitive conclusions were predominantly limited due to substantial heterogeneity in how included studies defined melancholia. Furthermore, this heterogeneity could be responsible for the between- and within-group variability observed in the candidate biomarkers that were examined. Therefore, clarifying these definitional parameters may help identify underlying patterns in biomarker expression to improve diagnostic and therapeutic precision for the depressive disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-synthesis aimed to synthesise qualitative evidence on experiences of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in receiving a diagnosis, to derive a conceptual understanding of adjustment to MS diagnosis. Five electronic databases were systematically searched to identify qualitative studies that explored views and experiences around MS diagnosis. Papers were quality-appraised using a standardised checklist. Data synthesis was guided by principles of meta-ethnography, a well-established interpretive method for synthesising qualitative evidence. Thirty-seven papers were selected (with 874 people with MS). Synthesis demonstrated that around the point of MS diagnosis people experienced considerable emotional upheaval (e.g., shock, denial, anger, fear) and difficulties (e.g., lengthy diagnosis process) that limited their ability to make sense of their diagnosis, leading to adjustment difficulties. However, support resources (e.g., support from clinicians) and adaptive coping strategies (e.g., acceptance) facilitated the adjustment process. Additionally, several unmet emotional and informational support needs (e.g., need for personalised information and tailored emotional support) were identified that, if addressed, could improve adjustment to diagnosis. Our synthesis highlights the need for providing person-centred support and advice at the time of diagnosis and presents a conceptual map of adjustment for designing interventions to improve adjustment following MS diagnosis. The period surrounding Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis can be stressful and psychologically demanding. Challenges and disruptions at diagnosis can threaten sense of self, resulting in negative emotions. Adaptive coping skills and support resources could contribute to better adjustment following diagnosis. Support interventions should be tailored to the needs of newly diagnosed people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract \nPoints of interest In this paper we seek to restory what has been storied as “the problem of ADHD”. Informed by calls for a critical ADHD studies, we explore the possibilities of ADHD collective autoethnographic storytelling. Together we (en)counter narratives of ADHD. Within our collective writing space, from our ADHD/AuDHD bodyminds, we seek to re-story our ADHD/AuDHD. We map a field of critical ADHD research within social sciences and point out problems of outsider perspectives, stressing a need for insider perspectives. Our data consist of collective authoethnographic writings about ADHD. From the data we have explored our experiences of (En)Countering ADHD narratives, and a transition process which we refer to as from ”broken NT-scholars” to neurodivergent scholars, stressing the importance of ADHD:ers as independent as well as collective agents, and ADHD as epistemological standpoint within research. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is commonly talked about by people without ADHD. People with ADHD (ADHDers) are important in knowledge production about ADHD. This research is based on writings about ADHD by researchers with their own experiences of ADHD. We talk about ADHD together and try to find new ways of talking about ADHD which is more matched with our own experiences of ADHD. We talk about experiences of ADHD stigma and possibilities of knowledge production about ADHD by ADHDers and groups of ADHDers. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is commonly talked about by people without ADHD.People with ADHD (ADHDers) are important in knowledge production about ADHD.This research is based on writings about ADHD by researchers with their own experiences of ADHD.We talk about ADHD together and try to find new ways of talking about ADHD which is more matched with our own experiences of ADHD.We talk about experiences of ADHD stigma and possibilities of knowledge production about ADHD by ADHDers and groups of ADHDers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper highlights how alcohol use disorder (AUD) conceptualizations and resulting diagnostic criteria have evolved over time in correspondence with interconnected sociopolitical influences in the United States. We highlight four illustrative examples of how DSM-defined alcoholism, abuse/dependence, and AUD have been influenced by sociopolitical factors. In doing so, we emphasize the importance of recognizing and understanding such sociopolitical factors in the application of AUD diagnoses. Last, we offer a roadmap to direct the process of future efforts toward the improved diagnosis of AUD, with an emphasis on pursuing falsifiability, acknowledging researchers' assumptions about human behavior, and collaborating across subfields. Such efforts that center the numerous mechanisms and functions of behavior, rather than signs or symptoms, have the potential to minimize sociopolitical influences in the development of diagnostic criteria and maximize the treatment utility of diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver segmentation is a prolific and important area of research that has been deeply studied for the last three decades. Its prominence is increasing in modern Computer-Aided disease Diagnosis (CAD) to deal with a huge amount of images. In this paper, the CT scan image is resized to 256 X 256, and noise is reduced by a median filter, and then local peaks are acquired. The optimal clusters (k) to be formed by Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm are obtained by setting the distance between local peaks and height greater than 5. Formulate k number of clusters using the EM algorithm. Crop random section of liver and obtain all the local peaks greater than average of local peaks. This provides the minimum and maximum threshold values using which a threshold-based segmentation is performed. The anticipated algorithm that is verified on 55 CT scan images offers promising results. The experimental outcomes are compared with the existing cluster-based liver segmentation algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private primary care providers are usually the first site where afflictions come under institutional view. In the context of poverty, the relationship between illness and care is more complex than a simple division of responsibilities between various actors--with care given by kin, and diagnosis and treatment being the purview of providers. Since patients would often visit the provider with family members, providers are attuned to the patients' web of kinship. Providers would take patients' kinship arrangements into account when prescribing diagnostic tests and treatments. This paper terms this aspect of the clinical encounter as 'kin testing' to refer to situations/clinical encounters when providers take into consideration that care provided by kin was conditional. 'Kin testing' allowed providers to manage the episode of illness that had brought the patient to the clinic by relying on clinical judgment rather than confirmed laboratory tests. Furthermore, since complaints of poor health also were an idiom to communicate kin neglect, providers had to also discern how to negotiate diagnoses and treatments. Kinship determined whether the afflicted bodies brought to the clinics were diagnosed, whether medicines reached the body, and adherence maintained. The providers' actions make visible the difference that kinship made in how health is imagined in the clinic and in standardized protocols. Focusing on primary care clinics in Patna, India, we contribute to research that shows that kinship determines care and management of illnesses at home by showing that relatedness of patients gets folded in the clinic by providers as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Ocular toxoplasmosis is the leading cause of posterior uveitis worldwide, affecting individuals acrossdifferent age groups. The key to reducing vision loss includes prompt diagnosis and treatment. However, despite the prevalence of ocular toxoplasmosis, there has been little consensus regarding its pathophysiology,clinical features, diagnosis, and especially management. Methods: The data sources were literature reviews, including Pub Med and Medline databases. Search terms included toxoplasmosis, retinitis, vasculitis, vitritis, uveitis alone or in combination with, serum, aqueous, vitreous eye, ocular and review. Results: In this review paper, we have sought to provide an overview of the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and clinical features of the disease, both based on current literature and our own clinical experience. We have also discussed the use of serology, ocular fluid, and ophthalmic investigations that could further facilitate the diagnosis of ocular toxoplasmosis.Different management strategies have been reported worldwide, including newer approaches such as local therapy. Conclusion: A better understanding of critical aspects of ocular toxoplasmosis will hopefully lead to reduced morbidity, including blindness associated with this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and scientists can use computational-based models to turn linked data into useful information, aiding in disease diagnosis, examination, and viral containment due to recent artificial intelligence and machine learning breakthroughs. In this paper, we extensively study the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in delivering efficient responses to the COVID-19 pandemic almost four years after its start. In this regard, we examine a large number of critical studies conducted by various academic and research communities from multiple disciplines, as well as practical implementations of artificial intelligence algorithms that suggest potential solutions in investigating different COVID-19 decision-making scenarios. We identify numerous areas where artificial intelligence and machine learning can impact this context, including diagnosis (using chest X-ray imaging and CT imaging), severity, tracking, treatment, and the drug industry. Furthermore, we analyse the dilemma's limits, restrictions, and hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lot of previous studies have shown a great interest in connecting photovoltaic (PV) arrays to electric power grids. A Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) controlled 100 kW PV array to boost its power that feeds the grid with the help of a three-level inverter. This paper investigated the effects of open-circuit faults of three-level inverter IGBT switches on the performance of the PV array system. This paper proposes a new diagnostic method called the Double Threshold-Trigonometric Coordinates (DT-TC) that relies on the double threshold technique and the trigonometric coordinates, respectively, for early detection and the precise location of open-circuit faults. To the best knowledge of the authors, two simultaneous open-circuit faults were not considered in the previous studies. The obtained simulation results prove the great success of the proposed diagnosis method even under noticeable changes in irradiation, temperature, and the number of PV array connected in series and in parallel. In this study, the reconfigurable fault-tolerant inverter was included to ensure the perfect continuity of the PV array system and its recovery in an extremely very short time up to 7 ms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a debilitating illness that easily occurs in adolescents. microRNAs (miRNAs) are potential biomarkers for multiple diseases. This paper was to elaborate on the expression of miR-16-2-3p in childhood ALL and its clinical values on ALL diagnosis and prognosis. First, serum miR-16-2-3p expression in ALL children and healthy volunteers was measured using RT-qPCR. Next, diagnostic potential and prognostic values of miR-16-2-3p on ALL were analyzed through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Kaplan–Meier survival curve, and multivariate Cox regression analysis, respectively. No significant difference was observed in the clinical baseline data between ALL patients and healthy children. ALL patients showed downregulated serum miR-16-2-3p (0.65 ± 0.27) (p <.01), whose area under the ROC curve was 0.837 with a cut-off value of 0.745 (67.92% sensitivity, 96.94% specificity). ALL patients with higher miR-16-2-3p expression had higher survival rates than those with lower miR-16-2-3p expression. Low miR-16-2-3p expression predicted poor prognosis of ALL patients. After adjusting LDH and lymphomyelocyte proportion (p = 0.003, HR = 0.003, 95%CI = 0.000–0.145), miR-16-2-3p was recognized as an independent prognostic factor for ALL patient survival. Briefly, low serum miR-16-2-3p expression in ALL children could aid ALL diagnosis and predict poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional health systems mostly rely on rules created by experts to offer adaptive interventions to patients. However, with recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques, health-related systems are becoming more sophisticated with higher accuracy in providing more personalized interventions or treatments to individual patients. In this paper, we present an extensive literature review to explore the current trends in ML-based adaptive systems for health and well-being. We conduct a systematic search for articles published between January 2011 and April 2022 and selected 87 articles that met our inclusion criteria for review. The selected articles target 18 health and wellness domains including disease management, assistive healthcare, medical diagnosis, mental health, physical activity, dietary management, health monitoring, substance use, smoking cessation, homeopathy remedy finding, patient privacy, mobile health (mHealth) apps finder, clinician knowledge representation for neonatal emergency care, dental and oral health, medication management, disease surveillance, medical specialty recommendation, and health awareness. Our review focuses on five key areas across the target domains: data collection strategies, model development process, ML techniques utilized, model evaluation techniques, as well as adaptive or personalization strategies for health and wellness interventions. We also identified various technical and methodological challenges including data volume constraints, data quality issues, data diversity or variability issues, infrastructure-related issues, and suitability of interventions which offer directions for future work in this area. Finally, we offer recommendations for tackling these challenges, leveraging on technological advances such as multimodality, Cloud technology, online learning, edge computing, automatic re-calibration, Bluetooth auto-reconnection, feedback pipeline, federated learning, explainable AI, and co-creation of health and wellness interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU Commission's proposal for the Regulation on Artificial Intelligence, whilst providing important specifications on the importance of transparency of high-risk systems, falls short in providing a nuanced picture of how technical safeguards in Articles 13 and 14 in the proposal should be translated to AI systems operating on the ground. This paper focusing on medical diagnostic systems offers a perspective on how transparency safeguards should be applied in practice, considering the role of post hoc explainability and Uncertainty Estimates in medical imaging. Medical diagnostic systems offer probabilistic judgements regarding disease classification tasks, having an impact on the interactive experience between the doctor and the patient. Accordingly, we need additional guidance regarding Articles 13 and 14 in the proposal, considering the role of shared decision-making, and patient autonomy in healthcare and to ensure that technical safeguards secure medical diagnostic systems that are a safe, reliable, and trustworthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyse the versatility and adaptability of commercially available exoskeletons for mobility assistance and their adaptation to diverse pathologies through a review of clinical trials in robotic lower limb training. A computer-aided search in bibliographic databases (PubMed and Web of Science) of clinical trials published up to September 2020 was done. To be selected for detailed review, clinical trials had to meet the following criteria: (1) a protocol was designed and approved, (2) participants were people with pathologies, and (3) the trials were not a single case study. Clinical trial data were collected, extracted, and analysed, considering: objectives, trial participants, number of sessions, pathologies involved, and conclusions. The search resulted in 312 potentially relevant studies of seven commercial exoskeletons, of which 135 passed the preliminary screening; and 69 studies were finally selected. Of the 69 clinical trials included in the review about 50% involved Spinal Cord Injury participants, while roughly 25% focussed on stroke and two trials corresponded to patients with both disorders. The rest were composed of neurological diseases and trauma disorders. The use of a single wearable robot for different medical conditions in various diseases is a challenge. Based on this comparative, the properties of the exoskeletons that improve the working ability with different pathologies and patient conditions have been evaluated. Suggestions were made for developing a new lower-limb exoskeleton based on various modules with a distributed control system to improve versatility in wearable technology for different gait pattern progression. Wearable robotic exoskeletons for gait assistance have been analysed from the perspective of adaptation to different diseases. This paper emphasizes the importance of personalized therapies and adaptive assistive technology. Suggestions were made for a new modular exoskeleton capable of addressing the issue of low versatility characterizing currently wearable assistive technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many have suggested different ways of conceptualizing mental health conditions in mental health services. However, eliciting the unicity of the individual experience of mental health conditions in the diagnostic process remains challenging. In this position paper, we describe the diagnostic process in psychiatry and outline three challenges for which insights from the design research paradigm, in particular so-called generative sessions, may represent an opportunity for innovation. We suggest that by implementing generative sessions, conversations about individual experience can be initiated, the focus on diagnostic categories can be shifted towards personal variation, and the integration of empirical evidence of recovery can be facilitated. Therefore, we argue that exploring generative sessions in the diagnostic process can stimulate incremental and iterative advancements in diagnostic systems. To test its hypothesized impact on clinical practice, we recommend several directions for further research in co-creation with traditional mental health professionals, people with mental health conditions, and people with lived experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A growing number of scientific contributions suggest that COVID-19 infection can lead to impairment of cognition, mainly in executive functions and memory domains, even in the absence of frank neurological pathologies.The primary objective of this retrospective study is to evaluate the frequency and type of inefficiencies in a selection of cognitive tests administered to a sample of subjects who, following infection, required invasive assisted ventilation and were admitted to rehabilitation wards for the treatment of functional impairment.Fifty-seven subjects were enrolled. The recruited patients undergone an assessment of verbal and visuospatial memory and executive functions, upon entry into the rehabilitation department, after discharge from intensive care. The following tests were administered: Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) (immediate and delayed recall), Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) (copy and delayed recall), Stroop Color-Word Test, and Trail Making Test (TMT, A and B).Deficient scores, in beyond 25% of subjects, were found in the copy of the ROCFT (32.1% of subjects), and in the delayed recall of ROCFT (27.2%). Between 10 and 20% of patients presented an abnormal result in delayed recall of AVLT (16.07%), and Stroop Test (time, 15.6%, error, 11.5%). Less than 10% of the sample had abnormal performances on TMT (A, 3.5%, and B, 9.4%), and in AVLT immediate recall (8.9%). Correlations of the performances with age, sex, and education were also found.This paper highlights the high incidence of abnormal cognitive performances in this specific subpopulation of patients with COVID-19 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a computer-aided methodology for detecting and segmenting the tumor regions in ultrasound thyroid images using machine and deep learning algorithms. This proposed tumor detection methodology uses Kirsch's edge detector for enhancing the edge region pixels in thyroid image and then Dual Tree Contourlet Transform (DTCT) was applied on the enhanced image for obtaining the coefficients. Then, features are computed from this transformed thyroid image and these features are trained and classified using the Co-Active Adaptive Neuro Expert System (CANFES) classifier. Then, the morphological segmentation method is applied on the abnormal thyroid image to segment the tumor regions. Finally, the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithm is applied on the segmented tumor regions for diagnosing them into mild, moderate and severe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the volume of the medical data is increasing due to the presence of vast amount of features, the conventional rule mining technique is not competent to handle the data and to perform precise diagnosis. For instance, this paper intends to implement the improved rule mining technique to overcome the above mentioned limitations. The model comes out with two main contribution stages (i) Using Map Reducing Framework (ii) Classification. Initially, the input medical data is given to map reduce framework. Here, Multi-linear Principal Component Analysis (MPCA) is used for reducing the given bulk data. Then, the reduced data is given to the classification process, where it classifies the disease with high accuracy. For this, this paper uses Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. After the completion of implementation, the proposed model compares its performance over other conventional methods like Principal Component Analysis- NN (PCA-NN), Independent Component Analysis- NN (ICA-NN), MPCA-NN, PCA-SVM and ICA-SVM, respectively in terms of performance measures like accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, precision, False Positive Rate (FPR), False Negative Rate (FNR), Net Present Value (NPV), False Discovery Rate (FDR), F1Score, and Mathews Correlation Coefficient (MCC), and the superiority of proposed model is proven over other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasing number of children diagnosed with Autism-Spectrum-Disorder in Canada, this paper focuses on how their mothers, as Asian immigrant women, experience the process of diagnosis and learn to parent their children. By taking two Asian (Korean and Chinese) mothers' critical personal narratives as major data sources, this paper aims to explore the diagnosis process of Autism-Spectrum-Disorder through a sociocultural lens on the intersectionality of (im)migrants and their cultural competence, and argues that their identity (re)construction and learning for parenting take place at the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and disability. This paper highlights possible implications for everyone involved in this 'medical' process, in the context of Canadian or other similar multicultural societies. Asian immigrant mothers usually have to deal with children with Autism-Spectrum-Disorder (ASD) and they have bitter experience of mistreatment tied to race, gender and class. This study reveals how Asian immigrant mothers struggled in their integration to Canadian society as well as their experiences of denial into Canada's medical system. The stories of these two women shed lights on the social and cultural aspects of immigrant mothers' learning strategies, including how they utilize accessible resources and networks for their children's treatment and diagnosis. This paper suggests that policymakers need to consider the social and cultural aspects of diagnosis in immigrant families to better fit their needs and provide them appropriate medical and social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological wellbeing of Queer and Gender Diverse Young People (QGDYP) has received attention of late, and increasing research evidences much higher rates of psychological distress experienced by these groups, compared to their straight, cisgender counterparts. Far more limited is research exploring queer and gender diverse young people's own perspectives on their psychological wellbeing, an absence we address with the current study. We interviewed 21 queer or gender diverse 16–18-year-olds in Aotearoa New Zealand about their understandings of mental health and wellbeing. We took a critical realist thematic approach to analysis. This paper focuses on how participants made sense of their own distress. We explore and unpack three intersecting key themes around: 1) cisheterosexism, but not personally affected; 2) dismissal of QGDYP; and 3) validation and comfort in the biomedical model. We discuss the tensions of articulating these positions and (also) challenging cisheterosexism, and the implications for recognising and reducing the distress experienced by queer and gender diverse youth. We aim to inform policy and practice to support and ultimately improve psychological wellbeing for queer and gender diverse young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For successful prognosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), an early and quick diagnosis is essential. Heart disease and strokes are the predominant causes and account for more than 80% of CVD deaths, whilst one-third of these deaths occurs prematurely in people under 70 years of age. For CVD diagnosis, patients need to show an elevated level of biomarkers in the blood sample associated with severe pain in the chest, and diagnostic electro-cardiogram (ECG). The majority of CVD patients making CVD diagnosis difficult for physicians show a surprisingly normal ECG pattern. Artificial intelligence techniques can radically improve and optimize CVD outcomes. AI has the potential to provide novel tools and techniques to collect and interpret data and make faster and more accurate decisions reducing hospitalization cost, thereby increasing the quality of life. AI has also improved medical knowledge by unlocking clinically relevant information from the voluminous and complex data received from various resources. This paper reviews the present biosensors and describes various AI techniques, which can effectively be used for early and accurate detection of CVD, thereby improving cardiac care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests the relevance of diffusionism in discussing the past, the present, and the future of the International Relations (IR) norm diffusion literature. The paper argues, thus, that IR norm research has reproduced the diffusionist and beyond-diffusionist mechanisms and epistemologies that the anthropological research on culture diffusion has developed, and this has been consequential for the discipline. Accordingly, the diffusionism dominant in the mainstream IR norm research has led to the normalisation of normative hierarchies and power asymmetries between geographies in the diffusion context. The critical norm research, complementarily, while extensively criticising such biased scholarly practices, failed to diagnose the problem as diffusionism and thus failed to benefit from the informed conclusions the anthropological schools offered regarding beyond-diffusionism in diffusion research. The paper takes this as a basis for highlighting the necessity to further extend the dialogue between IR and social sciences and humanities on issues including diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores parents' experiences of breaking news and communicating to the child with cancer and their siblings, and identifies the supports parents request to help them in this role. This paper represents one component of a wider action research study which employed mixed methods to explore supports needed by parents of children with a cancer diagnosis in the Republic of Ireland. This paper reports on the survey phase of the study, which involved the distribution of a postal survey to 550 families of children in cancer treatment and remission. This survey included four open-ended questions exploring parents' experiences of breaking news and communicating about the illness to the ill child and his/her siblings. Descriptive statistics on the profile of the parents were generated with computer software package SPSS and qualitative responses were analyzed using the survey questions as the initial framework. Parents identified four interventions that helped ease the distress of these difficult conversations: coaching, resources, team engagement, and play therapy. Parents expressed concern for siblings, describing them as "suffering" and "forgotten". Parents requested four sibling-specific interventions: the creation of resources for siblings, therapeutic support, coaching for parent-sibling conversations, standardize a family meeting with the multi-disciplinary team that includes siblings. This paper demonstrates how the practical supports requested by parents which are consistent with the principles embedded within the internationally defined psychosocial standards of care could be translated into practice when supporting parents to communicate with children in the context of pediatric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scoping review focused on parents' resolution of their reactions to receiving a diagnosis for their child, based on Marvin and Pianta's model and Reaction to Diagnosis Interview (RDI). We aimed to map the populations examined, the prevalence of parents' narrated resolution, and what is known about its outcomes and determinants. A structured search identified 47 peer-reviewed papers published between 1992–2021. All employed the RDI and most had a cross-sectional design. Studies focused on a wide range of children's health and mental health diagnoses. Days to years after receiving the diagnosis, RDI narratives of 18.43% to 72.49% of the parents (44% on average) indicated lack of resolution. Studies reported associations between unresolved narratives and children's insecure attachment, higher parenting stress, and poorer parental health. However, findings on the associations of narrated resolution with parents' representations of their child, sensitivity, and psychological symptoms were equivocal, and findings on factors that may shape narrated resolution were limited. To advance the understanding of parents' narrated resolution and its effects, we recommend researchers employ prospective and longitudinal designs, evaluate narrated resolution as a continuous phenomenon, focus on outcomes derived from attachment theory, and systematically sample families from heterogenous cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, which is an extensively revised version of a paper given at PCE2021, discusses Rogers' 'relationship therapy'. It argues that this original relational turn needs to be revisited and re-envisioned, especially if Rogerian and person-centered and experiential therapies are to seed, grow, and flourish in different soil from that whence it originally sprung. The article is framed in terms of one of the themes of the conference, that is, contact, culture, and context. Thus, the first part of the article considers the history of relationship therapy (that is, contacting our history); the second part acknowledges the original conceptual framework of client-centered psychology and discusses two concepts that are based on and embody relationship therapy, i.e. diagnosis and contact (thereby representing the culture of this approach to psychology); and the third part offers some reflections how person-centered theory and practice needs to adapt to local conditions (that is, to its context) if it is to continue to be relational and relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a fibroinflammatory disease complicated by episodes of acute inflammation (acute on chronic pancreatitis (ACP)). This entity is common, variably defined and can reflect different pathological mechanisms that requires different interventions. The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review of how ACP is described, defined and diagnosed in the literature. A systematic search was conducted from January 1993 to June 2020. All articles that used a term to describe ACP in adults were reviewed and definitions and diagnostic criteria were sought. After reviewing 2271 abstracts, 848 articles included a term to describe ACP. The most common descriptions were 'acute on/in CP' (374), 'acute exacerbation of CP' (345) and 'flare(-up) of CP' (43). Among the 848 articles, 14 included a pragmatic definition of ACP, and only 2 papers stated diagnostic criteria. These covered both acute inflammation and acute exacerbation of chronic abdominal pain. There is no universally accepted term, definition or diagnostic criteria for ACP. A consensus definition is needed to improve quality and comparability of future articles as well as clinical management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reliable diagnosis of amyloidosis is usually based on a tissue biopsy. With increasing options for specific treatments of the different amyloid diseases, an exact and valid diagnosis including determination of the biochemical fibril nature is imperative. Biopsy sites as well as amyloid typing principles vary and this paper describes methods employed at some laboratories specialised in amyloidosis in Europe, Japan and USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an incredible progress in machine learning applications in the field of agricultural research. Detection of various diseases, deficiencies, and factors impacting crops' productivity is one of the major ongoing research in this field. This paper considers various machine learning and deep learning techniques (transfer learning) for rice disease detection. In this study three different rice diseases viz. bacterial blight, rice blast, and brown spot are considered. A detailed comparative analysis of the results indicates the superiority of transfer learning techniques over conventional machine learning techniques. It is observed that InceptionResNetV2 achieves the best result followed by XceptionNet. This work can be incorporated in assisting the farmers for early diagnosis of rice disease so that future course of action may be taken on time. For future studies, efforts should be directed to work with bigger datasets so as to generalize the findings of the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has increased our ability to test and diagnose, its results are often not clear-cut and require a complex interpretation and negotiation process by both healthcare professionals and patients involved. In this paper, we explore how diagnoses identified through NGS are socially shaped under influence of the broader social context. Using an analytical framework stemming from the sociology of health and illness and science and technology studies, with a focus on the construction of diagnosis and the role of uncertainty in medicine, we analyze the existing corpus of literature on NGS diagnostic practices. We show how in this early implementation phase of NGS, in which standardization efforts are not yet solidified, the boundary struggles around diagnoses obtained through NGS are particularly visible. We discuss the different steps in the diagnosis shaping process and what it subsequently entails to give and a receive a diagnosis using NGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) is a noninvasive test to analyze several medical ailments by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect the abnormalities in the active part of the brain and evaluate the minute changes in the blood flow, which cannot otherwise be accomplished with other imaging techniques. With its vast applications in healthcare, it has become one of the most explored studies by the researcher's community, therefore, the current paper aims to address a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) of the application of FMRI in healthcare. The SLR scrutinized and assessed the currently available literature using inclusion and exclusion criteria. The chief motive of conducting SLR on the current research was to eradicate the biases and make it more systematic as compared to the informal literature review. The outcomes of the review state that due to accessibility of the public datasets and the data augmentation practices, the application of FMRI in Healthcare has remarkably raised from the last five years and its application is practically available for every disease diagnosis. The performance of the diagnosis of the disease is more effectual and proficient as equal to the human experts performing it manually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being a subtype of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), primary vitreoretinal lymphoma (PVRL) is a rare and fatal intraocular malignancy manifesting as blurred vision and floaters, and is usually combined with, or eventually progresses to, central nervous system lesions. The diagnosis of PVRL/PCNSL remains challenging because of the nonspecific clinical features and diagnostic dependency on biopsy. In this paper, we present the clinical, imaging, laboratory, brain biopsy, and vitreous biopsy findings of a 56-year-old immunocompetent woman who presented with blurred vision of the left eye, but which rapidly evolved into lesions of the central nervous system. The dramatic changes on brain imaging and the undiagnostic brain and vitreous biopsy results presented great challenges for the diagnosis. PCNSL was eventually presumed according to comprehensive consideration of the disease progression pattern, the characteristic neuroimaging, and molecular hints. PCNSL is a highly invasive tumor, and timely diagnosis is the key point in clinical practice. However, the requirement for biopsy and the existence of sentinel lesions impedes the diagnosis. Therefore, follow-up and repeated biopsy is always necessary for a definitive diagnosis. This case indicates that a complete evaluation of neuroimaging, ophthalmic testing, cytologic examination of the cerebrospinal fluid, diagnostic vitrectomy, and brain biopsy are essential for diagnosis of PCNSL. Moreover, molecular and cytokine analyses are useful adjuncts to the diagnostic cytology. Of note, the analysis of cytokine levels (IL-10/IL-6) is an important auxiliary diagnostic strategy in the diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrauterine pathologies are common in postmenopausal women and clinicians must identify signs and symptoms accurately to provide the adequate diagnosis and treatment. The quality of life (QoL) and sexuality of women are important outcomes to be considered to provide adequate clinical management of the postmenopausal patient with gynecologic pathologies. The aim of this paper is to propose a simple and replicable three-step multidisciplinary approach to evaluate the psychological outcomes of postmenopausal women with intrauterine pathologies, focusing on the role of hysteroscopy. In particular, the article describes three evaluation steps of those psychological outcomes corresponding to three fundamental moments of the patient's diagnostic and therapeutic path: the initial symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. In our viewpoint, the standard use of such a protocol might considerably improve the QoL of postmenopausal patients undergoing hysteroscopic procedures due to intrauterine pathologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) is one of the most serious complications of radiotherapy. The purpose of this paper is to review recent researches about cardiac toxicity of radiotherapy in clinical characteristics, mechanisms, diagnosis, and prevention. Powered by the rapid development of medicine, the overall survival (OS) of cancer has been improved significantly. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy (RT) are three critical ways in the comprehensive treatments of cancer. There is a consensus that early diagnosis and interventions for the prevention of RIHD are crucial. This review concludes recent clinical and experimental studies on RIHD. RIHD, a heterogeneous and serious disease, is a spectrum of heart disease including myocardial disease, pericarditis, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, and conduction system dysfunction. Mean heart dose, biomarkers, and detecting techniques are important components in detecting heart injury. Improvements in radiotherapy regimens remain the primary goal of prevention. Further investigation is needed beyond the observation period of most of these studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important aim in diagnostic medical research is comparison of the accuracy of two diagnostic tests. In this paper, comparison of two diagnostic tests is presented using nonparametric predictive inference (NPI) for future order statistics. The tests are assumed to be applied on the same individuals from two groups, e.g., healthy and diseased individuals, or from three groups with a known ordering, e.g., adding a group of severely diseased individuals to the two group scenario. Our comparison is explicitly in terms of lower and upper probabilities for proportions of correctly diagnosed future individuals from each group, for a given total number of such individuals. We include in our comparison the possibility that it is more important to get a correct diagnosis for individuals from one group than from another group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analytical technologies that can improve disease diagnosis are highly sought after. Current screening/diagnostic tests for several diseases are limited by their moderate diagnostic performance, invasiveness, costly and laborious methodologies or the need for multiple tests before a definitive diagnosis. Spectroscopic techniques, including infrared (IR) and Raman, have attracted great interest in the medical field, with applications expanding from early disease detection to monitoring and real-time diagnosis. This review highlights applications of IR and Raman spectroscopy, with a focus on cancer and infectious diseases since 2015, and underscores the diverse sample types that can be analyzed, such as biofluids, cells and tissues. Studies involving more than 25 participants per group (disease and control group; if no control group >25 in disease group) were considered eligible, to retain the clinical focus of the paper. Following literature searches, we identified 94 spectroscopic studies on different cancers and 30 studies on infectious diseases. The review suggests that such technologies have the potential to develop into an objective, inexpensive, point-of-care test or facilitate disease diagnosis and monitoring. Up-to-date considerations for the implementation of spectroscopic techniques into a clinical setting, health economics and successful applications of vibrational spectroscopic tests in the clinical arena are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual neglect is a frequent and disabling consequence of right brain damage. Traditional paper-and pencil tests of neglect have limited sensitivity and ecological validity. The Baking Tray Task (BTT), instead, approaches real-life situations, because it requires participants to place 16 physical objects on a board. The number of objects placed on the left and right portions of the board provides a clinical index of visual neglect. Here we present E-TAN, a technology-enhanced platform for BTT (E-BTT). E-BTT automatically determines the object locations on the board, and also records the sequence and timing of their placement. We used E-BTT to test 9 patients with right hemisphere damage and compared their performance with that obtained by 115 healthy participants. To this end, we developed a new method of analysis of participants' performance, based on the use of the convex hull described by the objects on the board. This measure provides an estimate of the portion of space processed by each participant and can effectively discriminate neglect patients from patients without neglect. E-TAN allows clinicians to assess visuospatial performance by using a convenient, fast, and relatively automatized procedure, that patients can even perform at home to follow-up the effects of rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefit-risk assessment plays an important role in the evaluation of medical devices. Unlike the therapeutic devices, the diagnostic tests usually affect patient life indirectly since subsequent therapeutic treatment interventions (such as proper treatment in time, further examination or test, no action, etc.) will depend on correct diagnosis and monitoring of the disease status. A benefit-risk score using statistical models by integrating the information from benefit (true positive and true negative) and risk (false positive and false negative) for diagnostic tests with binary outcomes (i.e., positive and negative) will help evaluation of the utility and the uncertainty of a particular diagnostic device. In this paper, we develop two types of Bayesian models with conjugate priors for constructing the benefit-risk (BR) measures with corresponding credible intervals, one based on a Multinomial model with Dirichlet prior, and the other based on independent Binomial models with independent Beta priors. We then propose a Bayesian power prior model to incorporate the historical data or the real-world data (RWD). Both the fixed and random power prior parameters are considered for Bayesian borrowing. We evaluate the performance of the methods by simulations and illustrate their implementation using a real example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical examination has become an important method of disease diagnosis, curative effect evaluation, prognosis judgment and health monitoring, and the biological reference interval is the reference standard to interpret test results and analyses of test information. In clinical tests, the reference interval is often affected by race, sex, age, geographical location and growth and development, so it is very important to establish a suitable reference interval for each laboratory. It is a huge and arduous task for each laboratory to establish its own reference interval. It is unrealistic for different measurement systems to establish reference intervals. According to the C28-A3c guideline from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), clinical laboratories can appropriately transfer the reference intervals provided by other laboratories. This paper reviews whether the biomarkers in multiregional laboratories can transfer reference intervals between different measurement systems to expand the application of reference interval databases and ensure the accuracy and consistency of the test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]