As statistical classifiers become integrated into real-world applications, it is important to consider not only their accuracy but also their robustness to changes in the data distribution. In this paper, we consider the case where there is an unobserved confounding variable z that influences both the features x and the class variable y. When the influence of z changes from training to testing ...

In dogs, diagnosis of incomplete ejaculation and azoospermia can be made by measuring the activity of the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (AP) in seminal plasma. However, even though upper cut-off value of 5000 IU/l is given in the literature, results by different assays may vary considerably. Furthermore, no data exist concerning the stability of the enzyme during storage of frozen seminal plasma,...

Indirect immunofluorescence and microneutralization methods for the detection of antibodies to poliovirus serotypes 1, 2, and 3 were compared. Of the 41 sera tested for poliovirus type 1 antibody, 40% were in complete agreement, 55% differed by one dilution, and 5% differed by two dilutions. For poliovirus type 2, 37 sera were tested; 56% completely agreed, and 44% differed by only one dilution...

BACKGROUND Fentanyl-induced cough (FIC) is a transient condition with a reported incidence of 18% to 65% depending on the dose and route of administration of fentanyl. Nonpharmacological methods to prevent FIC are more cost-effective than medications. Dilution of fentanyl has a proven role in the prevention of FIC. Acupressure can also prevent FIC because it has a proven role in the treatment o...

BACKGROUND Early identification of frailty is important for proactive primary care. Currently, however, there is no consensus on which measure to use. Therefore, we examined whether a Frailty Index (FI), based on ICPC-coded primary care data, and the Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) questionnaire identify the same older people as frail. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional, observational s...

In this paper we examine theoretically and by simulation whether or not unobserved heterogeneity independent of the included regressors is really an issue in logit, probit and loglog models with both binary and fractional data. We found that unobserved heterogeneity: (i) produces an attenuation bias in the estimation of regression coefficients; (ii) is innocuous for logit estimation of average ...

Antimicrobial resistance is a phenomenon of increasing importance, as demonstrated by the emergence of different international antimicrobial resistance surveillance programs. The aim of this research was to perform an antimicrobial resistance evaluation in indicator bacteria isolated from pigs and poultry in Chile. One hundred E s c h e r i c h i a c o l i and 80 E n t e r o c o c c u s species...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to determine the in vitro maximum inhibitory dilution (MID) of two chlorhexidinebased oral mouthwashes (CHX): Noplak, Periogard, and one polyhexamethylene biguanide-based mouthwash (PHMB): Sanifill Premium against 28 field Staphylococcus aureus strains using the agar dilution method. MATERIALS AND METHODS For each product, decimal dilutions ranging f...