OBJECTIVES To evaluate the responsiveness of generic and mapped preference-based measures based on the anchor of global change in health condition of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING A baseline sample of 333 Chinese CRC patients was recruited between September 2009 and July 2010 and was surveyed prospectively at 6-month follow-up. Preference-based indices were derive...

AIM To ratify previous validations of the CONUT nutritional screening tool by the development of two probabilistic models using the parameters included in the CONUT, to see if the CONUT´s effectiveness could be improved. METHODS It is a two step prospective study. In Step 1, 101 patients were randomly selected, and SGA and CONUT was made. With data obtained an unconditional logistic regressio...

The aim of this work was to verify whether there are statistically significant correlation between the concentrations of lead in blood (Pb-B) and urine (Pb-U). Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry was used in the determination of lead concentration in biological material. Venous blood and spot urine were collected from workers occupationally exposed (95), adults (130) and children up t...

Psychopathy is often described as a constellation of personality characteristics encompassing features such as impulsivity and antisociality, and a lack of empathy and guilt. Although the use of self-reports to assess psychopathy is still debated, there are distinct advantages to such measures and recent research suggests that they may not be as problematic as previously thought. This study fur...

BACKGROUND ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve analysis is well established for assessing how well a marker is capable of discriminating between individuals who experience disease onset and individuals who do not. The classical (standard) approach of ROC curve analysis considers event (disease) status and marker value for an individual as fixed over time, however in practice, both the...

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) to identify the presence of cervical lymph nodes metastases and extracapsular spread with histologic correlations in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS The medical records of 54 patients who underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT for he...

Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis has recently come in vogue for assessing the underlying discriminability and the applied utility of lineup procedures. Two primary assumptions underlie recommendations that ROC analysis be used to assess the applied utility of lineup procedures: (a) ROC analysis of lineups measures underlying discriminability, and (b) the procedure that produces ...

Disease prevention is important and can be accomplished by developing diagnostic tests. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) are used to assess the accuracy of diagnostic tests. The assessment for the superiority between evaluating two diagnostic tests is needed when comparing two diagnostic tests. Existing tests are constructed by comparing t...

Several observational and objective methods are available to assess sedation depth; however, data regarding their accuracy in differentiating deep sedation are limited. In this study we compared 3 sedation tools in children from birth to 18 yr of age and determined their relative value in detecting deep levels of sedation. Bispectral index monitoring (BIS), Modified Maintenance of Wakefulness T...

BACKGROUND Syndromic surveillance systems can potentially be used to detect a bioterrorist attack earlier than traditional surveillance, by virtue of their near real-time analysis of relevant data. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis using the area under the curve (AUC) as a comparison metric has been recommended as a practical evaluation tool for syndromic surveillance system...