background : determining the validity of current median sensory nerve conduction techniques for diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (cts). methods: eighty five patients with clinical diagnosis of cts were compared with the same number of healthy people. the validity of electrodiagnostic tests were compared in a case-control manner. these electrodiagnostictechniques included long-segment, short-...

BACKGROUND While the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has ethnic specific waist circumference (WC) cut-points for the metabolic syndrome for Asian populations it is not known whether the cut-points for black populations should differ from those for European populations. We examined the validity of IDF WC cut points for identifying insulin resistance (IR), the underlying cause of the meta...

due to the importance of material classification issue in grinding circuits, the ‎performance of primary and secondary hydrocyclones in grinding circuit of esfordi ‎phosphate plant was investigated by sampling within 7 days from feed, overflow, and ‎underflow‎ of these hydrocyclones. at first, the d80 of above streams samples were calculated by ‎the screening analysis. the results showed ‎that ...

We assessed the accuracy of questionnaire reports of cat and dog ownership and presence of cockroaches in predicting measured allergen concentrations in house dust. We collected dust samples in the homes of 932 newborns living in New England. Dust samples were taken from the main living area and the infant's bedding. Allergen content of house dust was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent ass...

The objective of the present study is to assess the association between vitamin A deficiency (VAD) evaluated by serum retinol concentration from the mother and umbilical cord and placental concentration of retinol and carotenoids to propose placental values representative of deficiency. Two hundred and sixty-two puerperal women and their newborns were assessed. Concentration of serum and placen...

BACKGROUND Brucellosis is a world-wide disease, which has a diverse clinical manifestation, and its diagnosis has to be proven by laboratory data. Serum agglutination test (SAT) is the most-widely used test for diagnosing brucellosis. The enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) can also determine specific antibody classes against brucella. It is a sensitive, simple and rapid test, which could...

INTRODUCTION Dried blood spot (DBS) collection is an appealing alternative to whole blood or plasma sampling, as it has technical and economic advantages over the latter. MATERIALS AND METHODS A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at a Malaysian tertiary referral hospital from November 2009 to March 2010. One hundred and fifty paired specimens of DBS and plasma were analysed by th...

BACKGROUND Obesity is associated with increased morbidity and premature death. Obesity rates have increased worldwide and the WHO recommends monitoring. A steep rise in body mass index (BMI), a measure of adiposity, was detected in Greenland from 1963 to 1998. Interestingly, the BMI starting point was in the overweight range. This is not conceivable in a disease-free, physically active, pre-wes...

OBJECTIVE To discover the validity indices and establish the most adequate cut off point when using the IPDE questionnaire on a sample of prison inmates. MATERIALS AND METHODS A transversal study was carried out on a correlatively selected sample of 100 inmates at two prisons in Madrid. Evaluation instruments, a questionnaire for demographic, prison and toxicological data and a complete inter...