Background. Approaches to distinguish inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) from noninflammatory disease that are noninvasive, accurate, and readily available are desirable. Such approaches may decrease time to diagnosis and better utilize limited endoscopic resources. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy for gastroenterologist performed point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in t...

INTRODUCTION In pulmonary embolism (PE) without hemodynamic compromise, the prognostic value of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction as measured by echocardiography, computed tomography (CT) or biological (natriuretic peptides) markers has only been assessed in small studies. METHODS Databases were searched using the combined medical subject headings for right ventricular dysfunction or right v...

OBJECTIVE To compare mothers' perceptions of their own infants' nutritional status with anthropometric indicators of undernutrition. DESIGN A qualitative study and cross-sectional quantitative survey. The qualitative study involved developing tools to assess mother's perception. Two methods of verbal description and a pictorial scale were developed. The quantitative survey involved measuring ...

Background: Acute appendicitis is the most common nonobstetric surgical problem in pregnancy. Common signs and symptoms of appendicitis are less reliable during pregnancy due to physiological changes; thus, the role of imaging becomes prominent. Thus, in the present study, we aimed at assessing the accuracy of sonography in diagnosing acute appendicitis during pregnancy. Methods: In this prospe...

Background & Objectives: Fasting in the month of Ramadan has several positive effects on the emotional and mental state and improves happiness in the community. This study aimed to investigate the effects of fasting on the level of happiness in the general population. Materials and Methods: In this study, we used pretest-posttest analysis to evaluate the hypothesis, and the study population con...

OBJECTIVE To derive a clinical decision guide (CDG) to identify patients best suited for cervical diagnostic facet joint blocks. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Pain management center. PARTICIPANTS Consecutive patients with neck pain (N=125) referred to an interventional pain management center were approached to participate. INTERVENTIONS Subjects underwent a standardized testi...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have demonstrated that endoscopic ultrasound-fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a reliable tool for diagnosing pancreatic lesions; however, the reported sensitivity and specificity vary greatly across studies. The aim of this study was to pool the existing literature and assess the overall performance of EUS-FNA in the diagnosis of solid pancreatic lesions. METHOD...

AIMS To determine the adjunctive value of CT coronary angiography (CTCA) in the diagnostic work-up of patients with typical angina pectoris. METHODS AND RESULTS CTCA was performed in 62 consecutive patients (45 male, mean age 58.8 +/- 7.7 years) with typical angina undergoing diagnostic work-up including exercise-ECG and conventional coronary angiography. Only patients with sinus heart rhythm...

CONTEXT Clinicians frequently withhold antibiotics that contain penicillin based on patients' self-reported clinical history of an adverse reaction to penicillin and the clinicians' own misunderstandings about the characteristics of a true penicillin allergy. OBJECTIVES To determine the likelihood of true penicillin allergy with consideration of clinical history and to evaluate the diagnostic...

OBJECTIVE This study examined the efficacy of computed tomographic angiography (CTA) for detection of ruptured and unruptured aneurysms after adjustment for their size distributions under various conditions of aneurysm prevalence. METHODS A systematic review was used to estimate 1) the aneurysm size-specific sensitivity and specificity of CTA, and 2) the size distributions of ruptured and unr...