Longitudinal studies are permeating clinical trials in psychiatry. Additionally, in the same field, rating scales are frequently used to evaluate the status of the patients and the efficacy of new therapeutic procedures. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to study the psychometric properties of these instruments within a longitudinal framework. In the area of depression, the Hamilton depress...

The following case series describes the treatment of neuropathic pain in post-surgical scars, using adipocytes and adipose-derived stem/progenitor cells (ASCs). Two cases are described in which patients underwent lipofilling to treat painful scars after cosmetic surgery. The primary indication for lipofilling was pain reduction and not improved cosmesis. Numeric rating scale (NRS) values were r...

ion (Shaft and Vessey 2006). The task of evaluating ideas is represented by the mechanism that is provided to the user. Thus, mechanism accuracy is, all else being equal, a function of how well a mechanism supports decision-making of its users. The performance of such decision processes is generally referred to as decision quality, defined as the “correctness” or “goodness” of decisions (Dennis...

CONTEXT The use of unidimensional pain scales such as the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), or Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is recommended for assessment of pain intensity (PI). A literature review of studies specifically comparing the NRS, VRS, and/or VAS for unidimensional self-report of PI was performed as part of the work of the European Palliative Care Research Collab...

BACKGROUND This paper compiles data from different sources to get a first comprehensive picture of psychometric and other methodological characteristics of the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) scale. The scale was designed and standardized as a self-administered scale to (a) to assess symptoms/complaints of aging women under different conditions, (b) to evaluate the severity of symptoms over time, ...