When the goal is to achieve the best correct classification rate, cross entropy and mean squared error are typical cost functions used to optimize classifier performance. However, for many real-world classification problems, the ROC curve is a more meaningful performance measure. We demonstrate that minimizing cross entropy or mean squared error does not necessarily maximize the area under the ...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to compare technical and scale efficiency of primary care centers from the two largest Greek providers, the National Health System (NHS) and the Social Security Foundation (IKA) and to determine if, and how, efficiency is affected by various exogenous factors such as catchment population and location. METHODS The sample comprised of 194 units (103 NHS ...

BACKGROUND Screw retained implant prostheses seem to be an efficient restorative method to prevent peri-implantitis caused by cement excess around the abutment. The drawback of the screw-retained prostheses is the difficulty to realize an efficient access-hole filling functionally and aesthetically. Up to now, few in vitro and in vivo studies were reported in the literature. The aim of this stu...

BACKGROUND Haemophilus influenzae is the most common colonizing bacteria of the bronchial tree in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and positive cultures for this potentially pathogenic microorganism (PPM) has been associated with local inflammation changes that may influence the relationships between H. influenzae and the bronchial mucosa. METHODS A cross-sectional analysis of st...

The awareness of benefits resulting from the use of the latest research findings in the professional practice of midwives is a prerequisite to ensuring safe midwifery care satisfying the highest standards. Thus, it is important to encourage midwifery students to expand their knowledge and to improve their research methodology and critical analysis of literature-related competence. Aim The aim o...

Genetic variants in hormone receptor genes may be crucial predisposing factors for breast cancer, and microsatellites in the estrogen receptor (ESR1, ESR2) and androgen receptor (AR) genes have been suggested to play a role. We studied 258 African-American (AA) women with breast cancer and 259 hospital-based controls, as well as 349 Nigerian (NG) female breast cancer patients and 296 community ...

Vitamin D3 shows tumoristatic and anticancer effects by acting through the vitamin D receptor (VDR), while hydroxylation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 at position 1α by CYP27B1 is an essential step in its activation. The expression of both the VDR and CYP27B1 has been found in many normal and cancer tissues, but there is a lack of information about its expression in human bladder cancers. The aim of ...