BACKGROUND/AIMS Single optotype tests of visual acuity are widely used for preschool vision screening in order to optimise cooperation with testing. These tests may, however, underestimate the visual acuity deficit in amblyopia because they lack visual crowding. This study assessed the resultant negative predictive value (NPV) for amblyopia. METHODS Cohort study of 936 children in the Cambrid...

This paper employs real option approach (ROA) to study the decision of ABC adoption and discontinuation under uncertainty. The general idea behind is that investing in ABC system is an option-rights as in financial American call option. The proposed model takes the total annual number of production of a firm as the primary decision variables. The added annual net profits after establishing ABC ...

BACKGROUND To determine the cut-off values of the preoperative risk of malignancy index (RMI) used in differentiating benign or malignant adnexal masses and to determine their significance in differential diagnosis by comparison of different systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS 191 operated women were assessed retrospectively. RMI of 1, 2, 3 and 4; cut-off values for an effective benign or malignan...

Traditional valuation tools do not adequately support management’s decisions because they ignore the benefits of managers’ flexibility and future opportunities. A new technique for evaluating strategic investment decisions is the real options approach, which is capable of including the value of active management and strategic opportunities under uncertainty. This paper applies real options tech...

OBJECTIVES Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided high intensity focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) is a newly emerging non-invasive technique for the treatment of uterine fibroids. The purpose of this study is to review the clinical impact of MRgFUS. METHODS This study examined 157 patients. The high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) utilized in this study was Philips Achieva 1.5 Tesla M...

Impaired intestinal calcium absorption contributes to osteoporosis, but its measurement is limited to research settings. We hypothesized that 24-hour urine calcium (24HUC) values could diagnose low fractional calcium absorption (FCA). We performed a post hoc analysis of clinical trial data to determine whether 24HUC predicted low FCA compared with the gold standard dual calcium isotope method. ...

AIMS Serial measurements of high-sensitivity troponin are used to rule out acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with an assay specific cutoff at the 99th percentile. Here, we evaluated the performance of a single admission troponin with a lower cutoff combined with a low risk electrocardiogram (ECG) to rule out AMI. METHODS Troponin I measured with a high-sensitivity assay (hs-TnI) was determine...

Early detection of leptospirosis with field-ready diagnostics may improve clinical management and mitigate outbreaks. We previously validated the point-of-care Dual Path Platform (DPP) for leptospirosis with sera in the laboratory. This prospective study compares the diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of the DPP using finger stick blood (FSB) against the serum DPP, venous whole blood (VWB...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the diagnostic utility of interferon-γ release assay (T-SPOT.TB) for the differential diagnosis between Crohn's disease (CD) and intestinal tuberculosis (ITB). METHODS A total of 103 CD and 88 ITB patients, confirmed by histology and anti-tuberculosis treatment response from 2003 to 2011, were included. Their characteristics and clinical features were recorded. Mycobacte...

Monte Carlo simulation is fast becoming the technology of choice for evaluating and analyzing assets, be it pure financial derivatives or investments in real assets. Two of the main virtues of simulation are flexibility and simplicity. There is no constraint on the type of uncertainty that can be modeled and most any type of decision rule can be incorporated. Simulation is also easy to implemen...