Development of robust spoken language technology ideally relies on the availability of large amounts of data preferably in the target domain and language. However, more often than not, speech developers need to cope with very little or no data, typically obtained from a different target domain. This paper focuses on developing techniques towards addressing this challenge. Specifically we consid...

INTRODUCTION In recent years, outcome assessment related to orthopedic surgeries has increasingly focused on patient-reported questionnaires. The Oxford Hip Score (OHS), self-administered questionnaire, is a reliable, valid, and responsive instrument for assessing hip in patients undergoing Arthroplasty. METHODS The study involved 105 adult Persian-speaking patients admitted for primary Total...

BACKGROUND The Oxford Knee Score (OKS) is a short patient-reported outcome instrument that measures pain and physical activity related to knee osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate, construct validity and consistent reliability of the Persian version of the OKS. METHODS The case series consisted of 80 patients who were clinically diagnosed with having knee osteoarthritis. A...

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disorder with easy fatigability of the muscles based on a neuromuscular transmission defect. Most myasthenic patients have antiacetylcholine receptor antibodies which attach to the acetycholine receptor of the postsynaptic membrane of the skeletal muscles and decrease the amplitude of miniature endplate potentials (mepp) and endplate potentials (epp) caus...

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease of the neuromuscular junction, where acetylcholine receptor (AChR), muscle-specific kinase (MuSK), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein 4 (Lrp4) are essential. About 80% and 0% to 10% of patients with generalized MG have autoantibodies to AChR and MuSK, respectively, but pathogenic factors are elusive in others. Here we show ...

Electrical myotonia is known to occur in a number of inherited and acquired disorders including myotonic dystrophies, channelopathies, and metabolic, toxic, and inflammatory myopathies. Yet, electrical myotonia in myasthenia gravis associated with antibodies against muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK) has not been previously reported. We describe two such patients, both of whom had a typical...

BACKGROUND Baecke Habitual Physical Activity Questionnaire (BHPAQ) has widely been employed in clinical and laboratorial studies as a tool for measuring subjects' physical activities. But, the reliability and validity of this questionnaire have not been investigated among Persian speakers. OBJECTIVES Therefore, the aim of the current study was examining the reliability and validity of the Per...

Oxford Elbow Score (OES) is a patient-reported questionnaire used to assess outcomes after elbow surgery. The aim of this study was to validate and adapt the OES into Persian language. After forward-backward translation of the OES into Persian, a total number of 92 patients after elbow surgeries completed the Persian OES along with the Persian DASH and SF-36. To assess test-retest reliability, ...

BACKGROUND Considering the difficulties in diagnosing bipolar disorder in clinical practice and lack of needed screening instruments in Persian language, the present study aimed at assessing sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values for the Persian Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale. METHODS The study was conducted in a university-affiliated hospital in Tehran, Iran, in a sample of 181 c...