OBJECTIVES To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the measurement of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-BNP (NTproBNP) in patients referred by their general practitioners (GPs) with symptoms suggestive of heart failure. Additionally, to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) with that of the peptides. DESIGN A diagnostic accurac...

Diagnostic accuracy can be improved considerably by combining multiple markers, whose performance in identifying diseased subjects is usually assessed via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The selection of multimarker signatures is a complicated process that requires integration of data signatures with sophisticated statistical methods. We developed a user-friendly tool, called Co...

BACKGROUND Efforts are underway to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem by 2020. Programmatic guidelines are based on clinical signs that correlate poorly with Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) infection in post-treatment and low-endemicity settings. Age-specific seroprevalence of anti Ct Pgp3 antibodies has been proposed as an alternative indicator of the need for intervention. To standardis...

CONTEXT Although it is common practice to read tests with clinical information, whether this improves or decreases the accuracy of test reading is uncertain. OBJECTIVE To determine whether diagnostic tests are more accurate when read with clinical information or without it. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE search (1966-December 2003) extended by search of reference lists and articles citing the article...

We address the problem of comparing the performance of classifiers. In this paper we study techniques for generating and evaluating confidence bands on ROC curves. Historically this has been done using one-dimensional confidence intervals by freezing one variable—the false-positive rate, or threshold on the classification scoring function. We adapt two prior methods and introduce a new radial s...

In this study, we propose to analyze the peripheral vibrissal system specificity through its neuronal responses. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analyses were used, which required the implementation of a binary classifier (artificial neural network) trained to identify the applied stimulus. The training phase consisted of the observation of a predetermined amount of vibrissal swe...

OBJECTIVE To determine the risk of postthyroidectomy hypocalcaemia by measuring parathyroid hormone (PTH) level after thyroidectomy. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from March 2008 to July 2010. METHODOLOGY All included patients were referred for total or near bilateral thyroidectomy. Serum Calcium (Ca) and PTH levels we...

OBJECTIVE To compare the accuracy of 4 different indices of cardiac risk currently used for predicting perioperative cardiac complications. METHODS We studied 119 patients at a university-affiliated hospital whose cardiac assessment had been required for noncardiac surgery. Predictive factors of high risk for perioperative cardiac complications were assessed through clinical history and physi...

This article reviews a beneficial effect of technology transfer from Electrical Engineering to Food Sensory Science. Specifically, it reviews the recent adoption in Food Sensory Science of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, a tool that is incorporated in the theory of signal detection. Its use allows the information processing that takes place in the brain during sensory differe...

Models are increasingly used in clinical practice to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. The aim of our work was to compare a Bayesian network to logistic regression to forecast IgA nephropathy (IgAN) from simple clinical and biological criteria. Retrospectively, we pooled the results of all biopsies (n = 155) performed by nephrologists in a specialist clinical facility between 2002 and 2009. Tw...