In 2003, the QUADAS tool for systematic reviews of diagnostic accuracy studies was developed. Experience, anecdotal reports, and feedback suggested areas for improvement; therefore, QUADAS-2 was developed. This tool comprises 4 domains: patient selection, index test, reference standard, and flow and timing. Each domain is assessed in terms of risk of bias, and the first 3 domains are also asses...

Collected to support clinical decisions and processes, clinical data may be subject to validity issues when used for research. The objective of this study is to examine methods and issues in summarizing and evaluating the accuracy of clinical data as compared to primary research data. We hypothesized that research survey data on a patient cohort could serve as a reference standard for uncoverin...

BACKGROUND Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of mortality in children under five worldwide. Community-level interventions, such as integrated community case management, have great potential to reduce the burden of pneumonia, as well as other diseases, especially in remote populations. However, there are still questions as to whether community health workers (CHW) are able to accurately ...

UNLABELLED Verbal Fluency Tests (VFT) are commonly used to assess executive functions and language in clinical and epidemiological studies. These tests were included to access cognitive function and predictors to its decline in ELSA-Brasil (Longitudinal Study of Adults' Health), a cohort that investigates incidence and predictors of chronic diseases among 15,000 civil servants from six public e...

BACKGROUND Accurate measurements of knee and hip motion are required for management of musculoskeletal pathology. The purpose of this investigation was to compare three techniques for measuring motion at the hip and knee. The authors hypothesized that digital photography would be equivalent in accuracy and show higher precision compared to the other two techniques. METHODS Using infrared moti...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the population of Peru living in the vicinity of active or former mining operations that could be exposed to lead from contaminated soil. METHODS Geographic coordinates were compiled for 113 active mines, 138 ore processing plants and 3 smelters, as well as 7743 former mining sites. The population living within 5 km of these sites was calculated from census data for 2000...

The purpose of this paper is to review the essential definitions, roles and characteristics of communication on metering system. We discuss measurement, data acquisition and metrological control of a signal sensor from dynamic metering system. After that, we present instruments of sensor communication with more detailed discussions to the reference standards and the important fundamental parame...

Haemoglobin disorders are hereditary, lifelong and characterised by the need for multifaceted management. The question of quality in meeting standards care that likely to bring best possible outcomes patients is a necessary consideration. concept reference centres supporting peripheral treatment formal networking relationship response real needs practical solution public health terms. In this r...