INTRODUCTION Prompt diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is critical for optimal clinical outcomes, but in-laboratory conventional polysomnograms (PSG) are not routinely practical. Though portable out-of-center type III cardiopulmonary sleep studies (out-of-center cardiopulmonary sleep testing [OCST]) are widely available, these studies have not been vali...

PURPOSE To estimate the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV), candidiasis and trichomoniasis and compare the findings of physical examination of the vaginal secretion with the microbiological diagnosis obtained by cytology study of a vaginal smear using the Papanicolaou method. METHODS A cross-sectional study of 302 women aged 20 to 87 years, interviewed and submitted to a gynecology test f...

One of the most common performance measures in selection and management of projects is the Net Present Value (NPV). In the paper, we study a case when initial data about the NPV parameters (cash flows and the discount rate) are represented in the form of intervals supplied by experts. A method for computing the NPV based on using random set theory is proposed and three conditions of independenc...

BACKGROUND The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) is the first choice among stroke scales. The Scandinavian Stroke Scale (SSS) is an alternative scale that is easy to apply in the clinic. AIM To compare the ability of the SSS with that of the NIHSS in identifying patients who are dead or dependent at 3-month follow-up. METHODS A prospective study including patients with acut...

BACKGROUND The C reactive protein (CRP) is one of the most accurate inflammatory markers in acute appendicitis (AA). Obesity leads to a pro-inflammatory state with increased CRP, which may interfere with the interpretation of this laboratory test in AA. AIM To assess sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of CRP in patients with AA and t...

OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that a period of cuirass negative pressure ventilation (NPV) would augment the cardiac output of patients in the early postoperative period after complete correction of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). BACKGROUND Diastolic right ventricular dysfunction can lead to a low-output state in an important minority of patients after TOF repair. In these patients, the diastolic pu...

Many bloodstream infections (BSI) in patients with central venous catheters (CVC) are not catheter-related (CR). Assessment of catheter involvement without catheter withdrawal has not been studied in candidemia. We assessed the value of conservative techniques to evaluate catheters as the origin of candidemia in patients with CVC in a prospective cohort study (superficial Gram stain and culture...

Background: Regarding the diagnostic errors of the classic criteria including serum ascites albumin gradient (SAAG), total protein concentration and the adapted Light et al’s criteria in distinguishing transudate versus exudates, we evaluated the ascitic fluid to serum bilirubin ratio as a new criteria in this regard. We also evaluated whether the combination of bilirubin ratio with each of the...

BACKGROUND In settings with low background prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) infection, interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) could be useful for diagnosing active TB. This study aims to evaluate the performance of QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) in the investigation for suspected active TB, with particular attention to patients originating in high-incidence countries. Furthermore, factors associate...

OBJECTIVE We validated an algorithm designed to identify new or prevalent users of antidepressant medications via population-based drug prescription records. PATIENTS AND METHODS We obtained population-based drug prescription records for the entire Olmsted County, Minnesota, population from 2011 to 2012 (N=149,629) using the existing electronic medical records linkage infrastructure of the Ro...