BACKGROUND African pouched rats sniffing sputum samples provided by local clinics have significantly increased tuberculosis case findings in Tanzania and Mozambique. The objective of this study was to determine the reproducibility of rat results. METHODS Over an 18-month period 11,869 samples were examined by the rats. Intra-rater reliability was assessed through Yule's Q. Inter-rater reliabi...

Purpose. Ultrasound tissue characterization (UTC) is used to visualize and quantify the Achilles tendon structure. We investigated intra-rater inter-rater reliability of UTC for quantifying midportion structure area maximum degeneration (AoMD) in military personnel with tendinopathy. Method. scans 50 patients (16–60 years) were processed twice by rater 1 once 2. First, was quantified subsequent...

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to analyze intra-rater and inter-rater reliabilities of the make test, a manual muscle testing measurement method, using a hand-held dynamometer in Korean young adults. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 42 university students participated in this study. The make test, a manual muscle testing method, was conducted. A hand-held dynamometer was used to measu...

INTRODUCTION Hemodynamic management in intensive care patients guided by blood pressure and flow measurements often do not sufficiently reveal common hemodynamic problems. Trans-esophageal echocardiography (TEE) allows for direct measurement of cardiac volumes and function. A new miniaturized probe for TEE (mTEE) potentially provides a rapid and simplified approach to monitor cardiac function. ...

BACKGROUND Quality of life (Qol) is an increasingly used outcome measure in dementia research. The QUALIDEM is a dementia-specific and proxy-rated Qol instrument. We aimed to determine the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability in residents with dementia in German nursing homes. METHODS The QUALIDEM consists of nine subscales that were applied to a sample of 108 people with mild to severe de...

BACKGROUND Pneumonia diagnosed using chest radiographs is often used as a study end point in trials and epidemiological studies. We studied whether training of the end-users in 172 standardized chest radiographic features will decrease variability in the interpretation. METHODS Inter-observer variation of 3 observers in recognizing standardized radiographic features for pneumonia was studied ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability and validity of the original and a modified Medical Research Council scale for testing muscle strength in radial palsy. DESIGN Prospective, randomized validation study. PATIENTS Thirty-one patients with peripheral paresis of radial innervated forearm muscles were included. METHODS Wrist extension, finger extension and grip st...

Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is a syndrome characterized by stenoses or obstructions of the internal jugular and/or azygos veins with disturbed flow and formation of collateral venous channels. Studies using ultrasound in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have demonstrated a high prevalence of CCSVI (mean 70%; range 0-100%; N.=1496), whereas, in normal controls and pat...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intra-rater reliability and inter-rater reliability of three different methods using a drawing protractor, a digital protractor after tracing, and a CAD system. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-four artificial abutments that had been prepared by dental students were used in this study. Three dental students measured the convergence angles by e...