Quality of Data Entry Using Single Entry, Double Entry and Automated Forms Processing–An Example Based on a Study of Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background: The clinical and scientific usage of patient-reported outcome measures is increasing in the health services. Often paper forms are used. Manual double entry of data is defined as the definitive gold standard for transferring data to an electronic format, but the process is laborious. Automated forms processing may be an alternative, but further validation is warranted. Methods: 200 patients were randomly selected from a cohort of 5777 patients who had previously answered two different questionnaires. The questionnaires were scanned using an automated forms processing technique, as well as processed by single and double manual data entry, using the EpiData Entry data entry program. The main outcome measure was the proportion of correctly entered numbers at question, form and study level. Results: Manual double-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 0.046 (95 % CI: 0.001–0.258)) performed better than single-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 0.370 (95 % CI: 0.160–0.729), (p = 0.020)). There was no statistical difference between Optical Mark Recognition (error proportion per 1000 fields = 0.046 (95 % CI: 0.001–0.258)) and double-key data entry (p = 1.000). With the Intelligent Character Recognition method, there was no statistical difference compared to single-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 6.734 (95 % CI: 0.817–24.113), (p = 0.656)), as well as double-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 3.367 (95 % CI: 0.085–18.616)), (p = 0.319))

Subjects with Knee Osteoarthritis Exhibit Widespread Hyperalgesia to Pressure and Cold

Hyperalgesia to mechanical and thermal stimuli are characteristics of a range of disorders such as tennis elbow, whiplash and fibromyalgia. This study evaluated the presence of local and widespread mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia in individuals with knee osteoarthritis, compared to healthy control subjects. Twenty-three subjects with knee osteoarthritis and 23 healthy controls, matched for age, gender and body mass index, were recruited for the study. Volunteers with any additional chronic pain conditions were excluded. Pain thresholds to pressure, cold and heat were tested at the knee, ipsilateral heel and ipsilateral elbow, in randomized order, using standardised methodology. Significant between-groups differences for pressure pain and cold pain thresholds were found with osteoarthritic subjects demonstrating significantly increased sensitivity to both pressure (p = .018) and cold (p = .003) stimuli, compared with controls. A similar pattern of results extended to the pain-free ipsilateral ankle and elbow indicating widespread pressure and cold hyperalgesia. No significant differences were found between groups for heat pain threshold, although correlations showed that subjects with greater sensitivity to pressure pain were also likely to be more sensitive to both cold pain and heat pain. This study found widespread elevated pain thresholds in subjects with painful knee osteoarthritis, suggesting that altered nociceptive system processing may play a role in ongoing arthritic pain for some patients

Meiotic Recombination Intermediates Are Resolved with Minimal Crossover Formation during Return-to-Growth, an Analogue of the Mitotic Cell Cycle

Accurate segregation of homologous chromosomes of different parental origin (homologs) during the first division of meiosis (meiosis I) requires inter-homolog crossovers (COs). These are produced at the end of meiosis I prophase, when recombination intermediates that contain Holliday junctions (joint molecules, JMs) are resolved, predominantly as COs. JM resolution during the mitotic cell cycle is less well understood, mainly due to low levels of inter-homolog JMs. To compare JM resolution during meiosis and the mitotic cell cycle, we used a unique feature of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, return to growth (RTG), where cells undergoing meiosis can be returned to the mitotic cell cycle by a nutritional shift. By performing RTG with ndt80 mutants, which arrest in meiosis I prophase with high levels of interhomolog JMs, we could readily monitor JM resolution during the first cell division of RTG genetically and, for the first time, at the molecular level. In contrast to meiosis, where most JMs resolve as COs, most JMs were resolved during the first 1.5–2 hr after RTG without producing COs. Subsequent resolution of the remaining JMs produced COs, and this CO production required the Mus81/Mms4 structure-selective endonuclease. RTG in sgs1-ΔC795 mutants, which lack the helicase and Holliday junction-binding domains of this BLM homolog, led to a substantial delay in JM resolution; and subsequent JM resolution produced both COs and NCOs. Based on these findings, we suggest that most JMs are resolved during the mitotic cell cycle by dissolution, an Sgs1 helicase-dependent process that produces only NCOs. JMs that escape dissolution are mostly resolved by Mus81/Mms4-dependent cleavage that produces both COs and NCOs in a relatively unbiased manner. Thus, in contrast to meiosis, where JM resolution is heavily biased towards COs, JM resolution during RTG minimizes CO formation, thus maintaining genome integrity and minimizing loss of heterozygosity