Deviation from Perfect Performance Measures the Diagnostic Utility of Eyewitness Lineups but Partial Area Under the ROC Curve Does Not

When one lineup identification procedure leads to both fewer innocent–suspect identifications and fewer culprit identifications than does some other lineup procedure, it is difficult to determine whether the procedures differ in diagnostic accuracy. In an influential article, Wixted and Mickes (2012) argued that measures of probative value do not inform diagnostic accuracy in these situations but that the partial area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (pAUC) does. In more recent research, we have found that pAUC does not necessarily indicate which of two lineup procedures has higher expected utility. When two lineup procedures produce different innocent-suspect identification rates, it leads to differential truncation of the ROC curves. As a result, diagnostic utility as measured by the pAUC is confounded with witness confidence level. We introduce a novel receiver operator characteristic measure, deviation from perfect performance (DPP), that unconfounds diagnostic utility and witness confidence level and consistently indicates which of two lineup procedures has higher expected utility. Our findings suggest that eyewitness scientists should abandon pAUC as a measure of diagnostic accuracy and embrace deviation from perfect performance

Determinants of future cardiovascular health in women with a history of preeclampsia

Women who develop preeclampsia have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) later in life. However, current guidelines on cardiovascular risk assessment and prevention are unclear on how and when to screen these women postpartum, and about the role of a positive history of preeclampsia in later-life CVD risk management. The aim of this review is to discuss the present knowledge on commonly used cardiovascular screening modalities available to women with a history of preeclampsia, and to discuss recent developments in early detection of CVD using cardiovascular imaging.Furthermore, we explore how female-specific risk factors may have additional value in cardiovascular screening, in particular in relatively young women, although their implementation in clinical practice is challenged by inconsistent results and lack of long-term outcome data. Non-invasive imaging techniques, e.g., coronary artery intima-media thickness (CIMT), can be helpful to detect subclinical atherosclerotic disease, and coronary artery calcium scoring (CACS) has shown to be effective in early detection of cardiovascular damage. However, while more short-term and long-term follow-up studies are becoming available, few studies have investigated women with a history of preeclampsia in the fourth and fifth decade of life, when early signs of premature CVD are most likely to become apparent. Further studies are needed to inform new and improved clinical practice guidelines, and provide long-term strategies to effectively prevent CVD, specifically targeted at women with a history of preeclampsia. Additionally, evaluation of feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and implementation of CVD screening and prevention initiatives targeted at former preeclampsia patients are needed

Illuminating the detection chain of bacterial bioreporters.

Engineering bacteria for measuring chemicals of environmental or toxicological concern (bioreporter bacteria) has grown slowly into a mature research area. Despite many potential advantages, current bioreporters do not perform well enough to comply with environmental detection standards. Basically, the reasons for this are the lack of engineering principles in the detection chain in the bioreporters. Here, we dissect critical steps in the detection chain and illustrate how bioreporter design could be improved by mutagenizing specificity and selectivity of the sensing and regulatory proteins, by newer expression strategies and application of different signalling networks. Furthermore, we describe how redesigning bioreporter assays with respect to pollutant transport into the cells and application of other detection devices can decrease detection limits and increase the speed of detection