A distantly supervised dataset for automated data extraction from diagnostic studies

International audienceSystematic reviews are important in evidencebased medicine, but are expensive to produce.Automating or semi-automating the data extractionof index test, target condition, and referencestandard from articles has the potentialto decrease the cost of conducting systematicreviews of diagnostic test accuracy, but relevanttraining data is not available. We create adistantly supervised dataset of approximately90,000 sentences, and let two experts manuallyannotate a small subset of around 1,000sentences for evaluation. We evaluate the performanceof BioBERT and logistic regressionfor ranking the sentences, and compare theperformance for distant and direct supervision.Our results suggest that distant supervision canwork as well as, or better than direct supervisionon this problem, and that distantly trainedmodels can perform as well as, or better thanhuman annotators

Antecedents of strategic flexibility:management cognition, firm resources and strategic options

Purpose: Current conceptualisations of strategic flexibility and its antecedents are theory-driven, which has resulted in a lack of consensus. To summarise this domain the paper aims to develop and present an a priori conceptual model of the antecedents and outcomes of strategic flexibility. Discussion and insights into the conceptual model, and the relationships specified, are made through a novel qualitative empirical approach. The implications for further research and a framework for further theoretical development are presented. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory qualitative research design is used applying multiple data collection techniques in a branch network of a large regional retailer in the UK. The development of strategic options and the complex relationship to strategic flexibility is investigated. Findings: The number and type of strategic options developed by managers impact on the degree of strategic flexibility and also on the ability of the firm to achieve competitive differentiation. Additionally, the type of strategic option implemented by managers is dependent on the competitive situation faced at a local level. Evidence of managers' limited perception of competition was identified based on their spatial embeddedness. Research limitations/implications: A single, in-depth case study was used. The data gathered is rich and appropriate for the exploratory approach adopted here. However, generalisability of the findings is limited. Practical implications: Strategic flexibility is rooted in the ability of front-line mangers to develop and implement strategic options; this in turn facilitates competitive differentiation. Originality/value: The research presented is unique in this domain on two accounts. First, theory is developed by presenting an a priori conceptual model, and testing through in-depth qualitative data gathering. Second, insights into strategic flexibility are presented through an examination of managerial cognition, resources and strategic option generation using cognitive mapping and laddering technique. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Hybrid copula mixed models for combining case-control and cohort studies in meta-analysis of diagnostic tests

Copula mixed models for trivariate (or bivariate) meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies accounting (or not) for disease prevalence have been proposed in the biostatistics literature to synthesize information. However, many systematic reviews often include case-control and cohort studies, so one can either focus on the bivariate meta-analysis of the case-control studies or the trivariate meta-analysis of the cohort studies, as only the latter contains information on disease prevalence. In order to remedy this situation of wasting data we propose a hybrid copula mixed model via a combination of the bivariate and trivariate copula mixed model for the data from the case-control studies and cohort studies, respectively. Hence, this hybrid model can account for study design and also due to its generality can deal with dependence in the joint tails. We apply the proposed hybrid copula mixed model to a review of the performance of contemporary diagnostic imaging modalities for detecting metastases in patients with melanoma

Моніторинг розвитку навичок мовлення та аудіювання

Мета цього дослідження є спостереження та аналіз змін якості навичок володіння мовленням і якості володіння навичками аудіювання в процесі навчання. Завдання дослідження полягає у наступному : а) вивчити яким чином сучасні методи моніторингу впливають на поліпшення якості володіння мовленням, б) простежити якісні зміни знань студентів на трьох етапах: стартовому, поточному та підсумковому. Методами моніторингу є анкетування. самостійна робота, тестування

Diagnostic accuracy of confocal microscopy imaging vs. punch biopsy for diagnosing and subtyping basal cell carcinoma

Background: In vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a promising non-invasive skin imaging technique that could facilitate early diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) instead of routine punch biopsies. However, the clinical value and utility of RCM vs. a punch biopsy in diagnosing and subtyping BCC is unknown. Objective: To assess diagnostic accuracy of RCM vs. punch biopsy for diagnosing and subtyping clinically suspected primary BCC. Methods: A prospective, consecutive cohort of 100 patients with clinically suspected BCC were included at two tertiary hospitals in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, between 3 February 2015 and 2 October 2015. Patients were randomized between two test-treatment pathways: diagnosing and subtyping using RCM imaging followed by direct surgical excision (RCM one-stop-shop) or planned excision based upon the histological diagnosis and subtype of punch biopsy (standard care). The primary outcome was the agreement between the index tests (RCM vs. punch biopsy) and reference standard (excision specimen) in correctly diagnosing BCC. The secondary outcome was the agreement between the index tests and reference standard in correctly identifying the most aggressive BCC subtypes. Results: Sensitivity to detect BCC was similar for RCM and punch biopsy (100% vs. 93.94%), but a punch biopsy was more specific than RCM (79% vs. 38%). RCM expert evaluation for diagnosing BCC had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 75%. The agreement between RCM and excision specimen in identifying the most aggressive BCC subtype ranged from 50% to 85% vs. 77% by a punch biopsy. Conclusion: Reflectance confocal microscopy and punch biopsy have comparable diagnostic accuracy to diagnose and subtype BCC depending on RCM experience. Although experienced RCM users could accurately diagnose BCC at a distance, we found an important difference in subtyping BCC. Future RCM studies need to focus on diagnostic accuracy, reliability and specific criteria to improve BCC subtype differentiation

Самоподобие массивов сетевых публикаций по компьютерной вирусологии

Описан подход к организации анализа потока тематических публикаций по компьютерной вирусологии, представленных в web-пространстве. Обоснована фрактальная природа информационных потоков, описаны основные алгоритмы, применяемые в процессе исследований, а также приведены прогнозные выводы на основе свойств персистентности временных рядов.Описано підхід до організації аналізу потоку тематичних публікацій з комп’ютерної вірусології, які наведені у web-просторі. Обґрунтовано фрактальну природу інформаційних потоків, описано основні алгоритми, що застосовуються в процесі досліджень, а також наведено прогнозні висновки на базі властивостей персистентності часових рядів.An approach to the organization of the analysis of a thematic publications stream on computer virology, submitted in web-space, is described. The fractal nature of information streams is proved, the basic algorithms used during researches are described and forecasts conclusions on the basis of persistent properties of time series are given

Patients with atopic dermatitis with filaggrin loss-of-function mutations show good but lower responses to immunosuppressive treatment

Filaggrin (FLG) mutations are a strong risk factor to develop atopic dermatitis (AD). However, the relationship between FLG mutations and treatment outcome in AD has not been thoroughly studied. To investigate whether FLG mutations influence immunosuppressive treatment outcome in AD, we studied the effect of FLG mutations in patients with severe AD participating in a single blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) with methotrexate (MTX) or azathioprine (AZA) during a 24 weeks treatment regimen.((1)) Two years after randomization buccal mucosa swabs were collected from 36 of the 42 RCT patients (86%) to determine the FLG genotype status (R501X, 2282del4, R2447X, S3247X and 3321delA mutations). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserve

A vine copula mixed effect model for trivariate meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies accounting for disease prevalence

A bivariate copula mixed model has been recently proposed to synthesize diagnostic test accuracy studies and it has been shown that it is superior to the standard generalized linear mixed model in this context. Here, we call trivariate vine copulas to extend the bivariate meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies by accounting for disease prevalence. Our vine copula mixed model includes the trivariate generalized linear mixed model as a special case and can also operate on the original scale of sensitivity, specificity, and disease prevalence. Our general methodology is illustrated by re-analyzing the data of two published meta-analyses. Our study suggests that there can be an improvement on trivariate generalized linear mixed model in fit to data and makes the argument for moving to vine copula random effects models especially because of their richness, including reflection asymmetric tail dependence, and computational feasibility despite their three dimensionality