Validation of a computer-adaptive test to evaluate generic health-related quality of life

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is a relevant variable in the evaluation of health outcomes. Questionnaires based on Classical Test Theory typically require a large number of items to evaluate HRQoL. Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) can be used to reduce tests length while maintaining and, in some cases, improving accuracy. This study aimed at validating a CAT based on Item Response Theory (IRT) for evaluation of generic HRQoL: the CAT-Health instrument.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional study of subjects aged over 18 attending Primary Care Centres for any reason. CAT-Health was administered along with the SF-12 Health Survey. Age, gender and a checklist of chronic conditions were also collected. CAT-Health was evaluated considering: 1) feasibility: completion time and test length; 2) content range coverage, Item Exposure Rate (IER) and test precision; and 3) construct validity: differences in the CAT-Health scores according to clinical variables and correlations between both questionnaires.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>396 subjects answered CAT-Health and SF-12, 67.2% females, mean age (SD) 48.6 (17.7) years. 36.9% did not report any chronic condition. Median completion time for CAT-Health was 81 seconds (IQ range = 59-118) and it increased with age (p < 0.001). The median number of items administered was 8 (IQ range = 6-10). Neither ceiling nor floor effects were found for the score. None of the items in the pool had an IER of 100% and it was over 5% for 27.1% of the items. Test Information Function (TIF) peaked between levels -1 and 0 of HRQoL. Statistically significant differences were observed in the CAT-Health scores according to the number and type of conditions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although domain-specific CATs exist for various areas of HRQoL, CAT-Health is one of the first IRT-based CATs designed to evaluate generic HRQoL and it has proven feasible, valid and efficient, when administered to a broad sample of individuals attending primary care settings.</p

Characterization of RHD locus polymorphism in D negative and D variant donors from northwestern Argentina

A notable RHD variability has been observed in Central Argentina's current population attributed to the intermixing of different ethnic groups. The Northwestern region of the country is characterized by a markedly Amerindian genetic contribution. In this sense, the definition of the RHD polymorphism in individuals from this area was lacking. A total of 757 donors from Northwestern Argentina, with D negative C and/or E positive (n = 526), and D variant (n = 231) phenotype defined by standard hemmaglutination tube techniques were genotyped using in-house PCR strategies, commercial SNP arrays and Sanger sequencing. RESULTS Among D negative C and/or E positive samples, RHD null (15.40%) and DEL alleles (3.23%) were identified. One unreported SNP c.1001T>A responsible for a null allele was found. RHD*01N.75 (4.18%) and RHD*DEL43 (2.66%) were the most prevalent variants following RHD*03N.01 (8.75%). The characterization of serologic weak D phenotypes showed that RHD*weak D type 1, 2, and 3 variants were found only in 37.24% of the samples, whereas RHD*weak D type 93 was the most prevalent allele (25.11%). Also, a previously unreported missense variation c.764G>A was identified. A RHD genotyping strategy for patients and donors from Northwestern Argentina must consider the detection of the frequently found RHD*01N.75, RHD*DEL43, and RHD*weak D type 93 variants. Taking into account that RHD*DEL43 has scarcely been found in North Americans and Europeans whereas RHD*01N.75 and RHD*weak D type 93 have never been described in populations other than Argentineans, these RHD variants could be attributed to Native Amerindian genetic influence591032363242FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPnão temThis work was supported in part by a grant from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (Project: PICT 2015‐2324), Argentina. Funding was also received from CONICET (Argentina) and FAPESP (Brazil

International guidelines regarding the role of IVIG in the management of Rh- and ABO-mediated haemolytic disease of the newborn

Haemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) can be associated with significant morbidity. Prompt treatment with intensive phototherapy (PT) and exchange transfusions (ETs) can dramatically improve outcomes. ET is invasive and associated with risks. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) may be an alternative therapy to prevent use of ET. An international panel of experts was convened to develop evidence-based recommendations regarding the effectiveness and safety of IVIG to reduce the need for ETs, improve neurocognitive outcomes, reduce bilirubin level, reduce the frequency of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions and severity of anaemia, and/or reduce duration of hospitalization for neonates with Rh or ABO-mediated HDN. We used a systematic approach to search and review the literature and then develop recommendations from published data. These recommendations conclude that IVIG should not be routinely used to treat Rh or ABO antibody-mediated HDN. In situations where hyperbilirubinaemia is severe (and ET is imminent), or when ET is not readily available, the role of IVIG is unclear. High-quality studies are urgently needed to assess the optimal use of IVIG in patients with HDN

The Bloodgen Project of the European Union, 2003-2009

The Bloodgen project was funded by the European Commission between 2003 and 2006, and involved academic blood centres, universities, and Progenika Biopharma S. A., a commercial supplier of genotyping platforms that incorporate glass arrays. The project has led to the development of a commercially available product, BLOODchip, that can be used to comprehensively genotype an individual for all clinically significant blood groups. The intention of making this system available is that blood services and perhaps even hospital blood banks would be able to obtain extended information concerning the blood group of routine blood donors and vulnerable patient groups. This may be of significant use in the current management of multi-transfused patients who become alloimmunised due to incomplete matching of blood groups. In the future it can be envisaged that better matching of donor-patient blood could be achieved by comprehensive genotyping of every blood donor, especially regular ones. This situation could even be extended to genotyping every individual at birth, which may prove to have significant long-term health economic benefits as it may be coupled with detection of inborn errors of metabolism

Noninvasive fetal RHD genotyping to guide targeted anti-D prophylaxis-an external quality assessment workshop.

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink belowBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Fetal RHD genotyping of cell-free fetal DNA from RhD-negative pregnant women can be used to guide targeted antenatal and postnatal anti-D prophylaxis for the prevention of RhD immunization. To assure the quality of clinical testing, we conducted an external quality assessment workshop with the participation of 28 laboratories. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Aliquots of pooled maternal plasma were sent to each laboratory. One sample was positive, and the second sample was negative for fetal RHD, verified by pre-workshop testing using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis of RHD exons 4, 5, 7 and 10. Plasma samples were shipped at room temperature. A reporting scheme was supplied for data collection, including questions regarding the methodological setup, results and clinical recommendations. Different methodological approaches were used, all employing qPCR with a total of eight different combinations of RHD exon targets. The samples were tested blindly. RESULTS: Fetal RHD genotyping was performed with no false-negative and no false-positive results. One inconclusive result was reported for the RHD-positive sample, and four inconclusive results were reported for the RHD-negative sample. All clinical conclusions were satisfactory. CONCLUSION: This external quality assessment workshop demonstrates that despite the different approaches taken to perform the clinical assays, fetal RHD genotyping is a reliable laboratory assay to guide targeted use of Rh prophylaxis in a clinical setting

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are monitoring the sky and collecting gravitational-wave strain data with sufficient sensitivity to detect signals routinely. In this paper we describe the data recorded by these instruments during their first and second observing runs. The main data products are gravitational-wave strain time series sampled at 16384 Hz. The datasets that include this strain measurement can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at http://gw-openscience.org, together with data-quality information essential for the analysis of LIGO and Virgo data, documentation, tutorials, and supporting software

Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first observing run of Advanced LIGO

International audienceDuring their first observational run, the two Advanced LIGO detectors attained an unprecedented sensitivity, resulting in the first direct detections of gravitational-wave signals produced by stellar-mass binary black hole systems. This paper reports on an all-sky search for gravitational waves (GWs) from merging intermediate mass black hole binaries (IMBHBs). The combined results from two independent search techniques were used in this study: the first employs a matched-filter algorithm that uses a bank of filters covering the GW signal parameter space, while the second is a generic search for GW transients (bursts). No GWs from IMBHBs were detected; therefore, we constrain the rate of several classes of IMBHB mergers. The most stringent limit is obtained for black holes of individual mass 100  M⊙, with spins aligned with the binary orbital angular momentum. For such systems, the merger rate is constrained to be less than 0.93  Gpc−3 yr−1 in comoving units at the 90% confidence level, an improvement of nearly 2 orders of magnitude over previous upper limits

First low-frequency Einstein@Home all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves in Advanced LIGO data

International audienceWe report results of a deep all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars in data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run. This search investigates the low frequency range of Advanced LIGO data, between 20 and 100 Hz, much of which was not explored in initial LIGO. The search was made possible by the computing power provided by the volunteers of the Einstein@Home project. We find no significant signal candidate and set the most stringent upper limits to date on the amplitude of gravitational wave signals from the target population, corresponding to a sensitivity depth of 48.7  [1/Hz]. At the frequency of best strain sensitivity, near 100 Hz, we set 90% confidence upper limits of 1.8×10-25. At the low end of our frequency range, 20 Hz, we achieve upper limits of 3.9×10-24. At 55 Hz we can exclude sources with ellipticities greater than 10-5 within 100 pc of Earth with fiducial value of the principal moment of inertia of 1038  kg m2