Development and evaluating multimarker models for guiding treatment decisions

Financial support for ProTWIN trial was provided by The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), the Hague, the Netherlands (grant number 200310004). Parvin Tajik is supported by an AXA Research Fund.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Interaction proteome of human Hippo signaling : modular control of the co-activator YAP1

Peer reviewe

Quality of reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies

PURPOSE: To evaluate quality of reporting in diagnostic accuracy articles published in 2000 in journals with impact factor of at least 4 by using items of Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) statement published later in 2003. MATERIALS AND METHODS: English-language articles on primary diagnostic accuracy studies in 2000 were identified with validated search strategy in MEDLINE. Articles published in journals with impact factor of 4 or higher that regularly publish articles on diagnostic accuracy were selected. Two independent reviewers evaluated quality of reporting by using STARD statement, which consists of 25 items and encourages use of a flow diagram. Total STARD score for each article was calculated by summing number of reported items. Subgroup analyses were performed for study design (case-control or cohort study) by using Student t tests for continuous outcomes and chi(2) tests for dichotomous outcomes. RESULTS: Included were 124 articles published in 2000 in 12 journals: 33 case-control and 91 cohort studies. Only 41% of articles (51 of 124) reported on more than 50% of STARD items, while no articles reported on more than 80%. A flow chart was presented in two articles. Assessment of reporting on individual items of STARD statement revealed wide variation, with some items described in 11% of articles and others in 92%. Mean STARD score (0-25 points available) was 11.9 (range, 3.5-19.5). Mean difference in STARD score between cohort studies and case-control studies was 1.53 (95% confidence interval: 0.24, 2.82). CONCLUSION: Quality of reporting in diagnostic accuracy articles published in 2000 is less than optimal, even in journals with high impact factor. Authors, editors, and reviewers should pay more attention to reporting by checking STARD statement items and including a flow diagram to represent study design and patient flow. Supplemental material: radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/2352040507/DC1 (c) RSNA, 200

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

A Method for Automated Cavitation Detection with Adaptive Thresholds

Hydroturbine operators who wish to collect cavitation intensity data to estimate cavitation erosion rates and calculate remaining useful life (RUL) of the turbine runner face several practical challenges related to long term cavitation detection. This paper presents a novel method that addresses these challenges including: a method to create an adaptive cavitation threshold, and automation of the cavitation detection process. These two strategies result in collecting consistent cavitation intensity data. While domain knowledge and manual interpretation are used to choose an appropriate cavitation sensitivity parameter (CSP), the remainder of the process is automated using both supervised and unsupervised learning methods. A case study based on ramp-down data, taken from a production hydroturbine, is presented and validated using independently gathered survey data from the same hydroturbine. Results indicate that this fully automated process for selecting cavitation thresholds and classifying cavitation performs well when compared to manually selected thresholds. This approach provides hydroturbine operators and researchers with a clear and effective way to perform automated, long term, cavitation detection, and assessment

Feature Selection for Monitoring Erosive Cavitation on a Hydroturbine

This paper presents a method for comparing and evaluating cavitation detection features - the first step towards estimating remaining useful life (RUL) of hydroturbine runners that are impacted by erosive cavitation. The method can be used to quickly compare features created from cavitation survey data collected on any type of hydroturbine, sensor type, sensor location, and cavitation sensitivity parameter (CSP). Although manual evaluation and knowledge of hydroturbine cavitation is still required for our feature selection method, the use of principal component analysis greatly reduces the number of plots that require evaluation. We present a case study based on a cavitation survey data collected on a Francis hydroturbine located at a hydroelectric plant and demonstrate the selection of the most advantageous sensor type, sensor location, and CSP to use on this hydroturbine for long-term monitoring of erosive cavitation. Our method provides hydroturbine operators and researchers with a clear and effective means to determine preferred sensors, sensor placements, and CSPs while also laying the groundwork for determining RUL in the future

Additional effects of the cervical length measurement in women with preterm contractions: a systematic review

Purpose: Transvaginal cervical length measurement in women with symptoms of preterm labor has been used to decide if treatment is necessary. Cervical length measurement may also have additional effects on patients, such as providing reassurance, although the evidence to support this is unclear. We explored and summarized to what extent additional effects of cervical length measurement in women with threatened preterm labor have been reported in the clinical literature and what the magnitude of these effects was. Methods We performed a systematic review of the literature to identify articles reporting on cervical length measurements in women with symptoms of preterm labor. We assessed whether these articles reported patient outcomes other than preterm delivery. Results: The electronic and hand search resulted in 764 articles, of which 172 met initial criteria for further eligibility assessment. We found 12 articles that reported additional effects of cervical length measurement in symptomatic women, such as the reassurance or the sensory consequences related to the transvaginal procedure. None of the articles quantified such additional effects. Conclusions There appears to be a gap between the presumed effects of cervical length measurement on patient outcomes, such as patients' reassurance, and the actual assessment of these effects during test evaluations. We suggest that future evaluations of prognostic preterm labor tests include a comprehensive assessment of patient outcomes.Jolande Y. Vis, Rosanna A. Kuin, William A. Grobman, Ben Willem J. Mol, Patrick M. M. Bossuyt, Brent C. Opmee