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Normal Data (normal + data)
Selected AbstractsNormal Values of Balance Tests in Women Aged 20,80JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 8 2004Rosemary C. Isles B Phty Objectives: To determine normal values for four commonly used clinical functional balance tests from community-dwelling women aged 20 to 80 and to identify any significant decline due to aging. Design: A cross-sectional study was undertaken to provide normative values for four clinical balance tests across 6 decade cohorts. Setting: The Betty Byrne-Henderson Center for Women and Aging, Royal Womens' Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. Participants: Four hundred fifty-six community-dwelling, independently ambulant women with no obvious neurological or musculoskeletal-related disability, aged 20 to 80, were randomly recruited from a large metropolitan region. Measurements: The clinical balance measures/tests were the Timed Up and Go test, step test, Functional Reach test, and lateral reach test. Multivariate analysis was used to test the effect for age, height, and activity level. Results: Normal data were produced for each test across each decade cohort. Gradual decline in balance performance was confirmed, with significant effect for age demonstrated. Conclusion: New normative data across the adult age decades are available for these clinical tests. Use of clinical balance tests could complement other balance tests and be used to screen women aged 40 to 60 whose performance is outside the normal values for age and to decrease later falls risk. [source] Reliability and repeatability of thermographic examination and the normal thermographic image of the thoracolumbar region in the horseEQUINE VETERINARY JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004B. V. TUNLEY Summary Reasons for performing study: Thermographic imaging is an increasingly used diagnostic tool. When performing thermography, guidelines suggest that horses should be left for 10,20 mins to ,acclimatise' to the thermographic imaging environment, with no experimental data to substantiate this recommendation. In addition, little objective work has been published on the repeatability and reliability of the data obtained. Thermography has been widely used to identify areas of abnormal body surface temperature in horses with back pathology; however, no normal data is available on the thermographic ,map' of the thoracolumbar region with which to compare horses with suspected pathology. Objectives: To i) investigate whether equilibration of the thermographic subject was required and, if so, how long it should take, ii) investigate what factors affect time to equilibration, iii) investigate the repeatability and reliability of the technique and iv) generate a topographic thermographic ,map' of the thoracolumbar region. Methods: A total of 52 horses were used. The following investigations were undertaken: thermal imaging validation, i.e. detection of movement around the baseline of an object of constant temperature; factors affecting equilibration; pattern reproducibility during equilibration and over time (n = 25); and imaging of the thoracolumbar region (n = 27). Results: A 1°C change was detected in an object of stable temperature using this detection system, i.e the ,noise' in the system. The average time taken to equilibrate, i.e. reach a plateau temperature, was 39 mins (40.2 in the gluteal region, 36.2 in lateral thoracic region and 40.4 in metacarpophalangeal region). Only 19% of horses reached plateau within 10,20 mins. Of the factors analysed hair length and difference between the external environment and the internal environment where the measurements were being taken both significantly affected time to plateau (P<0.05). However, during equilibration, the thermographic patterns obtained did not change, nor when assessed over a 7 day period. A ,normal' map of the surface temperature of the thoracolumbar region has been produced, demonstrating that the midline is the hottest, with a fall off of 3°C either side of the midline. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that horses may not need time to equilibrate prior to taking thermographic images and that thermographic patterns are reproducible over periods up to 7 days. A topographical thermographic ,map' of the thoracolumbar region has been obtained. Potential relevance: Clinicians can obtain relevant thermographic images without the need for prior equilibration and can compare cases with thoracolumbar pathology to a normal topographic thermographic map. [source] Bayesian Hypothesis Testing: a Reference ApproachINTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL REVIEW, Issue 3 2002José M. Bernardo Summary For any probability model M={p(x|,, ,), ,,,, ,,,} assumed to describe the probabilistic behaviour of data x,X, it is argued that testing whether or not the available data are compatible with the hypothesis H0={,=,0} is best considered as a formal decision problem on whether to use (a0), or not to use (a0), the simpler probability model (or null model) M0={p(x|,0, ,), ,,,}, where the loss difference L(a0, ,, ,) ,L(a0, ,, ,) is proportional to the amount of information ,(,0, ,), which would be lost if the simplified model M0 were used as a proxy for the assumed model M. For any prior distribution ,(,, ,), the appropriate normative solution is obtained by rejecting the null model M0 whenever the corresponding posterior expectation ,,,(,0, ,, ,),(,, ,|x)d,d, is sufficiently large. Specification of a subjective prior is always difficult, and often polemical, in scientific communication. Information theory may be used to specify a prior, the reference prior, which only depends on the assumed model M, and mathematically describes a situation where no prior information is available about the quantity of interest. The reference posterior expectation, d(,0, x) =,,,(,|x)d,, of the amount of information ,(,0, ,, ,) which could be lost if the null model were used, provides an attractive nonnegative test function, the intrinsic statistic, which is invariant under reparametrization. The intrinsic statistic d(,0, x) is measured in units of information, and it is easily calibrated (for any sample size and any dimensionality) in terms of some average log-likelihood ratios. The corresponding Bayes decision rule, the Bayesian reference criterion (BRC), indicates that the null model M0 should only be rejected if the posterior expected loss of information from using the simplified model M0 is too large or, equivalently, if the associated expected average log-likelihood ratio is large enough. The BRC criterion provides a general reference Bayesian solution to hypothesis testing which does not assume a probability mass concentrated on M0 and, hence, it is immune to Lindley's paradox. The theory is illustrated within the context of multivariate normal data, where it is shown to avoid Rao's paradox on the inconsistency between univariate and multivariate frequentist hypothesis testing. Résumé Pour un modèle probabiliste M={p(x|,, ,) ,,,, ,,,} censé décrire le comportement probabiliste de données x,X, nous soutenons que tester si les données sont compatibles avec une hypothèse H0={,=,0 doit être considéré comme un problème décisionnel concernant l'usage du modèle M0={p(x|,0, ,) ,,,}, avec une fonction de coût qui mesure la quantité d'information qui peut être perdue si le modèle simplifiéM0 est utilisé comme approximation du véritable modèle M. Le coût moyen, calculé par rapport à une loi a priori de référence idoine fournit une statistique de test pertinente, la statistique intrinsèque d(,0, x), invariante par reparamétrisation. La statistique intrinsèque d(,0, x) est mesurée en unités d'information, et sa calibrage, qui est independante de la taille de léchantillon et de la dimension du paramètre, ne dépend pas de sa distribution à l'échantillonage. La règle de Bayes correspondante, le critère de Bayes de référence (BRC), indique que H0 doit seulement êetre rejeté si le coût a posteriori moyen de la perte d'information à utiliser le modèle simplifiéM0 est trop grande. Le critère BRC fournit une solution bayésienne générale et objective pour les tests d'hypothèses précises qui ne réclame pas une masse de Dirac concentrée sur M0. Par conséquent, elle échappe au paradoxe de Lindley. Cette théorie est illustrée dans le contexte de variables normales multivariées, et on montre qu'elle évite le paradoxe de Rao sur l'inconsistence existant entre tests univariés et multivariés. [source] Comparison of chromatic macular ERG and multifocal ERG in diabetic macular edemaACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2007MA ARAKELYAN Purpose: To evaluate the degree of macular function disturbances in patients with diabetes mellitus and high glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c). Methods: 11 patients with type II diabetes were included in our study. In 6 patients a clinically significant macular edema was detected; other 5 patients showed slight vascular changes and absence of macular pathology. All patients had much too high (8-10%) or extremely high (above 10%) levels of HbA1c and underwent a chromatic macular ERG test to red, green and blue stimuli (MBN, Russia). A RETIScan system for multifocal ERG was also used (Roland Consult, Germany). Results: Patients with macular edema and long duration of the disease had significant reduction of a- and b-wave amplitudes of macular ERG, whereas those with short duration of diabetes showed slight decrease of macular ERG amplitude. The density of photoreceptors in multifocal ERG and amplitudes of N1 and P1 components were analyzed in area of 15° of visual angle: the mean of 3 central rings' values was calculated. Correlation between mf-ERG data and macular ERG amplitudes were found. In patients without macular edema and duration of the disease from 7 to 10 years who had background diabetic retinopathy no significant changes of function testing of the macula were revealed. The amplitude values were close to lower normal data. Conclusions: Macular function in diabetic patients is mainly safe in spite of high levels of glycosylated haemoglobin. The complexity of pathogenetic mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy along with functional tests is still the subject of an investigation. [source] Poor uterine development in Turner syndrome with oral oestrogen therapyCLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Wendy F. Paterson Summary OBJECTIVE To evaluate uterine development in Turner syndrome (TS) patients in relation to treatment with oral ethinyl oestradiol (E2) for pubertal induction. DESIGN AND PATIENTS Pelvic ultrasound data for 96 TS patients scanned since 1989 were analysed. Patients were classified into three groups: (1) untreated (n = 48); (2) complete spontaneous puberty (n = 10); and (3) treated with ethinyl oestradiol (n = 38). Uterine development was described in the three groups and compared with the normal data. MEASUREMENTS Uterine length, fundal-cervical ratio (FCR) and shape were recorded, and presence or absence of ovaries noted. In the treated group, cross-sectional and longitudinal data were combined to compare uterine development with Tanner breast stage. RESULTS In untreated girls up to age 10 years there was a variable distribution of uterine length and FCR about the mean. Thereafter, the uterus failed to grow and mature normally. Girls with complete spontaneous puberty had morphologically normal ovaries and uteri, but of 7 girls who attained menarche, 3 subsequently developed secondary oligomenorrhoea or amenorrhoea. In the treated group, in general, breast development and uterine length progressed with increasing E2 dose. However, only 50% of girls with complete secondary sexual development had a mature heart-shaped uterine configuration. CONCLUSIONS Our current E2 treatment regimen for TS girls gives rise to satisfactory pubertal induction and maintenance, but failed to induce a fully mature uterus in half the cohort. In view of the high risk of miscarriage in TS in both spontaneous and assisted pregnancies, the effect of more physiological methods of E2 replacement on uterine development should be investigated. [source] | ||||||||||