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Test Outcomes (test + outcome)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	45%
Engineering	27%
Information Science and Computing	18%

Selected Abstracts

Withdrawal of Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs in Older Persons: Effect on Tilt-Table Test Outcomes

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 5 2007
Nathalie Van Der Velde MD
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether outcomes of tilt-table tests improved after withdrawal of fall-risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs). DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Geriatric outpatient clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred eleven new, consecutive outpatients, recruited from April 2003 until December 2004. MEASUREMENTS: Tilt-table testing was performed on all participants at baseline. Subsequently, FRIDs were withdrawn in all fallers in whom it was safely possible. At a mean follow-up of 6.7 months, tilt-table testing was repeated in 137 participants. Tilt-table testing addressed carotid sinus hypersensitivity (CSH), orthostatic hypotension (OH), and vasovagal collapse (VVC). Odds ratios (ORs) of tilt-table-test normalization according to withdrawal (discontinuation or dose reduction) of FRIDs were calculated using multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, the reduction of abnormal test outcomes (ORs) according to overall FRID withdrawal was 0.34 (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.06,1.86) for CSH, 0.35 (95% CI=0.13,0.99) for OH, and 0.27 (95% CI=0.02,3.31) for VVC. For the subgroup of cardiovascular FRIDs, the adjusted OR was 0.13 (95% CI=0.03,0.59) for CSH, 0.44 (95% CI=0.18,1.0) for OH, and 0.21 (95% CI=0.03,1.51) for VVC. CONCLUSION: OH improved significantly after withdrawal of FRIDs. Subgroup analysis of cardiovascular FRID withdrawal showed a significant reduction in OH and CSH. These results imply that FRID withdrawal can cause substantial improvement in cardiovascular homeostasis. Derangement of cardiovascular homeostasis may be an important mechanism by which FRID use results in falls. [source]

Scheduling considerations for a branching transit route

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION, Issue 3 2004
Aichong Sun
This paper addresses the impacts of different scheduling alternatives for a branching transit route. It examines different schedule alternatives that might be used to optimize the route performance in terms of the passenger traveling time distributed among branch passengers and trunk-line passengers. The schedule alternatives considered include transit vehicle allocation to different branches, offset shifting across vehicles on different branches, and vehicle holding (slack time) in the transit vehicle schedule. With these variables, several vehicle schedules are devised and examined based on a wide variety of possible passenger boarding scenarios using deterministic service models. Test outcomes provide general conclusions about the performance of the strategies. Vehicle assignment leading to even headways among branches is generally preferred for the case of low passenger demand. However, when passenger demand is high, or the differences between the passenger demands on branches are significant, unequal vehicle assignment will be helpful to improve the overall route performance. Holding, as a proactive strategy in scheduling, has the potential to be embedded into the schedule as a type of slack time, but needs further evidence and study to determine the full set of conditions where it may be beneficial. Offset shifting does not show sufficient evidence to be an efficient strategy to improve route performance in the case of low or high passenger demand. [source]

Diagnostic Value of Flecainide Testing in Unmasking SCN5A-Related Brugada Syndrome

JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 8 2006
PAOLA G. MEREGALLI M.D.
Introduction: Provocation tests with sodium channel blockers are often required to unmask ECG abnormalities in Brugada syndrome (BrS). However, their diagnostic value is only partially established, while life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias during these tests were reported. We aimed to establish sensitivity, specificity, and safety of flecainide testing, and to predict a positive test outcome from the baseline ECG. Methods and Results: We performed 160 tests with flecainide in subjects determined to be at risk for BrS. P wave width, PQ duration, QRS width, S wave amplitude and duration in leads II-III, in addition to ST morphology and J point elevation in V1-V3 were measured before and after flecainide administration. Moreover, leads were positioned over the third intercostal space (V1IC3 -V2IC3). Flecainide tests were considered positive if criteria from the First Consensus Report on BrS were fulfilled. In 64 cases, the test was positive, while 95 were negative (1 test was prematurely interrupted). The sensitivity and specificity, calculated in SCN5A-positive probands and their family members, were 77% and 80%, respectively. Baseline ECGs exhibited significant group differences in P, PQ, and QRS duration, J point elevation (leads V1-V2 and V1IC3 -V2IC3), and S duration in II, but an attempt to predict the outcome of flecainide testing from these baseline ECG parameters failed. No malignant arrhythmias were observed. Conclusion: Flecainide testing is a valid and safe tool to identify SCN5A-related BrS patients. Baseline ECGs do not predict test outcomes, but point to conduction slowing as a core mechanism in BrS. [source]

The Full Stomach Test as a Novel Diagnostic Technique for Identifying Patients at Risk of Brugada Syndrome

JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 6 2006
F.A.C.C., Ph.D., TAKANORI IKEDA M.D.
Introduction: Autonomic modulation, particularly high vagal tone, plays an important role in the occurrence of ventricular tachyarrhythmias in the Brugada syndrome. Food intake modulates vagal activity. We assessed the usefulness of a novel diagnostic technique, the "full stomach test," for identifying a high-risk group in patients with a Brugada-type electrocardiogram (ECG). Methods and Results: In 35 patients with a Brugada-type ECG, we assessed 12-lead ECGs before and after a large meal, a pilsicainide pharmacological test, spontaneous ST-segment change, late potentials by signal-averaged ECG, microvolt T-wave alternans, and four other ECG parameters. These patients were divided into two groups (i.e., high-risk group [n = 17] and indeterminate risk group [n = 18]). The full stomach test was defined as positive when augmentation of characteristic ECG abnormalities was observed after meals. Thirteen patients had a prior history of life-threatening events such as aborted sudden death and syncope, with a total of 30 episodes. These episodes had a circadian pattern, at night and after meals. The full stomach test was positive in 17 of the study patients (49%). A positive test outcome was characterized by a higher incidence of a history of life-threatening events than a negative test outcome (P = 0.015, odds ratio = 7.1). In comparison between the two groups, the incidence (82%) of positive outcomes in the high-risk group was significantly higher than that (17%) in the indeterminate risk group (P = 0.0002). Conclusions: Characteristic ECG changes diagnostic of Brugada syndrome are augmented by a large meal. These data are associated with a history of life-threatening events in Brugada syndrome. [source]

Information discovery from complementary literatures: Categorizing viruses as potential weapons

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 10 2001
Don R. Swanson
Using novel informatics techniques to process the output of Medline searches, we have generated a list of viruses that may have the potential for development as weapons. Our findings are intended as a guide to the virus literature to support further studies that might then lead to appropriate defense and public health measures. This article stresses methods that are more generally relevant to information science. Initial Medline searches identified two kinds of virus literatures,the first concerning the genetic aspects of virulence, and the second concerning the transmission of viral diseases. Both literatures taken together are of central importance in identifying research relevant to the development of biological weapons. Yet, the two literatures had very few articles in common. We downloaded the Medline records for each of the two literatures and used a computer to extract all virus terms common to both. The fact that the resulting virus list includes most of an earlier independently published list of viruses considered by military experts to have the highest threat as potential biological weapons served as a test of the method; the test outcome showed a high degree of statistical significance, thus supporting an inference that the new viruses on the list share certain important characteristics with viruses of known biological warfare interest. [source]

Base isolation for retrofitting historic buildings: Evaluation of seismic performance through experimental investigation

EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 8 2001
Antonello De Luca
Abstract An experimental test program on a full-scale model representing a sub-assemblage of the cloister facade of the Sao Vicente de Fora monastery, retrofitted through base isolation, has been recently carried out at the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. In this paper an overview of the laboratory model and the experimental results is provided. In particular, firstly the test model is described, including the geometry and mechanical properties of the masonry specimen and the design of the isolation devices; then the testing method and the sub-structuring of the isolation system are described and the seismic inputs adopted for the pseudo-dynamic tests are defined. Finally, the experimental results are discussed and compared to the analogous results obtained on the ,as is', fixed-base sub-assemblage model. The implications of the test outcomes are emphasized and developments of this research line are presented. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Putting value of information theory into practice: a methodology for building sequential decision support systems

EXPERT SYSTEMS, Issue 2 2004
Silvano MussiArticle first published online: 7 MAY 200
Abstract: The paper presents a methodology for building sequential decision support systems based on decision theory using value of information (for short, DT-VOI based SDSSs). DT-VOI based SDSSs support decision-makers in difficult problems of sequential decision-making. In particular we consider the problem of building DT-VOI based SDSSs which are capable of supporting decisions in critical situations where (1) making a decision entails knowing the states of some critical hypotheses, and such knowledge is acquired by performing suitable tests; (2) test outcomes are uncertain; (3) performing a test entails, in general, some drawbacks, so that a trade-off exists between such drawbacks and the value of the information provided by the test; (4) performing a test has the side-effect that it changes the expected benefit from performing other tests; (5) exceptional situations alter probability and utility default values. [source]

Withdrawal of Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs in Older Persons: Effect on Tilt-Table Test Outcomes

Diagnostic Value of Flecainide Testing in Unmasking SCN5A-Related Brugada Syndrome

Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry-based science curricula in the context of urban reform

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 8 2008
Robert Geier
Abstract Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project-based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high-stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African-American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards-based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 922,939, 2008 [source]

EFFICIENT MARKOV NETWORK DISCOVERY USING PARTICLE FILTERS

COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, Issue 4 2009
Dimitris Margaritis
In this paper, we introduce an efficient independence-based algorithm for the induction of the Markov network (MN) structure of a domain from the outcomes of independence test conducted on data. Our algorithm utilizes a particle filter (sequential Monte Carlo) method to maintain a population of MN structures that represent the posterior probability distribution over structures, given the outcomes of the tests performed. This enables us to select, at each step, the maximally informative test to conduct next from a pool of candidates according to information gain, which minimizes the cost of the statistical tests conducted on data. This makes our approach useful in domains where independence tests are expensive, such as cases of very large data sets and/or distributed data. In addition, our method maintains multiple candidate structures weighed by posterior probability, which allows flexibility in the presence of potential errors in the test outcomes. [source]