The diagnostic accuracy of MRI for the detection of partial- and full-thickness rotator cuff tears in adults

This study assessed the diagnostic test accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the detection of partial- and full-thickness rotator cuff tears in the adult population. A systematic review was conducted of the following electronic databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, AMED, ISI Web of Science, Current Controlled Trials, National Technical Information Service, the National Institute for Health Research Portfolio, the UK National Research Register Archive and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform database and reference lists of articles. All studies assessing the sensitivity and/or specificity of MRI for adult patients with suspected rotator cuff tear where surgical procedures were the reference standard were included in the study. A meta-analysis was performed to calculate pooled sensitivity, specificity, likelihood and diagnostic odds ratio values, and summary receiver operating characteristic plots were constructed. Forty-four studies were included. These included 2751 shoulders in 2710 patients. For partial-thickness rotator cuff tears, the pooled sensitivity and specificity values were 0.80 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.79-0.84] and 0.95 (95% CI: 0.94-0.97), respectively. For full-thickness tears, the sensitivity and specificity values were 0.91 (95% CI: 0.86-0.94) and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.96-0.98), respectively. While there was no substantial difference in diagnostic test accuracy between MRIs reviewed by general radiologists and those reviewed by musculoskeletal radiologists, higher-field-strength (3.0 T) MRI systems provided the greatest diagnostic test accuracy.     

介质阻挡放电的电子密度及放电均匀性

建立介质阻挡放电实验系统,研究大气压下外加放电峰值电压和气体组分对气体放电效果的影响.实验研究表明,提高外加放电峰值电压,电子密度明显增加;添加氢气后,观察到明显的潘宁效应,并得出了大气压下获得气体均匀放电的途径.     

重组酶聚合酶扩增:扩增原理及性能分析

脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)放大技术对于核酸检测(NAT)至关重要. 聚合酶链式反应(PCR)虽然是核酸检测的基准扩增技术, 但其主要适用于条件较好的中心实验室. 重组酶聚合酶扩增(RPA)是一种非常有潜力的等温扩增技术, 对仪器设备依赖性小, 适用于资源贫乏地区. 因此, 该技术在核酸检测时不受实验场所限制, 非常适合即时检测(POCT). 作为一种正在快速发展的扩增技术, RPA也存在阻碍其进一步发展的缺陷. 本文对RPA的扩增原理和扩增性能进行了总结, 重点讨论了对扩增性能至关重要的引物重组和ATP动态平衡调控过程, 并概述了RPA存在的缺陷和潜在的解决方向.     

Image quality and diagnostic performance of silicone-specific breast MRI

Purpose

To compare the image quality of three techniques and diagnostic performance in detecting implant rupture.

Materials and Methods

The study included 161 implants for the evaluation of image quality, composed of water-saturated short TI inversion recovery (herein called “water-sat STIR”), three-point Dixon techniques (herein called “Dixon”), and short TI inversion recovery fast spin-echo with iterative decomposition of silicone and water using least-squares approximation (herein called “STIR IDEAL”) and included 41 implants for the evaluation of diagnostic performance in detecting rupture, composed of water-sat STIR and STIR IDEAL.Six image quality categories were evaluated and three classifications were used: normal implant, possible rupture, and definite rupture.

Results

Statistically significant differences were noted for the image quality categories (p < 0.001). STIR IDEAL was superior or equal to water-sat STIR in all image quality categories except artifact effects and superior to Dixon in all categories. Water-sat STIR performed the poorest for water suppression uniformity.The sensitivity and specificity in detecting implant rupture of STIR-IDEAL were 81.8 % and 77.8 % and the difference between two techniques was not statistically significant.

Conclusion

STIR-IDEAL is a useful silicone-specific imaging technique demonstrating more robust water suppression and equivalent diagnostic accuracy for detecting implant rupture, than water-sat STIR, at the cost of longer scan time and an increase in minor motion artifacts.     

Lessons from the first international proficiency test for the detection of spores from the honey bee pathogen Paenibacillus larvae

We report on the first proficiency test in the context of honey bee disease testing on a broad international scale. Honey samples were distributed to 12 participating laboratories for isolation and identification of spores of the etiological agent of American foulbrood, Paenibacillus larvae. Of the 11 laboratories responding to this proficiency testing event, only 6 (54%) provided data that were in full agreement with the previously determined status of the honey samples; eight (72%) laboratories fell within the threshold for qualification as defined a priori in this proficiency test (=level of agreement of at least 90%). Some lessons can now be drawn from the organizational point of view and will certainly improve new initiatives to be taken.     

单发肺炎实变型肺MALT淋巴瘤的多排螺旋CT诊断及鉴别

目的分析单发肺炎实变型肺黏膜相关淋巴组织（MALT）淋巴瘤的多排螺旋CT（MSCT）表现，以提高其诊断及鉴别诊断水平。方法回顾性分析11例患者经手术病理证实的单发肺炎实变型肺MALT淋巴瘤的MSCT和临床资料。结果11例患者中右肺中叶5例，下叶2例，左肺上叶1例，下叶3例；大叶性实变7例，节段性实变3例，非节段性实变1例；2例病灶边缘模糊，类似于炎症，6例边缘模糊程度介于炎症与肺癌之间，3例边缘相对清楚；同邻近胸大肌密度相比较，9例病灶呈略低密度，2例与胸大肌密度接近，CT值39.6～53.3 Hu，平均42.5 Hu；11例病灶内部均未见明显坏死、囊变，9例病灶内见形态及走行相对正常的“空气支气管征”，其中3例内部同时伴有小囊腔；7例CT增强检查，均呈轻～中度较均匀强化，CT值50.5～85.7 Hu，平均66.1 Hu；5例病灶内见“血管漂浮征”；11例病灶均未见明显胸腔积液，2例病灶邻近胸膜增厚，2例伴有纵隔内淋巴结肿大。结论单发肺炎实变型肺MALT淋巴瘤CT上往往表现为肿瘤样的实变、炎症样模糊边缘，多轻、中度较均匀强化，内部常有固有结构的残留，部分可见“空气支气管征”及“血管漂浮征”。MSCT对该肿瘤的的诊断及鉴别具有一定价值。     

Networks of probabilistic events in discrete time

The usual methods of applying Bayesian networks to the modeling of temporal processes, such as Dean and Kanazawa’s dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs), consist in discretizing time and creating an instance of each random variable for each point in time. We present a new approach called network of probabilistic events in discrete time (NPEDT), for temporal reasoning with uncertainty in domains involving probabilistic events. Under this approach, time is discretized and each value of a variable represents the instant at which a certain event may occur. This is the main difference with respect to DBNs, in which the value of a variable V_i represents the state of a real-world property at time t_i. Therefore, our method is more appropriate for temporal fault diagnosis, because only one variable is necessary for representing the occurrence of a fault and, as a consequence, the networks involved are much simpler than those obtained by using DBNs. In contrast, DBNs are more appropriate for monitoring tasks, since they explicitly represent the state of the system at each moment. We also introduce in this paper several types of temporal noisy gates, which facilitate the acquisition and representation of uncertain temporal knowledge. They constitute a generalization of traditional canonical models of multicausal interactions, such as the noisy OR-gate, which have been usually applied to static domains. We illustrate the approach with the example domain of modeling the evolution of traffic jams produced on the outskirts of a city, after the occurrence of an event that obliges traffic to stop indefinitely.     

Stroboscopy

The history and principles of stroboscopy are reviewed, and stroboscopic findings during videolaryngoscopy are evaluated in relationship to the rest of the laryngological clinical evaluation to arrive at the bases for a stroboscopic semiology