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Full-Text Articles in Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment

What Is Causing This Man's Rectal Pain And Urinary Retention?, Mikaela L. Mckenney-Drake, Kali E. Veness, Christopher T. Roman Oct 2016

What Is Causing This Man's Rectal Pain And Urinary Retention?, Mikaela L. Mckenney-Drake, Kali E. Veness, Christopher T. Roman

Christopher Roman

Case: A 23-year-old man presented to an urgent care office with a 2-week history of rectal pain and scant rectal bleeding. In the few days leading up to his presentation, he also had a fever of 101° F (38.3° C), inguinal lymphadenopathy, and urinary retention.


Detection Of Igg4-Specific Autoantibodies In Rheumatoid Arthritis Serum Samples, Azra Borogovac, Youmna Lahoud, Janice Weaver, Sheldon M. Cooper, Mercedes Rincon, Jonathan Kay, Ellen M. Gravallese May 2015

Detection Of Igg4-Specific Autoantibodies In Rheumatoid Arthritis Serum Samples, Azra Borogovac, Youmna Lahoud, Janice Weaver, Sheldon M. Cooper, Mercedes Rincon, Jonathan Kay, Ellen M. Gravallese

Ellen M. Gravallese

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic multi-system autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory synovitis. Autoantibodies such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of RA, and are currently important criteria for diagnosis within the 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) classification criteria.1 Yet, many patients diagnosed with RA do not have measurable circulating ACPA or RF which may result in delayed diagnosis and treatment. After IgG1, IgG4 is the second most predominant isotype among ACPA and RF; however it is not detected in currently available diagnostic assays. Recent …


Detection Of Igg4-Specific Autoantibodies In Rheumatoid Arthritis Serum Samples, Azra Borogovac, Youmna Lahoud, Janice Weaver, Sheldon M. Cooper, Mercedes Rincon, Jonathan Kay, Ellen M. Gravallese May 2015

Detection Of Igg4-Specific Autoantibodies In Rheumatoid Arthritis Serum Samples, Azra Borogovac, Youmna Lahoud, Janice Weaver, Sheldon M. Cooper, Mercedes Rincon, Jonathan Kay, Ellen M. Gravallese

Jonathan Kay

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic multi-system autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory synovitis. Autoantibodies such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of RA, and are currently important criteria for diagnosis within the 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) classification criteria.1 Yet, many patients diagnosed with RA do not have measurable circulating ACPA or RF which may result in delayed diagnosis and treatment. After IgG1, IgG4 is the second most predominant isotype among ACPA and RF; however it is not detected in currently available diagnostic assays. Recent …


Political Drive To Screen For Pre-Dementia: Not Evidence Based And Ignores The Harms Of Diagnosis, David Le Couteur, Jenny A. Doust, Helen Creasey, Carol Brayne Feb 2015

Political Drive To Screen For Pre-Dementia: Not Evidence Based And Ignores The Harms Of Diagnosis, David Le Couteur, Jenny A. Doust, Helen Creasey, Carol Brayne

Jenny Doust

Current policy in many countries is aimed at increasing the rates of diagnosis of dementia and cognitive impairment.1 2 3 This policy drive has been accompanied by research into early detection of dementia, including preclinical identification of underlying neurobiology that might later be associated with dementia.4 Although the clinical features of people with established dementia are unmistakable,5 6 the ability of these preclinical features to predict future disease is less clear. Nevertheless, the belief that there is value in screening for “pre-dementia” or mild cognitive impairment is creeping into clinical practice, with the resulting overdiagnosis having potential adverse consequences for …


Clinical Evaluation Of A Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (Lamp) Assay For Rapid Detection Of Neisseria Meningitidis In Cerebrospinal Fluid, Paul E. Kilgore Jan 2015

Clinical Evaluation Of A Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (Lamp) Assay For Rapid Detection Of Neisseria Meningitidis In Cerebrospinal Fluid, Paul E. Kilgore

Paul E. Kilgore

BACKGROUND: Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) is a leading causative agent of bacterial meningitis in humans. Traditionally, meningococcal meningitis has been diagnosed by bacterial culture. However, isolation of bacteria from patients' cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is time consuming and sometimes yields negative results. Recently, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic methods of detecting Nm have been considered the gold standard because of their superior sensitivity and specificity compared with culture. In this study, we developed a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method and evaluated its ability to detect Nm in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We developed a meningococcal LAMP assay (Nm LAMP) that targets …


Desktop Medicine, Jason Karlawish Nov 2014

Desktop Medicine, Jason Karlawish

Jason Karlawish

No abstract provided.


Diagnosis In General Practice: Using Probabilistic Reasoning, Jenny Doust Nov 2009

Diagnosis In General Practice: Using Probabilistic Reasoning, Jenny Doust

Jenny Doust

Diagnostic tests—whether clinical signs, imaging, or laboratory tests—are imperfect: there is always a possibility that test results are inaccurate and our diagnosis is wrong. However, we need to make decisions about whether to treat or not to treat patients, and so we need to feel confident that our diagnosis is above a certain threshold before we decide to treat a patient and below a certain threshold if we decide to withhold treatment. The threshold depends on the disease and the potential harms and benefits of treating or not treating patients. Unless we have clear strategies to cope with the uncertainties …