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Biomedical Science and Research Journals | Rickettsiosis: A Case Series on Different Clinical Presentation in Children

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  Rickettsiosis: A Case Series on Different Clinical Presentation in Children Abstract Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is an acute febrile, zoonotic disease caused by Rickettsia conorii. This is transmitted to humans by the brown dogtick Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Although therapy is easy and unexpensive, the different clinical presentation, the lack tick bite in the history or the frequent absence of skin manifestations, often make diagnosis difficult. We here reported four clinical cases of MSF, occurred in a region of central Italy (Abruzzo) with different clinical characteristics, but common epidemiological and anamnestic characteristics. Keywords:  Raoult Score; Rickettsia Conorii; Tick Bite; Tache Noir Keywords:  MFS: Mediterranean Spotted Fever; Nv: Normal Value; CRP: C-Reactive Protein; ERS: Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate; EBV: Ebstein-Barr Virus Introduction Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is a tick-borne acute febrile disease caused by Rickettsia conorii. This pathogen is
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Biomedical Science and Research Journals | Definition of a Novel Imaging Quality Measure for the Evaluation of Emergency Department Patients with Suspected Pulmonary Embolism: Use of AI NLP to Validate and Automate It

  Definition of a Novel Imaging Quality Measure for the Evaluation of Emergency Department Patients with Suspected Pulmonary Embolism: Use of AI NLP to Validate and Automate It Abstract CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) utilization rates for patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) in the Emergency Department (ED) have increased steadily with associated radiation exposure, costs and overdiagnosis. A quality measure is needed to precisely assess efficiency of CTPA utilization, normalized to numbers of patients presenting with suspected PE and based on patient signs and symptoms. This study used Artificial Intelligence approaches such as ontology-driven natural language processing (NLP) to develop, automate, and validate SPE (“Suspected Pulmonary Embolism [PE]”), a measure determining CTPA utilization in ED patients with suspected PE. This retrospective study was conducted 4/1/2013-3/31/2014 in a Level-1 ED. A NLP engine processed “Chief Complaint” sections of ED documentation, iden
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Biomedical Science and Research Journals | Translation of Gas Spectroscopy into the Clinic, a Promising Tool for Non-Invasive Diagnostics in Respiratory Health Care of Neonates

  Translation of Gas Spectroscopy into the Clinic, a Promising Tool for Non-Invasive Diagnostics in Respiratory Health Care of Neonates Abstract Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) is the leading cause of death among preterm infants worldwide. The latest improvements made in tackling RDS are focused on less invasive surfactant therapy and non-invasive ventilation. As a consequence of the more advanced and intensive respiratory support, there is an increase in the prevalence of infants with chronic lung disease. The current first line techniques used to monitor at risk infants with respiratory distress are pulse oximetry, chest radiography (X-ray) and blood gas analysis with X-ray imaging being the main diagnostic tool used. However, ionized radiation can be harmful for the infant and exposure should be kept to the minimum requirement. Translation of the gas spectroscopy to the clinic could provide additional information about alveolar composition and make the step forward in objective
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Biomedical Science and Research Journals | Time to Revisit Endpoint Selection in Clinical Trials

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  Time to Revisit Endpoint Selection in Clinical Trials Abstract In clinical trials, power calculation is often performed based on a single primary endpoint to determine sample size required for achieving study objective with a desired power at a pre-specified level of significance. In practice, power calculation based on a single primary endpoint has been criticized. First, how to select the single primary endpoint among a group of primary endpoints? Second, a single primary endpoint may not be sufficient to adequately inform complex cohorts, the disease status and/or treatment effect of the test treatment under investigation. Third, different study endpoints with different data types (e.g., continuous versus binary response) may result in different sample sizes. In addition, with a given sample size, some (single) endpoints may achieve the study objective while others fail to do so. In this opinion article, a conceptual innovation is the development of a therapeutic index that fully
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