Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Annamaria Guolo, Duc-Khanh To
Summary: A new method using pseudo-likelihood for inference on common diagnostic measures is proposed in this study, which assumes working independence between sensitivities and specificities at different thresholds in the same study, overcoming some of the issues in multivariate meta-analysis. Simulation studies demonstrate the satisfactory performance of the method under different scenarios, significantly improving results compared to the multivariate normal counterpart.
STATISTICAL METHODS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Review
Infectious Diseases
Basilua Andre Muzembo, Kei Kitahara, Anusuya Debnath, Keinosuke Okamoto, Shin-Ichi Miyoshi
Summary: This study systematically evaluated the accuracy of cholera rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and found that they have moderate sensitivity and specificity, especially when enriched with alkaline peptone water (APW). Although they are less useful for clinical management, the current generation of RDTs can be valuable for surveillance efforts if used in a principled manner.
CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Chih-Hao Chen, Heng-Yu Haley Lin, Mao-Che Wang, Yuan-Chia Chu, Chun-Yu Chang, Chii-Yuan Huang, Yen-Fu Cheng
Summary: This study provides comprehensive evidence on the effectiveness of smartphone-based tests in diagnosing hearing loss, showing high sensitivity and specificity, and the impact of factors such as patient age, equipment used, and the presence of soundproof booths on diagnostic accuracy.
JMIR MHEALTH AND UHEALTH
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Tsubasa Ito, Shonosuke Sugasawa
Summary: Meta-analysis of DTA studies is popular in clinical epidemiology and health technology development, with bivariate random-effects model being a standard tool. An improved inference method for meta-analysis of DTA, by expanding the coverage probability of standard confidence region, is proposed, which is easy to implement in practical applications without the need for repeated calculations like Bootstrap or Monte Carlo methods.
COMPUTATIONAL STATISTICS & DATA ANALYSIS
(2021)
Article
Allergy
Bernardo Sousa-Pinto, Isabel Tarrio, Kimberly G. Blumenthal, Luis Araujo, Luis Filipe Azevedo, Luis Delgado, Joao Almedia Fonseca
Summary: The diagnostic accuracy of skin tests and specific IgE quantification in identifying patients reporting a penicillin/B-lactam allergy is low, with low sensitivity and high specificity. More research is needed to assess the role of these tests in stratifying patients for delabeling.
JOURNAL OF ALLERGY AND CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Mathematics
William N. Anderson, Johan Verbeeck
Summary: To analyze multivariate outcomes in clinical trials, various generalizations of the univariate Mann-Whitney test, known as generalized pairwise comparisons (GPC) statistics, have been suggested. While asymptotic and resampling tests have been proposed in the literature, they have limitations in accuracy and computational burden. This study presents exact permutation and bootstrap methods that provide fast and accurate inferential tests for GPC statistics.
Article
Mathematical & Computational Biology
Annamaria Guolo, Tania Erika Pesantez Cabrera
Summary: Bivariate random-effects models are commonly used for meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy. This paper introduces a recent formulation of the classical model, which describes test accuracy using study-specific Receiver Operating Characteristics curves. The likelihood approach for inference is found to be prone to issues, and an alternative simulation-extrapolation method called SIMEX is proposed. Simulation studies comparing the methods show that SIMEX provides more accurate inferential results and avoids convergence failure. The methods are applied to a meta-analysis of ultrasound exam accuracy for diagnosing abdominal tuberculosis in HIV-positive subjects.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOSTATISTICS
(2022)
Review
Health Care Sciences & Services
Areti Angeliki Veroniki, Sofia Tsokani, Ridhi Agarwal, Eirini Pagkalidou, Gerta Ruecker, Dimitris Mavridis, Yemisi Takwoingi
Summary: This article aims to evaluate the characteristics and applications of diagnostic test accuracy network meta-analysis (DTA-NMA) and hierarchical meta-regression methods. The results show an increasing number of DTA-NMA publications over the years, and the two methods yield different results. The choice of method can have an impact on the NMA results, especially in terms of specificity.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Jennifer A. Watt, Natasha E. Lane, Areti Angeliki Veroniki, Manav V. Vyas, Chantal Williams, Naveeta Ramkissoon, Yuan Thompson, Andrea C. Tricco, Sharon E. Straus, Zahra Goodarzi
Summary: Virtual cognitive assessments showed good reliability in diagnosing dementia, with videoconference-based assessments having 100% sensitivity and specificity for dementia diagnosis. However, there are critical gaps in diagnostic certainty, indicating the need for further research in this area.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Frank Konietschke, Markus Pauly, Arne C. Bathke, Sarah Friedrich, Edgar Brunner
Summary: This study introduces a novel R package, rankFD, which implements state-of-the-art nonparametric ranking methods for the analysis of factorial designs. The use of this package fills the gap in the direct application of nonparametric methods in complex designs and provides detailed result interpretations.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Siau Ek Hwee, Norah Htet Htet, Cho Naing, Wong Siew Tung, Joon Wah Mak
Summary: Leptocheck-WB is a diagnostic test for the detection of acute leptospirosis with moderate sensitivity and specificity. The methodological quality and study design may affect the accuracy of the test.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Vera Dora Izsak, Alexandra Soos, Zsolt Szakacs, Peter Hegyi, Mark Felix Juhasz, Orsolya Varannai, Agnes Rita Martonosi, Maria Foldi, Alexandra Kozma, Zsolt Vajda, James A. M. Shaw, Andrea Parniczky
Summary: Early recognition and prompt treatment of cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD) are crucial for improved outcomes. Two-day continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) appears to be a promising screening test for CFRD, showing the highest sensitivity and specificity among available screening tools.
Review
Medical Laboratory Technology
Peter Schlattmann
Summary: This tutorial explains how to conduct a meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies based on 2x2 tables from primary studies. It discusses univariate methods for analyzing sensitivity and specificity, as well as logistic regression models for sensitivity with and without random effects. The use of diagnostic odds ratios (DOR) to assess publication bias is also covered. Additionally, bivariate random effects models are recommended, along with the construction of summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curves using a regression model. The tutorial includes instructions on performing the necessary calculations using the R software and provides an example meta-analysis of studies on Procalcitonin as a diagnostic marker for sepsis.
CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Lucy Lu, Qi Sheng Phua, Stephen Bacchi, Rudy Goh, Aashray K. Gupta, Joshua G. Kovoor, Christopher D. Ovenden, Minh-Son To
Summary: This meta-analysis found evidence of widespread prevalence of small study effects in the diagnostic imaging accuracy literature. One likely contributor to the observed effects is publication bias, which can undermine the results of many meta-analyses. Conventional methods for detecting funnel plot asymmetry conducted by included studies appeared to underestimate the presence of small study effects. Further studies are required to elucidate the various factors that contribute to small study effects.
Review
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Temitope Emmanuel Komolafe, Yuzhu Cao, Benedictor Alexander Nguchu, Patrice Monkam, Ebenezer Obaloluwa Olaniyi, Haotian Sun, Jian Zheng, Xiaodong Yang
Summary: The study found that deep learning for COVID-19 diagnosis has achieved remarkable performance, while the source of datasets and network architectures strongly affect the performance of DL.
ACADEMIC RADIOLOGY
(2021)
Letter
Psychology, Developmental
Pim Cuijpers, Toshi A. Furukawa, Hisashi Noma
EUROPEAN CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Review
Psychology, Developmental
Pim Cuijpers, Eirini Karyotaki, Marketa Ciharova, Clara Miguel, Hisashi Noma, Yvonne Stikkelbroek, John R. Weisz, Toshi A. Furukawa
Summary: Meta-analyses demonstrate the effectiveness of psychotherapies in treating depression in children and adolescents. However, more than 60% of youth receiving therapy do not respond, highlighting the need for more effective treatments and strategies.
EUROPEAN CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Muneo Numasaki, Koyu Ito, Kiyoshi Takagi, Kengo Nagashima, Hirotsugu Notsuda, Hirokazu Ogino, Rika Ando, Yoshihisa Tomioka, Takashi Suzuki, Yoshinori Okada, Yasuhiko Nishioka, Michiaki Unno
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the effects of interleukin (IL)-32 beta and IL-32 gamma on mesothelioma cell growth, as well as the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 8 (CXCL8). IL-32 had a growth-promoting effect on one of the six mesothelioma cell lines and had diverse regulatory functions in VEGF-A and CXCL8 secretion from mesothelioma cells stimulated with or without IL-17A. Overexpressing IL-32 gamma in mesothelioma cells resulted in enhanced IL-32 beta expression, affecting cell growth and VEGF-A/CXCL8 expression. IL-32 beta-mediated growth and VEGF-A/CXCL8 production were mainly regulated by the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway, while IL-32 beta-mediated growth inhibition was regulated by the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. In a xenograft model, tumors with IL-32 gamma grew faster and showed increased vascularity compared to control tumors.
CELLULAR IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Masahiko Gosho, Tomohiro Ohigashi, Kengo Nagashima, Yuri Ito, Kazushi Maruo
Summary: Logistic regression models can lead to bias in sparse data, but Bayesian methods can reduce the bias and are suitable for sparse data analysis. Simulation and real data analysis show that the hyper-g prior modeling and log F-type priors can reduce the bias, but the choice of method depends on the null and alternative hypotheses.
JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Correction
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Masahiko Gosho, Tomohiro Ohigashi, Kengo Nagashima, Yuri Ito, Kazushi Maruo
JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Masashi Nakamura, Ryo Ogawa, Juichi Fujimori, Akiyuki Uzawa, Yasunori Sato, Kengo Nagashima, Nagato Kuriyama, Satoshi Kuwabara, Ichiro Nakashima
Summary: This study investigated the epidemiology and clinical features of MOGAD in Japan, finding that the prevalence and incidence rates of MOGAD in Japan are similar to those in other countries, but there is a higher occurrence of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in children.
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Shinji Inaba, Kazumichi Yamamoto, Tomohiro Kaga, Muhammad Wannous, Masatsugu Sakata, Osamu Yamaguchi, Toshi A. Furukawa
Summary: Despite the importance of assessing ECG interpretation skills, there is currently no established universal, standardised assessment tool for ECG interpretation. This study aims to develop a set of items for estimating competency of ECG interpretation and analyze item parameters and multidimensional latent factors to develop an assessment tool. The findings will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Vikram Patel, Daisy Fancourt, Toshi A. Furukawa, Lola Kola
Summary: In this editorial, guest editors discuss the contents of the special issue on the pandemic and global mental health, emphasizing key themes and providing important context.
Article
Mathematical & Computational Biology
Michael Seo, Toshi A. Furukawa, Eirini Karyotaki, Orestis Efthimiou
Summary: Clinical prediction models are widely used in modern clinical practice. This study compares different approaches for developing prediction models when there are different sets of predictors available from multiple studies. The results show that multiple imputation methods and a new approach that synthesizes all predictions outperform a restrict predictors approach.
RESEARCH SYNTHESIS METHODS
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Davide Papola, Eirini Karyotaki, Marianna Purgato, Marit Sijbrandij, Federico Tedeschi, Pim Cuijpers, Efthimiou Orestis, Toshi A. Furukawa, Vikram Patel, Corrado Barbui
Summary: Common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are leading causes of disability worldwide. In low-resource settings, psychosocial interventions delivered through task-sharing modalities have been proven effective in expanding access to mental healthcare. However, the specific components of these interventions that are most efficacious in reducing symptoms of common mental disorders, and for whom, have yet to be substantiated by evidence.
Article
Psychiatry
Andrea Cipriani, Soraya Seedat, Lea Milligan, Georgia Salanti, Malcolm Macleod, Janna Hastings, James Thomas, Susan Michie, Toshi A. Furukawa, David Gilbert, Karla Soares-Weiser, Carmen Moreno, Stefan Leucht, Matthias Egger, Parisa Mansoori, James M. Barker, Spyridon Siafis, Edoardo Giuseppe Ostinelli, Robert McCutcheon, Simonne Wright, Matilda Simpson, Olufisayo Elugbadebo, Virginia Chiocchia, Thomy Tonia, Rania Elgarf, Ayse Kurtulmus, Emily Sena, Ouma Simple, Niall Boyce, Sophie Chung, Anjuli Sharma, Miranda Wolpert, Jennifer Potts, Julian H. Elliott
Summary: Progress in developing novel therapies for anxiety, depression, and psychosis has been slow, and predicting effective treatments for individuals remains challenging. Understanding the mechanisms of mental health conditions, developing targeted interventions, and improving diagnosis and prediction are crucial. Living systematic reviews can enhance efficiency and reduce waste in research. The Global Alliance for Living Evidence on aNxiety, depressiOn and pSychosis (GALENOS) aims to catalog and evaluate relevant scientific research, involving both human and preclinical studies, to advance mental health science. GALENOS will also facilitate collaboration and identify key research questions, accelerating the translation of discovery science into effective interventions.
Letter
Psychiatry
Aran Tajika, Toshi A. Furukawa, Kiyomi Shinohara, Shino Kikuchi, Rie Toyomoto, Yuki Furukawa, Masami Ito, Kazufumi Yoshida, Yukiko Honda, Tomohiro Takayama, Johannes Schneider-Thoma, Stefan Leucht
Review
Critical Care Medicine
Takuo Yoshida, Takuya Yoshida, Hisashi Noma, Takeshi Nomura, Akihiro Suzuki, Takahiro Mihara
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in identifying the etiology of shock. The results showed that POCUS has high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing different types of shock, especially obstructive shock.
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Ryuhei So, Naoki Emura, Kozue Okazaki, Sakiko Takeda, Takashi Sunami, Kohei Kitagawa, Yoshitake Takebayashi, Toshi A. Furukawa
Summary: This study compared the effects of therapist-guided internet interventions with unguided ones on gambling behavior, cognition, and stage of change. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the guided and unguided groups in terms of improvement in gambling symptoms, behavior, and stage of change.
ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS
(2024)
Article
Substance Abuse
Chiyoung Hwang, Taichi Takano, Ryuhei So, Ethan Sahker, Sho Kawakami, Charles Livingstone, Naoko Takiguchi, Masako Ono-Kihara, Masahiro Kihara, Toshi A. Furukawa
Summary: The prevalence of gambling disorder is higher among homeless individuals than the general population, but the factors associated with gambling disorder in this population are not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of gambling disorder among homeless men in Osaka City. The results showed that the lifetime and past-year prevalence of gambling disorder were higher among homeless men compared to the general population. Factors associated with lifetime gambling disorder included longer duration of homelessness and more frequent experiences of homelessness.
JOURNAL OF GAMBLING STUDIES
(2023)