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La electroencefalografía (EEG) siempre ha sido considerada una materia especializada, que amerita de entrenamiento para su aplicación e interpretación; esto ha provocado que el acceso a estos estudios quedara confinado a neurólogos y neurofisiólogos. El recién nacido ingresado en la unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales (UCIN) amerita de monitorización neurológica para establecer diagnóstico y pronóstico, por lo que se necesita una herramienta sencilla y accesible para el personal de la UCIN. Estas características han sido cubiertas por el electroencefalograma de amplitud integrada (aEEG) que, a través de patrones visuales simples de la actividad cerebral, permite el abordaje de la condición neurológica. El objetivo de este ensayo se orienta al manejo de mnemotecnias que faciliten la identificación de patrones visuales normales y patológicos en el aEEG. La nomenclatura empleada, aunque puede parecer simple, pretende crear una idea fácilmente asimilable de los conceptos básicos para la aplicación e interpretación de la neuromonitorización con aEEG.

An electroencephalography (EEG) has always been considered a specialized field, whose use and interpretation requires training. For this reason, access to these monitoring studies has been restricted to neurologists and neurophysiologists. Newborn infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) require neurophysiological monitoring to establish their diagnosis and prognosis, so a simple and accessible tool is required for NICU staff. Such features have been covered by amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG), which, through simple visual patterns of brain activity, allows to approach neurological conditions. The objective of this study is to help with the management of mnemonics that facilitate the identification of normal and pathological visual patterns in an aEEG. Although simple in appearance, this nomenclature is intended to create an easy-to-understand idea of basic concepts for the use and interpretation of neurophysiological monitoring with aEEG.

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BACKGROUND: In this article, we delineate a loosely selected cohort comprising patients with a history of early-onset breast cancer and/or a familial occurrence of cancer. The aim of this study was to gain insights into the presence of breast cancer-related gene variants in a population from a micro-region in southern Brazil, specifically the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba. This area exhibits a highly genetically mixed population, mirroring the general characteristics of the Brazilian people. METHODS: Comprehensive next-generation sequencing (NGS) multigene panel testing was conducted on 12 patients from the region, utilizing three different library preparation methods. RESULTS: Two pathogenic variants and one candidate pathogenic variant were identified: BRCA2 c.8878C>T, p.Gln2960Ter; CHEK2 c.1100del, p.Thr367Metfs15, and BRCA2 c.3482dup, p.Asp1161Glufs3. CONCLUSION: BRCA2 c.3482dup, a novel candidate pathogenic variant, previously unpublished, is reported. The prevalence of pathogenic variants in this small cohort is similar to that described in the literature. All different library preparation methods were equally proficient in enabling the detection of these variants.

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Una de las dificultades más comunes que enfrentan los lectores de artículos del área de la biomedicina y epidemiología es la interpretación del término "significativo". El término "estadísticamente significativo" a menudo se malinterpreta como un resultado "clínicamente significativo". La confusión surge del hecho de que muchas personas equiparan "significativo" con su significado literal de "importante", sin embargo, la significación estadística cuantifica la probabilidad de que los resultados de un estudio se deban al azar, mientras que la significancia clínica refleja la importancia práctica o relevancia en el contexto de la atención médica o práctica clínica. Este artículo aborda la diferencia entre la significación estadística y la relevancia o importancia clínica en la interpretación de los resultados de una investigación biomédica.

One of the most common difficulties faced by readers of articles in the area of biomedicine and epidemiology is the interpretation of the term "significant". The term "statistically significant" is often misinterpreted as a "clinically significant" result. Confusion arises from the fact that many people equate "significant" with its literal meaning of "important," however, statistical significance quantifies the probability that the results of a study are due to chance, while clinical significance reflects the practical importance or relevance in the context of health care or clinical practice. This article addresses the difference between statistical significance and clinical relevance or importance in the interpretation of biomedical research results.

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Introduction: This research investigated the capabilities of ChatGPT-4 compared to medical students in answering MCQs using the revised Bloom's Taxonomy as a benchmark. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at The University of the West Indies, Barbados. ChatGPT-4 and medical students were assessed on MCQs from various medical courses using computer-based testing. Results: The study included 304 MCQs. Students demonstrated good knowledge, with 78% correctly answering at least 90% of the questions. However, ChatGPT-4 achieved a higher overall score (73.7%) compared to students (66.7%). Course type significantly affected ChatGPT-4's performance, but revised Bloom's Taxonomy levels did not. A detailed association check between program levels and Bloom's taxonomy levels for correct answers by ChatGPT-4 showed a highly significant correlation (p<0.001), reflecting a concentration of "remember-level" questions in preclinical and "evaluate-level" questions in clinical courses. Discussion: The study highlights ChatGPT-4's proficiency in standardized tests but indicates limitations in clinical reasoning and practical skills. This performance discrepancy suggests that the effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) varies based on course content. Conclusion: While ChatGPT-4 shows promise as an educational tool, its role should be supplementary, with strategic integration into medical education to leverage its strengths and address limitations. Further research is needed to explore AI's impact on medical education and student performance across educational levels and courses.

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An electroencephalography (EEG) has always been considered a specialized field, whose use and interpretation requires training. For this reason, access to these monitoring studies has been restricted to neurologists and neurophysiologists. Newborn infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) require neurophysiological monitoring to establish their diagnosis and prognosis, so a simple and accessible tool is required for NICU staff. Such features have been covered by amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG), which, through simple visual patterns of brain activity, allows to approach neurological conditions. The objective of this study is to help with the management of mnemonics that facilitate the identification of normal and pathological visual patterns in an aEEG. Although simple in appearance, this nomenclature is intended to create an easy-to-understand idea of basic concepts for the use and interpretation of neurophysiological monitoring with aEEG.

La electroencefalografía (EEG) siempre ha sido considerada una materia especializada, que amerita de entrenamiento para su aplicación e interpretación; esto ha provocado que el acceso a estos estudios quedara confinado a neurólogos y neurofisiólogos. El recién nacido ingresado en la unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales (UCIN) amerita de monitorización neurológica para establecer diagnóstico y pronóstico, por lo que se necesita una herramienta sencilla y accesible para el personal de la UCIN. Estas características han sido cubiertas por el electroencefalograma de amplitud integrada (aEEG) que, a través de patrones visuales simples de la actividad cerebral, permite el abordaje de la condición neurológica. El objetivo de este ensayo se orienta al manejo de mnemotecnias que faciliten la identificación de patrones visuales normales y patológicos en el aEEG. La nomenclatura empleada, aunque puede parecer simple, pretende crear una idea fácilmente asimilable de los conceptos básicos para la aplicación e interpretación de la neuromonitorización con aEEG.

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Numerous papers report the efficiency of the automatic interpretation capabilities of commercial algorithms. Unfortunately, these algorithms are proprietary, and academia has no means of directly contributing to these results. In fact, nothing at the same stage of development exists in academia. Despite the extensive research in ECG signal processing, from signal conditioning to expert systems, a cohesive single application for clinical use is not ready yet. This is due to a serious lack of coordination in the academic efforts, which involve not only algorithms for signal processing, but also the signal acquisition equipment itself. For instance, the different sampling rates and the different noise levels frequently found in the available signal databases can cause severe incompatibility problems when the integration of different algorithms is desired. Therefore, this work aims to solve this incompatibility problem by providing the academic community with a diagnostic-grade electrocardiograph. The intention is to create a new standardized ECG signals database in order to address the automatic interpretation problem and create an electrocardiography system that can fully assist clinical practitioners, as the proprietary systems do. Achieving this objective is expected through an open and coordinated collaboration platform for which a webpage has already been created.

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The implementation of imaging methods that enable sensitive and specific observation of anatomical structures has been a constant in the evolution of endodontic therapy. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) enables 3-dimensional (3D) spatial anatomical navigation in the 3 volumetric planes (sagittal, coronal and axial) which translates into great accuracy for the identification of endodontic pathologies/conditions. CBCT interpretation consists of 2 main components: (i) the generation of specific tasks of the image and (ii) the subsequent interpretation report. A systematic and reproducible method to review CBCT scans can improve the accuracy of the interpretation process, translating into greater precision in terms of diagnosis and planning of endodontic clinical procedures. MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, Google Scholar, Embase and Scopus were searched from inception to March 2023. This narrative review addresses the theoretical concepts, elements of interpretation and applications of the CBCT scan in endodontics. In addition, the contents and rationale for reporting 3D endodontic imaging are discussed.

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ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE This study aims to propose a comprehensive alternative to the Bland-Altman plot method, addressing its limitations and providing a statistical framework for evaluating the equivalences of measurement techniques. This involves introducing an innovative three-step approach for assessing accuracy, precision, and agreement between techniques, which enhances objectivity in equivalence assessment. Additionally, the development of an R package that is easy to use enables researchers to efficiently analyze and interpret technique equivalences. METHODS Inferential statistics support for equivalence between measurement techniques was proposed in three nested tests. These were based on structural regressions with the goal to assess the equivalence of structural means (accuracy), the equivalence of structural variances (precision), and concordance with the structural bisector line (agreement in measurements obtained from the same subject), using analytical methods and robust approach by bootstrapping. To promote better understanding, graphical outputs following Bland and Altman's principles were also implemented. RESULTS The performance of this method was shown and confronted by five data sets from previously published articles that used Bland and Altman's method. One case demonstrated strict equivalence, three cases showed partial equivalence, and one showed poor equivalence. The developed R package containing open codes and data are available for free and with installation instructions at Harvard Dataverse at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AGJPZH. CONCLUSION Although easy to communicate, the widely cited and applied Bland and Altman plot method is often misinterpreted, since it lacks suitable inferential statistical support. Common alternatives, such as Pearson's correlation or ordinal least-square linear regression, also fail to locate the weakness of each measurement technique. It may be possible to test whether two techniques have full equivalence by preserving graphical communication, in accordance with Bland and Altman's principles, but also adding robust and suitable inferential statistics. Decomposing equivalence into three features (accuracy, precision, and agreement) helps to locate the sources of the problem when fixing a new technique.

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Abstract This study aimed to assess whether dentists correctly understand the benefit of a dental treatment when it is presented using absolute numbers or relative risk reduction (RRR). This parallel-group randomized controlled trial recruited dentists from 3 postgraduate courses in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants received, in sequentially numbered sealed opaque envelopes, the description of a hypothetical scenario of the benefit (avoidance of multiple tooth loss) of nonsurgical periodontal treatment without or with antibiotics. Treatment benefit was presented in 2 different formats: absolute numbers or RRR. Dentists were given 10 minutes to read the treatment scenario and answer 5 questions. The final sample for analysis included 101 dentists. When asked to estimate the number of patients out of 100 who would avoid multiple tooth loss without antibiotics, 17 dentists (33%) in the absolute numbers group and 12 (25%) in the RRR group provided the correct response (p = 0.39). Regarding treatment with antibiotics, 26 dentists (50%) in the absolute numbers group and 14 (29%) in the RRR group provided the correct response (p = 0.04). Only 16 dentists (31%) in the absolute numbers group and 12 (25%) in the RRR group gave correct answers for both questions (p = 0.51). Most dentists did not correctly understand the benefit of the treatment, irrespective of the format it was presented. Slightly more dentists correctly understood the benefit of the treatment when it was presented as absolute numbers than as RRR.

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Streptococcus agalactiae is a major health concern in tilapia farming worldwide. In contrast to the availability of susceptibility profile results, interpretative criteria for disk diffusion assays and the influence of serotypes on resistance profiles are not available. To address this, sixty isolates (thirty of each serotype, Ib and III) were evaluated using the disk diffusion assay against six antibiotics, and the epidemiological cut-off value (ECV) was calculated. All the isolates were classified as non-wild type (NWT) for sulfamethoxazole (SUT) and norfloxacin (NOR). The inhibition zones for oxytetracycline (OXY) and doxycycline (DOX) were largely distinct; all serotype Ib and III isolates were classified as wild-type (WT) and NWT, respectively. The results for serotype III of fish group B Streptococcus (GBS) were comparable to the NWT tetracycline profile of human GBS available in EUCAST, suggesting the presence of resistance mechanisms in these fish isolates. The calculation of the cut-off wild type (COWT) values for OXY and DOX was appropriate for both serotypes. Differences between the distribution of florfenicol (FLO) and amoxicillin (AMO) were found, and we attribute this to the faster growth rate of serotype III, which promotes smaller inhibition zones. Therefore, using separate COWT for each serotype is necessary. In conclusion, the serotype of fish GBS affects its susceptibility profile, and it is recommended to use serotype-specific COWT values as interpretative criteria for disk diffusion assays against FLO and AMO.