An evaluation of the effectiveness of a videotape programme on interobserver reliability in outcome assessment for fibromyalgia.

Aims: A study was designed to assess the effects of a standardized instructional videotape on training senior medical students to acceptable levels of reliability in performing several commonly used observer dependent outcome measures in patients with fibromyalgia (FM).

Methods: During a single day, six third-year medical students independently examined six patients with FM in predetermined order using a Latin Square design, before and after viewing a standardized videotape which demonstrated methods for performing doiorimelry and for delecting skinfold tenderness and reactive hyperaemia. Reliability coefficients were calculated based on the variance components of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) table.

Image transfer through cirrus clouds. I. Ray trace analysis and wave-front reconstruction.

A new technique for modeling image transfer through cirrus clouds is presented. The technique uses a ray trace to model beam propagation through a three-dimensional volume of polydisperse, hexagonal ice crystals. Beyond the cloud, the technique makes use of standard Huygens-Fresnel propagation methods.

Image transfer through cirrus clouds. II. Wave-front segmentation and imaging.

A hybrid technique to simulate the imaging of space-based objects through cirrus clouds is presented. The method makes use of standard Huygens-Fresnel propagation beyond the cloud boundary and a novel vector trace approach within the cloud. At the top of the cloud, the wave front is divided into an array of input gradient vectors, which are in turn transmitted through the cloud model by use of the Coherent Illumination Ray Trace and Imaging Software for Cirrus.

Class, health and justice.

Class inequalities in health are intuitively unjust. Although the link between social class and health status has been fully documented, the precise nature of the injustice has not been made clear. Four alternative views are presented, corresponding to four goals: (1) maximizing the sum total of health; (2) equalizing the health status of higher and lower social classes; (3) maximizing the health status of the lowest social class; and (4) maximizing the health status of the sickest individuals in society.

Active Imaging through Cirrus Clouds.

The presence of clouds of ice particles in the uplink and downlink path of an illumination beam can severely impede the performance of an active imaging system. Depending on the optical depth of the cloud, i.e.