Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus antibodies in blood donors from the province of Latina, Italy.

In order to calculate the incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in blood donors and to verify the efficacy of the pre-donation method (testing blood samples of potential donors at least 3 months in advance of their first donation), we performed a retrospective cohort study in 1995 and in the period 1996-2000 at the blood transfusion unit in Latina (Italy). Third generation ELISA method as well as RIBA-3 were used. 5,978 donors in 1995 and 20,741 in the 1996-2000 period were analysed.

Preparation of [11C] radioligands with high specific radioactivity on a commercial PET tracer synthesizer.

High specific radioactivity is required for receptor studies with PET. Hereby we wish to report our experience using Nuclear Interface PET Tracer Synthesizer for preparation of Carbon-11 radioligands and module's modifications, which allowed to achieve high specific radioactivity.

The process of defining a profile of student competencies at the University of Vienna Medical School.

Context: A new law enabling curriculum reform led a small circle of interested faculty members at the University of Vienna medical school to launch the Medizin Curriculum Wien project (MCW) to plan a new curriculum under the supervision of the Committee on Educational Affairs (Studienkommission).

Objective: The first stage of the project dealt with the definition of a profile of competencies (Qualifikationsprofil), which describes all the competencies we want our students to possess upon graduation.

Method: This paper presents the approach to and process of defining this profile at one of Europe's largest medical schools, currently enrolling over 1500 new students per year.

[MR-pool: the "Vienna blend". An interactive computer-assisted teaching system for MRI].

Advances in the field of computer technology have facilitated the development of computer-assisted instruction. In this paper we present an interactive computer-based MR teaching system for education in radiology. Our program contains 120 teaching files.

Automated interpretation of planar thallium-201-dipyridamole stress-redistribution scintigrams using artificial neural networks.

Unlabelled: To develop an automated image interpretation system of planar cardiac 201Tl dipyridamole stress/redistribution scintigrams, the authors used artificial neural networks that associate patterns of segmental myocardial thallium uptake with a diagnostic assessment about the presence, severity and localization of significant coronary artery disease.

Methods: Artificial neural networks were trained and evaluated using the results from segmental thallium analysis and either expert readings in 159 cases or coronary angiography in a subgroup of 81 patients.

Results: Based on receiver operating characteristics analysis, the sensitivity for the detection of significant coronary artery disease at a specificity of 90% was 51% compared with angiography and 72% compared with the human expert.