Simulation study of activities of daily living functions using online computerized adaptive testing.

Background: Computer adaptive testing (CAT) of the activities of daily living (ADL) functions is required (i) to reveal the advantages of using an efficient and accurate estimation method, (ii) to determine the cutpoint for classifying ADL strata in patients with stroke, and (iii) to evaluate the feasibility of online CAT used in clinical settings for smartphones.

Methods: Normally standardized distributions of ADL measurements were simulated using item parameters from published papers. We retrieved item parameters of the combined Barthel Index and Frenchay Activities Index from the literature (the 23-item comprehensive ADL [CADL] and 34-item ADL scales) and simulated three 1000-person measures from a normal standard CAT distribution: [i] CADL (CADL-CAT), [ii] ADL (ADL-CAT), and [iii] NAT (Non-Adaptive Testing).

Improving Inpatient Surveys: Web-Based Computer Adaptive Testing Accessed via Mobile Phone QR Codes.

Background: The National Health Service (NHS) 70-item inpatient questionnaire surveys inpatients on their perceptions of their hospitalization experience. However, it imposes more burden on the patient than other similar surveys. The literature shows that computerized adaptive testing (CAT) based on item response theory can help shorten the item length of a questionnaire without compromising its precision.

Intraclass reliability for assessing how well Taiwan constrained hospital-provided medical services using statistical process control chart techniques.

Background: Few studies discuss the indicators used to assess the effect on cost containment in healthcare across hospitals in a single-payer national healthcare system with constrained medical resources. We present the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to assess how well Taiwan constrained hospital-provided medical services in such a system.

Methods: A custom Excel-VBA routine to record the distances of standard deviations (SDs) from the central line (the mean over the previous 12 months) of a control chart was used to construct and scale annual medical expenditures sequentially from 2000 to 2009 for 421 hospitals in Taiwan to generate the ICC.

Polymorphisms of death pathway genes FAS and FASL and risk of premalignant gastric lesions.

Background: Tumorigenesis is a multistep process that begins with the abrogation of normal controls of apoptosis and cell proliferation, and the FAS receptor-ligand system is a key regulator of apoptosis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether functional polymorphisms of death pathway genes (FAS and FASL) are associated with the development of gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia.

Patients And Methods: Genotypes in the promoter regions of the FAS (-1377G/A and -670A/G) and FASL (-844T/C) genes of 101 healthy individuals and 86 gastric cancer patients were determined by PCR-RFLP.