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Connecting philosophy of medicine with feminist bioethics
Published in Wendy A. Rogers, Jackie Leach Scully, Stacy M. Carter, Vikki A. Entwistle, Catherine Mills, The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics, 2022
Boorse also recognizes that what normal functioning consists in depends on which individual is being considered: what is normal may be different for women and for men, or for adults and for children. He therefore specifies that statistical normality for an individual depends on the particular reference class to which they belong, where age and sex are proposed as the primary reference classes. He also adds later that his theory also has an environmental dimension, so that heat stroke and altitude sickness, which are normal responses of a function in abnormal environments, still count as diseases (2014: 684).
Glaucoma
Published in Ching-Yu Cheng, Tien Yin Wong, Ophthalmic Epidemiology, 2022
Zhi Da Soh, Victor Koh, Ching-Yu Cheng
Structural assessment focuses on vertical cup-to-disc ratio (VCDR) elongation, which is a pathognomonic sign of glaucoma that can be easily assessed. The 97.5th percentile value of VCDR observed among healthy individuals in a population denotes the upper limit of normality, and it is used arbitrarily to distinguish cases from normal. When functional assessment is not possible, the 99.5th percentile value is used instead to indicate advanced structural damage. The distribution of VCDR varies between different populations, but modal values of 0.70 (97.5th) and 0.80 (99.5th) are often utilized in epidemiology studies (Figure 11.2). Functional assessment relies on visual field results obtained from the threshold test strategy with 24-2 test pattern.
Basic stats
Published in O. Ajetunmobi, Making Sense of Critical Appraisal, 2021
Very often, and particularly with small samples, continuous data may not obey a Normal distribution. In such situations, skewed data can either be transformed into a Normal-ish distribution by taking powers, reciprocals or logarithms of data values or, alternatively, researchers may apply statistical tests that need not work with an assumption of normality and these are called ‘non-parametric’ statistical tests (Figure 1.11). The danger with the approach of transforming data is that the results of any analysis will no longer refer to the original data values (e.g. mean values) and will therefore be difficult to interpret.
Expert guidance for treating anemia in chronic kidney disease: what is the appropriate drug treatment strategy?
Published in Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2023
Francesco Locatelli, Lucia Del Vecchio
Overall, HIF-PHIs are well-tolerated drugs in terms of side effects. Given their mechanism of action that possibly involves several pathways other than erythropoiesis, several safety aspects deserve special attention. First, HIF-1a activation could cause the stimulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and possibly be involved in cancer development and growth. This possibility was overseen during phase-II randomized clinical trials, and no significant increases in VEGF levels were found following HIF-PHI treatment. However, no clear evidence on reference values for normality ranges is available in this respect. Regardless, phase-III clinical trials did not show increased cancer risk [4]. The only exception is for the Anemia Studies in Chronic Kidney Disease: Erythropoiesis Via a Novel Prolyl Hydroxylase Inhibitor Daprodustat-Non-Dialysis ASCEND-ND) study [10]. In this randomized clinical trial, daprodustat-treated patients had a significantly higher rate of cancer-related death, tumor progression, or recurrence than darbepoetin alfa. However, absolute numbers were low and post-hoc analyses showed a lower risk, possibly suggesting statistical fluctuation [10].
Review of ankle rehabilitation devices for treatment of equinus contracture
Published in Expert Review of Medical Devices, 2022
Kamila Dostalova, Radek Tomasek, Martina Kalova, Miroslav Janura, Jiri Rosicky, Marek Schnitzer, Jiri Demel
Thera-Live has been used in case studies for with initial 153 chronic stroke patients by Ferrante et al. [32,34]. Three chronic stroke participants were later selected for treatment, each of them representing one gait pattern. 12 healthy subjects participated in order to compute the normality ranges. These studies focused on the fact that the nonparetic leg can compensate for the paretic leg, but in commercial ergometers the torque sensor does not distinguish between the contributions of each leg. Therefore, each crank arm of the ergometer was instrumented with a strain gauge to measure torque and a shaft encoder. This device does not come with its own seat; the patient sits in a chair or wheelchair (Figure 2c). The sensor information on the balance of both legs is then processed on the master PC and displayed on a secondary PC screen. The main limitations of study were the low number of participants, but some modifications on the gait kinematic pattern and mean velocity of gait were noted. The treatment was beneficial especially for people with very asymmetrical gait or overuse of healthy leg to compensate for their asymmetry [34].
A step-down experience in asthma treatment: a retrospective cohort study
Published in Journal of Asthma, 2022
Betül Özdel Öztürk, Zeynep Çelebi Sözener, Ömür Aydin, Dilsad Mungan
Statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS version 21 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The normality of distribution was examined by visual (histogram and probability graphs) and analytical methods (Kolmogrov- Smirnov/Shapiro-Wilk tests) Quantitative data with normal distribution were presented with mean ± standard deviation and non-normally distributed numeric variables were presented with median and interquartile range. Categorical variables were summarized with frequencies and percentages. The importance of the difference according to means between the groups examined with Student’s t test. Categorical data between the groups were evaluated by Chi-square test, risk analysis was performed in two by two tables and adjusted Odds Ratios were calculated by using Logistic Regression analysis. All directional p values were two-tailed and values less than 0.05 were considered significant.