Background
Accuracy of baseline ACTH for the diagnosis of PPID in horses varies between studies.
Objectives
To estimate the diagnostic accuracy of ACTH as a biomarker for PPID in adult horses and ...appraise potential causes of heterogeneity.
Study design
Systematic review and meta‐analysis.
Methods
A literature review identified studies reporting diagnostic accuracy data for extraction. Risk of bias was evaluated using QUADAS‐2. Two random‐effects models, the hierarchical summary receiver operating curve (HSROC) and the bivariate binomial normal model (BBN) were used to pool accuracy measurements. We performed meta‐regression using study‐level variables. The impact of diagnostic test accuracy on the frequency of false‐positive and false‐negative results at various pretest probabilities was calculated using the BBN model's accuracy results.
Results
Patient selection and index test evaluation demonstrated significant risk of bias. Mean and 95% confidence intervals for sensitivity and specificity for all studies (n = 11) based upon the HSROC model were (0.72, 95% CI: 0.62 to 0.82) and (0.88, 95% CI: 0.79 to 0.93), respectively. When studies with a common positivity threshold of 35 pg/mL ACTH were evaluated (n = 6), sensitivity and specificity were (0.66, 95% CI:0.54 to 0.77) and (0.87, 95% CI: 0.74 to 0.94). In a hypothetical group of one thousand horses with PPID prevalence of 2%, 20%, and 90%, the frequency of resulting false‐positive and false‐negatives would be (127 and 7), (104 and 68) and (13 and 306), respectively. Factors leading to increased accuracy were case‐control design, clinical reference standard and data‐driven choice of ACTH threshold.
Main limitations
A small number of primary studies (n = 11) were available, demonstrating significant biases.
Conclusions
Less biased studies examining diagnostic accuracy of ACTH are needed. In horses with a high pretest probability of PPID, ACTH may be a functional “rule‐in” test. Baseline ACTH is not recommended for screening purposes or use in horses without clinical signs of PPID.
•We observed peculiar form changes of micron-sized ion-induced structures on PbTe surface.•The first is transformation of the ion-induced micro-sized cones into micropyramids.•Another is formation of ...well-ordered ripples on the facets of micropyramids.•Cones transformation is caused by planes of easy cleavage and high reticular density.•Ripples appear due to self-organization of {111} and {110} planes forming the facets.
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Formation and transformation of micron-sized structures on PbTe crystal surfaces under impact of low energy Ar+ ions is studied. New phenomena occurring due to interaction of energetic ions and atoms forming the main crystallographic planes of solid crystalline compounds, namely the transformation of ion-induced conical structures into pyramidal ones and the formation of facets of the micropyramids with well-ordered ripples during the process of transformation are revealed. We show that conical-pyramidal transformations occur on any PbTe sputtering surface, but the shape of pyramidal structures depends on the surface crystallographic orientation. If the pyramid originates from the ion-induced conical structure on PbTe target of (100) orientation it has the tetrahedral shape and its facets are covered with pronounced well-ordered ripples arranged in parallel to the base of the pyramid and closed at its edges. We show that: (i) micro-sized conical structures ion-induced on PbTe surface are transformed into pyramidal ones due to the tendency of the PbTe compound to the easy cleavage along crystallographic planes of high reticular density; (ii) the well-ordered ripples on the facets of the tetrahedral pyramids forming from conical structures appear due to self-organization of {111} and {110} crystallographic planes shaping pyramidal facets.
An electron–positron pair spectrometer has been designed and constructed for the simultaneous measurement of energy- and angular correlations of e+e- pairs. Experimental results are obtained over a ...wide angular range for high-energy transitions in 16O, 12C and 8Be. The results showed that the angular correlations between 50 and 180°of the e+e- pairs in the energy range between 6 and 18MeV can be determined with sufficient resolution and efficiency in good agreement with the GEANT simulations.
Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) and asthma in barrel racing horses is a common disease across the United States. Limited information is available on non-infectious respiratory diseases ...in this population, the interaction between these two diseases, and the occurrence of both EIPH and asthma in the horse. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid cytological results of barrel racing horses with EIPH, asthma, or both. A retrospective study was conducted using the medical records of horses that presented with cough and decreased athletic performance and BAL results that met the criteria for inclusion. Data from 95 horses were included from a private practice referral hospital in Texas. No statistical difference was found in the frequency of neutrophilia, eosinophilia, or mastocytosis between diagnoses of EIPH, asthma, or concurrent diagnoses of EIPH and asthma. Bronchoalveolar lavage of horses suspected of EIPH is warranted to fully characterize the noninfectious respiratory disease of barrel racing horses.
•Few studies have evaluated both EIPH and asthma within a single equine population or in barrel racing horses.•Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) can evaluate both diseases with a single sample collection.•No statistical difference was found in the frequency of neutrophilia, eosinophilia, or mastocytosis on BAL results between groups
After a short overview of the methods applied for measuring the neutron-skin thickness, we present the recent experimental results for the neutron-skin thicknesses of the
112–124Sn even-even isotopes ...and of
208Pb. We have used inelastic alpha scattering to excite the giant dipole resonance (GDR). The cross section of this process depends strongly on ΔR
np
/R, the relative neutron-skin thickness. We have also measured the excitation of the spin-dipole resonance (SDR) to deduce the neutron-skin thickness since the summed L=1 strength of the SDR is sensitive to it. The results obtained are in good agreement with the previous experimental and theoretical ones.
Electron-positron angular correlations were remeasured for the 17.6 MeV (Jπ = 1+ → 0+) ground state transition in 8Be using an improved setup compared to the one we used previously. Significant ...deviations from the internal pair creation was observed at large angles in the angular correlations, which supports that, in an intermediate step, a neutral isoscalar particle with a mass of 17.0 ±0.2(stat) ±0.5(sys) MeV/c2 and Jπ = 1+was created.
The excitation and subsequent proton decay of the isoscalar giant dipole resonance (ISGDR) in 208Pb have been investigated via the Pb208(α,α′p)Tl207 reaction at 400 MeV. Excitation of the ISGDR has ...been identified by the difference-of-spectra method. The enhancement of the ISGDR strength at high excitation energies observed in the multipole-decomposition-analysis of the singles Pb208(α,α′) spectra is not present in the excitation energy spectrum obtained in coincidence measurement. The partial branching ratios for direct proton decay of ISGDR to low-lying states of 207Tl have been determined and the results are compared with predictions of continuum random-phase-approximation (CRPA) calculations.
The direct proton decay of the isoscalar giant dipole resonance (ISGDR) has been studied in 208Pb using the (α,α′p) reaction at a bombarding energy of 200 MeV. Through observation of direct-decay ...protons from the ISGDR in coincidence with scattered α-particles, the population of proton–hole states in 207Tl was studied, allowing us to test recently performed continuum-RPA (CRPA) calculations for the ISGDR and thereby to learn about its microscopic structure. The energy and width of the ISGDR were also determined to be 22.1±0.3 MeV and 3.8±0.8 MeV, respectively. A new resonance of quadrupole character was observed at Ex=26.9±0.7 MeV with a width of 6.0±1.3 MeV.
The PADME experiment, at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF), in Italy, will search for invisible decays of the hypothetical dark photon via the process e+e−→γA′, where the A′ escapes ...detection. The dark photon mass range sensitivity in a first phase will be 1 to 24 MeV. We report here on performance measurements and simulation studies of a prototype of the Small-Angle Calorimeter, a component of PADME’s detector dedicated to rejecting 2- and 3-gamma backgrounds. The crucial requirement is a timing resolution of less than 200 ps, which is satisfied by the choice of PbF2 crystals and the newly released Hamamatsu R13478UV photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). We find a timing resolution of 81 ps (with double-peak separation resolution of 1.8 ns) and a single-crystal energy resolution of 10% at 550 MeV with light yield of 2.05 photo-electrons per MeV, using 100 to 400 MeV electrons at the Beam Test Facility of LNF. We also propose the investigation of a two-PMT solution coupled to a single PbF2 crystal for higher-energy applications, which has potentially attractive features.
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