The group assignment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may differ depending on whet... more The group assignment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may differ depending on whether the COPD assessment test (CAT) or modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale (mMRC) is used. This study intended to clarify how different patient characteristics influence the differences, to determine the relationships between CAT and mMRC and to characterise COPD patients by both CAT and mMRC. This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study. The data, collected by Taiwan Obstructive Lung Disease consortium, were managed and analysed. Of the 757 participants, COPD group assignment was not identical as well as no substantial agreement presented when categorised based on the cut-point CAT score ⩾10 and each mMRC cut-point. In all, 38.2% of participants had discordant group assignments together with a lower mean CAT score, less severe airway obstruction and less severe airflow limitation compared with those with concordant group assignments. In the discordant group, the CAT⩾10/mM...
Clinical otolaryngology : official journal of ENT-UK ; official journal of Netherlands Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology & Cervico-Facial Surgery, 2014
To investigate the laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) episodes and pH values in patients with suspect... more To investigate the laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) episodes and pH values in patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) using the Dx-pH oropharyngeal probe. Prospective cohort study. Tertiary medical centre. Forty patients with complaint of snoring or suspected OSA were prospectively enrolled to receive full nocturnal polysomnography (PSG). The patients were divided into 2 groups: a simple snorers group if the Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) was < 5 and an OSA group if the RDI was ≥ 5. The patients simultaneously received Dx-pH oropharyngeal probe monitoring for 12 h from about 6 pm to 6 am of the next day. The number of LPR events was recorded if the nadir of rapid pH drops was below pH 5.0 and 5.5. The difference of LPR events between the two groups and the difference of LPR events between awake and sleep periods in each group were analysed, respectively. There were 18 (45%) patients diagnosed as OSA with a mean RDI of 28.7, and 22 patients (55%) diagnosed as sim...
ABSTRACT This study aimed to determine if urine conductivity (Cond) is better for screening early... more ABSTRACT This study aimed to determine if urine conductivity (Cond) is better for screening early stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) instead of the currently routinely used parameters of urine creatinine (UCr), urine osmolality (Osmo), urine specific gravity (SpGr), and urine protein (UP). One hundred and forty participants (86 male, 54 female) with eGFR &gt; 60 were grouped as either early stage CKD (kidney damage longer than 3 months with either structural or functional abnormalities [n = 72]) or the control group (without CKD and without kidney damage or functional abnormalities [n = 681]). Sensitivty (Sn) and specificity (Sp) of UP and the ROC curves were calculated. The area under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to compare Cond, UCr, Osmo, and SpGr. Pearson&#39;s correlation was used to analyze the correlation between Cond and UCr, Osmo, and SpGr in the early stage CKD group. The Sn and Sp of UP were 22.2% and 92.6%, respectively. By ROC analysis, Cond had the largest AUC (0.752, 95% CI: 0.672-0.832), with 52.9% Sn and 86.1% Sp. Pearson&#39;s correlation showed that the coefficient (p &lt; 0.01) of Cond to UCr, Osmo, and SpG were 0.696, 0.907, and 0.820, respectively. Cond has better screening ability than UP for early stage CKD and may be a potential surrogate parameter for Osmo, SpGr and UCr.
Several formulas predicting optimal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for obstructive sl... more Several formulas predicting optimal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for obstructive sleep apnea treatment have been developed and diverse parameters selected as predictive factors in different sleep laboratories using different ethnic groups. This study aimed to validate a constructed predictive formula for the study laboratory and to test the hypothesis that sleep laboratories should have their own predictive formulas. Fifty-seven adult subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) were enrolled in the model-building set and underwent two polysomnography (PSG) studies to diagnose OSAS and titrate for optimal CPAP. A predictive formula, derived from anthropometric and polysomnographic variables, was validated together with two other predictive formulas in 30 subjects by comparing the mean predictive CPAP values, rates of successful prediction, and agreements. Regression analysis showed that apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), SaO2nadir (nadir of arterial oxyhemoglobin saturation by pulse oximetry), and body mass index (BMI) strongly correlated with optimal CPAP. The derived predictive formula for the study laboratory was: CPAPpred (predictive CPAP) = 6.380 + 0.033 × AHI - 0.068 × SaO2nadir + 0.171 × BMI (R(2) = 0.335, adjusted R(2) = 0.298). In Taiwan, different predictive formulas used by different sleep laboratories with different independent predictors led to similar mean predictive CPAP values to the mean observed optimal CPAP values, rates of successful prediction, and agreements with the observed optimal CPAP. There were significant differences between the mean predictive CPAP values and mean observed optimal CPAP values, lower rates of successful prediction, and negatively skewed 95% confidence interval (CI) when using a predictive formula derived from different ethnic populations. A sleep laboratory may not need to have its own predictive formula for determining the optimal effective CPAP but should adopt the one derived from the same ethnicity of OSAS patients as the reference formula.
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2000
ABSTRACT The multiple-grid adaptive integral method (MG-AIM) is extended for fast analysis of sca... more ABSTRACT The multiple-grid adaptive integral method (MG-AIM) is extended for fast analysis of scattering from piecewise homogeneous structures on or above a perfect electrically/ magnetically conducting plane. Because the Green functions in the relevant integral equations contain (i) reflection terms that are in correlation form in the direction normal to the plane and (ii) direct terms that are in convolution form in all directions, the MG-AIM propagation stage gives rise to Hankel-(two level) block-Toeplitz matrices in addition to the usual (three level) block-Toeplitz matrices. These additional matrices are multiplied with trial vectors during the iterative solution stage by using FFTs; however, to improve efficiency, the FFTs computed for multiplying the direct terms are recycled. Numerical examples show that the proposed method requires (almost) half the number of computations and storage space compared to a brute-force imaging scheme for structures that terminate on the plane; larger gains are observed for structures residing above the plane.
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2000
Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 58, NO. 5, MAY 2010 1601 A Multiple-G... more Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 58, NO. 5, MAY 2010 1601 A Multiple-Grid Adaptive Integral Method for Multi-Region Problems Ming-Feng Wu, Student Member, IEEE, Guneet Kaur ...
The group assignment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may differ depending on whet... more The group assignment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may differ depending on whether the COPD assessment test (CAT) or modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale (mMRC) is used. This study intended to clarify how different patient characteristics influence the differences, to determine the relationships between CAT and mMRC and to characterise COPD patients by both CAT and mMRC. This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study. The data, collected by Taiwan Obstructive Lung Disease consortium, were managed and analysed. Of the 757 participants, COPD group assignment was not identical as well as no substantial agreement presented when categorised based on the cut-point CAT score ⩾10 and each mMRC cut-point. In all, 38.2% of participants had discordant group assignments together with a lower mean CAT score, less severe airway obstruction and less severe airflow limitation compared with those with concordant group assignments. In the discordant group, the CAT⩾10/mM...
Clinical otolaryngology : official journal of ENT-UK ; official journal of Netherlands Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology & Cervico-Facial Surgery, 2014
To investigate the laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) episodes and pH values in patients with suspect... more To investigate the laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) episodes and pH values in patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) using the Dx-pH oropharyngeal probe. Prospective cohort study. Tertiary medical centre. Forty patients with complaint of snoring or suspected OSA were prospectively enrolled to receive full nocturnal polysomnography (PSG). The patients were divided into 2 groups: a simple snorers group if the Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) was < 5 and an OSA group if the RDI was ≥ 5. The patients simultaneously received Dx-pH oropharyngeal probe monitoring for 12 h from about 6 pm to 6 am of the next day. The number of LPR events was recorded if the nadir of rapid pH drops was below pH 5.0 and 5.5. The difference of LPR events between the two groups and the difference of LPR events between awake and sleep periods in each group were analysed, respectively. There were 18 (45%) patients diagnosed as OSA with a mean RDI of 28.7, and 22 patients (55%) diagnosed as sim...
ABSTRACT This study aimed to determine if urine conductivity (Cond) is better for screening early... more ABSTRACT This study aimed to determine if urine conductivity (Cond) is better for screening early stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) instead of the currently routinely used parameters of urine creatinine (UCr), urine osmolality (Osmo), urine specific gravity (SpGr), and urine protein (UP). One hundred and forty participants (86 male, 54 female) with eGFR &gt; 60 were grouped as either early stage CKD (kidney damage longer than 3 months with either structural or functional abnormalities [n = 72]) or the control group (without CKD and without kidney damage or functional abnormalities [n = 681]). Sensitivty (Sn) and specificity (Sp) of UP and the ROC curves were calculated. The area under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to compare Cond, UCr, Osmo, and SpGr. Pearson&#39;s correlation was used to analyze the correlation between Cond and UCr, Osmo, and SpGr in the early stage CKD group. The Sn and Sp of UP were 22.2% and 92.6%, respectively. By ROC analysis, Cond had the largest AUC (0.752, 95% CI: 0.672-0.832), with 52.9% Sn and 86.1% Sp. Pearson&#39;s correlation showed that the coefficient (p &lt; 0.01) of Cond to UCr, Osmo, and SpG were 0.696, 0.907, and 0.820, respectively. Cond has better screening ability than UP for early stage CKD and may be a potential surrogate parameter for Osmo, SpGr and UCr.
Several formulas predicting optimal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for obstructive sl... more Several formulas predicting optimal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for obstructive sleep apnea treatment have been developed and diverse parameters selected as predictive factors in different sleep laboratories using different ethnic groups. This study aimed to validate a constructed predictive formula for the study laboratory and to test the hypothesis that sleep laboratories should have their own predictive formulas. Fifty-seven adult subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) were enrolled in the model-building set and underwent two polysomnography (PSG) studies to diagnose OSAS and titrate for optimal CPAP. A predictive formula, derived from anthropometric and polysomnographic variables, was validated together with two other predictive formulas in 30 subjects by comparing the mean predictive CPAP values, rates of successful prediction, and agreements. Regression analysis showed that apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), SaO2nadir (nadir of arterial oxyhemoglobin saturation by pulse oximetry), and body mass index (BMI) strongly correlated with optimal CPAP. The derived predictive formula for the study laboratory was: CPAPpred (predictive CPAP) = 6.380 + 0.033 × AHI - 0.068 × SaO2nadir + 0.171 × BMI (R(2) = 0.335, adjusted R(2) = 0.298). In Taiwan, different predictive formulas used by different sleep laboratories with different independent predictors led to similar mean predictive CPAP values to the mean observed optimal CPAP values, rates of successful prediction, and agreements with the observed optimal CPAP. There were significant differences between the mean predictive CPAP values and mean observed optimal CPAP values, lower rates of successful prediction, and negatively skewed 95% confidence interval (CI) when using a predictive formula derived from different ethnic populations. A sleep laboratory may not need to have its own predictive formula for determining the optimal effective CPAP but should adopt the one derived from the same ethnicity of OSAS patients as the reference formula.
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2000
ABSTRACT The multiple-grid adaptive integral method (MG-AIM) is extended for fast analysis of sca... more ABSTRACT The multiple-grid adaptive integral method (MG-AIM) is extended for fast analysis of scattering from piecewise homogeneous structures on or above a perfect electrically/ magnetically conducting plane. Because the Green functions in the relevant integral equations contain (i) reflection terms that are in correlation form in the direction normal to the plane and (ii) direct terms that are in convolution form in all directions, the MG-AIM propagation stage gives rise to Hankel-(two level) block-Toeplitz matrices in addition to the usual (three level) block-Toeplitz matrices. These additional matrices are multiplied with trial vectors during the iterative solution stage by using FFTs; however, to improve efficiency, the FFTs computed for multiplying the direct terms are recycled. Numerical examples show that the proposed method requires (almost) half the number of computations and storage space compared to a brute-force imaging scheme for structures that terminate on the plane; larger gains are observed for structures residing above the plane.
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2000
Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 58, NO. 5, MAY 2010 1601 A Multiple-G... more Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 58, NO. 5, MAY 2010 1601 A Multiple-Grid Adaptive Integral Method for Multi-Region Problems Ming-Feng Wu, Student Member, IEEE, Guneet Kaur ...
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