This review compared direct digital sensors and indirect photostimulable phosphor plates for the detection of caries. Six studies were included in the review with 4 contributing to the meta-analysis. There was no significant difference between the two systems and they displayed good specificity and limited sensitivity.
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Ian Anderson on a recent diagnostic accuracy meta-analysis, which shows that the Whooley questions for depression are effective at ruling out the condition, but that false positives are common.
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This review of salivary biomarkers for diagnosing periodontal disease only identified 4 studies at high risk of bias but suggests a small number of potential biomarkers. However the findings should be interpreted with caution.
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Samei Huda presents the findings of a new meta-analysis, which explores the prognostic significance of competing ways of defining and measuring brief psychotic episodes.
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Murtada Alsaif considers the challenges facing psychiatrists in diagnosing bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder. He reports on a recent qualitative study that explores the practical experience of psychiatrists and nurses and concludes that clinical diagnostic practice cannot reliably distinguish the two conditions.
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Can blood-based diagnostic panels help us reduce the misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment often experienced by people with bipolar disorder? Murtada Alsaif reviews a recent retrospective study that has some encouraging findings for biologically identifying the disease.
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Rosalyn Nelson reports on a recent systematic review about population screening for dementia, which highlights the negative attitudes of patients, carers and health care professionals towards screening. She asks: what are the risks of ignoring diagnosis?
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This review included 102 studies the majority (77%) being laboratory-based findings that visual inspection had good caries detection accuracy in primary and permanent teeth, with a trend for higher specificity than sensitivity.
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This Cochrane review of adjunctive diagnostic tests for oral cancer included 41 studies assessing vital staining, cytology, and light-based tests. The available studies were of poor quality detection with none of the tests being considered as a replacement for the currently used standard of a scalpel biopsy and histological assessment.
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Clarissa Giebel summarises a systematic review, which concludes that the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) has good sensitivity (77.2%) and specificity (85.9%) for diagnosing dementia in multicultural populations.
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