Visual and automatic classification of the cyclic alternating pattern in electroencephalography during sleep

Cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) is a neurophysiological pattern that can be visually scored by international criteria. The aim of this study was to verify the feasibility of visual CAP scoring using only one channel of sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) to evaluate the inter-scorer agreement in a variety of recordings, and to compare agreement between visual scoring and automatic scoring systems. Sixteen hours of single-channel European data format recordings from four different sleep laboratories with either C4-A1 or C3-A2 channels and with different sampling frequencies were used in this study. Seven independent scorers applied visual scoring according to international criteria. Two automatic blind scorings were also evaluated. Event-based inter-scorer agreement analysis was performed. The pairwise inter-scorer agreement (PWISA) was between 55.5 and 84.3%. The average PWISA was above 60% for all scorers and the global average was 69.9%. Automatic scoring systems showed similar results to those of visual scoring. The study showed that CAP could be scored using only one EEG channel. Therefore, CAP scoring might also be integrated in sleep scoring features and automatic scoring systems having similar performances to visual sleep scoring systems.

Quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF) in relation to other technologies and conventional methods for detecting occlusal caries in permanent teeth

Aim: The aim of this in vitro study was to compare the reproducibility and accuracy of quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF) in relation to other technologies and conventional methods fordetecting occlusal carious lesions. Methods: Ninety-six extracted permanent molar teeth wereselected. Three examiners carried out examinations using Visual examination (VI), bitewing radiographs (RX), QLF, electrical conductance measurement (ECM), and DIAGNOdent. Twenty five percent of the teeth were re-examined for repeatability. Stereomicroscopic examination was used as the gold standard. Results: Intra- and inter-examiner agreement ranged from 0.43 to 0.89. Areas under ROC curves were 0.82, 0.54, 0.84, 0.79 and 0.88, respectively, for VI, RX,QLF, ECM and DIAGNOdent examinations, with RX significantly lower than the other methods. No significant statistical difference was found when comparing the areas under ROC curve of visual inspection and QLF. Conclusions: Although QLF and other technologies for early caries detection may offer some advantages, this study did not find significant improvement in occlusal caries detection when compared to visual examination.

The Study on the Effect of Six Soaps on Cutaneous Irritation Measured by Noninvasive Technique / 대한피부과학회지

BACKGROUND: Soaps are the most widely used body cleanser and sometimes cause irritation of the skin. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to compare the skin irritancy of 6 soaps using noninvasive techniques. METHODS: The skin responses to patch test with 6 soaps were measured by visual scoring, evaporimeter and corneometer. RESULTS: The results are summarized as follows. 1. F soap was shown to cause the least irritancy measured by visual scoring and corneometer. But using evaporimeter, there were no differences in irritancy between the 6 soaps. 2. Through correlation analysis, we found that the evaluation of the evaporimeter was closely related to visual measurement. CONCLUSION: Soap irritancy can be measured by noninvasive techniques, such as the evaporimeter, corneometer, laser doppler flowmetry and visual scoring. Further study of evaluation after short and repeat contacts with soap are needed.

Assessment of Irritancy to Sodium Lauryl Sulfate in Man by Laser Doppler Velocimetry / 대한피부과학회지

It is desirable to use more safe, objective, non-invasive method than visual scoring for the evaluation of irritation reaction and determine the optimum eoncentration of sodium lauryl sulfate(SLS) as a positive irritant control in routine patch test. In this study, SLS was applied to the volar forearm of ll non-atopic, healthy volunteers in concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0% under occlusion for 24h. The blood flow in test sites exposed to SLS was tecorded by laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The test sites were scored visually and the skin blood flow was measured at 24h, 48h, and 72h after the application of FiLS. We obtained the following results,' 1. There was a good correlation between visual scoring and skin blood flow using LDV(p = 0.4547). 2. 5.0% SLS could be used as a positive irritant control in routine patch test (p<0,05).