ABSTRACT
Women with an abnormal Pap smear are often referred to colposcopy, a procedure during which endocervical curettage (ECC) may be performed. ECC is a scraping of the endocervical canal lining. Our goal was to compare the performance of a naïve Poisson (NP) regression model with that of a zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) model when identifying predictors of the number of distress/pain vocalizations made by women undergoing ECC. Data on women seen in the colposcopy clinic at a medical school in El Paso, Texas, were analyzed. The outcome was the number of pain vocalizations made by the patient during ECC. Six dichotomous predictors were evaluated. Initially, NP regression was used to model the data. A high proportion of patients did not make any vocalizations, and hence a ZIP model was also fit and relative rates (RRs) and 95% CIs were calculated. AIC was used to identify the best model (NP or ZIP). Of the 210 women, 154 (73.3%) had a value of 0 for the number of ECC vocalizations. NP identified three statistically significant predictors (language preference of the subject, sexual abuse history and length of the colposcopy), while ZIP identified one: history of sexual abuse (yes vs no; adjusted RR=2.70, 95% CI 1.47 to 4.97). ZIP was preferred over NP. ZIP performed better than NP regression. Clinicians and epidemiologists should consider using the ZIP model (or the zero-inflated negative binomial model) for zero-inflated count data.
Subject(s)
Colposcopy/adverse effects , Pain Measurement/methods , Pain/epidemiology , Poisson Distribution , Regression Analysis , Adult , Curettage/adverse effects , Female , Humans , Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/diagnosisABSTRACT
We developed a multifiber optical probe for oblique polarized reflectance spectroscopy (OPRS) in vivo and evaluated its performance in detection of dysplasia in the oral cavity. The probe design allows the implementation of a number of methods to enable depth resolved spectroscopic measurements including polarization gating, sourcedetector separation, and differential spectroscopy; this combination was evaluated in carrying out binary classification tasks between four major diagnostic categories: normal, benign, mild dysplasia (MD), and severe dysplasia (SD). Multifiber OPRS showed excellent performance in the discrimination of normal from benign, MD, SD, and MD plus SD yielding sensitivity/specificity values of 100%/93%, 96%/95%, 100%/98%, and 100%/100%, respectively. The classification of benign versus dysplastic lesions was more challenging with sensitivity and specificity values of 80%/93%, 71%/93%, and 74%/80% in discriminating benign from SD, MD, and SD plus MD categories, respectively; this challenge is most likely associated with a strong and highly variable scattering from a keratin layer that was found in these sites. Classification based on multiple fibers was significantly better than that based on any single detection pair for tasks dealing with benign versus dysplastic sites. This result indicates that the multifiber probe can perform better in the detection of dysplasia in keratinized tissues.
Subject(s)
Mouth/diagnostic imaging , Precancerous Conditions/diagnostic imaging , Spectrum Analysis , Feasibility Studies , Humans , Sensitivity and SpecificityABSTRACT
An investigation of the optical and magnetic properties of a unique hydrogen-linked conjugate nanostructure, comprised of superparamagnetic gamma-Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles (NPs) and near-infrared PbSe nanocrystal quantum dot (NQD) chromophores, is reported. The results show retention of the NQDs' emission quantum efficiency and radiative lifetime, and only a small red shift of its band energy, upon conjugation to the dielectric surroundings of gamma-Fe(2)O(3) NPs. The study also shows the sustainability of the superparamagnetism of the NPs after conjugation, with only a slight decrease of the ferromagnetic-superparamagnetic transition temperature with respect to that of the individual NPs. Thus, the conjugate nanostructure can be considered as a useful medical platform when PbSe NQDs act as fluorescent tags, while the gamma-Fe(2)O(3) NPs are used as a vehicle driven by an external magnetic field for targeted delivery of tags or drugs.
ABSTRACT
New insights on the molecular level details of the recently reported light-assisted injection of positive charge into single conjugated polymer chains are reported. Extensive new fluorescence-voltage single molecule spectroscopy (FV-SMS) measurements were performed on single chains of the archetypical conjugated polymer MEH-PPV embedded in a capacitor device to complement previous studies of the influence of the bias scan rate and optical excitation intensity. The use of a vacuum microscope allowed for the precise control of the device atmosphere, demonstrating the influence of triplet states in the MEH-PPV on the FV-SMS modulation. For identical device conditions, little variation was observed in the rate and yield of charging from molecule to molecule. Through the use of thicker supporting matrices and insulating polymer "blocking layers", it was determined that good electrical contact between the hole transport layers and the single molecules was necessary for charge injection. The results demonstrate the complexity of charge transfer processes at the interface of organic semiconductors and highlight the ability of single molecule methods to advance the understanding of such processes at the nanoscale.
ABSTRACT
The injection of positive charge carriers (holes) into a single conjugated polymer chain was observed to be light-assisted. This effect may underlie critical, poorly understood organic electronic device phenomena such as the build-up of functional deeply trapped charge layers in polymer light emitting diodes. The charging/discharging dynamics were investigated indirectly by a variety of single molecule electro-optical spectroscopic techniques, including an "image-capture" approach.
ABSTRACT
The synthesis and magneto-optical properties of HgTe nanocrystals capped with HgxCd1-xTe(S) alloyed shells have been investigated. The magneto-optical measurements included the use of optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) and circular polarized photoluminescence (CP-PL) spectroscopy. The PL spectra suggest the existence of luminescence events from both the core HgTe and the HgxCd1-xTe(S) shells. The continuous-wave (cw) and time-resolved ODMR measurements revealed that the luminescence at the shell regime is associated with a trap-to-band recombination emission. The electron trap is comprised of a Cd-Hg mixed site, confirming the existence of an alloyed HgxCd1-xTe(S) composition. The ODMR data and the CP-PL measurements together revealed the g-values of the trapped electron and the valence band hole.
ABSTRACT
The magneto-optical properties of chromophore/semiconductor nanocrystalline superstructures were examined using optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) and time-resolved photo-luminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The samples consisted of CdS or PbS nanocrystals separated by conjugated organic chains, forming three-dimensional superstructures. The ODMR measurements revealed that the magnetooptical properties of the superstructures are mainly controlled by the individual characteristic of the nanocrystals. The ODMR spectra were compared with simulated curves generated by the diagonalization of a spin Hamiltonian, indicating the existence of the following luminescence events. a) Recombination between electron-hole pairs trapped at a stoichiometric defect (metal or sulfur vacancies) or oxygen adatom sites at the surface of the nanocrystals. These electron-hole pairs showed anistropic g-factors and weak exchange interactions. b) Bound exciton emission, from strongly coupled electron-hole pairs trapped at intrinsic stoichiometric or structural defects at the core of the nanocrystals. The existence of the two overlapping luminescence events is further confirmed by the acceptance of biexponential PL decay processes.
