European Respiratory Society guidelines for the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia

The diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia is often confirmed with standard, albeit complex and expensive, tests. In many cases, however, the diagnosis remains difficult despite the array of sophisticated diagnostic tests. There is no "gold standard" reference test. Hence, a Task Force supported by the European Respiratory Society has developed this guideline to provide evidence-based recommendations on diagnostic testing, especially in light of new developments in such tests, and the need for robust diagnoses of patients who might enter randomised controlled trials of treatments. The guideline is based on pre-defined questions relevant for clinical care, a systematic review of the literature, and assessment of the evidence using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach. It focuses on clinical presentation, nasal nitric oxide, analysis of ciliary beat frequency and pattern by high-speed video-microscopy analysis, transmission electron microscopy, genotyping and immunofluorescence. It then used a modified Delphi survey to develop an algorithm for the use of diagnostic tests to definitively confirm and exclude the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia; and to provide advice when the diagnosis was not conclusive. Finally, this guideline proposes a set of quality criteria for future research on the validity of diagnostic methods for primary ciliary dyskinesia

Men's voices and women's choices.

I investigated the relationship between male human vocal characteristics and female judgements about the speaker. Thirty-four males were recorded uttering five vowels and measures were taken, from power spectrums, of the first five harmonic frequencies, overall peak frequency and formant frequencies (emphasized, resonance, frequencies within the vowel). Male body measures were also taken (age, weight, height, and hip and shoulder width) and the men were asked whether they had chest hair. The recordings were then played to female judges, who were asked to rate the males' attractiveness, age, weight and height, and to estimate the muscularity of the speaker and whether he had a hairy chest. Men with voices in which there were closely spaced, low-frequency harmonics were judged as being more attractive, older and heavier, more likely to have a hairy chest and of a more muscular body type. There was no relationship between any vocal and body characteristic. The judges' estimates were incorrect except for weight. They showed extremely strong agreement on all judgements. The results imply that there could be sexual selection through female choice for male vocal characteristics, deeper voices being preferred. However, the function of the preference is unclear given that the estimates were generally incorrect. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.