Impact Of Different Criteria Research Articles

The impact of different criteria for selecting information to be provided to women undergoing diagnostic breast tests

Objective To determine if the content of written information for women undergoing diagnostic breast tests would change depending on the criteria used to decide what information should be included. Methods Questionnaire study eliciting the views of advocates, breast physicians, breast surgeons, general practitioners, people with an interest in ethics, and women who had undergone breast tests on information that should be provided to women undergoing diagnostic breast tests. Different criteria were used to determine what information should be included in the written information. Results Advocates, breast physicians, breast surgeons, general practitioners, people with an interest in ethics, and women who had undergone breast tests held significantly different views about the importance of specific information items for women undergoing tests. Different methods of resolving these differences in views lead to the inclusion of different information in patient information material. Conclusion This study highlights the practical necessity for guidelines for developing written information to include details about how to resolve differences in opinions about what information should be included in patient material. Practice Implications Further research is needed to determine the most appropriate way to decide the content of written information. In the meantime, developers of written patient information need to be cognizant of the effects of their decisions on the content of patient information.

Different criteria for radioactive sentinel lymph nodes has different impact on sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer patients

This study set out to determine the impact of different criteria for radioactive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) on sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), and the optimal criteria for radioactive SLNs. Eighty-four breast cancer patients with cT1-2N0M0 were studied prospectively. Filtered technetium 99 m sulfur colloid was injected in peritumor parenchyma. Three different definitions of SLNs were adopted in each patient: (1) the lymph node with the highest radioactivity. (2) Any lymph node with an in vivo hot spot-to-background activity ratio of at least 3:1 or an ex vivo SLN-to-non-SLN ratio of at least 10:1. (3) All radioactive hot nodes. With three different definitions, the success rate of sentinel node biopsy were all 96.4%, the sensitivity was 78.9%, 92.1%, 97.4% respectively; false negative rate 21.1%, 7.9%, 2.6% respectively; predicting accuracy 90.1%, 96.3%, 98.8% respectively (P < 0.05). The first, the first two, the first three, and the first four highest radioactive sentinel nodes identified 81.1%, 89.2%, 94.6%, 100% of the positive-SLN patients, respectively. The different criteria for radioactive SLNs had different impact on the accuracy, sensitivity, and false negative rate, but not on the success rate, during sentinel node biopsy using radioactive sulfur colloid in breast cancer patients. The first four highest radioactive sentinel nodes could accurately predict the status of axillary metastases. J. Surg. Oncol. 2007;95:635-639. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Impact of riparian buffer guidelines on old growth in western boreal forests of Canada

Summary As timber harvest expands over a previously unharvested landbase, riparian buffers will make up an increasing proportion of old-growth forests. This study examined the impact of different criteria for the formulation of riparian buffers on the temporal supply of old-growth forests in western boreal Canada. Three common criteria were applied through computer simulation over an �∼� 313 000-ha timber merchantable landbase for a 200-year time horizon. Guideline criteria included: (1) broad prescriptive approach, i.e. few-sizes-fi t-all; (2) special management of fi sh-bearing streams; and (3) two-zone, partial harvest buffers. While the numerical results are specifi c to this study area, they suggested fi ve general results applicable to forest planning. (1) Regardless of the criteria for buffers, old growth accumulated over the fi rst 40 – 60 years thereafter it dropped to 2 – 4 per cent of the total landbase after 100 years. (2) Guidelines recognizing fi sh-bearing water bodies retained more old growth, particularly conifer, because of their application to higher elevation and more intermittent stream types. Few-sizes-fi t-all retained the most deciduous and mixed-wood old growth, i.e. low elevation forest types. Two-zone buffers exhibited less temporal variance but an overall lower amount of old growth. (3) Operational and fi eld interpretations of the few-sizes-fi t-all guidelines retained three times more riparian area and three to seven times more old growth than just the planning phase alone. (4) Old-growth mixed-wood forests virtually disappeared from both timber harvest and riparian landbases. (5) The primary location of old growth shifted from the harvest to the riparian landbase.