Identification of the gene for familial atrial fibrillation will help to elucidate the molecular basis of the disease and provide insights into acquired forms. The strategy of pooling DNA samples for analysis is more time and cost effective than conventional screening and should accelerate the process of gene mapping in the future.

The WBS demonstrates moderate correlation with another measure of pain (VAS) and is not mistaken for fear among school-aged patients presenting to the ED with pain.

Background: Early identification of sepsis and initiation of aggressive treatment saves lives. However, the diagnosis of sepsis may be delayed in patients without overt deterioration. Clinical screening tools and lactate levels may help identify sepsis patients at risk for adverse outcomes.

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Surveillance colonoscopies focused to detect dysplasia are recommended to prevent colorectal cancer in patients with long-standing colonic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To date, histologic diagnosis and gradation of IBD-related dysplasia has been challenged by a high variability among pathologists. We aimed to analyze the observer characteristics that are correlated with concordance deviations in this diagnosis. Eight pathologists evaluated a set of 125 endoscopic biopsy samples with a representative distribution of nondysplastic and dysplastic lesions from long-standing IBD patients. Two rounds of diagnosis were carried out during a period of 18 months. The κ test was applied to analyze concordance. Pathologists were grouped on the basis of their experience. A subanalysis was performed by eliminating the highly prevalent nondysplastic samples, as well as an analysis after observers’ grouping. Overall interobserver agreement was good (κ=0.73), with an even higher pairwise value (κ=0.86) as well as the intraobserver agreement values (best κ=0.85). After eliminating the highly prevalent nondysplastic samples, the interobserver agreement was still moderate to good (best overall κ=0.50; best paired κ=0.72). Notable differences were seen between the pathologists with a high-volume and low-volume practice (best overall κ=0.61 and 0.41, respectively). The agreement in the diagnosis of dysplasia in IBD endoscopic biopsies may have been undervalued over time. This is the first study evaluating pathologists’ diagnostic robustness in this field. The results suggest that examining a large volume of samples is the key factor to increase the consistency in the diagnosis and gradation of IBD-related dysplasia.

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