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The assessment of bone age and skeletal maturity and its comparison to chronological age is an important task in the medical environment for the diagnosis of pediatric endocrinology, orthodontics and orthopedic disorders, and legal environment in what concerns if an individual is a minor or not when there is a lack of documents. Being a time-consuming activity that can be prone to inter- and intra-rater variability, the use of methods which can automate it, like Machine Learning techniques, is of value. The goal of this paper is to present the state of the art evidence, trends and gaps in the research related to bone age assessment studies that make use of Machine Learning techniques. A systematic literature review was carried out, starting with the writing of the protocol, followed by searches on three databases: Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science to identify the relevant evidence related to bone age assessment using Machine Learning techniques. One round of backward snowballing was performed to find additional studies. A quality assessment was performed on the selected studies to check for bias and low quality studies, which were removed. Data was extracted from the included studies to build summary tables. Lastly, a meta-analysis was performed on the performances of the selected studies. 26 studies constituted the final set of included studies. Most of them proposed automatic systems for bone age assessment and investigated methods for bone age assessment based on hand and wrist radiographs. The samples used in the studies were mostly comprehensive or bordered the age of 18, and the data origin was in most of cases from United States and West Europe. Few studies explored ethnic differences. There is a clear focus of the research on bone age assessment methods based on radiographs whilst other types of medical imaging without radiation exposure (e.g. magnetic resonance imaging) are not much explored in the literature. Also, socioeconomic and other aspects that could influence in bone age were not addressed in the literature. Finally, studies that make use of more than one region of interest for bone age assessment are scarce.

Background Frailty is increasingly recognized as an important construct which has health implications for older adults. The Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) is a judgement-based frailty tool that evaluates specific domains including comorbidity, function, and cognition to generate a frailty score ranging from 1 (very fit) to 9 (terminally ill). The aim of this scoping review is to identify and document the nature and extent of research evidence related to the CFS. Methods We performed a comprehensive literature search to identify original studies that used the Clinical Frailty Scale. Medline OVID, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library and Embase were searched from January 2005 to March 2017. Articles were screened by two independent reviewers. Data extracted included publication date, setting, demographics, purpose of CFS assessment, and outcomes associated with CFS score. Results Our search yielded 1688 articles of which 183 studies were included. Overall, 62% of studies were conducted after 2015 and 63% of the studies measured the CFS in hospitalized patients. The association of the CFS with an outcome was examined 526 times; CFS was predictive in 74% of the cases. Mortality was the most common outcome examined with CFS being predictive 87% of the time. CFS was associated with comorbidity 73% of the time, complications 100%, length of stay 75%, falls 71%, cognition 94%, and function 91%. The CFS was associated with other frailty scores 94% of the time. Conclusions This scoping review revealed that the CFS has been widely used in multiple settings. The association of CFS score with clinical outcomes highlights its utility in the care of the aging population.

BackgroundMRI is frequently used in addition to clinical evaluation for predicting time to return to sport (RTS) after acute hamstring injury. However, the additional value of MRI to patient history taking and clinical examination remains unknown and is debated.AimTo prospectively investigate the predictive value of patient history and clinical examination at baseline alone and the additional predictive value of MRI findings for time to RTS using multivariate analysis while controlling for treatment confounders.MethodsMale athletes (N=180) with acute onset posterior thigh pain underwent standardised patient history, clinical and MRI examinations within 5 days, and time to RTS was registered. A general linear model was constructed to assess the associations between RTS and the potential baseline predictors. A manual backward stepwise technique was used to keep treatment variables fixed.ResultsIn the first multiple regression model including only patient history and clinical examination, maximum pain score (visual analogue scale, VAS), forced to stop within 5 min, length of hamstring tenderness and painful resisted knee flexion (90°), showed independent associations with RTS and the final model explained 29% of the total variance in time to RTS. By adding MRI variables in the second multiple regression model, maximum pain score (VAS), forced to stop within 5 min, length of hamstring tenderness and overall radiological grading, showed independent associations and the adjusted R2 increased from 0.290 to 0.318. Thus, additional MRI explained 2.8% of the variance in RTS.SummaryThere was a wide variation in time to RTS and the additional predictive value of MRI was negligible compared with baseline patient history taking and clinical examinations alone. Thus, clinicians cannot provide an accurate time to RTS just after an acute hamstring injury. This study provides no rationale for routine MRI after acute hamstring injury.Trial registration numberClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01812564.

Video consultations are increasingly seen as a possible replacement for face-to-face consultations. Direct physical examination of the patient is impossible; however, a limited examination may be undertaken via video (eg, using visual signals or asking a patient to press their lower legs and assess fluid retention). Little is currently known about what such video examinations involve. This study aimed to explore the opportunities and challenges of remote physical examination of patients with heart failure using video-mediated communication technology. We conducted a microanalysis of video examinations using conversation analysis (CA), an established approach for studying the details of communication and interaction. In all, seven video consultations (using FaceTime) between patients with heart failure and their community-based specialist nurses were video recorded with consent. We used CA to identify the challenges of remote physical examination over video and the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies used to address them. Apart from a general visual overview, remote physical examination in patients with heart failure was restricted to assessing fluid retention (by the patient or relative feeling for leg edema), blood pressure with pulse rate and rhythm (using a self-inflating blood pressure monitor incorporating an irregular heartbeat indicator and put on by the patient or relative), and oxygen saturation (using a finger clip device). In all seven cases, one or more of these examinations were accomplished via video, generating accurate biometric data for assessment by the clinician. However, video examinations proved challenging for all involved. Participants (patients, clinicians, and, sometimes, relatives) needed to collaboratively negotiate three recurrent challenges: (1) adequate design of instructions to guide video examinations (with nurses required to explain tasks using lay language and to check instructions were followed), (2) accommodation of the patient's desire for autonomy (on the part of nurses and relatives) in light of opportunities for involvement in their own physical assessment, and (3) doing the physical examination while simultaneously making it visible to the nurse (with patients and relatives needing adequate technological knowledge to operate a device and make the examination visible to the nurse as well as basic biomedical knowledge to follow nurses' instructions). Nurses remained responsible for making a clinical judgment of the adequacy of the examination and the trustworthiness of the data. In sum, despite significant challenges, selected participants in heart failure consultations managed to successfully complete video examinations. Video examinations are possible in the context of heart failure services. However, they are limited, time consuming, and challenging for all involved. Guidance and training are needed to support rollout of this new service model, along with research to understand if the challenges identified are relevant to different patients and conditions and how they can be successfully negotiated.

Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are a widely recognized and accepted method to assess clinical competencies but are often resource-intensive. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a virtual reality (VR)-based station (VRS) compared with a traditional physical station (PHS) in an already established curricular OSCE. Fifth-year medical students participated in an OSCE consisting of 10 stations. One of the stations, emergency medicine, was offered in 2 modalities: VRS and PHS. Students were randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 modalities. We used 2 distinct scenarios to prevent content leakage among participants. Student performance and item characteristics were analyzed, comparing the VRS with PHS as well as with 5 other case-based stations. Student perceptions of the VRS were collected through a quantitative and qualitative postexamination online survey, which included a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum), to evaluate the acceptance and usability of the VR system. Organizational and technical feasibility as well as cost-effectiveness were also evaluated. Following randomization and exclusions of invalid data sets, 57 and 66 participants were assessed for the VRS and PHS, respectively. The feasibility evaluation demonstrated smooth implementation of both VR scenarios (septic and anaphylactic shock) with 93% (53/57) of students using the VR technology without issues. The difficulty levels of the VRS scenarios (septic shock: P=.67; anaphylactic shock: P=.58) were comparable to the average difficulty of all stations (P=.68) and fell within the reference range (0.4-0.8). In contrast, VRS demonstrated above-average values for item discrimination (septic shock: r'=0.40; anaphylactic shock: r'=0.33; overall r'=0.30; with values >0.3 considered good) and discrimination index (septic shock: D=0.25; anaphylactic shock: D=0.26; overall D=0.16, with 0.2-0.3 considered mediocre and <0.2 considered poor). Apart from some hesitancy toward its broader application in future practical assessments (mean 3.07, SD 1.37 for VRS vs mean 3.65, SD 1.18 for PHS; P=.03), there were no other differences in perceptions between VRS and PHS. Thematic analysis highlighted the realistic portrayal of medical emergencies and fair assessment conditions provided by the VRS. Regarding cost-effectiveness, initial development of the VRS can be offset by long-term savings in recurring expenses like standardized patients and consumables. Integration of the VRS into the current OSCE framework proved feasible both technically and organizationally, even within the strict constraints of short examination phases and schedules. The VRS was accepted and positively received by students across various levels of technological proficiency, including those with no prior VR experience. Notably, the VRS demonstrated comparable or even superior item characteristics, particularly in terms of discrimination power. Although challenges remain, such as technical reliability and some acceptance concerns, VR remains promising in applications of clinical competence assessment.