Diagnosis of allergic rhinitis: inter-rater reliability and predictive value of nasal endoscopic examination: a prospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the inter-rater reliability of nasal endoscopic findings and the feasibility of diagnosis of allergic rhinitis based solely on symptoms and nasal endoscopy. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: University Teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and eight patients were referred from the allergy clinic included in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Predictive value of symptoms and nasal endoscopic examination to diagnose allergic rhinitis and inter-rater reliability of the examination were evaluated. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis of patient symptoms and nasal examination findings revealed no significant predictive power for any of the symptoms or examination findings. The Fleiss κ coefficient of the three raters was calculated. Inter-rater variability among the three physicians demonstrated that mucosal oedema (κ = 0,48, P < 0.001), polypoid degeneration of the inferior turbinate tail (κ = 0.48, P = 0.01), nasal polyps (κ = 0.96, P < 0.001) and nasal septal deviation (κ = 0.65, P = 0.01) showed significant inter-rater agreement. A low κ coefficient (0.29) was found, and the inter-rater variability among physicians in interpreting the characteristics of nasal secretions was significant (P = 0.04). The inter-rater variability among the three physicians suggested that turbinate hypertrophy (κ = 0.31) and turbinate colour (κ = 0.38) showed no significant inter-rater agreement. CONCLUSIONS: Patient symptoms and nasal endoscopy findings do not provide reliable diagnosis of allergic rhinitis. Turbinate colour and hypertrophy are believed to be related to allergic rhinitis; however, these were subject to marked inter-rater variability in this study.

Investigation of antiulcer activities of imidazo[1,2-alpha]pyridinyl-2-alkylaminobenzoxazoles and 5,6,7,8-tetahydroimidazo[1,2-alpha]pyridinyl-benzoxazoles with electron-topological (ET) method.

The study presents structure-activity considerations of a series of imidazo[1,2-alpha]pyridiny-2-alkylaminobenzoxazoles(I) and 5,6,7,8-tetahydroimidazo[1,2-alpha]pyridinylbenzoxazoles(II) investigated for anti-stress ulcer activity with the electron-topological method. A series of 39 compounds including 24 active and 15 weakly active was studied. It is shown that the fragment determined by the electron-topological method in an active molecule is responsible for anti-stress ulcer activity. Quantitative structure-activity relationships with electron topological approach of these compounds are discussed in terms of the statistical program STATGRAF-7.0.

[Eight polymorphic blood protein systems in Arab horses from Turkey]. / Issledovanie vos'mi polimorfnykh sistem belkov krovi u arabskikh loshadei iz Turtsii.

Analysis of the blood protein system was used to study the genetic composition of Arabian horses. Biochemical markers of eight polymorphic loci (Tf, Al, Es, AlB, Gc, Hb, PGD, and PGM) were electrophoretically identified in blood samples. A total of 43 phenotypes were identified for these polymorphic systems. The Tf, Hb, and Es loci appeared to be more polymorphic than the other loci studied. Statistically significant differences between the observed and expected genotypic frequencies were found for the PGD and PGM loci (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). Individual allele frequencies, observed and expected phenotype frequencies, and the average heterozygosity were estimated for each polymorphic locus.