Only one trial evaluated masks worn by the index patient.
To evaluate masking performance we modified previously described simulation so that now it incorporated changing of signal of interest.
Furthermore, coloring in some chemicals that are evaluated may mask reddening of the skin, thus obscuring the results.
Indeed, our bespoke pattern matching de-identification algorithm (which is applied to all structured and free text in CRIS) was shown, when evaluated, to mask patient identifiers with 98.8% precision and 97.6% recall outperforming a comparator machine learning algorithm.
To evaluate whether masking improved the accuracy of measuring gene expression, it was hypothesized that different organs (heart, liver) of humans and non-human mammals have similar gene expression patterns.
To evaluate whether masking improved accuracy of measuring differential gene expression, it was hypothesized that different organs (heart, liver) of humans and non-human mammals have similar gene expression patterns.
They have posted signs in their emergency rooms in English, Spanish, Chinese and, in some cases, Vietnamese, asking patients with fever, cough and a history of recent travel to Asia to notify someone immediately so they can be evaluated quickly or masked and isolated.
In future studies, maintenance of joint stability post-operatively could also allow the effect of novel therapeutics to be better evaluated, without masking of treatment effects by post-operative instability.
The abstracts of these articles were reviewed on the basis of whether they were economic evaluations (e.g. cost-effectiveness, cost-utility or cost-benefit studies), and whether the intervention being evaluated involved masks and/or respirators as a strategy to prevent the transmission of respiratory infections.
All surgeries were performed by a single experienced surgeon and outcomes evaluated by another surgeon masked to treatment.
