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Fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), as its name implies, aims to detect subtle blood loss in the gastrointestinal tract, anywhere from the mouth to the colon.Positive tests ("positive stool") may result from either upper gastrointestinal bleeding or lower gastrointestinal bleeding and warrant further investigation for peptic ulcers or a malignancy (such as colorectal cancer or gastric cancer).
The guaiac test can often be false-positive which is a positive test result when there is in fact no source of bleeding. This is particularly common if the recommended dietary preparation is not followed, as the heme in red meat or the peroxidase or catalase activity in vegetables, especially if uncooked, can cause analytical false positives.
Complementarily, the false negative rate (FNR) is the proportion of positives which yield negative test outcomes with the test, i.e., the conditional probability of a negative test result given that the condition being looked for is present. In statistical hypothesis testing, this fraction is given the letter β.
Since the antibodies do not bridge between antigens, no agglutination occurs. Because no agglutination occurs, the test is interpreted as negative. In this case, the result is a false negative. The range of relatively high antibody concentrations within which no reaction occurs is called the prozone. [5]
In the most basic sense, there are four possible outcomes for a COVID-19 test, whether it’s molecular PCR or rapid antigen: true positive, true negative, false positive, and false negative ...
Specificity (true negative rate) is the probability of a negative test result, conditioned on the individual truly being negative. If the true status of the condition cannot be known, sensitivity and specificity can be defined relative to a "gold standard test" which is assumed correct.
A type II error, or a false negative, is the erroneous failure in bringing about appropriate rejection of a false null hypothesis. [ 1 ] Type I errors can be thought of as errors of commission, in which the status quo is erroneously rejected in favour of new, misleading information.
In clinical practice, post-test probabilities are often just estimated or even guessed. This is usually acceptable in the finding of a pathognomonic sign or symptom, in which case it is almost certain that the target condition is present; or in the absence of finding a sine qua non sign or symptom, in which case it is almost certain that the target condition is absent.