5,085,625 papers found

As the field of games for health continues to gain momentum, it is crucial to document the field's scale of growth, identify design patterns, and to address potential design issues for future health game development. Few studies have explored the attributes and usability features of games for health as a whole over tim…

OBJECTIVE: This article reviews the available evidence and guidance on methods to identify reports of quasi-experimental (QE) studies to inform systematic reviews of health care, public health, international development, education, crime and justice, and social welfare. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Research, guidance, an…

OBJECTIVE: Database searches for studies of diagnostic test accuracy are notoriously difficult to filter, highly resource-intensive, and a potential barrier to quality evidence synthesis. We examined published meta-analyses of depression screening tool accuracy to evaluate the (1) proportion of included primary studies…

In patients with stable chest pain, coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has demonstrated high accuracy in excluding coronary artery disease and CCTA findings carry prognostic significance for the occurrence of future cardiovascular events. Increasingly, CCTA has been adopted as a triage tool in patients with acute chest pai…

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) seeks to assist consumers, clinicians, purchasers, and policy makers to make informed decisions to improve health care at both the individual and population levels. CER includes evidence generation and evidence synthesis. Randomized controlled trials are central to CER because o…

Significant advances have occurred regarding the understanding of etiologic processes that give rise to eating disorders and the design and evaluation of efficacious prevention programs and treatment interventions. Herein we offer suggestions regarding potentially fruitful directions for future research in these areas.…

Over the past decade there has been an increasing realization about the extent of confusion associated with the many terminologies used to describe abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). This led to the organization of an international workshop of 35 experts from 15 countries in Washington, D.C., USA, in 2005, which addresse…

BACKGROUND: Shift work, including night work, has been hypothesized to increase the risk of chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Recent reviews of evidence relating to these hypotheses have focussed on specific diseases or potential mechanisms, but no genera…

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the measures taken to deal with publication bias across different categories of systematic reviews published in 2006 and to compare these with reviews published in 1996. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: PubMed was searched for systematic reviews published in 2006; 100 treatment effect, 50 diagnostic ac…

BACKGROUND: Waste collectors around the world are at risk for work-related disorders and injuries. The aim of this study was to assess work demands, acute physiologic responses, illnesses, and injuries as a starting point for worker health surveillance (WHS). METHODS: A systematic search was performed in PubMed and Em…

OBJECTIVE: We describe the heterogeneity of the estimates of the incremental cost per quality-adjusted year of life (QALY) within and between cost-utility studies of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. METHOD: We searched for articles in English published in peer-reviewed journals that perform cost-utility analyse…

OBJECTIVE: Meta-analysis of studies of the accuracy of diagnostic tests currently uses a variety of methods. Statistically rigorous hierarchical models require expertise and sophisticated software. We assessed whether any of the simpler methods can in practice give adequately accurate and reliable results. STUDY DESIG…

Diagnostic tests are critical components of effective health care. They help determine treatments that are most beneficial for a given patient. Their assessment is a complex process that includes such challenges as a dearth of studies that evaluate clinical outcomes and lack of data on use of the test in realistic clin…

INTRODUCTION: Mechanical ventilation is life saving for many very preterm babies but prolonged use can have adverse effects increasing the risk of subglottic injury and chronic lung disease (CLD). Shorter ventilation should reduce these risks and a number of interventions have been tested to facilitate earlier extubati…

A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate possible neuropsychological effects of treatments for cancer in adults. A search revealed 30 studies, encompassing 29 eligible samples, and leading to inclusion of a total of 838 patients and control participants. A total of 173 effect sizes (Cohen's d) were extracted across 7…

In the early 70's, improvements in methodical procedures of extraction and standardization of ginkgo preparation allowed the production of a highly concentrated and stable extract (EGb 761) (definition see editorial) by the company Dr. Willmar Schwabe, which could be systematically tested in scientific programs. Conseq…

BACKGROUND: Theoretically, doctors update their knowledge from the scientific literature, and bibliographic databases have made it possible to overcome many of the limitations with this information, but not all of them. When faced with a therapeutic issue, the practice of evidence based medicine requires the efficient…

BACKGROUND: As Saudi Arabia is expected to face population aging in the future, the burden of diseases arising from inadequate physical activity (PA) and excess sedentary behavior (SB) may subsequently increase without successful interventions. The present study critically reviews the global literature on the effective…

BACKGROUND: Flavonoids and saponins are important bioactive compounds that have attracted wide research interests. This review aims to summarise the state of the art of the pharmacology, toxicology and clinical efficacy of these compounds. METHODS: Data were retrieved from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Pro…

BACKGROUND: Current treatment of immature necrotic permanent teeth with a periapical lesion is regenerative endodontics, which is based on tissue engineering under the triade of stem cells, scaffolds and bioactive molecules. OBJECTIVES: This Umbrella Review was aimed to evaluate the success of scaffold and regenerativ…