381,590 papers found

This protocol provides a methodological framework for conducting a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of nutritional therapies on the nutritional status of gastric cancer patients. By following this protocol, researchers will be able to systematically identify, appraise, and synthesize evidence from randomized contr…

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects and morbidities associated with perioperatively administered analgesics in paediatric patients undergoing tonsillectomy. DESIGN AND SETTING: Systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) of randomised controlled trials. PARTICIPANTS: Paediatric patients undergoing tonsillectomy…

Clinical trials of cholesterol lowering in apparently healthy persons (primary prevention) and in persons with known coronary disease (secondary prevention) routinely show a decrease in the incidence of nonfatal and fatal coronary events. Primary prevention trials, however, generally have failed to show a beneficial ef…

Recent results from controlled trials of adjuvant tamoxifen and oophorectomy in early breast cancer are reviewed. The results of the statistical overview performed by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group are summarised, and some important questions left open by this overview are discussed. These includ…

We critically appraised the medical literature to evaluate whether there is a point beyond which blood pressure reduction in hypertensive subjects is no longer beneficial and possibly even deleterious. Thirteen studies that stratified cardiovascular outcomes by level of achieved blood pressure in treated hypertensive s…

A reliable theoretical background exists to support a secondary preventive effect of calcium antagonists after myocardial infarction. Recent studies also indicate that positive results can be achieved with diltiazem and, in particular, verapamil, provided that they are not given to patients suffering clinically manifes…

High-dose-rate (HDR) remote afterloading intracavitary brachytherapy has been widely used in the treatment of carcinoma of the cervix in Europe and Asia since the 1960's. Recently, there has been an increase of interest in the use of this technique in North America. Most of the non-randomized studies suggest similar su…

The neuroimaging literature on structural brain abnormalities in the major psychoses is quantitatively reviewed. The mean effect size for studies of lateral ventriculomegaly in schizophrenia (d = .70) corresponded to 43% nonoverlap between the distributions of schizophrenics and control Ss. Planimetry yielded larger ef…

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated vaccine development and generated a rapidly evolving body of evidence before and after the vaccine rollout. We developed a robust online platform to efficiently synthesize this emerging information for current and future challenges. Expanding upon our interactive living systematic revi…

Systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy summarize the accuracy, e.g. the sensitivity and specificity, of diagnostic tests in a systematic and transparent way. The aim of such a review is to investigate whether a test is sufficiently specific or sensitive to fit its role in practice, to compare the accuracy of tw…

OBJECTIVE: To meta-analyse the diagnostic accuracy of US, CT, MRI and 1H-MRS for the evaluation of hepatic steatosis. METHODS: From a comprehensive literature search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane (up to November 2009), articles were selected that investigated the diagnostic performance imaging techniques for…

Evidence has supported a role for serotonin system dysfunction in the pathogenesis of the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Many studies examined the association between OCD and a functional polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene promoter (5-HTTLPR) but yielded inconsistent results. Current study aimed to de…

BACKGROUND: Recent studies of the relationship between the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene and Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down's syndrome have revealed inconsistent results. AIMS: To assess the role of the APOE gene in the manifestation of Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down's syndrome. METHOD: We studied th…

To calculate the effect of changes in carbohydrate and fatty acid intake on serum lipid and lipoprotein levels, we reviewed 27 controlled trials published between 1970 and 1991 that met specific inclusion criteria. These studies yielded 65 data points, which were analyzed by multiple regression analysis using isocalori…

Large-scale, randomized clinical trials have produced over the last few years a wide consensus about the role of thrombolysis in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). It has been estimated from the trials with broader inclusion criteria that about 40% of the patients admitted to coronary care units with A…

The relationship between apoE phenotype and plasma lipid levels was analyzed in the combined data of published studies. Accordingly, 45 population samples from 17 different countries were included in the analysis. The mean plasma values of cholesterol (CH), triglyceride (TG), and high density lipoprotein (HDL)-CH of th…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of respiratory muscle training on muscle strength and endurance, exercise capacity, and functional status in patients with chronic airflow limitation. Computerized bibliographic data bases (MEDLINE AND SCISEARCH) were searched for published clinical trails, and an i…

There has been considerable debate regarding the value of programmed electrical stimulation in patients who present with asymptomatic, or minimally symptomatic, nonsustained VT. Unfortunately, there has never been a sufficiently large study of an untreated group of patients to make any sense of the issue. We culled the…

Protamine insulin use may immunologically sensitize patients to protamine, leading to anaphylactoid reactions upon subsequent exposure to protamine sulfate during cardiac catheterization or cardiovascular surgery. The risk of such reactions in protamine insulin-dependent patients is uncertain. One catheterization study…

Both epidemiologic and clinical studies have suggested that an increase in potassium intake may lower blood pressure. However, the results of prospective clinical trials looking at the effect of oral potassium supplements on blood pressure have yielded conflicting results. For this reason, we reviewed 19 clinical trial…