392,095 papers found

At the beginning of the development of meta-analysis, understanding the role of moderators was given the highest priority, with meta-regression provided as a method for achieving this goal. Yet in current practice, meta-regression is not as commonly used as anticipated. This paper seeks to understand this mismatch by r…

AIM: this study aims to estimate significance of the descriptive dental epidemiology in evaluation of the long-term effect of the Community program for prevention of dental caries. METHODS: The descriptive dental epidemiology data of DMFT 12-year-old children in Belarus and Russia were analyzed since 1961 to 2014. RE…

Interventions aimed at influencing spending behavior and risk-taking have considerable practical importance. A number of studies motivated by the costly signaling theory within evolutionary psychology have reported that priming inductions (such as looking at pictures of attractive opposite sex members) designed to trig…

Researchers frequently conceptualize publication bias as a bias against publishing nonsignificant results. However, other factors beyond significance levels can contribute to publication bias. Some of these factors include study characteristics, such as the source of funding for the research project, whether the projec…

The number of intervention studies designed to improve quality of care is increasing exponentially, making it difficult to access all available information on a given subject. Systematic reviews are tools that provide health professionals with comprehensive and objective information. This article describes the main pha…

Although dependence in effect sizes is ubiquitous, commonly used meta-analytic methods assume independent effect sizes. We describe and illustrate three-level extensions of a mixed effects meta-analytic model that accounts for various sources of dependence within and across studies, because multilevel extensions of met…

In a meta-analysis of intervention or group comparison studies, researchers often encounter the circumstance in which the standardized mean differences (d-effect sizes) are computed at multiple levels (e.g., individual vs. cluster). Cluster-level d-effect sizes may be inflated and, thus, may need to be corrected using…

Computer-assisted diagnosis (CAD) describes a diverse, heterogeneous range of applications rather than a single entity. The aims and functions of CAD systems vary considerably and comparing studies and systems is challenging due to methodological and design differences. In addition, poor study quality and reporting can…

Using microarrays, researchers are able to obtain a genome wide snapshot of a biological system under a given experimental context. Fortunately, a significant amount of gene regulation data is publicly available through various databases. We present a system that uses extra knowledge in published gene regulation relati…

In systemic sclerosis (SSc), there is no proven treatment to prevent disease progression. In a recent meta-analysis of three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and six open prospective studies on cyclophosphamide (CYC), no significant changes in lung function were observed. However, CYC is associated with an improveme…

A systematic literature search for evidences comparing treatment effect and harm of resurfacing versus nonresurfacing the patella in total knee arthroplasty was conducted and yielded five meta-analysis (MA), one systematic review (SR) and six randomized controlled trials not included in previous MAs/SR. The evidence su…

A meta-analysis of 42 clinical trials suggested that rosiglitazone, a widely used thiazolidinedione, was associated with a 43% greater risk of myocardial infarction (P = 0.03) and a 64% greater risk of cardiovascular death (P = 0.06). However, a number of criticisms have been raised that potentially undermine the concl…

In 2006, C. F. Bond Jr. and B. M. DePaulo provided a meta-analysis of means and concluded that average lie detection accuracy was significantly greater than chance for most people. Now, they have presented an analysis of standard deviations (C. F. Bond Jr. & B. M. DePaulo, 2008), claiming that there are no reliable ind…

Meta-analysis has become an important statistical tool in genetic association studies, since it may provide more powerful and precise estimates. However, meta-analytic studies are prone to several potential biases not only because the preferential publication of "positive'' studies but also due to difficulties in obtai…

Low-carbohydrate diets raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels by approximately 10%; soy protein with isoflavones raises HDL by 3% (strength of recommendation [SOR]: C, based on meta-analysis of physiologic parameters). The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and multivitamin supplementa…

The following systematic reviews and meta-analyses are presented and the results discussed: the evidence-based American guidelines, five systematic reviews on naratriptan, rizatriptan, eletriptan, sumatriptan and propranolol; a meta-analysis of sumatriptan, a meta-analysis of acute migraine therapy, a meta-analysis of…

A meta-analysis of growth hormone data showing similar double amplitudes of 36 and 34% of the mean from the fit of cosine curves with periods of 1.3 and 1.0 year, respectively, suggests the desirability of analyzing available time series on variables of interest in biomedicine, to explore heretofore unknown longer-than…

Systematic reviews of original research are increasing in number. Systematic reviews are distinct from narrative reviews because they address a specific clinical question, require a comprehensive literature search, use explicit selection criteria to identify relevant studies, assess the methodologic quality of included…