375,956 papers found

The aim of this study was to develop a quality of study tool rate the methodological quality of individual primary randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to be included in a meta-analysis. A Delphi-technique using several rounds of questions to seek consensus, among trialists, on criteria important in a RCT was used. Eigh…

IMPORTANCE OF GUIDELINES: Guidelines to medical practice are of vital importance because of the fast and uncontrolled introduction of new technologies, increasing amounts of information, including contradictory results, high levels of inappropriate care and increased financial pressure. Thus guidelines can help solve c…

Twenty-four normal right-handed male subjects classified hierarchical visual stimuli (small letters arranged to form larger letters), which were presented separately to each cerebral hemisphere. Previous studies using similar paradigms have yielded mixed evidence for the specialization of local, analytic processing in…

INTRODUCTION: Accessing samples from mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes is considerably more difficult, rendering the diagnosis of tuberculous mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy particularly challenging. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a minimally invasive interventiona…

INTRODUCTION: Upper-limb dysfunction commonly occurs after breast cancer surgery and can impair the quality of life. Traditional Chinese exercises are a category of mind-body practices derived from traditional Chinese culture and exercise traditions. They involve physical postures, breathing techniques and mental focus…

INTRODUCTION: Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are major drivers of hospitalisation, readmission and mortality. Patient delay, the interval between the onset or recognition of exacerbation symptoms and the first contact with a healthcare professional, represents a potentially modifi…

INTRODUCTION: Anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common in children and adolescents and can lead to significant impairment. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with exposure is the first-line treatment, yet approximately half of treated youth do not achi…

OBJECTIVES: Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) and Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis (CINeMA) are available to assess the confidence in network meta-analysis (NMA) results. They share common aspects, but their operationalization differs. We evaluated interrater reliability (IRR…

BACKGROUND: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), the most common form of urinary incontinence, is a condition that affects many women. It is characterized by involuntary urine leakage during activities that increase abdominal pressure, such as sneezing, coughing, or physical exertion, according to the International Conti…

BACKGROUND: Collaborative care interventions have been proposed as a promising strategy to support patients with multimorbidity. Despite this, the effectiveness of collaborative care interventions requires further evaluation. Existing systematic reviews describing the effectiveness of collaborative care interventions i…

BACKGROUND: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension statement for network meta-analysis (NMA) published in 2015 promotes comprehensive reporting in published systematic reviews with NMA. PRISMA-NMA includes 32 items: 27 core items as indicated in the 2009 PRISMA Stateme…

BACKGROUND: Antipsychotic drugs and especially the newer compounds are known to cause metabolic side effects. However, a comprehensive comparison of the different substances regarding their propensity to cause metabolic side effects in medium- to long-term treatment of schizophrenia is lacking. METHODS: We will conduc…

BACKGROUND: A growing body of research highlights the pervasive harms of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health throughout the life-course. However, findings from prior reviews and recent longitudinal studies investigating the association between types of ACEs and persistent pain have yielded inconsistent findi…

INTRODUCTION: Prospective cohort studies on the association between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and depressive symptoms have yielded conflicting findings, possibly because of differences in age, sex, thyroid-stimulating hormone cut-off levels or degree of baseline depressive symptoms. Analysis of individual partici…

INTRODUCTION: Several bacterial sexually transmitted and genital mycoplasma infections during pregnancy have been associated with poor pregnancy and perinatal outcomes. Comprehensive and systematic information about associations between sexually transmitted infections (STI) and genital infections in pregnancy and adver…

BACKGROUND: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer is an aggressive disease that makes up about 20% of all invasive breast cancers. HER2+ breast cancer is associated with poor prognosis and high mortality rates, but the development of HER2-targeted therapies, such as originator trastuzu…

Despite much attention, history of sheep (Ovis aries) evolution, including its dating, demographic trajectory and geographic spread, remains controversial. To address these questions, we generated 45 complete and 875 partial mitogenomic sequences, and performed a meta-analysis of these and published ovine mitochondrial…

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) offer an excellent opportunity to identify the genetic variants underlying complex human diseases. Successful utilization of this approach requires a large sample size to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with subtle effects. Meta-analysis is a cost-efficient means t…

BACKGROUND: Native coarctation of the aorta (CoA) accounts for 6-8% of congenital heart defects and poses significant morbidity and mortality risks if untreated. By incorporating the most recent evidence, focusing on the pediatric population, this protocol outlines the planned approach for a systematic review and meta-…

BACKGROUND: Valid surrogate endpoints are of great interest for efficient evaluation of novel therapies. With surrogate and true time-to-event endpoints, meta-analytic approaches for surrogacy validation commonly rely on the hazard ratio, ignore that randomized trials possibly contribute to the meta-analysis for differ…