5,043,603 papers found

BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews provide a transparent and robust summary of existing research. However, health system managers, national and local policy makers and healthcare professionals can face several obstacles when attempting to utilise this evidence. These include constraints operating within the health system,…

OBJECTIVE: This study conducted a systematic review of the systematic reviews of readability assessment studies to contribute to future readability research and practice by providing a comprehensive overview of information readability for patients. METHODS: We searched multiple databases. We included systematic review…

INTRODUCTION: Peripheral nerve blocks have been a common treatment for multiple headaches. By far, the greater occipital nerve block is the most used and with the stronger body of evidence in routine clinical practice. METHODS: We searched Pubmed Meta-Analysis/Systematic Review, in the last 10 years. Of these results,…

The medicalisation of life under the influence of health-care systems, focused on curing diseases, has made dying well challenging. This systematic review identifies common themes from published systematic reviews about the conditions for a good death as a means to guide decisions around this universal event. MEDLINE,…

First discovered by Friedenstein in 1976, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells found throughout the body that share a fixed set of characteristics. Discovered initially in the bone marrow, this cell source is considered the gold standard for clinical research, although various other sources-including adip…

Parkinson's disease (PD) occurs worldwide, but little is known about PD in Africa. We systematically reviewed publications on PD in Africa, with emphasis on epidemiologic and genetic studies. Articles published between 1944 and December 2004 were identified using several strategies. The studies emanated from 13 African…

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To review existing quality assessment tools for diagnostic accuracy studies and to examine to what extent quality was assessed and incorporated in diagnostic systematic reviews. METHODS: Electronic databases were searched for tools to assess the quality of studies of diagnostic accuracy or gu…

Recommendations for treatment of pediatric epileptic patients issued by three different sources are analyzed. 1) The review on treatment-resistant epilepsy published in 2003 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 2) Articles written by the Cochrane Epilepsy Group available in January 2004. 3) A personal rev…

PURPOSE: The objective was to make an inventory of systematic reviews in the field of prosthodontics and to assess the strength of evidence yielded by these studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The literature was searched using MEDLINE (keywords "dental" in subset combined with "meta-analysis" in publication type, and "den…

The practice of evidence-based medicine involves the critical application of current best evidence to the care of individual patients. This process requires clinicians to be able to efficiently locate, critically appraise and appropriately apply the best available evidence to particular clinical scenarios. The current…

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia, as well as establish an effective treatment protocol and optimal PRP preparation procedure. METHODS: We searched the PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane, CNKI, and Wanfang databases from inception to October 29, 2…

The aim of this overview was to evaluate and compare the quality of systematic reviews, with or without meta-analysis, that have evaluated studies on techniques or biomaterials used for the preservation of alveolar sockets post tooth extraction in humans. An electronic search was conducted without date restrictions usi…

BACKGROUND: Several systematic reviews have addressed digital technology use for treatment and monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess if systematic reviews considered the effects of sex, gender, or age on the outcomes of digital technologies for treatment and…

The classification of urothelial neoplasms has been a subject of significant controversy and debate over the last decade. Only recently has a general level of agreement developed on the utility of the classification first proposed by the World Health Organization and the International Society of Urologic Pathology in 1…

The available evidence on the effects of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) and pregnancy outcomes (birth outcomes and pregnancy complications) has increased substantially. The purpose of this umbrella review is to refine the evidence of the association between birth outcome (birth defects) and PM; and summarize the…

BACKGROUND: With the rise in pre-mature mortality rate from non-communicable disease (NCD), there is a need for evidence-based interventions. We evaluated existing systematic reviews on effectiveness of integration of healthcare services, in particular with focus on delivery of care designed to improve health and proce…

As a consequence of the loss of physical function more than half of the geriatric patients are discharged with a physical rehabilitation plan. Only a few patients are, however, discharged with a nutritional rehabilitation plan. Data suggest that about 60% of the geriatric patients who are discharged with a physical reh…