1,721,183 research outputs found
UK back pain exercise and manipulation (UK BEAM) trial - national randomised trial of physical treatments for back pain in primary care: objectives, design and interventions
No full textLow back pain has major health and social implications. Although there have been
many randomised controlled trials of manipulation and exercise for the management of low back
pain, the role of these two treatments in its routine management remains unclear. A previous trial
comparing private chiropractic treatment with National Health Service (NHS) outpatient
treatment, which found a benefit from chiropractic treatment, has been criticised because it did not
take treatment location into account. There are data to suggest that general exercise programmes
may have beneficial effects on low back pain. The UK Medical Research Council (MRC) has funded
this major trial of physical treatments for back pain, based in primary care. It aims to establish if,
when added to best care in general practice, a defined package of spinal manipulation and a defined
programme of exercise classes (Back to Fitness) improve participant-assessed outcomes.
Additionally the trial compares outcomes between participants receiving the spinal manipulation in
NHS premises and in private premises
The quality of diagnostic accuracy studies since the STARD statement: has it improved
No full textOBJECTIVE: To assess whether the quality of reporting of diagnostic accuracy
studies has improved since the publication of the Standards for the Reporting of
Diagnostic Accuracy studies (STARD statement).
METHODS: The quality of reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies published in 12
medical journals in 2000 (pre-STARD) and 2004 (post-STARD) was evaluated by two
reviewers independently. For each article, the number of reported STARD items was
counted (range 0 to 25). Differences in completeness of reporting between
articles published in 2000 and 2004 were analyzed, using multilevel analyses.
RESULTS: We included 124 articles published in 2000 and 141 articles published in
2004. Mean number of reported STARD items was 11.9 (range 3.5 to 19.5) in 2000
and 13.6 (range 4.0 to 21.0) in 2004, an increase of 1.81 items (95% CI: 0.61 to
3.01). Articles published in 2004 reported the following significantly more
often: methods for calculating test reproducibility of the index test (16% vs
35%); distribution of the severity of disease and other diagnoses (23% vs 53%);
estimates of variability of diagnostic accuracy between subgroups (39% vs 60%);
and a flow diagram (2% vs 12%).
CONCLUSIONS: The quality of reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies has improved
slightly over time, without a more pronounced effect in journals that adopted the
STARD statement. As there is still room for improvement, editors should mention
the use of the STARD statement as a requirement in their guidelines for authors,
and instruct reviewers to check the STARD items. Authors should include a flow
diagram in their manuscript
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Managing Injuries of the Neck Trial (MINT) : design of a randomised controlled trial of treatments for whiplash associated disorders
Full text linkBackground: A substantial proportion of patients with whiplash injuries develop chronic
symptoms. However, the best treatment of acute injuries to prevent long-term problems is
uncertain. A stepped care treatment pathway has been proposed, in which patients are given advice
and education at their initial visit to the emergency department (ED), followed by review at three
weeks and physiotherapy for those with persisting symptoms. MINT is a two-stage randomised
controlled trial to evaluate two components of such a pathway: 1. use of The Whiplash Book versus
usual advice when patients first attend the emergency department; 2. referral to physiotherapy
versus reinforcement of advice for patients with continuing symptoms at three weeks.
Methods: Evaluation of the Whiplash Book versus usual advice uses a cluster randomised design
in emergency departments of eight NHS Trusts. Eligible patients are identified by clinicians in
participating emergency departments and are sent a study questionnaire within a week of their ED
attendance. Three thousand participants will be included. Patients with persisting symptoms three
weeks after their ED attendance are eligible to join an individually randomised study of
physiotherapy versus reinforcement of the advice given in ED. Six hundred participants will be
randomised. Follow-up is at 4, 8 and 12 months after their ED attendance. Primary outcome is the
Neck Disability Index (NDI), and secondary outcomes include quality of life and time to return to
work and normal activities. An economic evaluation is being carried out.
Conclusion: This paper describes the protocol and operational aspects of a complex intervention
trial based in NHS emergency and physiotherapy departments, evaluating two components of a
stepped-care approach to the treatment of whiplash injuries. The trial uses two randomisations,
with the first stage being cluster randomised and the second individually randomised
For patients with tennis elbow, physiotherapy is superior to corticosteroid injections in the long term
No full textSummary of Smidt N, van der Windt AWM, Assendelft WJJ, Devillé WLJM, Korthals-de Bos IBC and Bouter LM (2002): Corticosteroid injections, physiotherapy, or a wait-and-see policy for lateral epicondylitis: a randomised controlled trial
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Benzodiazepine prescribing behaviour and attitudes: a survey among general practitioners practicing in northern Thailand.
No full textBACKGROUND: Over-prescribing of benzodiazepines appears common in many countries, a better understanding of prescribing practices and attitudes may help develop strategies to reduce prescribing. This study aimed to evaluate benzodiazepine prescribing behaviour and attitudes in general practitioners practising in Chiang Mai and Lampoon, Thailand.
METHODS: Questionnaire survey of general practitioners in community hospitals, to estimate: i) use of benzodiazepines for anxiety/insomnia, panic disorder, depression, essential hypertension, and uncomplicated low back pain and ii) views on the optimal duration of benzodiazepine use.
RESULTS: Fifty-five of 100 general practitioners returned the completed questionnaires. They reported use of benzodiazepines for anxiety/insomnia (n = 51, 93%), panic disorder (n = 43, 78%), depression (n = 26, 43%), essential hypertension (n = 15, 27 %) and uncomplicated low back pain (n = 10, 18%). Twenty-eight general practitioners would prescribe benzodiazepines for non-psychiatric conditions, 17 for use as muscle relaxants. Seventy-five per cent, 62% and 29% of the general practitioners agreed or totally agreed with the use of benzodiazepines for insomnia, anxiety and depression, respectively. Practitioners agreed that prescribing should be less than one week (80%); or from 1 week to 1 month (47%); or 1 to 4 months (16%); or 4 to 6 months (5%) or more than 6 months (2%). Twenty-five general practitioners (45%) accepted that they used benzodiazepines excessively in the past year.
CONCLUSION: A considerable proportion of general practitioners in Chiang Mai and Lampoon, Thailand inappropriately use benzodiazepines for physical illnesses, especially essential hypertension and uncomplicated low back pain. However, almost half of them thought that they overused benzodiazepines. General practitioner's lack of time, knowledge and skills should be taken into account in improving prescribing behaviour and attitudes
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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