1,721,326 research outputs found
Skin replacement therapies for diabetic foot ulcers: systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textOpinions on registering trial details: a survey of academic researchers
Full text linkAbstract Background The World Health Organization (WHO) has established a set of items related to study design and administrative information that should build the minimum set of data in a study register. A more comprehensive data set for registration is currently developed by the Ottawa Group. Since nothing is known about the attitudes of academic researchers towards prospective study registration, we surveyed academic researchers about their opinion regarding the registration of study details proposed by the WHO and the Ottawa Group. Methods This was a web-based survey of academic researchers currently running an investigator-initiated clinical study which is registered with clinicaltrials.gov. In July 2006 we contacted 1299 principal investigators of clinical studies by e-mail explaining the purpose of the survey and a link to access a 52-item questionnaire based on the proposed minimum data set by the Ottawa Group. Two reminder e-mails were sent each two weeks apart. Association between willingness to disclose study details and study phase was assessed using the chi-squared test for trend. To explore the potential influence of non-response bias we used logistic regression to assess associations between factors associated with non-response and the willingness to register study details. Results Overall response was low as only 282/1299 (22%) principal investigators participated in the survey. Disclosing study documents, in particular the study protocol and financial agreements, was found to be most problematic with only 31% of respondents willing to disclose these publicly. Consequently, only 34/282 (12%) agreed to disclose all details proposed by the Ottawa Group. Logistic regression indicated no association between characteristics of non-responders and willingness to disclose details. Conclusion Principal investigators of non-industry sponsored studies are reluctant to disclose all data items proposed by the Ottawa Group. Disclosing the study protocol and financial agreements was found to be most problematic. Future discussions on trial registration should not only focus on industry but also on academic researchers.</p
Single item on positive affect is associated with 1-year survival in consecutive medical inpatients
No full textObjective: To determine the independent effects of positive and negative affect items on mortality in consecutive medical inpatients. Methods: Consecutive general medical inpatients were asked to complete the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at admission. Prognostic indicators were obtained from patients' records and physicians' ratings. The study end point was mortality from all causes at 1 year. Results: The baseline assessment was completed by 575 patients (87.7%). Survival data were available for 572 of these (86 deaths). HADS depression scores and several physical risk indicators predicted mortality. Independent effects Could be observed for HADS item 1 ("Can enjoy things as much as before") adjusted for physicians' ratings of prognosis, a principal diagnosis of hemato-oncological disease and Charlson comorbidity scores. In contrast, HADS depression items 2-7 (Model 1) as well as positive HADS depression scores did not contribute significantly to the prediction of mortality. Conclusion: Our present results Suggest that one single item on positive affect independently predicts I-year Survival in consecutively admitted medical inpatients. Interestingly, this item has a stronger association with survival status than the presence of depressed mood. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Steroids as Adjuvant Therapy for Acute Pharyngitis in Ambulatory Patients: A Systematic Review
No full textPURPOSE This review summarizes the evidence regarding the efficacy of adjuvant steroids for pain reduction in acute pharyngitis. METHODS We searched for randomized controlled trials, using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, published between 1966 and December 2008. Two reviewers assessed the quality of each retrieved article and summarized the data. RESULTS Our review found 8 relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a total of 806 patients. There were 5 RCTs with adult patients and 3 with children. All RCTs found a statistically significant faster reduction of pain or complete pain relief from steroid use compared with placebo. The trials used different steroids (dexamethasone, betamethasone, prednisone), and most participants had received antibiotics at least initially. Analgesic medication, such as acetaminophen, was allowed in all studies, but this factor was not always controlled. No serious adverse side effects were reported. CONCLUSIONS Steroids are effective in relieving pain in acute pharyngitis. Although no serious adverse effects were observed, the benefits have to be balanced with possible adverse drug effects. There are safe and effective over-the-counter medications to relieve throat pain. Most patients received concomitant antibiotics; however, reducing the prescription of antibiotics for generally benign upper respiratory tract infection is a public health goal. We therefore recommend further studies to establish both the safety of steroids without antibiotic coverage and the additional benefits of steroids when used with regular administration of over-the-counter analgesic medications
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
Development of a short version of the Neck Pain and Disability Scale
No full textPrevious evaluations of the 20-item Neck Pain and Disability Scale (NPAD) were indicative of excessive redundancy of the measure. The aim of this study was to develop a shortened version of the NPAD (sf-NPAD) based on results of item-to-total-score correlations and factor analysis as published by the developers of the original NPAD. Two items with the highest item-to-total score correlation were selected per factor subscale with the exception of one factor consisting of only one item. This resulted in the selection of 9 items for the sf-NPAD. The sf-NPAD was validated in a separate sample of 448 neck pain patients from 15 general practices in the area of Gottingen/Germany. Participants completed the 20-item NPAD German version and gave additional sociodemographic and clinical information. Psychometric properties of the sf-NPAD were evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, item-to-total-score correlation, and unrestricted principal factor analysis. Construct validity was evaluated by Pearson's r with clinical characteristics. Discriminative validity was examined by comparing differences between subgroups stratified by psychosocial characteristics using t-tests for mean scores. Cronbach's alpha of the sf-NPAD was 0.88. Item-to-total-scale correlations ranged between 0.628 and 0.815, and sf-NPAD items homogeneously loaded on a single factor. Correlation analysis showed high correlations with criterion variables. The sf-NPAD scores of patient subgroups were significantly different showing good discriminative validity. In conclusion, the sf-NPAD demonstrated good validity and internal consistency in this general practice setting. The abbreviated version may facilitate applicability of the scale in clinical and research settings. (C) 2010 European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) [01 GK 0516]; BMB
Is a change in vocal loudness a first step towards becoming a medical doctor? (vol 142, w13534, 2012)
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