Heterogeneity: the issue of apples, oranges and fruit pie.

Heterogeneity refers to any kind of variation among studies contributing to the same outcome in a systematic review. There are three broad types of heterogeneity: clinical heterogeneity, methodological heterogeneity and statistical heterogeneity. In this paper, we describe these three types of heterogeneity and the main statistical approaches to measure heterogeneity

What is ERA really measuring?

How successful is ERA in measuring creative research? The ERA (2015) results would appear to advantage: citations over peer review, traditional research over non-traditional outputs and certain geographical locations over others. If indeed this is true, what are the implications for the future development of NTOs in this country given the recent article by NAVA (Winikoff, 2016), presenting the debate about the state of play of our art schools as one of survival and loss. The case for survival is one that needs to be closely examined where local and geographical factors are at play. Art and design schools across Australia navigate a range of cultural and economic forces. The pedagogical and research agendas of the university environment create pressures that art schools need to adapt to—along with concomitant financial and administrative constraints. External industry structures and commercial aims create another set of compulsions. The art and design school is continually asked to define itself against and adapt to the conditions of these environments, a pressure that often runs against the studio’s spirit of enquiry and value as a pedagogical space. In the context of these complex forces, what is the morphology of the art and design school for the 21st century? This paper examines a survival strategy at ECU, a vibrant contemporary Arts hub with an international and national focus in a period where universities are attempting to define their individual identity while at the same time measuring the immeasurable

Using the needs of WHO to prioritise Cochrane reviews: The case of antipsychotic drugs

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate existing trialling activity relating to three antipsychotic drugs from the WHO List of Essential Medicines (chlorpromazine, fluphenazine decanoate, haloperidol), link existing trials to existing Cochrane reviews, identify gaps in reviewing activity on accessible treatments for people with schizophrenia. METHOD: S We used the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's register searching for all studies comparing the three antipsychotic drugs with each other and with all other pharmacological interventions listed on the Essential Medicines List (with the addition of 'placebo or no drug'). For each we also considered studies that focussed on administration, dose, withdrawal and use of that drug in specific circumstances administration.Data were then extracted on a number of studies, number of participants within those studies, and as to whether a maintained review already exists. Finally, every effort was made to consider as to whether there were possibilities for missing comparisons that no one had ever investigated. RESULTS: There has been considerable research activity involving the three 'essential' antipsychotics and also comparing those three drugs to others on the 'essential' list. We found 490 studies with 77957 participants for haloperidol, 316 studies with 29179 participants for chlorpromazine and 33 studies with 4503 participants for fluphenazine decanoate. Reviewing activity has also been considerable in this area but there are notable omissions which would necessitate new reviews to comprehensively cover the area. CONCLUSIONS: We have used the 'sample frame' of the WHO Essential drug list as a starting point. WHO prioritises for us those drugs that have universal accessibility but they may not be the compounds that are first choice if others are available. It is encouraging to see how many maintained reviews already exist to service those undertaking WHO guidelines. The needs of those guiding care can be taken as a means of prioritising research. For largest global impact WHO Essential Medicine list provides clear direction. By using this technique workload can be anticipated, prioritising can take place for new reviews and updates

Using built-in functions of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to help the selection process in systematic review of randomized trials

This letter describes a simple way of using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to help select and auto-extract data from Portable Document Format (PDFs) of randomised trials in order to assist swift early selection of trials for a systematic revie

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and productivity of schizophrenia trials: an ecological study

The 5000 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's database affords an opportunity to research for variables related to the differences between nations of their output of schizophrenia trials. Ecological study – investigating the relationship between four economic/demographic variables and number of schizophrenia RCTs per country. The variable with closest correlation was used to predict the expected number of studies. GDP closely correlated with schizophrenia trial output, with 76% of the total variation about the Y explained by the regression line (r = 0.87, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.92, r2 = 0.76). Many countries have a strong tradition of schizophrenia trials, exceeding their predicted output. All nations with no identified trial output had GDPs that predicted zero trial activity. Several nations with relatively small GDPs are, nevertheless, highly productive of trials. Some wealthy countries seem either not to have produced the expected number of randomised trials or not to have disseminated them to the English-speaking world. This hypothesis-generating study could not investigate causal relationships, but suggests, that for those seeking all relevant studies, expending effort searching the scientific literature of Germany, Italy, France, Brazil and Japan may be a good investment