Aplicação do Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies para avaliação da qualidade das estratégias de busca das revisões sistemáticas

Health decisions are based on scientific evidence and these are the product of published scientific research. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are studies considered of excellence in the production of evidence in the biomedical area and, in order to carry out these studies, an extensive literature search in bibliographic databases is necessary. The construction of search strategies in electronic databases was identified as a key point in the evidence base of systematic reviews, which is a task specific to the information professional. Assessing search strategies is important and can contribute to increasing the quality of systematic reviews. This paper aims to use the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies for the qualitative analysis of the search strategies of 57 selected studies, followed by a quantitative analysis. In order to draw a local and thematic panorama, studies were chosen with authors from Brazilian institutions in the field of dentistry in 2015. The results showed that most of the analyzed strategies were poorly reported and what was published contains errors that do not guarantee the reproducibility of the search. The evidence base of these systematic reviews may be compromised, which reinforces the need for the participation of information professionals in systematic review teams.As decisões de saúde se baseiam em evidências científicas e estas são o produto da pesquisa científica publicada. As revisões sistemáticas e as metanálises são os tipos de estudo considerados de excelência na produção de evidências da área biomédica e, para a realização desses estudos, é necessária uma ampla busca da literatura nas bases de dados bibliográficas. A construção de estratégias de busca em bases de dados eletrônicas foi identificada como ponto chave na base da evidência das revisões sistemáticas, sendo esta uma tarefa própria do profissional da informação. Avaliar as estratégias de busca é importante e pode contribuir para aumentar a qualidade das revisões sistemáticas. Este trabalho objetiva utilizar o Peer Review of Eletronic Search Strategies para a análise qualitativa das estratégias de busca de 57 estudos selecionados, seguido de uma análise quantitativa. Com o intuito de traçar um panorama local e temático, foram escolhidos estudos com autores de instituições brasileiras da área de odontologia no ano de 2015. Os resultados mostraram que a maioria das estratégias analisadas foram reportadas de forma deficiente e o que foi publicado contém erros que não garantem a reprodutibilidade da busca. A base da evidência dessas revisões sistemáticas pode estar comprometida, o que reforça a necessidade da participação de profissionais da informação nas equipes de revisões sistemáticas

A Qualitative Study of “online” Work Breaks

Despite the growing empirical evidence on the beneficial effects of “micro” work breaks, scant research has examined “online” work breaks. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the nature and effects of online work breaks. Through an in-depth qualitative study of a diverse set of 33 full-time working professionals, we identified conditions under which online breaks occur as well as the characteristics and outcomes of these breaks. Interestingly, our findings point to both negative and positive outcomes associated with online breaks, largely dependent on an individual’s ability to self-regulate. Our grounded theory approach allows us to develop a richer description of online work breaks and a theoretical model to help guide future research

Revisão por pares das estratégias de busca para revisões sistemáticas: o PRESS, histórico, tradução para o português e funcionalidade

O Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS) é um instrumento elaborado na Canadian Agency for Drugs & Technologies in Health (CADTH) para avaliar cada elemento das estratégias de busca em bases de dados eletrônicas que podem influenciar a base das evidências das revisões sistemáticas. Os autores obtiveram licença para traduzir o PRESS para o português. O objetivo é contribuir para disseminação, uso e posterior implementação do PRESS, especialmente entre os bibliotecários, consolidando uma prática de avaliação de estratégias de busca das revisões sistemáticas. A metodologia foi o relato de experiência. Para contextualizar, inicia-se com o histórico da construção do PRESS, seguido do processo da tradução e apresentação das funcionalidades de cada tabela. O resultado é a disponibilização da versão do PRESS em português na página da CADTH. Conclui-se que a tradução deve impactar positivamente na qualidade das estratégias de busca das revisões sistemáticas com participação de bibliotecários brasileiros

Structural analysis of NiTi endodontic instruments: A systematic review

Introduction: Irregularities and defects on NiTi endodontic instruments originating from the manufacturing process can lead to the structural collapse and fracture of these instruments during treatment. To assess the cause of instrument wear and fracture, as well as increasing fracture incidence, destructive and non-destructive methods have been used for the analysis of surfaces and internal structures of new and used NiTi instruments. The aim of this systematic review was to undertake a detailed analysis of the methods used to evaluate the surface and internal microstructure of endodontic instruments. Methods and Materials: The scientific literature was comprehensively and systematically searched in the MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and LILACS/BBO databases for studies published up to June 9, 2019. The eligibility criteria was based on the PICO (Patient, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome) strategy with the question “What is the best method for structural analysis of endodontic files?” Two aspects were considered for inclusion in this study: (i) endodontic instruments and (ii) methods for structural analysis of NiTi instruments.  Results: Based on the inclusion criteria, 94 articles were selected. The results showed that although specific methods have been used for qualitative and/or quantitative structural analysis of NiTi instruments, no study addressed both the surface and internal structure of the instruments at the same time. According to this review, the need to compare the methodologies used in the selected articles has been identified; however, each type of method used has its own limitation on the analysis of both the surface and the internal structure of the instruments. Conclusions: The comparison between the different types of methodologies used in the studies revealed the reliability and the limitations of the methods employed for structural analysis of endodontic instruments; thus assisting us in determining their validity

The Xylitol Applicability and its Effects in Health Area Worldwide: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective: To describe and evaluate the xylitol products’ applicability and its effects in the health area worldwide utilizing a bibliometric analysis from randomized controlled trials (RCT) with humans. Material and Methods: Electronic searches were carried out in Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and VHL databases. The main data extracted were: year, area of applicability, type of treatment, country, journal, xylitol posology and concentration, presentation form, outcomes, and effects. Results: From 1476 studies, 257 were included. These studies were published between 1973-2021. The majority was carried out in dentistry (73.9%) and under preventive treatment (67.4%). These studies were developed in the USA (15.4%) and published in Caries Research (6.6%). The posology and concentration ranged between 0.004-67 g/day and 0.002-100%, respectively. The xylitol is usually used in the chewing gum form (44.0%), and for antimicrobial activity evaluation (38.5%). A positive effect was observed in 204 studies (79.3%) and was associated with xylitol concentration ≥ 15% (p=0.007). Side effects were reported in 8.2% and were associated with posology ≥ 5 g/day (p=0.03). Conclusion: Most studies with xylitol were conducted to prevent diseases in the dentistry field. The chewing gum form and antimicrobial activity evaluation were more frequent. Most xylitol products have a positive effect, and few studies report side effects

Prevalence of Enterococcus species in adults with periodontal health or with periodontitis: a systematic review

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Enterococcus species in the mouth of adults with periodontal health and periodontitis. A systematic search was made in databases in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The search for articles was conducted in Medline/PubMed, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature Database (LILACS), Cochrane Library, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science databases and in the System of Information on Grey Literature in Europe (SINGLE) and included articles published in English up to April 25th, 2021. Observational studies in humans with and without periodontitis were evaluated to identify the prevalence of Enterococcus species. Articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed and classified to determine the quality rating in good, fair, and poor. A new detailed checklist for quality assessment was developed based on the information required for applicable data extraction in reviews. The study design, sample size, demographic data, periodontal clinical parameters, microbial analysis method, biological sample, prevalence of Enterococcus spp., and correlations with periodontal clinical parameters were assessed. After screening and full-text reading, 8 articles met the inclusion criteria. All selected studies showed a significantly higher prevalence of Enterococcus spp. in patients with periodontitis compared with periodontally healthy patients. Thus, the present systematic review suggests that the prevalence of Enterococcus faecalis in the mouth of periodontitis individuals is higher than that of periodontally healthy individuals

Prognostic Significance of CD4+ and CD8+ Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in the tumor microenvironment is associated with a better prognosis in different types of cancer. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we investigated the prognostic role of CD4+ and CD8+ TILs in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched up to September 2020. This study was conducted following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) checklist. Risk ratios from individual studies were displayed in forest plots and the pooled hazard ratios (HR) of death and corresponding confidence intervals (CI) were calculated according to random-effects models. Risk of bias of the included studies was assessed through the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. RESULTS: 28 studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies conducted on HNSCC subsites combined reported a significant reduction in the risk of death for both high CD4+ (HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.65-0.93) and high CD8+ TILs (HR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.47-0.88). High CD4+ TILs were associated with significantly better overall survival among oropharyngeal HNSCC (HR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.31-0.89), as well as high CD8+ TILS in Human papillomavirus -ve and +ve cancers (HR: 0.39; 95% CI: 0.16-0.93 and HR: 0.40; 95% CI 0.21-0.76 respectively). CD8+ TILs were also associated with improved survival in hypopharyngeal cancers (HR = 0.43 CI: 0.30-0.63). No significant association emerged for patients with cancer of the oral cavity or larynx. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this meta-analysis demonstrate the prognostic significance of CD8+ and CD4+ TILs in HNSCC and variation in tumor subsite warrants further focused investigation. We highlight how TILs may serve as predictive biomarkers to risk stratify patients into treatment groups, with applications in immune-checkpoint inhibitors notable areas for further research

UV/Optical disk reverberation lags despite a faint X-ray corona in the AGN Mrk 335

We present the first results from a 100-day Swift, NICER and ground-based X-ray/UV/optical reverberation mapping campaign of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Mrk 335, when it was in an unprecedented low X-ray flux state. Despite dramatic suppression of the X-ray variability, we still observe UV/optical lags as expected from disk reverberation. Moreover, the UV/optical lags are consistent with archival observations when the X-ray luminosity was >10 times higher. Interestingly, both low- and high-flux states reveal UV/optical lags that are 6-11 times longer than expected from a thin disk. These long lags are often interpreted as due to contamination from the broad line region, however the u band excess lag (containing the Balmer jump from the diffuse continuum) is less prevalent than in other AGN. The Swift campaign showed a low X-ray-to-optical correlation (similar to previous campaigns), but NICER and ground-based monitoring continued for another two weeks, during which the optical rose to the highest level of the campaign, followed ~10 days later by a sharp rise in X-rays. While the low X-ray countrate and relatively large systematic uncertainties in the NICER background make this measurement challenging, if the optical does lead X-rays in this flare, this indicates a departure from the zeroth-order reprocessing picture. If the optical flare is due to an increase in mass accretion rate, this occurs on much shorter than the viscous timescale. Alternatively, the optical could be responding to an intrinsic rise in X-rays that is initially hidden from our line-of-sight.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 15 pages, 8 figures, 3 table