Comparison of Bibliographic Databases in Retrieving Information on Telemedicine

Abstract: Background & Aims: Some of the main questions which can be of importance for those researchers who intend to perform a systematic review in a field of science are: ‘What databases should I use for my review?’; ‘Do all these databases have the same value?’; and ‘Which sources retrieved the highest of relevant references?’. The main aim of this work was the identification of the best database for retrieving information on telemedicine by comparing the percentage of relevant references among the total literature available that can be retrieved from each database. Methods: Databases (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) were searched on the topic of telemedicine and education, telemedicine and cost benefit, and also telemedicine and patient satisfaction. Results of analysis and accuracy coefficient, sensitivity, uniqueness, and the overlap of databases were calculated. Results: The number of studies retrieved from each database varied for each topic. PubMed with 50.7% in accuracy and 61.4% in sensitivity was the most effective database for retrieving information on the abovementioned topics. Databases with the highest proportion of unique records in retrieved relevant references varied between the 38% for PubMed to 3% for CINAHL. The largest overlap in the four databases was between PubMed and the Web of Science (18.6%). Few papers (0.7%) were indexed by all four databases. Conclusion: Our analysis suggests that information scientists, librarians, and researchers who want to access the best references on telemedicine should start by searching PubMed. Searching PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, respectively, will provide about 90% of the relevant available literature. Keywords: Bibliographic databases, Telemedicine, Sensitivity, Precision, Information retrieva

EVALUATION OF FIVE FREE MEDLINE SITES IN INTERNET

Medline is one of the valuable sources of medical information on internet. Medline is an electronic index in which retrieval of about 11,000,000 documents from 4300 medical journals in 30 languages is possible and on the average 8000 documents are being added to it every week (1). Now, free access to Medline is possible in more than 50 sites (2-3). The quality of searching, strategy of searching and considered limitations in searching, and the interval of up-dating vary from site. In regard to these differences, researchers are faced with this question that which sites of Medline can provide more accurate and faster information. Among different free sites of Medline, five sites of BioMed Net, Dimidi, infotrieve, GratefulMed and Plumbed are the most famous ones (4-6). In the present study two indices of retrieval and precision that are more important in the evaluation of sites have been investigated. Retrieval is the number of searched documents a part from the relation of document with subject (3-5). As previous studies have proved the effect of searching language on retrieval and precision (3-6), in this study searching was performed by natural language and control vocabulary searching.
 This cross-sectional study was carried out on five famous free sites of Medline on 2000. To evaluate these sites, retrieval and precision were determined and in order to control the probable effect of searching language evaluation was done by two natural language and control vocabulary searching. 36 researchers referring to the research information in Medline were selected and each of their re-question subjects (36 subjects) were searched in the five understudied sites once by the key words suggested by the researchers (natural language searching) and once by the key words determined based on subject (control vocabulary searching). The period of the searching was from 1990 to 2000. In control vocabulary searching, key words of researching subject were determined by using Mesh page in PubMed. Then searched documents were evaluated for their relation to the aimed subjects. Precision was calculated by dividing the number of related documents to the total searched documents. Data analysis was done by using paired Hest and Repeated ANOVA in SPSS soft ware.
 Evaluation of Researchers of Searched Documents in five Understudied Sites was shown in table. Based on the results of this study in both natural language and control vocabulary searching there was no significant difference among the five understudied sites in regard to the retrieval and precision. These results are in line with the results of Bonham (1988) study (3). Retrieval and precision of all five sites were significantly higher in nature language searching in comparison to control vocabulary searching (P < 0/05)

Incidence trend of breast Cancer in women of eastern Mediterranean region countries from 1998 to 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: This study was conducted to provide evidence on the current status of breast cancer and its incidence trend in Eastern Mediterranean Region during 1998-2019. Also, this study aimed to investigate the association between the incidence of breast cancer and Human Development Index and some factors related to this index, including total fertility rate, and obesity, using a meta-analysis. Method: Data on incidence of breast cancer were collected from various sources, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and WHO, from 1998 to 2019 using systematic review and meta-analysis. Pooled age standardized rate was calculated based on study duration and quality of data using a subgroup analysis and random effect meta-analysis. Results: A total of 80 studies (545 data points) were analyzed. Pooled age standardized rate of breast cancer for Eastern Mediterranean Region was 37.1 per 100,000 person-year (95 confidence interval CI, 34.5, 39.8) during 2011-2019. age standardized rate of breast cancer had an upward trend in Eastern Mediterranean Region from 2005 to 2019. However, the increasing trend was found to be slightly different in various regions based on quality of data. Moreover, pooled age standardized rate had a significant association with Human Development Index -89.2 (95% CI,-119.8,-58.7) and obesity 1.2 (95% CI, 0.9, 1.5). Conclusion: Pooled age standardized rate of breast cancer in Eastern Mediterranean Region was lower than the global average. Also, the age standardized rate value and its incremental trend have been higher in countries with high-quality data than in other countries of this region in recent years. Data quality or physiological factors, such as increase in obesity rates, could be the reasons for this incremental trend. © 2020 The Author(s)

Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder following the Earthquake in Iran and Pakistan: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common mental disorder following traumatic events. The present study was conducted to understand the prevalence of PTSD after the earthquake in Iran and Pakistan. The review includes all articles published from inception to March 2019. The pooled prevalence for overall PTSD was 55.6 (95 CI: 49.9-61.3). It was 60.2 (95 CI: 54.1-66.3) and 49.2 (95 CI: 39.4-59) for Iranian and Pakistani survivors, respectively. Women experienced higher incidence of PTSD than men. The variation of PTSD based on the clinical interview was lower than the self-report approach. The interval time between the earthquakes and the assessment showed that the prevalence of PTSD decreased over time. The prevalence of PTSD in Iran and Pakistan was higher than the global average, and the rate of the disorder in Iran was higher than in Pakistan. Sex, method of assessment, and time lag between the occurrence of disaster and assessment of PTSD affect the prevalence. © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2021

The association between incidence and mortality of brain cancer and human development index (HDI): an ecological study

Background: Brain cancer is a rare and deadly malignancy with a low survival rate. The present study aims to evaluate the epidemiology of brain cancer and its relationship with the human development index (HDI) worldwide. Methods: This is an ecological study. The data on cancer incidence and cancer mortality was extracted from the World Bank for Cancer in 2018 (GLOBOCAN 2018). The incidence, mortality rate, and brain cancer distribution maps were drawn for different countries. We used correlation and regression tests to examine the association of incidence and mortality rates of brain cancer with HDI. The statistical analysis was carried out by Stata-14 and a significance level of 0.05 was considered. Results: According to the results of Global Cancer Registry in 2018, there were 18,078,957 registered cases of cancer in both sexes, of which 29,681 were related to brain cancer. The highest incidence (102,260 cases, 34.4) and mortality (77,815 cases, 32.3) belonged to very high HDI regions. Results showed that incidence (r = 0.690, P < 0.0001) and mortality rates (r = 0.629, P < 0.001) of brain cancer are significantly correlated with HDI. We also observed a positive correlation between brain cancer incidence and Gross National Income (GNI) (r = 0.346, P < 0.001), Mean Years of Schooling (MYS) (r = 0.64, P < 0.001), TABLE (LEB) (r = 0.66, P < 0.001) and Expected Years of Schooling (EYS) (r = 0.667, P < 0.001). Results also revealed that mortality rate was significantly correlated with GNI (r = 0.28, P < 0.01), MYS (r = 0.591, P < 0.01), LEB (r = 0.624, P < 0.01), and EYS (r = 0.605, P < 0.01). Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the incidence and mortality of brain cancer in countries with higher HDI levels is higher than countries with lower HDI levels, so attention to risk factors and action to reduce it in countries with higher HDI levels in controlling this cancer in this Countries are effective. © 2020, The Author(s)