The accuracy of haemoglobin A1c as a screening and diagnostic test for gestational diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of test accuracy studies

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse pregnancy complications. Accurate screening and diagnosis of gestational diabetes are critical to treatment, and in a pandemic scenario like coronavirus disease 2019 needing a simple test that minimises prolonged hospital stay. We undertook a meta-analysis on the screening and diagnostic accuracy of the haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test in women with and without risk factors for gestational diabetes. RECENT FINDINGS: Unlike the oral glucose tolerance test, the HbA1c test is simple, quick and more acceptable. There is a growing body of evidence on the accuracy of HbA1c as a screening and diagnostic test for GDM. We searched Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library and selected relevant studies. Accuracy data for different thresholds within the final 23 included studies (16 921 women) were pooled using a multiple thresholds model. Summary accuracy indices were estimated by selecting an optimal threshold that optimises either sensitivity or specificity according to different scenarios. SUMMARY: HbA1c is more useful as a specific test at a cut-off of 5.7% (39 mmol/mol) with a false positive rate of 10%, but should be supplemented by a more sensitive test to detect women with GDM

Accuracy of Onsite Tests to Detect Asymptomatic Bacteriuria in Pregnancy A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the accuracy of onsite tests to detect asymptomatic bacteriuria among pregnant women. DATA SOURCES: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, and Latin-American Literature from inception until June 2015 without language restrictions. The ClinicalTrials.gov register database was screened to identify any recently completed studies. METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION: Two independent reviewers selected studies that recruited asymptomatic pregnant women to evaluate the accuracy of onsite tests in detecting the presence of bacteria in the urine using urine culture as a reference standard. TABULATION, INTEGRATION, AND RESULTS: Women's characteristics, study design, urine sample collection, and handling were extracted along with the test accuracy data. Where possible, we pooled the data using a bivariate, hierarchical random-effects model. Of 1,360 screened references, 27 articles (13,641 women) with test accuracy data on nine tests met the inclusion criteria. The most commonly evaluated test was urine dipstick. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of nitrites detected by dipstick to detect asymptomatic bacteriuria were 0.55 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.42-0.67) and 0.99 (95% CI 0.98-0.99), respectively. The Griess test to detect nitrites had a sensitivity of 0.65 (95% CI 0.50-0.78) and specificity of 0.99 (95% CI 0.98-1.00). Dipslide with Gram staining had a pooled sensitivity of 0.86 (95% CI 0.80-0.91) and specificity of 0.97 (95% CI 0.93-0.99). CONCLUSION: The specificity of onsite tests is high; however, the sensitivity is not with the result that they will fail to detect a substantial number of cases of asymptomatic bacteriuria. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews, http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, CRD42015027905

Smartphone App Using Mindfulness Meditation for Women With Chronic Pelvic Pain (MEMPHIS): Protocol for a Randomized Feasibility Trial.

BACKGROUND: Female chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is defined as intermittent or constant pelvic or lower abdominal pain occurring in a woman for at least 6 months. Up to a quarter of women are estimated to be affected by CPP worldwide and it is responsible for one fifth of specialist gynecological referrals in the United Kingdom. Psychological interventions are commonly utilized. As waiting times and funding capacity impede access to face-to-face consultations, supported self-management (SSM) has emerged as a viable alternative. Mindfulness meditation is a potentially valuable SSM tool, and in the era of mobile technology, this can be delivered to the individual user via a smartphone app. OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of conducting a trial of a mindfulness meditation intervention delivered by a mobile phone app for patients with CPP. The main feasibility objectives were to assess patient recruitment and app adherence, to obtain information to be used in the sample size estimate of a future trial, and to receive feedback on usability of the app. METHODS: Mindfulness Meditation for Women With Chronic Pelvic Pain (MEMPHIS) is a three-arm feasibility trial, that took place in two hospitals in the United Kingdom. Eligible participants were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to one of three treatment arms: (1) the intervention arm, consisting of a guided, spoken mindfulness meditation app; (2) an active control arm, consisting of a progressive muscle relaxation app; and (3) usual care (no app). Participants were followed-up for 6 months. Key feasibility outcomes included the time taken to recruit all patients for the study, adherence, and estimates to be used in the sample size calculation for a subsequent full-scale trial. Upon completion of the feasibility trial we will conduct focus groups to explore app usability and reasons for noncompliance. RESULTS: Recruitment for MEMPHIS took place between May 2016 and September 2016. The study was closed March 2017 and the report was submitted to the NIHR on October 26, 2017. CONCLUSIONS: This feasibility trial will inform the design of a large multicentered trial to assess the clinical effectiveness of mindfulness meditation delivered via a smartphone app for the treatment of CPP. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02721108; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02721108 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6wLMAkuaU); BioMed Central: ISRCTN10925965; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN10925965 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6wLMVLuys).National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit Program (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-1013-32025). SJCT was supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care North Thames at Bart’s Health NHS Trust

Study protocol: differential effects of diet and physical activity based interventions in pregnancy on maternal and fetal outcomes--individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis and health economic evaluation.

© 2014 Ruifrok et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.BACKGROUND: Pregnant women who gain excess weight are at risk of complications during pregnancy and in the long term. Interventions based on diet and physical activity minimise gestational weight gain with varied effect on clinical outcomes. The effect of interventions on varied groups of women based on body mass index, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, parity, and underlying medical conditions is not clear. Our individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis of randomised trials will assess the differential effect of diet- and physical activity-based interventions on maternal weight gain and pregnancy outcomes in clinically relevant subgroups of women. METHODS/DESIGN: Randomised trials on diet and physical activity in pregnancy will be identified by searching the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS, LILACS, Pascal, Science Citation Index, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, and Health Technology Assessment Database. Primary researchers of the identified trials are invited to join the International Weight Management in Pregnancy Collaborative Network and share their individual patient data. We will reanalyse each study separately and confirm the findings with the original authors. Then, for each intervention type and outcome, we will perform as appropriate either a one-step or a two-step IPD meta-analysis to obtain summary estimates of effects and 95% confidence intervals, for all women combined and for each subgroup of interest. The primary outcomes are gestational weight gain and composite adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. The difference in effects between subgroups will be estimated and between-study heterogeneity suitably quantified and explored. The potential for publication bias and availability bias in the IPD obtained will be investigated. We will conduct a model-based economic evaluation to assess the cost effectiveness of the interventions to manage weight gain in pregnancy and undertake a value of information analysis to inform future research. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO 2013: CRD42013003804.This study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) HTA (Health Technology Assessment) UK programme 12/01

Which patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer benefit from docetaxel: a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomised trials

BACKGROUND: Adding docetaxel to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) improves survival in patients with metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, but uncertainty remains about who benefits most. We therefore aimed to obtain up-to-date estimates of the overall effects of docetaxel and to assess whether these effects varied according to prespecified characteristics of the patients or their tumours. METHODS: The STOPCAP M1 collaboration conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. We searched MEDLINE (from database inception to March 31, 2022), Embase (from database inception to March 31, 2022), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (from database inception to March 31, 2022), proceedings of relevant conferences (from Jan 1, 1990, to Dec 31, 2022), and ClinicalTrials.gov (from database inception to March 28, 2023) to identify eligible randomised trials that assessed docetaxel plus ADT compared with ADT alone in patients with metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. Detailed and updated individual participant data were requested directly from study investigators or through relevant repositories. The primary outcome was overall survival. Secondary outcomes were progression-free survival and failure-free survival. Overall pooled effects were estimated using an adjusted, intention-to-treat, two-stage, fixed-effect meta-analysis, with one-stage and random-effects sensitivity analyses. Missing covariate values were imputed. Differences in effect by participant characteristics were estimated using adjusted two-stage, fixed-effect meta-analysis of within-trial interactions on the basis of progression-free survival to maximise power. Identified effect modifiers were also assessed on the basis of overall survival. To explore multiple subgroup interactions and derive subgroup-specific absolute treatment effects we used one-stage flexible parametric modelling and regression standardisation. We assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42019140591. FINDINGS: We obtained individual participant data from 2261 patients (98% of those randomised) from three eligible trials (GETUG-AFU15, CHAARTED, and STAMPEDE trials), with a median follow-up of 72 months (IQR 55-85). Individual participant data were not obtained from two additional small trials. Based on all included trials and patients, there were clear benefits of docetaxel on overall survival (hazard ratio [HR] 0·79, 95% CI 0·70 to 0·88; p<0·0001), progression-free survival (0·70, 0·63 to 0·77; p<0·0001), and failure-free survival (0·64, 0·58 to 0·71; p<0·0001), representing 5-year absolute improvements of around 9-11%. The overall risk of bias was assessed to be low, and there was no strong evidence of differences in effect between trials for all three main outcomes. The relative effect of docetaxel on progression-free survival appeared to be greater with increasing clinical T stage (pinteraction=0·0019), higher volume of metastases (pinteraction=0·020), and, to a lesser extent, synchronous diagnosis of metastatic disease (pinteraction=0·077). Taking into account the other interactions, the effect of docetaxel was independently modified by volume and clinical T stage, but not timing. There was no strong evidence that docetaxel improved absolute effects at 5 years for patients with low-volume, metachronous disease (-1%, 95% CI -15 to 12, for progression-free survival; 0%, -10 to 12, for overall survival). The largest absolute improvement at 5 years was observed for those with high-volume, clinical T stage 4 disease (27%, 95% CI 17 to 37, for progression-free survival; 35%, 24 to 47, for overall survival). INTERPRETATION: The addition of docetaxel to hormone therapy is best suited to patients with poorer prognosis for metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer based on a high volume of disease and potentially the bulkiness of the primary tumour. There is no evidence of meaningful benefit for patients with metachronous, low-volume disease who should therefore be managed differently. These results will better characterise patients most and, importantly, least likely to gain benefit from docetaxel, potentially changing international practice, guiding clinical decision making, better informing treatment policy, and improving patient outcomes. FUNDING: UK Medical Research Council and Prostate Cancer UK

Erratum to: Study protocol: differential effects of diet and physical activity based interventions in pregnancy on maternal and fetal outcomes: individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis and health economic evaluation.

Erratum to: Study protocol: differential effects of diet and physical activity based interventions in pregnancy on maternal and fetal outcomes: individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis and health economic evaluatio

Одноколейные тракторно-ледяные дороги: учебное пособие для лесотехнических вузов

Книга содержит описание конструкций однополозных тракторных саней, расчет основных деталей саней, краткие технические условия проектирования одноколейных тракторно-ледяных дорог, правила постройки и эксплуатации ледяных дорог и основы организации тракторного хозяйства на базе одноколейных ледяных дорог. Книга предназначена в качестве учебного пособия для лесотехнических вузов, но может также служить практическим пособием и для высшего технического персонала лесозаготовительных предприятий Наркомлеса СССР.0|7|Предисловие [c. 7]0|8|Введение [c. 8]0|11|Возникновение и развитие конструкции однополозных саней [c. 11]1|11|Первые опыты [c. 11]1|12|Принцип работы одноколейной ледяной дороги и теоретические основания проектирования однополозных саней [c. 12]1|17|Конструкция первых однополозных саней [c. 17]1|17|Однополозные сани Востокостальлеса [c. 17]1|19|Одкополозные сани ЦНИИМЭ, модель Б [c. 19]1|21|Однополозные сани на базе поковок тракторных двухполозных саней модели Д [c. 21]1|22|Однополозные сани Я. И. Гинзбурга модели 1939 г. [c. 22]1|33|Однополозные сани ГЗЯ-2 [c. 33]1|39|Варианты соединения коника с полозом [c. 39]1|39|Модернизированные однополозные сани на базе поковок саней модели Свердлеса и Востокостальлеса [c. 39]1|44|Бескониковые однополозные сани конструкции СибНИИЛХЭ [c. 44]1|46|Буферно-прицепные устройства трактора конструкции УЛТИ, Сотринского мехлесопункта и Стройлеспроекта [c. 46]1|48|Автоматическая сцепка тракторных саней [c. 48]1|49|Рама для перевозки коротья на однополозных санях [c. 49]1|51|Расчет саней [c. 51]1|51|Расчет полоза [c. 51]1|58|О форме подрезов [c. 58]0|61|Постройка одноколейных ледяных дорог [c. 61]1|61|Условия применения, сырьевая база и порядок оформления строительства [c. 61]1|62|Технические условия проектирования одноколейных ледяных дорог [c. 62]1|72|Изыскания трасс одноколейных ледяных дорог [c. 72]1|73|Строительные работы на одноколейных ледяных дорогах [c. 73]1|85|Дорожные орудия для строительства одноколейных ледяных дорог [c. 85]1|91|Цистерны для поливки ледяной дороги [c. 91]1|91|Насосные станции [c. 91]0|95|Эксплуатация ледяных дорог [c. 95]1|95|Техническая характеристика тяговых машин [c. 95]1|107|Эксплуатация газогенераторных тракторов на лесовывозке по ледяным дорогам [c. 107]1|115|Правила вождения поездов [c. 115]1|117|Формирование состава и маневры [c. 117]1|117|Содержание и ремонт пути ледяной дороги [c. 117]1|119|Техника безопасности при вывозке леса по тракторным ледяным дорогам [c. 119]1|121|Основные правила по технике безопасности для тракторного лесотранспорта [c. 121]0|123|Приложения [c. 123]1|123|Детали однополозных саней ГЗЯ-1 [c. 123]1|136|Детали модернизированных однополозных саней на базе поковок саней Свердллеса [c. 136]1|141|Краткая техническая характеристика гусеничных тракторов Челябинского тракторного завода [c. 141]0|143|Оглавление [c. 143