A surveillance system to assess the need for updating systematic reviews.

BackgroundSystematic reviews (SRs) can become outdated as new evidence emerges over time. Organizations that produce SRs need a surveillance method to determine when reviews are likely to require updating. This report describes the development and initial results of a surveillance system to assess SRs produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program.MethodsTwenty-four SRs were assessed using existing methods that incorporate limited literature searches, expert opinion, and quantitative methods for the presence of signals triggering the need for updating. The system was designed to begin surveillance six months after the release of the original review, and then ceforth every six months for any review not classified as being a high priority for updating. The outcome of each round of surveillance was a classification of the SR as being low, medium or high priority for updating.ResultsTwenty-four SRs underwent surveillance at least once, and ten underwent surveillance a second time during the 18 months of the program. Two SRs were classified as high, five as medium, and 17 as low priority for updating. The time lapse between the searches conducted for the original reports and the updated searches (search time lapse - STL) ranged from 11 months to 62 months: The STL for the high priority reports were 29 months and 54 months; those for medium priority reports ranged from 19 to 62 months; and those for low priority reports ranged from 11 to 33 months. Neither the STL nor the number of new relevant articles was perfectly associated with a signal for updating. Challenges of implementing the surveillance system included determining what constituted the actual conclusions of an SR that required assessing; and sometimes poor response rates of experts.ConclusionIn this system of regular surveillance of 24 systematic reviews on a variety of clinical interventions produced by a leading organization, about 70% of reviews were determined to have a low priority for updating. Evidence suggests that the time period for surveillance is yearly rather than the six months used in this project

GRADE equity guidelines 3: considering health equity in GRADE guideline development: rating the certainty of synthesized evidence

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to describe a conceptual framework for how to consider health equity in the Grading Recommendations Assessment and Development Evidence (GRADE) guideline development process. Study Design and Setting: Consensus-based guidance developed by the GRADE working group members and other methodologists. Results: We developed consensus-based guidance to help address health equity when rating the certainty of synthesized evidence (i.e., quality of evidence). When health inequity is determined to be a concern by stakeholders, we propose five methods for explicitly assessing health equity: (1) include health equity as an outcome; (2) consider patient-important outcomes relevant to health equity; (3) assess differences in the relative effect size of the treatment; (4) assess differences in baseline risk and the differing impacts on absolute effects; and (5) assess indirectness of evidence to disadvantaged populations and/or settings. Conclusion: The most important priority for research on health inequity and guidelines is to identify and document examples where health equity has been considered explicitly in guidelines. Although there is a weak scientific evidence base for assessing health equity, this should not discourage the explicit consideration of how guidelines and recommendations affect the most vulnerable members of society

Endotracheal tube retainer

WSU inventors: Joel White, NIARInternational Application No: PCT/US2022/020972 filed March 18, 2022. Patent No: WO/2022/198061 granted September 22, 2022.The present disclosure provides an endotracheal tube retainer for retaining an endotracheal tube. The endotracheal tube retainer has a clip to be supported on a head such that the clip is spaced apart in front of a mouth and is adjustable between an open configuration and a closed configuration. In the closed configuration, the clip defines a tube retention channel that may receive the endotracheal tube such that the clip grips the endotracheal tube to retain it in the clip. The open configuration releases the endotracheal tube such that the endotracheal tube is movable relative to the clip. The clip can be equipped with primary and secondary retention features for holding the clip closed. The clip can be opened and closed by one-handed operation. The retainer has a stabilizer extension used for stabilizing the endotracheal tube during one-handed operation of the clip

Social Capital and Citizens’ Attitudes towards Migrant Workers

This study examines Qatari citizens’ attitudes toward migrant workers. While much research has been conducted on citizens’ attitudes toward the abolition, tightening, or loosening of the Kafāla system in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with regard to migrant workers’ residency rights, and on their contribution to the economic development of these countries, little is known about how citizens’ religiosity and social engagement impact their acceptance of migrant workers. In the present study, we address this question by examining the effects of religious and social capital on Qatari citizens’ preferences for having Arab and Western migrant workers as neighbours, drawing on data from two nationally representative surveys in Qatar. The results indicate that, even after controlling for a wide range of socio-demographic attributes, social capital in terms of trust and bridging social ties has a strong effect on the Qatari nationals’ preferences

'I-V Characteristic and Crystal Structural Of a-As/c-Si Heterojunctions

In this research the a-As flims have been prepared by thermal evaporation with thickness 250 nm and rata of deposition r_d(1.04nm/sec) as function to annealing temperature (373 and 473K), from XRD analysis we can see that the degree of crystalline increase with T_a, and I-V characteristic for dark and illumination shows that forward bias current varieties approximately exponentially with voltage bias. Also we found that the quality factor and saturation current dependence on annealing temperatures

GRADE equity guidelines 3: considering health equity in GRADE guideline development: rating the certainty of synthesized evidence

publishedVersio

GRADE equity guidelines 1: considering health equity in GRADE guideline development: introduction and rationale

publishedVersio

Moringa oleifera Lam. (family Moringaceae) leaf extract attenuates high-fat diet-induced dyslipidemia and vascular endothelium dysfunction in Wistar albino rats

Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of methanol extract of Moringa oleifera leaves (MEMO) in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced dyslipidemia and vascular endothelium dysfunction. Methods: Dose-dependent attenuating effect of MEMO was tested at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg/day in an in vivo model of HFD-induced dyslipidemia using rats whereas vascular endothelial reactivity was assessed in isolated rat aorta using ex vivo organ bath setup. Results: MEMO administration in HFD-induced dyslipidemic rats for 3 consecutive weeks, resulted in significant decrease in rat body weight, LW/BW and RFPW/BW ratio when compared to rats treated with HFD only where an increase in body weight was observed. Decrease in the average daily feed intake and significant reductions in waist, Lee index and BMI was also observed after MEMO treatment in HFD-induced dyslipidemic rats. Lipid profile data indicate that HFD group showed significant increase in total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL and VLDL levels while HDL levels decreased significantly. On the other hand, MEMO treatment improved lipid profile compared to HFD group. Ex-vivo isolated aorta results revealed that MEMO treatment reversed HFD-induced endothelium dysfunction when compared to SD group. Conclusion: MEMO treatment produces dose-dependent improvement in lipid profile and vascular endothelium protection, thereby rationalizing its traditional medicine use in the treatment of dyslipidemia and cardiovascular related endothelial disorders