Technology Assisted Reviews: Finding the Last Few Relevant Documents by Asking Yes/No Questions to Reviewers

The goal of a technology-assisted review is to achieve high recall with low human effort. Continuous active learning algorithms have demonstrated good performance in locating the majority of relevant documents in a collection, however their performance is reaching a plateau when 80\%-90\% of them has been found. Finding the last few relevant documents typically requires exhaustively reviewing the collection. In this paper, we propose a novel method to identify these last few, but significant, documents efficiently. Our method makes the hypothesis that entities carry vital information in documents, and that reviewers can answer questions about the presence or absence of an entity in the missing relevance documents. Based on this we devise a sequential Bayesian search method that selects the optimal sequence of questions to ask. The experimental results show that our proposed method can greatly improve performance requiring less reviewing effort.Comment: This paper is accepted by SIGIR 201

Childhood obesity and educational attainment : A systematic review

Background This report describes the findings and methods of a systematic review of research which explores the relationship between obesity and educational attainment. It has been conducted at a time of great concern about levels of obesity in the UK, and the negative physical, psychological and social impacts of obesity. Current research suggests that there may be a relationship between obesity and poor educational attainment. It is likely that obesity and poor school performance are elements of a broader picture of inequalities in health and education, whereby disadvantaged socio-economic groups tend to have poorer health and lower levels of education. However, it is possible that other factors influence obesity and attainment, such as gender, discrimination and poor mental and emotional well-being. This systematic review was therefore commissioned to address the question: What do we know about the relationship between childhood obesity and educational attainment, from the research literature? In order that our review might be informed by those closest to observing any interaction between obesity and attainment, we sought the perspectives of teachers and young people to identify the causal pathways that seemed most pertinent to them. Findings Is there a statistical association between obesity and educational attainment? While often conflicting, an overall pattern emerges from the research evidence suggesting that there is a weak negative association between obesity and educational attainment in children and young people; i.e. that higher weight is associated with lower educational attainment. Obesity is also associated with other variables, such as socio-economic status, and when these other variables are taken into consideration, the association between obesity and attainment becomes still weaker, and often loses statistical significance. To what extent does the research evidence explore the influence of the broader determinants of health, and in particular socio-economic position, in explaining any link between obesity and attainment? Place of residence, ethnicity, occupation, gender, religion, education, socio-economic status (SES) and social capital were all explored as potential moderating variables in the included research. Twenty-three of 29 studies used a measure of socio-economic status as a moderating variable. Various factors appear to contribute to low educational attainment to some extent, although given the variation in definitions, analyses and quality of data, it is impossible to point to any causative or definite risk factors. Authors of the included studies have posited theories suggesting that the link between obesity and educational attainment is moderated by individual and societal factors. Does the research evidence support or refute these? Most studies explored the influence of obesity upon attainment. Only two studies examined the influence of attainment upon obesity. Many authors suggested multiple causal pathways, many of which remained untested in their studies. The moderating variables used in statistical analyses of the relationship between obesity and attainment were not consistent with the causal pathways proposed, which is probably a reflection of the constraints imposed upon authors conducting secondary analyses of pre-existing datasets (i.e. they made use of existing variables, rather than collecting their own, tailored data). The most frequently cited factors resulting from obesity and impacting upon educational attainment were poor mental health, stigmatisation and discrimination, disordered sleep, decreased time spent in physical activity and socialising, and absenteeism. Different perspectives on obesity and attainment Few young people initially thought that obesity and educational attainment were associated. However, they considered obesity and educational attainment to be of importance to young people. Young people considered parental influence and circumstances, including family income and poverty, and bullying and emotional health to be the most important factors which might explain an association between obesity and educational attainment. Most teachers said that there was an association between obesity and educational attainment. Bullying, low self-esteem and emotional well-being, poverty and poor diet, and physical activity were commonly cited by teachers as being the most important and credible mediating variables in this association. Teachers also considered gender, ethnicity and parental influence to be important factors. While researchers, teachers and young people identified causal pathways whereby low academic attainment resulted from poor mental and emotional health among obese children and young people, only four studies adjusted for mental and emotional health variables. This may represent a significant divergence in the perspectives of researchers and stakeholders. Alternatively, it may be that in the 23 studies which conducted a secondary analysis of an existing dataset, such data were not available to the authors. Another divergence concerns the impact of reduced participation in sports and social activities. While teachers and young people located this within a broader framework of isolation and lower socialisation suffered by obese children – and thus felt reduced sports participation would result in lower attainment – three studies in the included research proposed a causal pathway in which reduced participation in sports and social activities might lead to increased time spent studying and hence higher attainment

The best of the UK? A report on the value and future of UK databases in the health and social care fields: a systematic map protocol

INTRODUCTION: This protocol covers the first part of a two-part project funded by the Health Libraries Group and the University Health and Medical Librarians Group. It details the proposed methodology for a systematic map of the literature relating to UK bibliographic databases in the fields of health and social care. The aim of this mapping exercise is to consider ways in which UK bibliographic databases are described, considered and discussed in the published and unpublished literature. In doing so, we hope to gain a clearer sense of the ways in which UK bibliographic databases are used and viewed by the research community. It also enables the identification of any gaps in the literature for further research and discussion. This topic is important because UK databases are generally underused by researchers in the UK context and some databases are at risk of closure. A lack of access to UK databases means that researchers may miss relevant UK evidence when identifying an evidence base. / METHOD: Systematic Map. / ANALYSIS: The authors will present a narrative description of the literature relating to UK bibliographic databases in the fields of health and social care. They will use tables to present descriptive information about the literature (eg, frequency tables) and use cross-tabulations to demonstrate intersecting themes. Separately, guidance on how to use the resources (eg, areas of unique content, updating frequencies, unique truncation symbols) will be sought from stakeholders and reported alongside the report narrative as a guide to usage

Plain Tobacco Packaging: A Systematic Review

(From the Executive Summary): This systematic review outlines findings from 37 studies that provide evidence of the impacts of plain tobacco packaging. The review was conducted following the publication of the March 2011 White Paper Healthy Lives: Healthy People which set out a renewed Tobacco Control Plan for England. One of the key actions identified in the plan was to consult on possible options to reduce the promotional impact of tobacco packaging, including plain packaging. This systematic review was commissioned to provide a comprehensive overview of evidence on the impact of plain packaging in order to inform a public consultation on the issue

The Value of Co-Production Research Project: A Rapid Critical Review of the Evidence

What are the different types of co-production within research and what are their value(s)

A review of the effectiveness of smokefree strategies and interventions in secondary care settings

The aim of this review was to systematically review the effectiveness of smokefree strategies and interventions in secondary care settings (acute, maternity and mental health settings). The initial search and screening stages were combined with a parallel review of the barriers to and facilitators for implementing smokefree strategies and interventions in secondary care settings conducted by members of the same research team.The review aimed to address the following questions:Question 1: How effective are strategies and interventions for ensuring compliance with smokefree legislation and local smokefree policies in secondary care settings?Subsidiary question: How does the effectiveness vary for different population groups, health status or speciality care services?Question 2: Are there any unintended consequences from adopting smokefree approaches in acute and maternity care settings?Question 3: Are there any unintended consequences from adopting smokefree approaches in mental healthcare settings?As the extent of evidence on the effectiveness of smokefree strategies was limited to two studies for Question 1, the data are also presented from identified effectiveness studies with a comparative design to measure indicators of compliance in settings which had a smokefree policy with at least one supporting strategy covering the whole estate or an indoors-only policy

A review of the barriers to and facilitators for implementing smokefree strategies and interventions in secondary care settings

The aim of this review was to systematically review the barriers to and facilitators for implementing smokefree strategies and interventions in secondary care settings (acute, maternity and mental health settings) from service users' and service providers' perspectives. The initial search and screening stages were combined with a parallel review of the effectiveness of smokefree strategies and interventions in secondary care settings conducted by members of the same research team.This review aimed to address one overarching question; what are the barriers and facilitators affecting adoption of, support for, and compliance with smokefree policies in secondary care settings?; and was guided by three subsidiary questions: How does support for smokefree policy differ by population group, service provider and type of policy? What factors have an impact on acceptance of smokefree policies? What are the adverse events and other consequences associated with smokefree policies

Using systems perspectives in evidence synthesis: A methodological mapping review

BACKGROUND: Reviewing complex interventions is challenging because they include many elements that can interact dynamically in a non-linear manner. A systems perspective offers a way of thinking to help understand complex issues, but its application in evidence synthesis is not established. The aim of this project was to understand how and why systems perspectives have been applied in evidence synthesis. METHODS: A methodological mapping review was conducted to identify papers using a systems perspective in evidence synthesis. A search was conducted in seven bibliographic databases and three search engines. RESULTS: A total of 101 papers (representing 98 reviews) met the eligibility criteria. Two categories of reviews were identified: 1) reviews using a 'systems lens' to frame the topic, generate hypotheses, select studies, and guide the analysis and interpretation of findings (n=76) and 2) reviews using systems methods to develop a systems model (n=22). Several methods (e.g., systems dynamic modeling, soft systems approach) were identified and they were used to identify, rank, and select elements, analyze interactions, develop models, and forecast needs. The main reasons for using a systems perspective were to address complexity, view the problem as a whole, and understand the interrelationships between the elements. Several challenges for capturing the true nature and complexity of a problem were raised when performing these methods. CONCLUSION: This review is a useful starting point when designing evidence synthesis of complex interventions. It identifies different opportunities for applying a systems perspective in evidence synthesis, and highlights both commonplace and less familiar methods