Writing and presenting a systematic review emphasizing the Cochrane Handbook for systematic reviews

BACKGROUND: The systematic review is a scientific method for identifying and presenting early research, quality assessment, and integration of their results. This study aimed to describe the principles of systematic reviews and inscribe related articles emphasizing the Cochrane Handbook, for using of medical and health students.METHODS: This study was a library review and a compilation of materials on how to conduct review studies in medical sciences and health with emphasis on the Cochrane Handbook.RESULTS: The findings of this study indicated that review studies have different types, most notably systematic reviews. The Cochrane Handbook provides valuable information collections for conducting these studies in medical sciences, and allows systematic reviews to step by step facilitate and publish relevant articles.CONCLUSION: Writing a systematic review involves defining the purpose and protocols, systematically searching for primary studies, critical assessment, selection of the studies, and then, analysis and integration of the final results

Writing and presenting a systematic review emphasizing the Cochrane Handbook for systematic reviews

BACKGROUND: The systematic review is a scientific method for identifying and presenting early research, quality assessment, and integration of their results. This study aimed to describe the principles of systematic reviews and inscribe related articles emphasizing the Cochrane Handbook, for using of medical and health students. METHODS: This study was a library review and a compilation of materials on how to conduct review studies in medical sciences and health with emphasis on the Cochrane Handbook. RESULTS: The findings of this study indicated that review studies have different types, most notably systematic reviews. The Cochrane Handbook provides valuable information collections for conducting these studies in medical sciences, and allows systematic reviews to step by step facilitate and publish relevant articles. CONCLUSION: Writing a systematic review involves defining the purpose and protocols, systematically searching for primary studies, critical assessment, selection of the studies, and then, analysis and integration of the final results

The Effect of Different Mixing Methods on the Properties of Calcium-enriched Mixture Cement: A Systematic Review of in Vitro Studies

Introduction: It has been shown that the mechanical and physical properties of Calcium Enriched Mixture (CEM) cement are influenced by the mixing methods. Despite several studies conducted on different mixing methods of CEM cement, there is no systematic review to summarize the results. This systematic review was conducted to investigate the effect of different mixing techniques on mechanical and physical characteristics of CEM cement. Methods and Materials: A professional librarian with skills in informatics conducted a systematic search by searching electronic databases PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus and Ovid for English language peer-reviewed articles published between 1992 and April 2019. Results: Initial searches from all sources identified 1175 references. Two of the authors examined the titles, abstracts of these articles and the full reports of 20 studies were obtained, and data extraction was performed. Seven studies satisfied the eligibility criteria for the review. The effect of different mixing methods was investigated on bacterial microleakage, push-out bond strength, flow rate, compressive strength, solubility, pH, film thickness, dimensional changes, working time, setting time and quality of the apical plug. Conclusion: Based on the results of this systematic review, some of the important properties of CEM cement were affected by different mixing methods. Although none of these mixing methods could improve all the properties, mechanical and manual methods were more effective compared to ultrasonic method.  Keywords: Calcium-enriched Mixture Cement; Systematic Review; Ultrasoni

A Review of Mobile Applications’ Features for Pregnant Women's Self-care

Mobile applications have been proposed as a helpful tool to provide health-related information to people, and this is more important in pregnancy-related mobile applications. This review study aimed to investigate the features of Persian and English mobile apps for self-care in pregnancy.This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on all Persian and English mobile applications related to pregnancy in 2022. A search was conducted on Iranian digital app market (Bazaar) and "Google Play", using the following keywords: "pregnancy", "pregnant women", "obstetrics", and their Persian translations. For each app, the extracted information included name, user satisfaction rate, and the features and provided information by mobile app.The total number of retrieved applications was 416 apps. After removing the duplicates and applying the inclusion criteria, 63 applications were selected for features extraction. Reviewing the features and information provided by the applications showed that the most frequent categories of information included the following items: childbirth and pregnancy (including timing contractions, fetal movement, symptoms of pregnancy and predicting delivery time), restrictions and limitations (including behavioral limits, sexual restrictions, smoking and alcohol, cosmetics and pregnancy and drug use during pregnancy), and monitoring and control tools (BMI Calculator, managing weight gain during pregnancy, control of blood pressure).Paying attention to pregnant women and meeting their information needs could lead to healthier generation. A wide range of mobile applications related to pregnancy are available with many capabilities. Considering pregnant women’s need for information and using these apps in self-care, it seems essential to develop and design a series of high-quality apps matching pregnant women's needs

Tobacco Use Prevention by Integrating inside and outside of School Based Programs: a Systematic Review

Background: Experience of tobacco use in early ages will increase probability of addiction to nicotine therefore, efficient tobacco control programs for teenagers are crucial. This study was conducted to recognize elements of successful integrated inside and outside of school based smoking prevention programs. Methods: MeSH terms and related keywords were used to search PubMed, Cochrane, Medline, EMBASE, ERIC, SID databases from inception to 29th October 2013. Trials with random and non-random designs, systematic reviews and cohort studies that assessed or reported application of integrated tobacco control programs were included. Quality of the retrieved publications was checked independently by the authors and any disagreement was resolved by consensus. Result: Among the 745 identified publications, only 15 studies had the inclusion criteria with a considerable methodological heterogeneity. While, precise out-come of integrated out of school/school-based interventions were not percepti-ble but this study’s findings implied that outside of school intervention could strengthen school-based tobacco prevention programs. No study was found to examine school-based interventions integrated with primary health care such as anti-tobacco consultations, high-risk students screening and their referral to special centers. Conclusion: Integration of outside and inside of school-based programs may boost probability of obtaining favorable outcomes and success rate in practice

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A Systematic review of cognitive determinants

Background: Although mass vaccination is considered one of the most effective public health strategies during the pandemic, in the COVID-19 era, many people considered vaccines unnecessary and, or doubted the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. This review aimed to tabulate cognitive causes of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy, which may help public health policymakers overcome the barriers to mass vaccinations in future pandemics. Methods: For this systematic review, studies pertaining to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy published up to June 2022 were retrieved from six online databases (Cochrane Library, Google Scholar Medline through PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science). Inclusion criteria were the studies conducted on people who had a delay in accepting or refusing COVID-19 vaccines, reported the impact of cognitive determinants on vaccine hesitancy, and were written in English in the timeframe of 2020–2022. Results: This systematic review initially reviewed 1171 records. From these 91 articles met the inclusion criteria. The vaccination hesitation rate was 29.72% on average. This systematic review identified several cognitive determinants influencing vaccination hesitancy. Lack of confidence and complacency were the most frequent factors that predicted vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion: The identified prevailing cognitive determinants for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy indicated that using initiative and effective communication strategies would be a determinant factor in building people’s trust in vaccines during the pandemic and mass vaccinations

Risk factors for paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients with breast cancer

Abstract Background Paclitaxel induced peripheral neuropathy (PIPN) is a major debilitating side effect of paclitaxel in patients with breast cancer with no fully known mechanisms. The aim of the study was to find out the possible risk factors for PIPN. Methods Eligible patients with node positive breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy with paclitaxel were assessed. They belonged to an initial randomized controlled trial in which the effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids in preventing and reducing severity of PIPN was evaluated (protocol ID: NCT01049295). Reduced total neuropathy score (r-TNS) was used for measuring PIPN. All analyses were performed adjusting for intervention effect. The association between age, BMI, BSA, pathological grade, molecular biomarkers and PIPN was evaluated. Results Fifty-seven patients with breast cancer were investigated. Age was significantly associated with risk of PIPN (RR:1.50, P value = .024). Body mass index and BSA had significant association with severity of PIPN (B:1.28, P = .025; and B: 3.88, P = .010 respectively). Also, BSA showed a significant association with the risk of PIPN (RR: 2.28, P = .035; B: 3.88, P = .035). Incidence and severity of PIPN were much more pronounced in progesterone receptor positive (PR+) patients (RR:1.88, P = .015 and B:1.54, P = .012). Multivariate analysis showed that age and the status of PR+ were independent risk factor for incidence and the status of PR+ was the only independent risk factor for severity of PIPN. Conclusion Age, BSA and the status of PR+, should be considered as the risk factors for PIPN before commencement of chemotherapy with paclitaxel in patients with breast cancer. Older patients, those with greater BSA and PR+ patients may need closer follow up and more medical attention due to greater incidence and severity of PIPN