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Journal of Athletic Training May 2020To determine the effects of an eccentric hamstrings strength-training program, performed for at least 4 weeks by healthy adults, on muscle architecture and eccentric... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
OBJECTIVE
To determine the effects of an eccentric hamstrings strength-training program, performed for at least 4 weeks by healthy adults, on muscle architecture and eccentric strength.
DATA SOURCES
A systematic search was performed up to October 2018 in the following electronic databases: PubMed, PEDro, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus. Combinations of the following search terms were used: , , , , , , , , , , and .
STUDY SELECTION
Included articles were randomized controlled trials that allowed comparisons between isolated eccentric strength training of the biceps femoris muscle and other programs.
DATA EXTRACTION
Data from the included studies were extracted by 2 independent reviewers. These data included the study design, participant characteristics, inclusion and exclusion criteria of clinical studies, exercise and intervention characteristics, outcome measures, and the main results of the study. When meta-analysis was possible, we performed quantitative analysis. Ten randomized controlled trials were included.
DATA SYNTHESIS
Limited to moderate evidence indicated that eccentric strength training was associated with an increase in fascicle length (mean difference [MD] = 1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.48, 2.46), an increase in muscle thickness (MD = 0.10; 95% CI = 0.06, 0.13), and a decrease in pennation angle (MD = 2.36; 95% CI = 1.61, 3.11). Conflicted to moderate evidence indicated that eccentric hamstrings strength was increased after eccentric strength training compared with concentric strength training (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 1.06; 95% CI = 0.26, 1.86), usual level of activity (SMD = 2.72; 95% CI = 1.68, 3.77), and static stretching (SMD = 0.39; 95% CI = -0.97, 1.75).
CONCLUSIONS
In healthy adults, an eccentric strength-training program produced architectural adaptations on the long head of the biceps femoris muscle and increased eccentric hamstrings strength.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Adult; Athletic Injuries; Hamstring Muscles; Humans; Muscle Strength; Resistance Training
PubMed: 32216654
DOI: 10.4085/1062-6050-194-19 -
Rheumatology Advances in Practice 2018Adaptive designs can enable highly sophisticated and efficient early phase trials, but the clinical inference from these trials is surrounded by complexity, and...
OBJECTIVE
Adaptive designs can enable highly sophisticated and efficient early phase trials, but the clinical inference from these trials is surrounded by complexity, and currently there is a paucity but steadily increasing amount of use of these designs in all fields of medicine. We aim to review early phase trials in RA to discover those that have used adaptive designs and benchmark trial characteristics.
METHODS
From an OVID search for journal articles reporting the results of early phase trials in rheumatology, 35 studies were found, with 9 subsequently excluded; 11 were added from manual searches and 19 from searching the references. Study characteristics were extracted from the 56 papers (describing 62 trials), including the number of arms, number of patients, the primary outcome and when it was measured.
RESULT
One early phase trial using an adaptive design was found. The benchmark early phase trial in RA is a phase II double-blinded randomized trial, with four arms (one control and three intervention), each with 34 patients, and ACR20 measured at 16 weeks as the primary outcome.
CONCLUSION
The one adaptive design reviewed here, and a simulation study found in the search, both indicate that adaptive designs can be applied to early phase trials in RA. We have described the benchmark, which the efficiency of early phase trials using an adaptive design needs to exceed. These efficient designs could drive down numbers required, time for data collection and thus cost. Changes have been suggested, but more needs to be done.
PubMed: 31431982
DOI: 10.1093/rap/rky045 -
Journal of Environmental Health Science... Dec 2022Climate change is among the most renowned concerns of the current century, endangering the lives of millions of people worldwide. To comply with the United Nations... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Climate change is among the most renowned concerns of the current century, endangering the lives of millions of people worldwide. To comply with the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), hospitals should be on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although hospitals contribute to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases, they are also affected by the health consequences of climate change. Despite all the guidance provided, hospitals need more radical measures to confront climate change. The current study was carried out to examine the components of hospitals' adaptation to climate change and to review measures to confront climate change in hospitals.
METHOD
This systematic review was designed and carried out in 2020. The required information was collected from international electronic databases including Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. Moreover, Iranian datasets such as Scientific Database (SID), Irandoc, Magiran, and IranMedex were reviewed. No restriction was considered in the methodology of the study. For the relevant thesis, the ProQuest database was also explored. The related sources were examined and the Snowball method was applied to find additional related studies. The research team also reviewed other accessible electronic resources, such as international guidelines and academic websites. The checklist of the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI, 2017) was employed in order to evaluate the quality of the included papers. The studies published until June1, 2020, were included in the study.
RESULTS
Of 11,680 published documents in the initial search, the full-texts of 140 were read after evaluating the titles and abstracts, of which 114 were excluded due to lack of sufficient information related to countermeasures in hospitals. Finally, the full-texts of 26 studies were reviewed to extract the required components. Two strategies were found, including climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation, with 13 components including water, wastewater, energy, waste, green buildings, food, transportation, green purchasing policy, medicines, chemicals and toxins, technology, sustainable care models, and leadership in hospitals were identified as affecting these measures and strategies.
CONCLUSION
Considering the significance of climate change and strategies to confront it as one of the current challenges and priorities in the world, it is necessary to develop a framework and model to reduce the effects of climate change and adapt to climate changes in hospitals and other health centers. The identification and classification of the measures and components, influencing hospital adaptability and solutions for reducing the climate change impacts could be the first stage in developing this strategy. This is because it is impossible to create this framework without identifying these factors and their mutual impacts at the first. In the present study, through a systematic review using a comprehensive approach, the related components were explored and divided into two categories, including measures to reduce the effects and measures to adapt to climate change. The results of this study can be useful in developing a comprehensive action model to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt hospitals to climate change.
PubMed: 36406601
DOI: 10.1007/s40201-022-00810-5 -
Kidney Medicine 2021Adaptive design methods are intended to improve the efficiency of clinical trials and are relevant to evaluating interventions in dialysis populations. We sought to...
RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE
Adaptive design methods are intended to improve the efficiency of clinical trials and are relevant to evaluating interventions in dialysis populations. We sought to determine the use of adaptive designs in dialysis clinical trials and quantify trends in their use over time.
STUDY DESIGN
We completed a novel full-text systematic review that used a machine learning classifier (RobotSearch) for filtering randomized controlled trials and adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.
SETTING & STUDY POPULATIONS
We searched MEDLINE (PubMed) and ClinicalTrials.gov using sensitive dialysis search terms.
SELECTION CRITERIA FOR STUDIES
We included all randomized clinical trials with patients receiving dialysis or clinical trials with dialysis as a primary or secondary outcome. There was no restriction of disease type or intervention type.
DATA EXTRACTION & ANALYTICAL APPROACH
We performed a detailed data extraction of trial characteristics and a completed a narrative synthesis of the data.
RESULTS
57 studies, available as 68 articles and 7 ClinicalTrials.gov summaries, were included after full-text review (initial search, 209,033 PubMed abstracts and 6,002 ClinicalTrials.gov summaries). 31 studies were conducted in a dialysis population and 26 studies included dialysis as a primary or secondary outcome. Although the absolute number of adaptive design methods is increasing over time, the relative use of adaptive design methods in dialysis trials is decreasing over time (6.12% in 2009 to 0.43% in 2019, with a mean of 1.82%). Group sequential designs were the most common type of adaptive design method used. Adaptive design methods affected the conduct of 50.9% of trials, most commonly resulting in stopping early for futility (41.2%) and early stopping for safety (23.5%). Acute kidney injury was studied in 32 trials (56.1%), kidney failure requiring dialysis was studied in 24 trials (42.1%), and chronic kidney disease was studied in 1 trial (1.75%). 27 studies (47.4%) were supported by public funding. 44 studies (77.2%) did not report their adaptive design method in the title or abstract and would not be detected by a standard systematic review.
LIMITATIONS
We limited our search to 2 databases (PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov) due to the scale of studies sourced (209,033 and 6,002 results, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS
Adaptive design methods are used in dialysis trials but there has been a decline in their relative use over time.
PubMed: 34939002
DOI: 10.1016/j.xkme.2021.08.001 -
The Cochrane Database of Systematic... May 2017Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterised by impairments in communication and reciprocal social interaction. These impairments can impact on relationships with... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterised by impairments in communication and reciprocal social interaction. These impairments can impact on relationships with family members, augment stress and frustration, and contribute to behaviours that can be described as challenging. Family members of individuals with ASD can experience high rates of carer stress and burden, and poor parental efficacy. While there is evidence to suggest that individuals with ASD and family members derive benefit from psychological interventions designed to reduce stress and mental health morbidity, and enhance coping, most studies to date have targeted the needs of either individuals with ASD, or family members. We wanted to examine whether family (systemic) therapy, aimed at enhancing communication, relationships or coping, is effective for individuals with ASD and their wider family network.
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and acceptability of family therapy as a treatment to enhance communication or coping for individuals with ASD and their family members. If possible, we will also seek to establish the economic costs associated with family therapy for this clinical population.
SEARCH METHODS
On 16 January 2017 we searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, 10 other databases and three trials registers. We also handsearched reference lists of existing systematic reviews and contacted study authors in the field.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs investigating the effectiveness of family therapy for young people or adults with ASD or family members, or both, delivered via any modality and for an unspecified duration, compared with either standard care, a wait-list control, or an active intervention such as an alternative type of psychological therapy.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently screened each title and abstract and all full-text reports retrieved. To enhance rigour, 25% of these were independently screened by a third author.
MAIN RESULTS
The search yielded 4809 records. Of these, we retrieved 37 full-text reports for further scrutiny, which we subsequently excluded as they did not meet the review inclusion criteria, and identified one study awaiting classification.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Few studies have examined the effectiveness of family therapy for ASD, and none of these are RCTs. Further research studies employing methodologically robust trial designs are needed to establish whether family therapy interventions are clinically beneficial for enhancing communication, strengthening relationships, augmenting coping and reducing mental health morbidity for individuals with ASD and family members.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Adult; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Child; Communication; Family Therapy; Humans
PubMed: 28509404
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011894.pub2 -
Cureus Nov 2022This study aimed to systematically review the literature to evaluate the marginal adaptation of veneers using different fabrication methods, namely, conventional... (Review)
Review
This study aimed to systematically review the literature to evaluate the marginal adaptation of veneers using different fabrication methods, namely, conventional feldspathic porcelain laminate veneers (PLVs), computer-aided design-computer-aided machining (CAD-CAM) veneers, and pressed veneers. A comprehensive literature search was performed using electronic databases (PubMed and Google Scholar) as well as hand searches to identify all relevant studies related to veneers and marginal adaptation. The identified studies were screened for assessing the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The included articles were then subjected to data extraction and analysis. The search resulted in 130 articles, of which six were included in this systematic review. All included articles were assessed for adaptation of margins. Based on the findings of this systematic review, no significant differences were found in the marginal adaptation of CAD-CAM and conventional feldspathic PLVs. The marginal fidelity of ceramic veneers issuing from the various fabrication techniques was clinically acceptable.
PubMed: 36579272
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.31885 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Jan 2024A conversational agent powered by artificial intelligence, commonly known as a chatbot, is one of the most recent innovations used to provide information and services... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
A conversational agent powered by artificial intelligence, commonly known as a chatbot, is one of the most recent innovations used to provide information and services during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the multitude of conversational agents explicitly designed during the COVID-19 pandemic calls for characterization and analysis using rigorous technological frameworks and extensive systematic reviews.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to describe the general characteristics of COVID-19 chatbots and examine their system designs using a modified adapted design taxonomy framework.
METHODS
We conducted a systematic review of the general characteristics and design taxonomy of COVID-19 chatbots, with 56 studies included in the final analysis. This review followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines to select papers published between March 2020 and April 2022 from various databases and search engines.
RESULTS
Results showed that most studies on COVID-19 chatbot design and development worldwide are implemented in Asia and Europe. Most chatbots are also accessible on websites, internet messaging apps, and Android devices. The COVID-19 chatbots are further classified according to their temporal profiles, appearance, intelligence, interaction, and context for system design trends. From the temporal profile perspective, almost half of the COVID-19 chatbots interact with users for several weeks for >1 time and can remember information from previous user interactions. From the appearance perspective, most COVID-19 chatbots assume the expert role, are task oriented, and have no visual or avatar representation. From the intelligence perspective, almost half of the COVID-19 chatbots are artificially intelligent and can respond to textual inputs and a set of rules. In addition, more than half of these chatbots operate on a structured flow and do not portray any socioemotional behavior. Most chatbots can also process external data and broadcast resources. Regarding their interaction with users, most COVID-19 chatbots are adaptive, can communicate through text, can react to user input, are not gamified, and do not require additional human support. From the context perspective, all COVID-19 chatbots are goal oriented, although most fall under the health care application domain and are designed to provide information to the user.
CONCLUSIONS
The conceptualization, development, implementation, and use of COVID-19 chatbots emerged to mitigate the effects of a global pandemic in societies worldwide. This study summarized the current system design trends of COVID-19 chatbots based on 5 design perspectives, which may help developers conveniently choose a future-proof chatbot archetype that will meet the needs of the public in the face of growing demand for a better pandemic response.
Topics: Humans; Artificial Intelligence; COVID-19; Pandemics; Avatar; Communication
PubMed: 38064638
DOI: 10.2196/43112 -
International Journal of STEM Education 2022The Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) is widely used in online teaching and learning, especially in STEM education. However, educational research on using Moodle... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) is widely used in online teaching and learning, especially in STEM education. However, educational research on using Moodle is scattered throughout the literature. Therefore, this review aims to summarise this research to assist three sets of stakeholders-educators, researchers, and software developers. It identifies: (a) how and where Moodle has been adopted; (b) what the concerns, trends, and gaps are to lead future research and software development; and (c) innovative and effective methods for improving online teaching and learning.The review used the 4-step PRISMA-P process to identify 155 suitable journal articles from 104 journals in 55 countries published from January 2015 to June 2021. The database search was conducted with Scopus and Web of Science. Insights into the educational use of Moodle were determined through bibliometric analysis with Vosviewer outputs and thematic analysis.
RESULTS
This review shows that Moodle is mainly used within University STEM disciplines and effectively improves student performance, satisfaction, and engagement. Moodle is increasingly being used as a platform for adaptive and collaborative learning and used to improve online assessments. The use of Moodle is developing rapidly to address academic integrity, ethics, and security issues to enhance speed and navigation, and incorporate artificial intelligence.
CONCLUSION
More qualitative research is required on the use of Moodle, particularly investigating educators' perspectives. Further research is also needed on the use of Moodle in non-STEM and non-tertiary disciplines. Further studies need to incorporate educational theories when designing courses using the Moodle platform.
PubMed: 35096513
DOI: 10.1186/s40594-021-00323-x -
Bulletin of Emergency and Trauma Jul 2016To systematically identify the various methods of speed management and their effects. (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
To systematically identify the various methods of speed management and their effects.
METHODS
A systematic search was performed in Science Direct, Ovid Medline, Scopus, PubMed and ProQuest databases from April to June 2015. Hand searching and reference of selected articles were used to improve article identification. Articles published after 1990 which had reported on efficacy/effectiveness of speed management strategies were included. Data were extracted using pre-defined extraction table.
RESULTS
Of the 803 retrieved articles, 22 articles were included in this review. Most of the included articles (63%) had before-after design and were done in European countries. Speed cameras, engineering schemes, intelligent speed adaption (ISA), speed limits and zones, vehicle activated sign and integrated strategies were the most common strategies reported in the literature. Various strategies had different effects on mean speed of the vehicles ranging from 1.6 to 10 km/h. Moreover, 8-65% and 11-71% reduction was reported in person injured accidents and fatal accidents, respectively as a result of employing various strategies.
CONCLUSION
Literature revealed positive effects of various speed management strategies. Using various strategies was mostly dependent on road characteristics, driver's attitude about the strategy as well as economic and technological capabilities of the country. Political support is considered as a main determinant in selecting speed management strategies.
PubMed: 27540546
DOI: No ID Found -
Journal of the American Medical... Jul 2021An increasing reliance on telemedicine for older adults with cognitive impairment requires a better understanding of the barriers and facilitators for this unique... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVES
An increasing reliance on telemedicine for older adults with cognitive impairment requires a better understanding of the barriers and facilitators for this unique patient population.
DESIGN
The study team queried PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus, and ClinicalTrials.gov on May 1, 2020, for studies in English published from January 2010 to May 2020.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
We conducted a systematic review of articles investigating the use of telemedicine among older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that focused on the patient and care partner perspectives.
METHODS
Telemedicine encounter purpose, technological requirements, and findings regarding sensory needs were extracted. The Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias Tool was applied for quality assessment.
RESULTS
The search yielded 3551 abstracts, from which 90 articles were reviewed and 17 were included. The purpose of telemedicine encounters included routine care, cognitive assessment, and telerehabilitation. All studies reported successful implementation of telemedicine, supported by patient and care partner satisfaction, similar results on cognitive assessment and diagnosis compared to in-person visits, and improvement in outcome measures following rehabilitation. Sixteen studies relied on staff and care partners to navigate technologies. Six studies reported participants reporting difficulty hearing the provider during the telemedicine visits. Five studies excluded participants with visual or hearing impairment because of the potential difficulty of using telemedicine technology. No studies reported technological adaptations to account for sensory impairment.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Telemedicine is well received among patients and care partners, but successful delivery incorporates support staff and the care partners to navigate technologies. The exclusion of older adults with sensory impairment, especially given that it is highly prevalent, in developing telemedicine systems may further exacerbate access to care in this population. Adapting technologies for sensory needs is critical to the advancement of accessible dementia care through telemedicine.
Topics: Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Cognitive Dysfunction; Humans; Telemedicine
PubMed: 33887231
DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.03.015