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Clinical Infectious Diseases : An... Feb 2020Whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection impacts gut microbial α-diversity is controversial. We reanalyzed raw 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences and... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection impacts gut microbial α-diversity is controversial. We reanalyzed raw 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences and metadata from published studies to examine α-diversity measures between HIV-uninfected (HIV-) and HIV-infected (HIV+) individuals.
METHODS
We conducted a systematic review and individual level meta-analysis by searching Embase, Medline, and Scopus for original research studies (inception to 31 December 2017). Included studies reported 16S rRNA gene sequences of fecal samples from HIV+ patients. Raw sequence reads and metadata were obtained from public databases or from study authors. Raw reads were processed through standardized pipelines with use of a high-resolution taxonomic classifier. The χ2 test, paired t tests, and generalized linear mixed models were used to relate α-diversity measures and clinical metadata.
RESULTS
Twenty-two studies were identified with 17 datasets available for analysis, yielding 1032 samples (311 HIV-, 721 HIV+). HIV status was associated with a decrease in measures of α-diversity (P < .001). However, in stratified analysis, HIV status was associated with decreased α-diversity only in women and in men who have sex with women (MSW) but not in men who have sex with men (MSM). In analyses limited to women and MSW, controlling for HIV status, women displayed increased α-diversity compared with MSW.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that HIV status, sexual risk category, and gender impact gut microbial community α-diversity. Future studies should consider MSM status in gut microbiome analyses.
Topics: Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; HIV Infections; Homosexuality, Male; Humans; Male; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Sexual and Gender Minorities
PubMed: 30921452
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciz258 -
Gynecology and Minimally Invasive... 2024High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is commonly used to treat uterine fibroids and adenomyosis, but there is no evidence using metadata to compare fertility... (Review)
Review
High-intensity Focused Ultrasound is a Better Choice for Women with Fertility Desire: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Comparison between High-intensity Focused Ultrasound and Laparoscopic Treatment of Uterine Fibroids.
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is commonly used to treat uterine fibroids and adenomyosis, but there is no evidence using metadata to compare fertility outcomes between conventional laparoscopic procedures and HIFU. The purpose of this study analysis is that evidence-based fertility outcomes may provide better treatment options for clinicians and patients considering fertility. The literature on fertility data for HIFU surgery versus laparoscopic myomectomy was searched in seven English language databases from January 1, 2010, to November 23, 2022. A total of 1375 articles were received in the literature, 14 of which were selected. We found that women who underwent HIFU surgery had higher rates of spontaneous pregnancy, higher rates of spontaneous delivery, and higher rates of full-term delivery but may have higher rates of miscarriage or postpartum complications than women who underwent laparoscopic myomectomy. Looking forward to future studies, it is hoped that the literature will examine endometrial differences in women who undergo HIFU and laparoscopic myomectomy to demonstrate the ability of endometrial repair. The location of fibroids in the sample should also be counted to allow for attribution statistics on the cause of miscarriage.
PubMed: 38911304
DOI: 10.4103/gmit.gmit_23_23 -
Environment International Jun 2021Conservation activities and natural resource management interventions have often aimed to tackle the dual challenge of improving nature conservation and human... (Review)
Review
What is the evidence documenting the effects of marine or coastal nature conservation or natural resource management activities on human well-being in South East Asia? A systematic map.
BACKGROUND
Conservation activities and natural resource management interventions have often aimed to tackle the dual challenge of improving nature conservation and human well-being. However, there is concern over the extent to which this dual goal has been achieved, and an increasing recognition of trade-offs and synergies within and between aspects of each of the goals. The amount and scope of the available evidence on the success of conservation and management interventions in both arenas has lacked documentation, for a number of reasons, including limited resources for monitoring and evaluation and the difficulty in bringing together a disparate evidence base. This systematic map focuses on the interaction between marine conservation management and the health and well-being of coastal communities in South East Asia.
METHOD
We searched bibliographic databases to find published literature, and identified grey literature through institutional and organisational website searches and key stakeholders. Eligibility criteria were applied in two stages, title and abstract and full text, with consistency checks. We extracted meta-data on the design and characteristics of each study, from which we produced an interactive database and map, and a narrative summary.
RESULTS
We assessed 42,894 records at title and abstract from the main searches. 1,331 articles were assessed at full text (30 articles were not retrievable). 287 articles (281 studies) were included in the systematic map. Most studies were peer-reviewed publications (90%), and from the Philippines and Indonesia (72%). 31% of studies were solely qualitative, 45% were solely quantitative and 24% included both qualitative and quantitative research. Only 24% (31/127) of quantitative studies included a comparator. We identified knowledge clusters where studies investigated the links between the marine conservation interventions: Site Protection, Economic or Livelihood Incentives or Alternatives, or Habitat Management, and the human health and well-being outcomes: Economic Living Standards, Governance and Empowerment, or Social Relations. In addition, qualitative research clusters were identified exploring the links between the intervention Habitat Management, and the outcome Governance and Empowerment, and between the intervention Economic or Livelihood Incentives or Alternatives, and the outcomes of Governance and Empowerment, and Social Relations. We identified major knowledge gaps in evidence for the effect of marine conservation interventions on the outcomes Freedom of Choice and Action, Security and Safety, Subjective Well-being, Health, and Culture and Spirituality. There was a lack of studies involving Education, Awareness and Activism interventions that reported any human health and well-being outcomes.
CONCLUSION
We present the first updatable, interrogable and comprehensive evidence map on this topic for South East Asia. Our work supports further, detailed investigation of knowledge clusters using systematic review and also serves to identify understudied topic areas. The lack of comparative, quantitative studies suggests that future research should include counterfactuals to strengthen the robustness of evidence base. Users of this systematic map should recognise that much evidence may be national or locally specific, and that we did not undertake an assessment of study quality. Thus, when considering implications for policy and decision-making, users should carefully consider the heterogeneity of available evidence and refer to original research articles to gain a full depth of understanding and context.
Topics: Conservation of Natural Resources; Asia, Eastern; Humans; Natural Resources; Philippines; Socioeconomic Factors
PubMed: 33713939
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106397 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Jul 2021Recent years have been witnessing a substantial improvement in the accuracy of skin cancer classification using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). CNNs perform on par... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Recent years have been witnessing a substantial improvement in the accuracy of skin cancer classification using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). CNNs perform on par with or better than dermatologists with respect to the classification tasks of single images. However, in clinical practice, dermatologists also use other patient data beyond the visual aspects present in a digitized image, further increasing their diagnostic accuracy. Several pilot studies have recently investigated the effects of integrating different subtypes of patient data into CNN-based skin cancer classifiers.
OBJECTIVE
This systematic review focuses on the current research investigating the impact of merging information from image features and patient data on the performance of CNN-based skin cancer image classification. This study aims to explore the potential in this field of research by evaluating the types of patient data used, the ways in which the nonimage data are encoded and merged with the image features, and the impact of the integration on the classifier performance.
METHODS
Google Scholar, PubMed, MEDLINE, and ScienceDirect were screened for peer-reviewed studies published in English that dealt with the integration of patient data within a CNN-based skin cancer classification. The search terms skin cancer classification, convolutional neural network(s), deep learning, lesions, melanoma, metadata, clinical information, and patient data were combined.
RESULTS
A total of 11 publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria. All of them reported an overall improvement in different skin lesion classification tasks with patient data integration. The most commonly used patient data were age, sex, and lesion location. The patient data were mostly one-hot encoded. There were differences in the complexity that the encoded patient data were processed with regarding deep learning methods before and after fusing them with the image features for a combined classifier.
CONCLUSIONS
This study indicates the potential benefits of integrating patient data into CNN-based diagnostic algorithms. However, how exactly the individual patient data enhance classification performance, especially in the case of multiclass classification problems, is still unclear. Moreover, a substantial fraction of patient data used by dermatologists remains to be analyzed in the context of CNN-based skin cancer classification. Further exploratory analyses in this promising field may optimize patient data integration into CNN-based skin cancer diagnostics for patients' benefits.
Topics: Dermoscopy; Humans; Melanoma; Neural Networks, Computer; Skin Neoplasms
PubMed: 34255646
DOI: 10.2196/20708 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Jun 2016Schistosomiasis control mainly relies on preventive chemotherapy with praziquantel (PZQ) distributed through mass drug administration. With a target of 260 million... (Review)
Review
The Schistosomiasis Clinical Trials Landscape: A Systematic Review of Antischistosomal Treatment Efficacy Studies and a Case for Sharing Individual Participant-Level Data (IPD).
BACKGROUND
Schistosomiasis control mainly relies on preventive chemotherapy with praziquantel (PZQ) distributed through mass drug administration. With a target of 260 million treatments yearly, reliably assessing and monitoring efficacy is all-important. Recommendations for treatment and control of schistosomiasis are supported by systematic reviews and meta-analyses of aggregated data, which however also point to limitations due to heterogeneity in trial design, analyses and reporting. Some such limitations could be corrected through access to individual participant-level data (IPD), which facilitates standardised analyses.
METHODOLOGY
A systematic literature review was conducted to identify antischistosomal drug efficacy studies performed since 2000; including electronic searches of the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group specialised register and the Cochrane Library, PubMed, CENTRAL and Embase; complemented with a manual search for articles listed in past reviews. Antischistosomal treatment studies with assessment of outcome within 60 days post-treatment were eligible. Meta-data, i.e. study-level characteristics (Schistosoma species, number of patients, drug administered, country, etc.) and efficacy parameters were extracted from published documents to evaluate the scope of an individual-level data sharing platform.
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Out of 914 documents screened, 90 studies from 26 countries were included, enrolling 20,517 participants infected with Schistosoma spp. and treated with different PZQ regimens or other drugs. Methodologies varied in terms of diagnostic approaches (number of samples and test repeats), time of outcome assessment, and outcome measure (cure rate or egg reduction rate, as an arithmetic or geometric mean), making direct comparison of published data difficult.
CONCLUSIONS
This review describes the landscape of schistosomiasis clinical research. The volume of data and the methodological and reporting heterogeneity identified all indicate that there is scope for an individual participant-level database, to allow for standardised analyses.
Topics: Anthelmintics; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Humans; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Schistosomiasis
PubMed: 27347678
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004784 -
Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma... Nov 2022In this review paper, graft failure rates of different graft types (hamstring tendon autografts, bone-patellar tendon-bone autografts, quadriceps tendon autografts and... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
In this review paper, graft failure rates of different graft types (hamstring tendon autografts, bone-patellar tendon-bone autografts, quadriceps tendon autografts and diverse allografts) that are used for surgical reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament are compared and statistically analysed.
METHODS
Literature search was conducted in PubMed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) criteria. A total of 194 studies, which reported graft failure rates of at least one of the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction methods mentioned above, were included in this systematic review. To be able to compare studies with different follow-up periods, a yearly graft failure rate for each reconstruction group was calculated and then investigated for significant differences by using the Kruskal-Wallis test.
RESULTS
Overall, a total of 152,548 patients treated with an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction were included in the calculations. Comparison of graft types showed that hamstring tendon autografts had a yearly graft failure rate of 1.70%, whereas the bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft group had 1.16%, the quadriceps tendon autograft group 0.72%, and the allografts 1.76%.
CONCLUSION
The findings of this meta-data study indicate that reconstructing the anterior cruciate ligament using quadriceps tendon autografts, hamstring tendon autografts, patellar tendon autografts or allografts does not show significant differences in terms of graft failure rates.
Topics: Anterior Cruciate Ligament; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction; Autografts; Bone-Patellar Tendon-Bone Grafting; Hamstring Tendons; Humans; Transplantation, Autologous
PubMed: 34536121
DOI: 10.1007/s00402-021-04147-w -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Jul 2019[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/12521.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/12521.].
PubMed: 31322126
DOI: 10.2196/14823 -
The effects of population management on wild ungulates: A systematic map of evidence for UK species.PloS One 2022Over recent decades, the abundance and geographic ranges of wild ungulate species have expanded in many parts of Europe, including the UK. Populations are managed to... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
INTRODUCTION
Over recent decades, the abundance and geographic ranges of wild ungulate species have expanded in many parts of Europe, including the UK. Populations are managed to mitigate their ecological impacts using interventions, such as shooting, fencing and administering contraception. Predicting how target species will respond to interventions is critical for developing sustainable, effective and efficient management strategies. However, the quantity and quality of evidence of the effects of interventions on ungulate species is unclear. To address this, we systematically mapped research on the effects of population management on wild ungulate species resident in the UK.
METHODS
We searched four bibliographic databases, Google Scholar and nine organisational websites using search terms tested with a library of 30 relevant articles. Worldwide published peer-reviewed articles were considered, supplemented by 'grey' literature from UK-based sources. Three reviewers identified and screened articles for eligibility at title, abstract and full-text levels, based on predefined criteria. Data and metadata were extracted and summarised in a narrative synthesis supported by structured graphical matrices.
RESULTS
A total of 123 articles were included in the systematic map. Lethal interventions were better represented (85%, n = 105) than non-lethal interventions (25%, n = 25). Outcomes related to demography and behaviour were reported in 95% of articles (n = 117), whereas effects on health, physiology and morphology were studied in only 11% of articles (n = 14). Well-studied species included wild pigs (n = 58), red deer (n = 28) and roe deer (n = 23).
CONCLUSIONS
Evidence for the effects of population management on wild ungulate species is growing but currently limited and unevenly distributed across intervention types, outcomes and species. Priorities for primary research include: species responses to non-lethal interventions, the side-effects of shooting and studies on sika deer and Chinese muntjac. Shooting is the only intervention for which sufficient evidence exists for systematic review or meta-analysis.
Topics: Animals; Deer; Europe; United Kingdom
PubMed: 35687554
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267385 -
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2022Cryptosporidiosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Cryptosporidium infection with the main symptom of diarrhea. The present study performed a metaanalysis to determine... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
INTODUCTION
Cryptosporidiosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Cryptosporidium infection with the main symptom of diarrhea. The present study performed a metaanalysis to determine the global prevalence of Cryptosporidium in Equus animals.
METHODS
Data collection was carried out using Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Chinese journal database (VIP), WanFang Data, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases, with 35 articles published before 2021 being included in this systematic analysis. This study analyzed the research data through subgroup analysis and univariate regression analysis to reveal the factors leading to high prevalence. We applied a random effects model (REM) to the metadata.
RESULTS
The total prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium in Equus was estimated to be 7.59% from the selected articles. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium in female Equus was 2.60%. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium in Equus under 1-year-old was 11.06%, which was higher than that of Equus over 1-year-old (2.52%). In the experimental method groups, the positive rate detected by microscopy was the highest (10.52%). The highest Cryptosporidium prevalence was found in scale breeding Equus (7.86%). The horses had the lowest Cryptosporidium prevalence (7.32%) among host groups. C. muris was the most frequently detected genotype in the samples (53.55%). In the groups of geographical factors, the prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium in Equus was higher in regions with low altitude (6.88%), rainy (15.63%), humid (22.69%), and tropical climates (16.46%).
DISCUSSION
The search strategy use of five databases might have caused the omission of some researches. This metaanalysis systematically presented the global prevalence and potential risk factors of Cryptosporidium infection in Equus. The farmers should strengthen the management of young and female Equus animals, improve water filtration systems, reduce stocking densities, and harmless treatment of livestock manure.
Topics: Female; Animals; Horses; Cryptosporidiosis; Cryptosporidium; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Zoonoses
PubMed: 36506009
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.1072385 -
Reproduction (Cambridge, England) Jun 2023Adverse trends in reproductive function are a concern in humans, companion, livestock, and wildlife species. This study indicates that equine populations are at risk of...
IN BRIEF
Adverse trends in reproductive function are a concern in humans, companion, livestock, and wildlife species. This study indicates that equine populations are at risk of a comparable decline in sperm progressive motility.
ABSTRACT
There is increasing evidence reporting geographically sensitive adverse trends in human semen quality, with parallel trends observed in the dog sentinel. Despite significant economic and welfare complications associated with poor testicular function, trends in current equine populations are undetermined. Given the predictive value of sperm progressive motility (PMOT) in male factor infertility and fertilisation potential, research determining trends in this parameter is warranted. This research analysed trends in stallion sperm PMOT through systematic review and meta-regression. Using a comprehensive search strategy, Scopus, Embase (Ovid), Medline (Ovid), and VetMed (CAB direct) were scoped for eligible data. Using best practices, 230 meta-data points from 229 articles published from 1991 to 2021 were collated for meta-regression analysis. Sperm PMOT declined significantly between 1984 and 2019 (simple linear regression: b -0.340, P = 0.017; meta-regression: b -0.610, P ≤ 0.001). Overall and yearly PMOT declines were predicted at 33.51 and 0.96%, respectively (1984: 63.69 ± 5.07%; 2019: 42.35 ± 3.69%). Trends remained consistent irrespective of sensitivity analyses. Yearly and overall declines were stronger in western (yearly: 0.75%, overall: 26.29%) compared to non-western (yearly: 0.46%, overall: 10.65%) populations. Adverse trends contribute vital data to the debate surrounding declining semen quality, supporting the use of equines as novel comparative models for human reproduction. Results could have significant economic, health, and welfare consequences for equine breeding sectors. A comparable decline in human, dog, and horse sperm quality is indicative of a common environmental aetiology, indicating the need for a holistic One Health approach in determining causes and developing preventative strategies.
Topics: Male; Horses; Animals; Humans; Dogs; Semen Analysis; Semen; Sperm Motility; Spermatozoa; Infertility, Male; Sperm Count
PubMed: 37000597
DOI: 10.1530/REP-22-0490