To tolerate or to agree: A tutorial on tolerance intervals in method comparison studies with BivRegBLS R Package.

The well-known agreement interval by Bland and Altman is extensively applied in method comparison studies. Two clinical measurement methods are considered interchangeable if their differences are not clinically significant. The agreement interval is commonly applied to assess the spread of the differences.

Comparison between High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin T and Cardiac Troponin I in a Large General Population Cohort.

Background: Few data compare cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in a general population. We sought to evaluate the distribution and association between cTnT, cTnI, and cardiovascular risk factors in a large general population cohort.

Methods: High-sensitivity cTnT and cTnI were measured in serum from 19501 individuals in the Generation Scotland Scottish Family Health Study.

Gaining an advantage by sitting an OSCE after your peers: A retrospective study.

To investigate if final year medical students undertaking an OSCE station at a later stage during examination diet were advantaged over their peers who undertook the same station at an earlier stage, and whether any such effect varies by the student's relative academic standing. OSCE data from six consecutive final year cohorts totaling 1505 students was analyzed. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to model factors associated with the probability of passing each individual station (random effects for students and circuits; and fixed effects to assess the association with day of examination, time of day, gender and year).

Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics identifies phenylalanine as a novel predictor of incident heart failure hospitalisation: results from PROSPER and FINRISK 1997.

Aims: We investigated the association between quantified metabolite, lipid and lipoprotein measures and incident heart failure hospitalisation (HFH) in the elderly, and examined whether circulating metabolic measures improve HFH prediction.

Methods And Results: Overall, 80 metabolic measures from the PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) trial were measured by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (n = 5341; 182 HFH events during 2.7-year follow-up).

Assessing the performance of methodological search filters to improve the efficiency of evidence information retrieval: five literature reviews and a qualitative study.

Background: Effective study identification is essential for conducting health research, developing clinical guidance and health policy and supporting health-care decision-making. Methodological search filters (combinations of search terms to capture a specific study design) can assist in searching to achieve this.

Objectives: This project investigated the methods used to assess the performance of methodological search filters, the information that searchers require when choosing search filters and how that information could be better provided.

Relationship of depression screening in cardiometabolic disease with vascular events and mortality: findings from a large primary care cohort with 4 years follow-up.

Aims: Benefits of routine depression screening for cardiometabolic disease patients remain unclear. We examined the association between depression screening and all-cause mortality and vascular events in cardiometabolic disease patients.

Methods And Results: 125 143 patients with cardiometabolic diseases (coronary heart disease, diabetes or previous stroke) in the UK participated in primary care chronic disease management in 2008/09, which included depression screening using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score.

Diagnostic accuracy of optical coherence tomography for diagnosing glaucoma: secondary analyses of the GATE study.

Background/aims: To assess the diagnostic performance of retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) data of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for detecting glaucoma.

Methods: Secondary analyses of a prospective, multicentre diagnostic study (Glaucoma Automated Tests Evaluation (GATE)) referred to hospital eye services in the UK were conducted. We included data from 899 of 966 participants referred to hospital eye services with suspected glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin Concentration and Risk of First-Ever Cardiovascular Outcomes in 154,052 Participants.

Background: High-sensitivity assays can quantify cardiac troponins I and T (hs-cTnI, hs-cTnT) in individuals with no clinically manifest myocardial injury.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to assess associations of cardiac troponin concentration with cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes in primary prevention studies.

Methods: A search was conducted of PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE for prospective studies published up to September 2016, reporting on associations of cardiac troponin concentration with first-ever CVD outcomes (i.

Feasibility of the Manchester Acute Coronary Syndromes (MACS) decision rule to safely reduce unnecessary hospital admissions: a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Background: Observational studies suggest that the Manchester Acute Coronary Syndromes (MACS) decision rule can effectively 'rule out' and 'rule in' acute coronary syndromes (ACS) following a single blood test. In a pilot randomised controlled trial, we aimed to determine whether a large trial is feasible.

Methods: Patients presenting to two EDs with suspected cardiac chest pain were randomised to receive care guided by the MACS decision rule (intervention group) or standard care (controls).

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.].

Can Automated Imaging for Optic Disc and Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Analysis Aid Glaucoma Detection?

Purpose: To compare the diagnostic performance of automated imaging for glaucoma.

Design: Prospective, direct comparison study.

Participants: Adults with suspected glaucoma or ocular hypertension referred to hospital eye services in the United Kingdom.

Automated imaging technologies for the diagnosis of glaucoma: a comparative diagnostic study for the evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy, performance as triage tests and cost-effectiveness (GATE study).

Background: Many glaucoma referrals from the community to hospital eye services are unnecessary. Imaging technologies can potentially be useful to triage this population.

Objectives: To assess the diagnostic performance and cost-effectiveness of imaging technologies as triage tests for identifying people with glaucoma.

Use of drug therapy in the management of symptomatic ureteric stones in hospitalised adults: a multicentre, placebo-controlled, randomised controlled trial and cost-effectiveness analysis of a calcium channel blocker (nifedipine) and an alpha-blocker (tamsulosin) (the SUSPEND trial).

Background: Ureteric colic, the term used to describe the pain felt when a stone passes down the ureter from the kidney to the bladder, is a frequent reason for people to seek emergency health care. Treatment with the muscle-relaxant drugs tamsulosin hydrochloride (Petyme, TEVA UK Ltd) and nifedipine (Coracten(®), UCB Pharma Ltd) as medical expulsive therapy (MET) is increasingly being used to improve the likelihood of spontaneous stone passage and lessen the need for interventional procedures. However, there remains considerable uncertainty around the effectiveness of these drugs for routine use.

A systematic review of the use of an expertise-based randomised controlled trial design.

Background: Under a conventional two-arm randomised trial design, participants are allocated to an intervention and participating health professionals are expected to deliver both interventions. However, health professionals often have differing levels of expertise in a skill-based interventions such as surgery or psychotherapy. An expertise-based approach to trial design, where health professionals only deliver an intervention in which they have expertise, has been proposed as an alternative.

Medical expulsive therapy in adults with ureteric colic: a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Meta-analyses of previous randomised controlled trials concluded that the smooth muscle relaxant drugs tamsulosin and nifedipine assisted stone passage for people managed expectantly for ureteric colic, but emphasised the need for high-quality trials with wide inclusion criteria. We aimed to fulfil this need by testing effectiveness of these drugs in a standard clinical care setting.

Methods: For this multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, we recruited adults (aged 18-65 years) undergoing expectant management for a single ureteric stone identified by CT at 24 UK hospitals.

Should weight loss and maintenance programmes be designed differently for men? A systematic review of long-term randomised controlled trials presenting data for men and women: The ROMEO project.

We systematically reviewed the randomised controlled trial (RCT) evidence for long-term (≥12 months) weight management interventions for obese men in contrast to women to help understand whether programmes should be designed differently for men. We searched 11 databases up to October 2014. Twenty-two RCTs reported data separately for men and women in weight loss or weight maintenance interventions.

STOPPIT Baby Follow-up Study: the effect of prophylactic progesterone in twin pregnancy on childhood outcome.

Objectives: To determine the long-term effects of in utero progesterone exposure in twin children.

Methods: This study evaluated the health and developmental outcomes of all surviving children born to mothers who participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of progesterone given for the prevention of preterm birth in twin pregnancies (STOPPIT, ISRCTN35782581). Follow-up was performed via record linkage and two parent-completed validated questionnaires, the Child Development Inventory and the Health Utilities Index.

Reporting methodological search filter performance comparisons: a literature review.

Background: Methodological search filters are tools for retrieving database records reporting studies which use a specific research method. Choosing a filter is likely to be based on filter performance data. This review examines which measures are reported, and the way that filter performance is presented, in filter comparisons.

Systematic reviews of and integrated report on the quantitative, qualitative and economic evidence base for the management of obesity in men.

Background: Obesity increases the risk of many serious illnesses such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis. More men than women are overweight or obese in the UK but men are less likely to perceive their weight as a problem and less likely to engage with weight-loss services.

Objective: The aim of this study was to systematically review evidence-based management strategies for treating obesity in men and investigate how to engage men in obesity services by integrating the quantitative, qualitative and health economic evidence base.

Choosing and using methodological search filters: searchers' views.

Background: Search filters or hedges are search strategies developed to assist information specialists and librarians to retrieve different types of evidence from bibliographic databases. The objectives of this project were to learn about searchers' filter use, how searchers choose search filters and what information they would like to receive to inform their choices.

Methods: Interviews with information specialists working in, or for, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) were conducted.