Objective: The objective of this scoping review will be to describe existing guidance documents or studies reporting on the conduct of meta-analyses in updated systematic reviews (USRs) or living systematic reviews (LSRs).
Introduction: The rapid increase in the medical literature poses a substantial challenge in keeping systematic reviews up to date. In LSRs, a review is updated with a pre-specified frequency or when some other signalling criterion is triggered.
Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to develop a list of items for potential inclusion in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines for network meta-analysis (NMA), scoping reviews (ScRs), and rapid reviews (RRs).
Introduction: The PRISMA extensions for NMA and ScRs were published in 2015 and 2018. However, since then, their methodologies and innovations, including automation, have evolved.
Somion occarium is a wood-decaying bracket fungus belonging to an order known to be rich in useful chemical compounds. Despite its widespread distribution, S. occarium has been assessed as endangered on at least one national Red List, presumably due to loss of old-growth forest habitat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe translation of nucleotide sequences into amino acid sequences, governed by the genetic code, is one of the most conserved features of molecular biology. The standard genetic code, which uses 61 sense codons to encode one of the 20 standard amino acids and 3 stop codons (UAA, UAG, and UGA) to terminate translation, is used by most extant organisms. The protistan phylum Ciliophora (the 'ciliates') are the most prominent exception to this norm, exhibiting the grfeatest diversity of nuclear genetic code variants and evidence of repeated changes in the code.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaternity protection policies are designed to preserve the health of working women and their infants, support optimal infant and young child nutrition through breastfeeding and prevent workplace discrimination against women. The aim of this study was to identify how advocates may be able to effectively advance maternal leave and workplace lactation policies, two key maternity protection policies, and does so through an exploration of advocacy efforts in Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Vietnam. A desk review of programme and policy documents and 20 key informant interviews with diverse stakeholders explored advocacy efforts in each of the four countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMiddle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a betacoronavirus that causes severe respiratory illness in humans. There are no licensed vaccines against MERS-CoV and only a few candidates in phase I clinical trials. Here, we develop MERS-CoV vaccines utilizing a computationally designed protein nanoparticle platform that has generated safe and immunogenic vaccines against various enveloped viruses, including a licensed vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Geriatric rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary intervention that promotes functional recovery in older adults. Our objective was to assess the efficacy of geriatric rehabilitation in inpatient and geriatric day hospital settings.
Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, PEDro and AgeLine from inception to September 30, 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including older adults (age ≥ 65 years) undergoing geriatric rehabilitation (inpatient or day hospital) with a usual care comparator group.
Objective: The objectives of this review are to identify barriers/facilitators to designing, maintaining, and utilizing rare disease patient registries (RDPRs); determine whether and how these differ among patient partners, other knowledge users (KUs), and researchers; and chart definitions of rare diseases and RDPRs.
Introduction: RDPRs are vital to improving the understanding of the natural histories and predictors of outcomes for rare diseases, assessing interventions, and identifying potential participants for clinical trials. Currently, however, the functionality of RDPRs is not fully optimized.
The translational development of pediatric ventricular assist devices (VADs) lags years behind adult device options, negatively impacting pediatric patient outcomes. To address this need, we are developing a novel, series-flow, double-blood pump VAD that integrates an axial and centrifugal pump into a single device. The axial pump is used for initial circulatory assistance in younger patients; then, an internal activation mechanism triggers the centrifugal pump to activate in line with the axial pump, providing additional pressure and flow to match pediatric patient growth cycles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Neuropsychopharmacol
October 2024
Background: Standard antidepressant treatments often take weeks to reach efficacy and are ineffective for many patients. (R,S)-ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has been shown to be a rapid-acting antidepressant and to decrease depressive symptoms within hours of administration. While previous studies have shown the importance of the GluN2B subunit of the NMDA receptor on interneurons in the medial prefrontal cortex, no study to our knowledge has investigated the influence of GluN2B-expressing adult-born granule cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Whether a conservative strategy of medical therapy alone or a strategy of medical therapy plus invasive treatment is more beneficial in older adults with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) remains unclear.
Methods: We conducted a prospective, multicenter, randomized trial involving patients 75 years of age or older with NSTEMI at 48 sites in the United Kingdom. The patients were assigned in a 1:1 ratio to a conservative strategy of the best available medical therapy or an invasive strategy of coronary angiography and revascularization plus the best available medical therapy.
Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors are currently the only proven vehicles for treating ophthalmological diseases through gene therapy. A wide range of gene therapy programs that target ocular diseases are currently being pursued. Nearly 20 years of research have gone into enhancing the efficacy of targeting retinal tissues and improving transgene delivery to specific cell types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Research has established a relationship between psychosis and physical harm in the early course of psychosis. However, little is known about the relationship between specific psychosis symptoms, such as hearing voices, and physical harm.
Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and typology of physical harm related to hearing voices, as well as what aspects of the voice-hearing experience retrospectively predicted incidents of harm within an Early Intervention in Psychosis Service (EIPS).
(R,S)-ketamine (ketamine) has rapid and sustained antidepressant (AD) efficacy at sub-anesthetic doses in depressed patients. A metabolite of ketamine, including (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine ((6)-HNKs) has been reported to exert antidepressant actions in rodent model of anxiety/depression. To further understand the specific role of ketamine's metabolism in the AD actions of the drug, we evaluated the effects of inhibiting hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes on AD responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Takotsubo syndrome is an increasingly common cardiac emergency with no known evidence-based treatment.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate cardiovascular mortality and medication use after takotsubo syndrome.
Methods: In a case-control study, all patients with takotsubo syndrome in Scotland between 2010 and 2017 (n = 620) were age, sex, and geographically matched to individuals in the general population (1:4, n = 2,480) and contemporaneous patients with acute myocardial infarction (1:1, n = 620).