Does the medical literature remain inadequately described despite having reporting guidelines for 21 years? - A systematic review of reviews: an update.

Purpose: Reporting guidelines (eg, Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials [CONSORT] statement) are intended to improve reporting standards and enhance the transparency and reproducibility of research findings. Despite accessibility of such guidelines, researchers are not required to adhere to them. Our goal was to determine the current status of reporting quality in the medical literature and examine whether adherence of reporting guidelines has improved since the inception of reporting guidelines.

Enhancing research publications and advancing scientific writing in health research collaborations: sharing lessons learnt from the trenches.

Background: Disseminating research protocols, processes, methods or findings via peer-reviewed publications has substantive merits and benefits to various stakeholders.

Purpose: In this article, we share strategies to enhance research publication contents (ie, what to write about) and to facilitate scientific writing (ie, how to write) in health research collaborations.

Methods: Empirical experience sharing.

Exploring the characteristics, global distribution and reasons for retraction of published articles involving human research participants: a literature survey.

Aim: Article retraction is a measure taken by journals or authors where there is evidence of research misconduct or error, redundancy, plagiarism or unethical research. Recently, the retraction of scientific publications has been on the rise. In this survey, we aimed to describe the characteristics and distribution of retracted articles and the reasons for retractions.

A Practical Methodology for Disaggregating the Drivers of Drug Costs Using Administrative Data.

Background: Prescription drug expenditures represent a significant component of health care costs in Canada, with estimates of $28.8 billion spent in 2014. Identifying the major cost drivers and the effect they have on prescription drug expenditures allows policy makers and researchers to interpret current cost pressures and anticipate future expenditure levels.

An overview of osteoporosis and frailty in the elderly.

Osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures remain significant public health challenges worldwide. Recently the concept of frailty in relation to osteoporosis in the elderly has been increasingly accepted, with emerging studies measuring frailty as a predictor of osteoporotic fractures. In this overview, we reviewed the relationship between frailty and osteoporosis, described the approaches to measuring the grades of frailty, and presented current studies and future research directions investigating osteoporosis and frailty in the elderly.

An introduction to multiplicity issues in clinical trials: the what, why, when and how.

In clinical trials it is not uncommon to face a multiple testing problem which can have an impact on both type I and type II error rates, leading to inappropriate interpretation of trial results. Multiplicity issues may need to be considered at the design, analysis and interpretation stages of a trial. The proportion of trial reports not adequately correcting for multiple testing remains substantial.

Can We Predict Individual Combined Benefit and Harm of Therapy? Warfarin Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation as a Test Case.

Objectives: To construct and validate a prediction model for individual combined benefit and harm outcomes (stroke with no major bleeding, major bleeding with no stroke, neither event, or both) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) with and without warfarin therapy.

Methods: Using the Kaiser Permanente Colorado databases, we included patients newly diagnosed with AF between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2012 for model construction and validation. The primary outcome was a prediction model of composite of stroke or major bleeding using polytomous logistic regression (PLR) modelling.

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage prognostic decision-making algorithm using classification and regression tree analysis.

Background: Classification and regression tree analysis involves the creation of a decision tree by recursive partitioning of a dataset into more homogeneous subgroups. Thus far, there is scarce literature on using this technique to create clinical prediction tools for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Methods: The classification and regression tree analysis technique was applied to the multicenter Tirilazad database (3551 patients) in order to create the decision-making algorithm.

Risk factors for mortality in patients admitted to intensive care units with pneumonia.

Background: Despite the high mortality in patients with pneumonia admitted to an ICU, data on risk factors for death remain limited.

Methods: In this secondary analysis of PROTECT (Prophylaxis for Thromboembolism in Critical Care Trial), we focused on the patients admitted to ICU with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia. The primary outcome for this study was 90-day hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was 90-day ICU mortality.

Comparison of treatment effect estimates of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants versus warfarin between observational studies using propensity score methods and randomized controlled trials.

Emerging observational studies using propensity score (PS) methods assessed real-world comparative effectiveness of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) versus warfarin in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to compare treatment effect estimates of NOACs between PS studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Electronic databases and conference proceedings were searched systematically.

Prediction of individual combined benefit and harm for patients with atrial fibrillation considering warfarin therapy: a study protocol.

Introduction: Clinical prediction rules have been validated and widely used in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) to predict stroke and major bleeding. However, these prediction rules were not developed in the same population, and do not provide the key information that patients and prescribers need at the time anticoagulants are being considered-what is the individual patient-specific risk of both benefit (decreased stroke) and harm (increased major bleeding). In this study, our primary objective is to develop and validate a prediction model for patients' individual combined benefit and harm outcomes (stroke, major bleeding and neither event) with and without warfarin therapy.

Development and Validation of the McMaster Prescribing Competency Assessment for Medical Trainees (MacPCA).

Background: Prescribing is an essential skill for all physicians, built on knowledge of clinical pharmacology, therapeutics and toxicology across the life cycle. The decline in organized clinical pharmacology training in medical schools, combined with an expanding pharmacopeia and increasing complexity of patient care, makes prescribing competency difficult for medical students to master.

Objectives: To develop and validate the McMaster Prescribing Competency Assessment (MacPCA), an online tool suitable for evaluating clinical pharmacology knowledge and prescribing skills of medical trainees in Canada.

Pathophysiologic mechanisms of brain-body associations in ruptured brain aneurysms: A systematic review.

Background: Patients with ruptured brain aneurysms and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage suffer neurological damage from primary injury of the aneurysm rupture itself, as well as a number of secondary injurious processes that can further worsen the affected individual's neurological state. In addition, other body systems can be affected in a number of brain-body associations.

Methods: This systematic review synthesizes prospective and retrospective cohort studies that investigate brain-body associations in patients with ruptured brain aneurysms.

Systematic review of clinical prediction tools and prognostic factors in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Background: Clinical prediction tools assist in clinical outcome prediction. They quantify the relative contributions of certain variables and condense information that identifies important indicators or predictors to a targeted condition. This systematic review synthesizes and critically appraises the methodologic quality of studies that derive both clinical predictors and clinical predictor tools used to determine outcome prognosis in patients suffering from aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Effect of green tea supplementation on blood pressure among overweight and obese adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Emerging randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effect of green tea or green tea extract (GTE) supplementation on blood pressure (BP) among overweight and obese adults reported inconsistent findings.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify the efficacy of green tea or GTE on BP among overweight and obese adults.

Methods: Electronic databases, conference proceedings and gray literature were searched systematically to include parallel and cross-over RCTs examining the efficacy of green tea or GTE on BP compared with placebo.

Effect of green tea supplementation on blood pressure among overweight and obese adults: a protocol for a systematic review.

Introduction: Emerging randomised controlled trials (RCTs) exploring the effect of green tea (GT) supplementation or GT extract (GTE) on blood pressure (BP) among overweight and obese adults yielded inconclusive results. We aim to conduct a systematic review to summarise the evidence of RCTs until now, to clarify the efficacy of GT supplementation or GTE in BP in overweight and obese populations.

Methods And Analysis: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE and ClinicalTrials.

Clinical outcome prediction in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage using Bayesian neural networks with fuzzy logic inferences.

Objective: The novel clinical prediction approach of Bayesian neural networks with fuzzy logic inferences is created and applied to derive prognostic decision rules in cerebral aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

Methods: The approach of Bayesian neural networks with fuzzy logic inferences was applied to data from five trials of Tirilazad for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (3551 patients).

Results: Bayesian meta-analyses of observational studies on aSAH prognostic factors gave generalizable posterior distributions of population mean log odd ratios (ORs).

Canadian cost- utility analysis of intravenous immunoglobulin for acute childhood idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

Background: Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a hematological disorder and can be classified as acute or chronic. The main goal of treatment for acute childhood ITP is the prevention of potentially fatal bleeding complications, the most serious of which is intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Treatment options for acute childhood ITP include splenectomy, corticosteroids, and blood products such as intravenous immunoglobulin.

Relative risk and odds ratio data are still portrayed with inappropriate scales in the medical literature.

Objective: To determine the frequency of inappropriate use of arithmetic scales to present relative risk (RR) and odds ratio (OR) data in figures among a group of high-profile general medical journals.

Study Design And Setting: Articles presenting RR or OR data in figures and published in one of five journals during 2002-2003 and 2007-2008 were evaluated to determine the type of scale used with the figures. Logarithmic and reciprocal (inverse) scales were identified as appropriate, whereas arithmetic scales were deemed inappropriate.

Self-reported use of natural health products: a cross-sectional telephone survey in older Ontarians.

Background: The self-reported use of natural health products (NHPs) (herbal products and vitamin and mineral supplements) has increased over the past decade in Canada. Because the elderly population might have comorbidities and concurrently administered medications, there is a need to explore the perceptions and behaviors associated with NHPs in this age group.

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess the use of NHPs in a cohort of older Canadian residents and the characteristics, perceptions, and behaviors associated with NHP use.

Outcomes of dosage adjustments used to manage antiretroviral drug interactions.

Dosage adjustments are often used to manage HIV drug interactions, but little is known about their clinical significance. We examined patients from the Ontario HIV Cohort Study to assess the effects of dosage adjustments on plasma viral load. A significant reduction (0.