Publications by authors named "Will Roberts"

Objective: We aim to evaluate the quality of patient-reported outcomes included in randomized control trials for the treatment of congestive heart failure using the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) checklist, a validated tool for critically appraising the quality of patient-reported outcomes.

Design: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 65 randomized control trials with patient-reported outcomes for drug intervention trials for treating congestive heart failure.

Setting: N/A.

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Gene therapy as a disease-modifying therapeutic approach for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD), is a promising avenue. Promising results in the preclinical studies involving rodents and nonhuman primates utilizing gene therapy have led to multiple clinical trials evaluating various genes of interest for AD and PD. In AD, clinical trials are assessing gene therapy involving brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and other targets such as apolipoprotein E2 (APOE2) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT).

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Albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) is a cheap, widely accessible component of common blood work that has been implicated in the prognosis of various cancers. This effect is attributed to the cooperative relationship between albumin reflecting the body's nutritional status and globulin serving as an indicator of immune status. With the high morbidity and mortality associated with gastrointestinal cancer and the increasing necessity for cost-effective health care, research into AGR's potential as an indicator of prognosis is warranted.

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We report the case of a 53-year-old female who developed tracheobronchomalacia immediately following an uncomplicated robotic hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy to treat postmenopausal bleeding. Induction of anesthesia was notable for moderately difficult intubation, managed with applied cricothyroid pressure and a small 6.5 endotracheal tube placement via GlideScope.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Metformin, a medication mainly used for managing type 2 diabetes, has shown promise in reducing circulating androgen levels, suggesting its potential effectiveness in treating acne vulgaris.
  • * A systematic review analyzed 15 studies involving 1,046 participants, mostly women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and found that 13 studies indicated metformin's ability to reduce AV, with seven showing statistically significant results, although some studies had biases related to blinding.
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The goal of this systematic review was to identify all of the research within the last 10 years that investigated both the Albumin-Globulin Ratio (AGR) and outcomes of solid tumor cancer patients via quantitative prognostic variables. Multiple scientific databases were researched for journal articles that included keywords relating AGR to prognosis. Once isolated from the databases, the articles were de-duplicated and manually screened based on standardized inclusion/exclusion criteria in a blind format via Rayyan.

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Context: Over 68,000 deaths were attributed to opioid-related overdose in 2020. Evaluative studies have shown that states that utilized Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) systems have decreased opioid-related deaths. With the growing use of PDMPs and an ongoing opioid epidemic, determining the demographics of physicians at risk of overprescribing can elucidate prescribing practices and inform recommendations to change prescribing behaviors.

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Chronic non-cancer pain can affect a patient's social life, ability to work, and overall quality of life (QoL). Opioid therapy is often prescribed as therapeutic treatment in chronic pain. Systematic reviews (SRs)-the pinnacle of research quality-are often used in guideline development; however, pain may differ across cultures and communities.

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Background: Owing to the frequent perioperative use of ketorolac tromethamine and its ability to minimise postoperative opioid requirements, it is important to continually reassess harms associated with its use. Our primary objective was to investigate the extent of harms reporting in systematic reviews (SRs) on ketorolac for perioperative pain.

Methods: In May 2022, we conducted a search of major databases, MEDLINE (PubMed and Ovid), Embase, Epistemonikos, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews to identify eligible SRs on ketorolac for perioperative pain.

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Introduction: Spin - the beautification of study results to emphasise benefits or minimise harms - is a deceptive reporting strategy with the potential to affect clinical decision-making adversely. Few studies have investigated the extent of spin in systematic reviews. Here, we sought to address this gap by evaluating the presence of the nine most severe forms of spin in the abstracts of systematic reviews on treatments for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).

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Background: Cardiac assessment in noncardiac surgery clinical practice guidelines should be supported by the highest-quality evidence such as that offered by systematic reviews. Currently, the methodological and reporting quality of these studies remains unknown.

Methods: We used PubMed to search for all clinical practice guidelines related to perioperative cardiovascular patients undergoing noncardiac surgery from 2010 to 2021.

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Objective: We sought to determine whether author conflict of interest (disclosed or undisclosed) or industry sponsorship influenced the favorability of reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating the use of opioid analgesics for the management of chronic non-cancer pain.

Methods: Our search included the MEDLINE (Ovid) and Embase (Ovid) databases. Study sponsorship was determined using the funding statement provided in each systematic review.

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Clinicians rely upon abstracts to provide them quick synopses of research findings that may apply to their practice. Spin can exist within these abstracts that distorts or misrepresents the findings. Our goal was to evaluate the level of spin within systematic reviews (SRs) focused on the treatment of cannabis use disorder (CUD).

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Introduction: Given that 72% of internet users seek out health information using an internet search engine (Google being the most popular); we sought to investigate the public internet search interest in cannabis as a health topic when cannabis legislation appeared on state ballots and during presidential elections.

Materials And Methods: We searched Google Trends for "cannabis" as a health topic. Google Trends data were extracted during the time period of May 1, 2008 to May 1, 2019 for the United States (US) and select states (18) within the US including: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington when cannabis was on the ballot.

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The Psychopharmacologic Drug Advisory Committee (PDAC) is one of 33 advisory committees of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). During committee meetings, an open public hearing takes place where speakers provide testimonies about the drug in question and are asked, not required, to disclose any conflicts of interests (COIs) before speaking. These speakers may present with COIs which include, but are not limited to, reimbursement for travel and lodging by the pharmaceutical company to attend the meeting; previous or current payments for consulting from the pharmaceutical company and compensation as a paid investigator in previously conducted clinical trials for the drug under review.

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We have identified 'spin' in abstracts of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with nonsignificant primary endpoints in psychiatry and psychology journals. This is a cross-sectional review of clinical trials with nonsignificant primary endpoints published in psychiatry and psychology journals from January 2012 to December 2017. The main outcome was the frequency and manifestation of spin in the abstracts.

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This paper deals with an analysis of waste management practices in the fast-growing city of Gujranwala with 2.6 million inhabitants, with a fast growing middle income group of 56%, and an urbanization rate of 3.49% per annum.

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Sustainable food production is a key concern across countries in South Asia. Most assessments of sustainable agriculture in this region focus on the availability and affordability of resource inputs. However, studies accounting for environmental footprint of agricultural activities in South Asian countries are limited in the existing literature.

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Background: Some patients receiving a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for the first-line treatment of chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) experience intolerable adverse events. Management strategies include dose adjustments, interrupting or discontinuing therapy, or switching to an alternative TKI.

Methods: This multicenter, single-arm, Phase IIIb study included CML-CP patients intolerant of, but responsive to, first-line treatment with imatinib or dasatinib.

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We report the case of a very late erosion of an Amplatzer septal occluder (ASO) device more than 8 years after implant, presenting without signs of cardiac tamponade. To date, this case represents the longest period between ASO device implantation and clinical presentation following erosion. The overall rate of device erosion remains low, and the majority reported so far has occurred early, but clinicians should remain alert to the possibility of very late erosion in patients with ASO devices.

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