ACcurate COnsensus Reporting Document (ACCORD) explanation and elaboration: Guidance and examples to support reporting consensus methods.

Background: When research evidence is limited, inconsistent, or absent, healthcare decisions and policies need to be based on consensus amongst interested stakeholders. In these processes, the knowledge, experience, and expertise of health professionals, researchers, policymakers, and the public are systematically collected and synthesised to reach agreed clinical recommendations and/or priorities. However, despite the influence of consensus exercises, the methods used to achieve agreement are often poorly reported.

ACCORD (ACcurate COnsensus Reporting Document): A reporting guideline for consensus methods in biomedicine developed via a modified Delphi.

Background: In biomedical research, it is often desirable to seek consensus among individuals who have differing perspectives and experience. This is important when evidence is emerging, inconsistent, limited, or absent. Even when research evidence is abundant, clinical recommendations, policy decisions, and priority-setting may still require agreement from multiple, sometimes ideologically opposed parties.

Tbx5 overexpression in embryoid bodies increases TAK1 expression but does not enhance the differentiation of sinoatrial node cardiomyocytes.

Genetic studies place Tbx5 at the apex of the sinoatrial node (SAN) transcriptional program. To understand its role in SAN differentiation, clonal embryonic stem (ES) cell lines were made that conditionally overexpress Tbx5, Tbx3, Tbx18, Shox2, Islet-1, and MAP3k7/TAK1. Cardiac cells differentiated using embryoid bodies (EBs).

Decreasing Technology Burdens to Bedside Staff Through the Introduction of a Patient Technology Technician Role: A Quality Improvement Project.

With increased technology integration into health care, the focus and time of nurses are often shifting toward technology and away from direct patient care. The goal of this quality improvement project was to implement a patient technology technician role on 3 acute care units in order to reduce the time burden of technology to nurses. During this quality improvement project, the patient technology technician role focused on addressing technology issues and ensured adequate, functioning technology supplies were available on nursing units.

Pharmaceutical Company Targets and Strategies to Address Climate Change: Content Analysis of Public Reports from 20 Pharmaceutical Companies.

The pharmaceutical industry produces a large proportion of health system greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contributing to climate change. This urgently needs to be addressed. We aimed to examine pharmaceutical company climate change targets, GHG emissions, and strategies to reduce them.

ACCORD guideline for reporting consensus-based methods in biomedical research and clinical practice: a study protocol.

Background: Structured, systematic methods to formulate consensus recommendations, such as the Delphi process or nominal group technique, among others, provide the opportunity to harness the knowledge of experts to support clinical decision making in areas of uncertainty. They are widely used in biomedical research, in particular where disease characteristics or resource limitations mean that high-quality evidence generation is difficult. However, poor reporting of methods used to reach a consensus - for example, not clearly explaining the definition of consensus, or not stating how consensus group panellists were selected - can potentially undermine confidence in this type of research and hinder reproducibility.

Open Pharma recommendations for plain language summaries of peer-reviewed medical journal publications.

Plain language summaries of peer-reviewed medical journal publications are a means of sharing research with a broad range of audiences and may improve the transparency, accountability, accessibility, discoverability, and inclusivity of medical research. There is currently an ongoing, industry-wide effort to establish consensus on plain language summaries, and initiatives are already in place that provide detailed guidance on plain language best practice, co-creation methods, patient-focused content, graphic and digital considerations, and publisher-specific guidelines. However, there remains a need for a foundational set of recommendations that complement existing initiatives to outline the minimum steps needed to develop discoverable, plain language summaries that are trustworthy, credible, and of high quality.

Using Progressive Time Delay to Increase Levels of Peer Imitation During Play With Preschoolers With Disabilities.

Research suggests peer imitation can be taught using systematic procedures and can be embedded into ongoing play contexts with preschool-age children. However, additional research is needed to test procedures that may increase levels of peer imitation with toddlers with disabilities and in generalized contexts. We used a multiple probe across participants research design to evaluate the effectiveness of progressive time delay (PTD) to teach peer imitation to preschoolers with disabilities during a play activity with a peer.

Formation and kinetic studies of manganese(IV)-oxo porphyrins: Oxygen atom transfer mechanism of sulfide oxidations.

Visible light irradiation of photo-labile porphyrin-manganese(III) chlorates or bromates (2) produced manganese(IV)-oxo porphyrins [Mn(Por)(O)] (Por = porphyrin) (3) in three porphyrin ligands. The same oxo species 3 were also formed by chemical oxidation of the corresponding manganese(III) precursors (1) with iodobenzene diacetate, i.e.

Management Of Community-Acquired Pneumonia: An Observational Study In UK Primary Care.

Purpose: In primary care, initial diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is made on clinical judgment without radiological confirmation or knowledge of the causative organism. Use of CRB65 score has been recommended for assessing the severity of CAP and thereby determining clinical management, but it is not known how frequently these scores are used in primary care.

Patients And Methods: Primary care consultations in adults with a diagnostic code for CAP between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2016 were extracted from the Optimum Patient Care Research Database, which at the time of data extraction had over 3.

Professional medical writing support and the quality, ethics and timeliness of clinical trial reporting: a systematic review.

Background: Many authors choose to work with professional medical writers when reporting the results of clinical trials. We conducted a systematic review to examine the relationship between professional medical writing support (PMWS) and the quality, ethics and timeliness of publications reporting clinical trials.

Methods: Using terms related to 'medical writer' and 'observational study', we searched MEDLINE and Embase (no date limits), as well as abstracts and posters from meetings of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP; 2014-2018).

Open access policies of leading medical journals: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Academical and not-for-profit research funders are increasingly requiring that the research they fund must be published open access, with some insisting on publishing with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to allow the broadest possible use. We aimed to clarify the open access variants provided by leading medical journals and record the availability of the CC BY licence for commercially funded research.

Methods: We identified medical journals with a 2015 impact factor of ≥15.

Commitments by the biopharmaceutical industry to clinical trial transparency: the evolving environment.

Clinical trial sponsors have ethical obligations to register protocols, report study results and comply with applicable legal requirements. To evaluate public commitments to trial disclosure and rates of disclosure by members and non-members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and/or the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Websites of the top 50 biopharmaceutical companies by 2015 sales were searched for statements relating to trial data disclosure.

Investing in Critical Leadership Development with High-School Students.

Leadership development efforts are enhanced by the early integration of critical perspectives. This chapter outlines a framework for integrating critical leadership development in high schools drawing on a real-world example from SOAR (Students Organizing Against Racism).

Systematic review: probiotics in the management of lower gastrointestinal symptoms - an updated evidence-based international consensus.

Background: In 2013, a systematic review and Delphi consensus reported that specific probiotics can benefit adult patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other gastrointestinal (GI) problems.

Aim: To update the consensus with new evidence.

Methods: A systematic review identified randomised, placebo-controlled trials published between January 2012 and June 2017.