Become a Cochrane citizen scientist. Anyone can join their collaborative volunteer effort.
Around half of the clinical trials done on medicines we use today are not published; a tragic truth that needs to be changed.
New articles from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM).
Professor Lang talks about doing difficult trials in difficult places - including malaria and ebola trials.
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Meta-analyses of Randomised Controlled Trials: Guidance on Their Use
by Tierney et alSystematic reviews involving the central collection and analysis of individual participant data (IPD) usually are larger-scale, international, collaborative projects that can bring about substantial improvements to the quantity and quality of data, give greater scope in the analyses, and provide more detailed and robust results. Following this step-by-step guide will help reviewers and users of IPD meta-analyses to understand them better and recognise those that are well designed and conducted and so help ensure that policy, practice, and research are informed by robust evidence about the effects of interventions.
New Public Management (public sector reforms which draw on business ideology) are increasingly seen in African ministries of health. This talk concentrates on the effects of NPM reform on Ethiopian hospitals and how efforts to be 'more business-like' have many unintended consequences for hospitals and patients.
Professor Bongani M Mayosi from the Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital & University of Cape Town describes the transofmation of the science cohort in South Africa.
In celebration of Global Health Trials' fifth birthday (May 11th 2015) Professor Trudie Lang, Principal Investigator of the programme, talks to us about why Global Health Trials was started, why people should share their experience, and what the future holds.
Research Priorities to Improve the Management of Acute Malnutrition in Infants Aged Less Than Six Months (MAMI)
by Angood et alTo prioritise the many possible research questions on infant <6m malnutrition, this paper used the systematic, transparent, well-established Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) approach. Sixty-four experts scored 60 research questions on the basis of their answerability, likelihood of intervention efficacy, effectiveness, deliverability, sustainability, impact on disease burden, and impact on equity.
Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement
by Moher et alThe authors in this paper describe the development of a reporting guideline, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols 2015 (PRISMA-P 2015). PRISMA-P consists of a 17-item checklist intended to facilitate the preparation and reporting of a robust protocol for the systematic review. Funders and those commissioning reviews might consider mandating the use of the checklist to facilitate the submission of relevant protocol information in funding applications. Similarly, peer reviewers and editors can use the guidance to gauge the completeness and transparency of a systematic review protocol submitted for publication in a journal or other medium.
Ebola PPE guidelines - urgent need to revise WHO and CDC guidelines. This video shows an excerpt from keynote address 'The fuss about face masks', Professor Raina MacIntyre from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Australia.
Observational Studies: Getting Clear about Transparency
by The PLOS Medicine EditorsWhen publishing observational research, what information should journals make available to the medical community before a result can be considered sufficiently reliable to inform patient care or health policy? The PLOS Medicine editors, in recent consultation with our editorial board, endorse measures in four areas to advance transparency in the analysis and reporting of observational studies.
In 2013, the WHO released a new set of guidelines on the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS. The new guidelines suggests that all pregnant women who test positive for HIV should immediately begin a course of triple ARVs, regardless of CD4 cell levels.
This guide, developed by the WHO and released in December 2013, aims to facilitate implementation research in LMICs.
A recent editorial in PLoS discusses the significance of transparency in reporting and publishing the studies and how scientific studies guidelines have evolved over time.
The World Health Organization’s recommendations on optimizing the roles of health workers aim to help address critical health workforce shortages that slow down progress towards the health-related Millennium Development Goals. These recommendations are intended for health policy-makers, managers and other stakeholders at a regional, national and international level.
Research reporting guidelines are standard statements that provide guidance on how to report research methodology and findings. These are in the form of checklists, flow diagrams or texts. Most of the biomedical journals require authors to comply with these guidelines. Guidelines are available for reporting various study designs:
- CONSORT Statement (reporting of randomized controlled trials)
- STARD (reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies)
- STROBE (reporting of observational studies in epidemiology)
- PRISMA (reporting of systematic reviews)
- MOOSE (reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies)