Search

A comprehensive and reproducible search strategy for systematic reviews especially about COVID-19 plays a pivotal role in conducting a reliable and unbiased review. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the quality of the search strategy reporting in systematic reviews conducted on the role of telehealth during COVID-19. The secondary aim of study was to explore some affecting factor in the quality of search strategy. The study evaluated the quality of the search strategy reporting with PRISMA-S checklist. The search was performed in MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and other related databases. Systematic reviews were included. There was no language restriction. The correlation of the PRISMA-S scores with journal impact factor, CiteScore, and librarians' role were evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. A total of 85 articles were included in the review. The overall mean score of PRISMA-S checklist was 6.12 ± 1.46. PubMed was the most popular database for search. More than half of the studies did not provide a full search strategy. There was a significant positive correlation between PRISMA-S score and the journal impact factor (Spearman's rho = 0.217; P = 0.46) and CiteScore (Spearman's rho = 0.235; P = 0.03). The quality of literature search was poor in the included studies. Using the PRISMA-S as a search reporting guideline can be a helpful tool for authors. A professional librarian can be beneficial in improving the quality of the search. It is recommended to use a new pattern in COVID-19-related searches, such as preprint sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile applications have been proposed as a helpful tool to provide health-related information to people, and this is more important in pregnancy-related mobile applications. This review study aimed to investigate the features of Persian and English mobile apps for self-care in pregnancy. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on all Persian and English mobile applications related to pregnancy in 2022. A search was conducted on Iranian digital app market (Bazaar) and "Google Play", using the following keywords: "pregnancy", "pregnant women", "obstetrics", and their Persian translations. For each app, the extracted information included name, user satisfaction rate, and the features and provided information by mobile app. The total number of retrieved applications was 416 apps. After removing the duplicates and applying the inclusion criteria, 63 applications were selected for features extraction. Reviewing the features and information provided by the applications showed that the most frequent categories of information included the following items: childbirth and pregnancy (including timing contractions, fetal movement, symptoms of pregnancy and predicting delivery time), restrictions and limitations (including behavioral limits, sexual restrictions, smoking and alcohol, cosmetics and pregnancy and drug use during pregnancy), and monitoring and control tools (BMI Calculator, managing weight gain during pregnancy, control of blood pressure). Paying attention to pregnant women and meeting their information needs could lead to healthier generation. A wide range of mobile applications related to pregnancy are available with many capabilities. Considering pregnant women's need for information and using these apps in self-care, it seems essential to develop and design a series of highquality apps matching pregnant women's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although mass vaccination is considered one of the most effective public health strategies during the pandemic, in the COVID-19 era, many people considered vaccines unnecessary and, or doubted the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. This review aimed to tabulate cognitive causes of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy, which may help public health policymakers overcome the barriers to mass vaccinations in future pandemics. Methods: For this systematic review, studies pertaining to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy published up to June 2022 were retrieved from six online databases (Cochrane Library, Google Scholar Medline through PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science). Inclusion criteria were the studies conducted on people who had a delay in accepting or refusing COVID-19 vaccines, reported the impact of cognitive determinants on vaccine hesitancy, and were written in English in the timeframe of 2020-2022. Results: This systematic review initially reviewed 1171 records. From these 91 articles met the inclusion criteria. The vaccination hesitation rate was 29.72% on average. This systematic review identified several cognitive determinants influencing vaccination hesitancy. Lack of confidence and complacency were the most frequent factors that predicted vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion: The identified prevailing cognitive determinants for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy indicated that using initiative and effective communication strategies would be a determinant factor in building people's trust in vaccines during the pandemic and mass vaccinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicinal herbs databases have become a crucial part of organizing new scientific literature generated in medicinal herbs field, as well as new drug discoveries in the information era. The aim of this review was to track the current status of medicinal herbs databases. Search for finding medicinal herbs databases was carried out via Google and PubMed. PubMed was searched for papers introducing medicinal herbs databases by the recruited search strategy. Papers with an active database on the web were included in the review. Google was also searched for medicinal herbs databases. Both retrieved papers and databases were reviewed by the authors. In this review, the current status of 25 medicinal herbs databases was reviewed, and the important characteristics of databases were mentioned. The reviewed databases had a great variety in terms of characteristics and functions. Finally, some recommendations for the efficient development of medicinal herbs databases were suggested. Although contemporary medicinal herbs databases represent much useful information, adding some features to these databases could assist them to have better functionality. This work may not cover all the necessary information, but we hope that our review can provide readers with fundamental concepts, perspectives and suggestions for constructing more useful databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorella vulgaris (CV) as a unicellular algae is a dietary supplement with beneficial nutritious content, used for decades in some countries. Positive effects for CV supplementation on metabolic parameters has been established in animal and human studies. However there is a gap for this results summary for a definite conclusion announce. This systematic review aimed to summarize the effects of CV on body weight, lipid profile, and blood glucose. PRISMA guidelines were charted in this review. Subject search was performed in MEDLINE, ProQuest, PubMed, ISI web of sciences, Google scholar, Cochrane and Scopus databases for randomized clinical trials published in English languages, until December 2020, which assessed the effects of CV on metabolic syndrome related symptoms in clinical trials. Out of 4,821 records screened, after duplicate and irrelevant exclusion by title and abstract, 20 articles remained for full text screening. Finally a total of 12 articles met the study inclusion criteria and were assessed for study method and results. The findings showed controversies in anthropometric, glycemic and lipid profile effects. CV may have beneficial effects on obesity-related metabolic disorders; however, collected studies lacked statistical power to reach a definite conclusion. More well-designed studies are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global concern. Iran is one of the countries affected most by the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. As a result, the use of information technology (IT) has a variety of applications for pandemic management. The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic via IT management, based on extensive literature review and expert knowledge.Methods: The conceptual framework is developed in three stages: (1) a literature review to gather practical experience with IT applications for managing the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) a study of Iranian documents and papers that present Iran's practical experience with COVID-19, and (3) developing a conceptual framework based on the previous steps and validating it through a Delphi approach in two rounds, and by 13 experts.Results: The proposed conceptual framework demonstrates that during pandemics, 22 different types of technologies were used for various purposes, including virtual education, early warning, rapid screening and diagnosis of infected individuals, and data management. These objectives were classified into six categories, with the following applications highlighted: (1) Prevention (M-health, Internet search queries, telehealth, robotics, Internet of things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, Virtual Reality (VR), social media); (2) Diagnosis (M-health, drones, telehealth, IoT, Robotics, AI, Decision Support System (DSS), Electronic Health Record (EHR)); (3) Treatment (Telehealth, M-health, AI, Robotic, VR, IoT); (4) Follow-up (Telehealth, M-health, VR), (5) Management & planning (Geographic information system, M-health, IoT, blockchain), and (6) Protection (IoT, AI, Robotic and automatic vehicles, Augmented Reality (AR)). In Iran, the use of IT for prevention has been emphasized through M-health, internet search queries, social media, video conferencing, management and planning objectives using databases, health information systems, dashboards, surveillance systems, and vaccine coverage.Conclusions: IT capabilities were critical during the COVID-19 outbreak. Practical experience demonstrates that various aspects of information technologies were overlooked. To combat this pandemic, the government and decision-makers of this country should consider strategic planning that incorporates successful experiences against COVID-19 and the most advanced IT capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Our objective was to estimate the change in community-based education interventions throughout the world that may effectuate in risk parameters of type II diabetes (T2D), including the diabetes incidence rate, fasting blood glucose, hemoglobin A1C, body mass index, waist circumference, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Methods: A comprehensive search for globally eligible studies was conducted on PubMed, Embase, ProQuest, CINAHL nursing & allied health source, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, conference proceedings, and reference lists. Data were extracted using JBI standardized data extraction tool. The primary outcome variables were diabetes incidence rate, fasting blood sugar (FBS), hemoglobin A1c (HbAlc), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), systolic/diastolic blood pressure (s/d BP). Random-effects meta-analysis and sub-group analyses were conducted. Results: Nineteen interventional studies were included in the review, and ten studies were pooled in the meta-analysis (n = 16,106, mean age = 41.5 years). The incidence rate of T2D was reported in three trials, within which the risk of developing T2D was reduced by 54.0% in favor of community-based educational interventions, (RR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.38–0.75; p < 0.001). In eleven (n = 11,587) and six (n = 6416) studies, the pooled mean differences were − 0.33 (95% CI: − 0.45 to − 0.20, p < 0.0001) and − 0.15 (95% CI: − 0.28 to − 0.03, p < 0.0001) for FBS and HbA1c levels, respectively. Positive significant effects were observed on reducing BMI [pooled mean difference = − 0.47 (95% CI: − 0.66 to − 0.28), I2 = 95.7%, p < 0.0001] and WC [pooled mean difference = − 0.66 (95% CI: − 0.89 to − 0.43), I2 = 97.3%, p < 0.0001]. The use of theoretical frameworks was found to provide a 48.0% change in fasting blood sugar. Conclusions: Based on a comprehensive data collection of about 16,106 participants and reasonable analyses, we conclude that educational interventions may reduce diabetes incidence by 54.0%, particularly through reductions in fasting blood glucose, body mass index, and waist circumference. The diabetes risk parameters may favorably improve irrespective of the duration of intervention, at as low as 6 months. The application of theoretical frameworks while designing educational interventions is also encouraged. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42018115877 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. This systematic review aimed to determine the effectiveness and outcomes of immediate loading methods for short dental implants. Methods. The authors independently conducted an electronic search in the PubMed, Embase, EBSCO, ProQuest, and Cochrane databases for relevant articles published until November 15, 2020. The references of the included studies were assessed, and a manual search was conducted in Google Scholar and PubMed to find additional relevant studies. Results. Finally, three studies were selected and included in this systematic review. Significant heterogeneity existed in the design of the included studies, and due to the low number of the included studies, the authors could not perform a meta-analysis. The studies showed that the survival rate of immediate-loaded short implants is comparable to conventional loading methods. However, more marginal bone loss is expected. Overall, the immediate loading of short dental implants might be clinically successful. Conclusion. Based on the results, immediate loading protocols might be safely used for short implants. However, caution should be exercised in interpreting these results. Future welldesigned randomized clinical trials with more participants and study power are necessary to support the findings of this systematic review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: It has been shown that the mechanical and physical properties of Calcium Enriched Mixture (CEM) cement are influenced by the mixing methods. Despite several studies conducted on different mixing methods of CEM cement, there is no systematic review to summarize the results. This systematic review was conducted to investigate the effect of different mixing techniques on mechanical and physical characteristics of CEM cement. Methods and Materials: A professional librarian with skills in informatics conducted a systematic search by searching electronic databases PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and Ovid for English language peer-reviewed articles published between 1992 and April 2019. Results: Initial searches from all sources identified 1175 references. Two of the authors examined the titles, abstracts of these articles and the full reports of 20 studies were obtained, and data extraction was performed. Seven studies satisfied the eligibility criteria for the review. The effect of different mixing methods was investigated on bacterial microleakage, push- out bond strength, flow rate, compressive strength, solubility, pH, film thickness, dimensional changes, working time, setting time and quality of the apical plug. Conclusion: Based on the results of this systematic review, some of the important properties of CEM cement were affected by different mixing methods. Although none of these mixing methods could improve all the properties, mechanical and manual methods were more effective compared to ultrasonic method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Paclitaxel induced peripheral neuropathy (PIPN) is a major debilitating side effect of paclitaxel in patients with breast cancer with no fully known mechanisms. The aim of the study was to find out the possible risk factors for PIPN.Methods: Eligible patients with node positive breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy with paclitaxel were assessed. They belonged to an initial randomized controlled trial in which the effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids in preventing and reducing severity of PIPN was evaluated (protocol ID: NCT01049295). Reduced total neuropathy score (r-TNS) was used for measuring PIPN. All analyses were performed adjusting for intervention effect. The association between age, BMI, BSA, pathological grade, molecular biomarkers and PIPN was evaluated.Results: Fifty-seven patients with breast cancer were investigated. Age was significantly associated with risk of PIPN (RR:1.50, P value = .024). Body mass index and BSA had significant association with severity of PIPN (B:1.28, P = .025; and B: 3.88, P = .010 respectively). Also, BSA showed a significant association with the risk of PIPN (RR: 2.28, P = .035; B: 3.88, P = .035). Incidence and severity of PIPN were much more pronounced in progesterone receptor positive (PR+) patients (RR:1.88, P = .015 and B:1.54, P = .012). Multivariate analysis showed that age and the status of PR+ were independent risk factor for incidence and the status of PR+ was the only independent risk factor for severity of PIPN.Conclusion: Age, BSA and the status of PR+, should be considered as the risk factors for PIPN before commencement of chemotherapy with paclitaxel in patients with breast cancer. Older patients, those with greater BSA and PR+ patients may need closer follow up and more medical attention due to greater incidence and severity of PIPN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mobile applications are increasingly being used to support nutrition improvement. They could be effectively used for dietary intake assessment, weight management, physical activity monitoring, nutritional behaviors improvement, and nutrition education. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate current nutrition-related mobile apps on the Iranian apps store (Bazaar) and review their characteristics. Material and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on all Iranian mobile applications related to nutrition OR diet in 2022. Bazaar was used to search for nutrition-related applications using the following keywords: "diet", "nutrition", and their Persian translations. For each app, the extracted information was name, requirement for Internet connectivity, estimated number of downloads, user satisfaction rate, developers, and the main features of each app. Data collected from application description and application developer's webpage. Results: 76 mobile apps were identified from Bazaar app store. About 21% of them were developed by personal developers and 10 apps did not mention any specific developer. 42 applications were online and 33 applications were offline. Only 1 app could be used online/offline. In user satisfaction rate, 47 apps had 4-4.9 rating, and 7 apps had a rating of 5. Only 2 apps had under 3 rating. Conclusion: Iranian apps on nutrition and diet are widely available and very popular but currently most of them lack professional and evidence-based content. Developing apps based on standard and evidence-based online approaches would assure content quality, allowing healthcare professionals to recommend their use by people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Experience of tobacco use in early ages will increase probability of addiction to nicotine therefore, efficient tobacco control programs for teenagers are crucial. This study was conducted to recognize elements of successful integrated inside and outside of school based smoking prevention programs. Methods: MeSH terms and related keywords were used to search PubMed, Cochrane, Medline, EMBASE, ERIC, SID databases from inception to 29th October 2013. Trials with random and non-random designs, systematic reviews and cohort studies that assessed or reported application of integrated tobacco control programs were included. Quality of the retrieved publications was checked independently by the authors and any disagreement was resolved by consensus. Result: Among the 745 identified publications, only 15 studies had the inclusion criteria with a considerable methodological heterogeneity. While, precise outcome of integrated out of school/school-based interventions were not perceptible but this study's findings implied that outside of school intervention could strengthen school-based tobacco prevention programs. No study was found to examine school-based interventions integrated with primary health care such as anti-tobacco consultations, high-risk students screening and their referral to special centers. Conclusion: Integration of outside and inside of school-based programs may boost probability of obtaining favorable outcomes and success rate in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antibiotics are extensively discharged into the environment through sewages. These emergent contaminants cause health and environmental risks by toxicity, allergic impacts, non-biodegradability and more importantly advancing antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are hardly removed by conventional treatment processes and frequently are being reported in aquatic environments. The systematic review outlined in this protocol will compile and synthesize literature on the variety and concentrations of antibiotics in wastewaters and receiving water resources. Also, the review will address the efficiency of treatment processes in elimination of antibiotics from aqueous solutions. Outcomes of the study could help wastewater treatment plant engineers with providing reliable design data and outline a road map for future researches. Methods: The review will be performed according to the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) guidelines for systematic review and evidence synthesis in environmental management, and will be reported according to ROSES reporting standards for systematic evidence syntheses. The published articles will be screened by considering the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria at the title, abstract and full-text levels. Included studies will be exposed to a critical appraisal for validity and quality assessment. The articles will be assessed on the susceptibility to bias and the studies with high bias will be excluded from the data synthesis. The data from included studies will be combined into a narrative synthesis. Random effect Meta-analysis will be conducted due to the likely range of underlying effects. If the heterogeneity exists, the source of heterogeneity will be sought by met-regression and subgroup analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: It is all accepted that high-quality evidence is essential for clinical decision making. As Haynes "6S pyramid", systems including decision support systems are at the top of this pyramid as the highest level of evidence. There are numerous systematic reviews which have assessed various aspects in this field. The aim of this study is evaluating the methodological quality of decision support system (DSS) systematic reviews. Methods: A comprehensive literature search using MEDLINE (via Ovid), Embase, PubMed and Cochrane Library was conducted until September August 2016. The search was limited to systematic reviews and with no language restriction. Meta-reviews were excluded. Only results of searching for "decision support systems" or "decision support system" keywords and limited to title of documents were included in this study. Two independent authors screened the results. Disagreement was resolved by discussion. The assessment of multiple systematic reviews (AMSTAR) checklist was used to assess methodological quality of selected studies. Data were extracted into Excel 2013. Results: A total of 47 systematic reviews (SRs) were enrolled which only 7 of them had meta-analysis. About 25.5% of studies were published in specialized publications. There was a dramatic increase in the number of SRs in recent decade and near to 66% of studies were published from 2011. The mean AMSTAR score of SRs was 6.78 (out of 9) and 9.71 (out of 11) for SRs with meta-analysis. Meanwhile 52.5% of SRs received a score between 7 and 8 while 70% of them scored more than 7. Near 83% of studies performed a reasonable comprehensive literature search, presented characteristics of the included studies and also stated conflict of interest. It was remarkable that 76.6% of studies had not a list of excluded studies. In more than 95% of SRs the scientific quality of the included studies was mentioned in conclusions. Conclusion: It seems that the quality of reporting in the field of DSS is acceptable. But although the score of literature search was good, lack of full presentation of search strategies was observed. Few meta-analyses in the included studies was notable and most of SRs stated heterogeneity as the reason. It seems that because of the overall view in AMSTAR scoring methods and its questions, it is hard to determine the specific bias and failures in the quality assessment of systematic reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Search strategies play a major role in developing a systematic review. A comprehensive literature search dramatically reduces publication bias. The higher sensitive search leads to a more well-prepared systematic review. The aim of this study is evaluating the quality of search strategies in decision support system (DSS) systematic reviews. Methods: A comprehensive literature search using MEDLINE (via Ovid), Embase, Pubmed and Cochrane Library was conducted until September August 2016. The search was limited to systematic reviews and with no language restriction. Meta-reviews were excluded. Only results of searching for "decision support systems" or "decision support system" keywords and limited to title of documents were included in this study. Two independent authors screened the results. Disagreement was resolved by discussion. The search strategies of the included studies were assessed with a nine-question checklist prepared by Faggion et al1. Data were extracted into Excel. Results: A total of 47 systematic reviews (SRs) were included. There was a dramatic increase in the number of SRs in recent decade; however no significant improvement was seen in search strategies during the time. The mean score of search strategies among SRs was 4.63 (out of 9). The highest score was 7 (21.2%) and more than 53% of SRs obtained a score between 5 and 7. In 74.4% of SRs, 3-8 databases were searched which 40.4% were considered 4 databases. About 55% of SRs reported search keywords and using Boolean operators that has increased in recent years. Near to 98% of studies were not conducted in duplicate. In near to 75% of studies hand-searching was performed but instead, in 72.3% grey literature was not searched and in 65.9% the authors of studies were not contacted for further relevant information. Fortunately, in about 60% of studies the literature search was performed without language restriction. Conclusions: Lack of duplicate literature searching in systematic reviews was notable. Although most of SRs were searched more than four databases but it seems that in most of them the major databases were not searched and instead, local or specialized databases were considered. Low tendency to grey literature searching was remarkable. It seems that the quality of reporting search strategies in the field of DSS is poor or moderate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]