Objective To assess the quality reports on acupuncture in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia. Methods MEDLINE, CBM, CMCC and CNKI from 1994 to 2006 were searched electronically. Handsearching was also done. The retrieved articles were assessed in terms of several factors, including the type of clinical research, methodology, diagnostic criteria, inclusion/exclusion criteria, effectiveness measurements, calculation of sample size, follow-up, etc. Results Among the 109 included articles, only 6 were true randomized controlled trials. There were 17 quasi-randomized controlled trials, 13 non-randomized concurrent controlled trials, 1 case-control study and 63 narrative studies. 29 of the reports clearly described the diagnostic criteria, 14 mentioned the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 79 reported the effectiveness measurements, none mentioned the calculation of sample size, 24 reported the follow-up outcomes, and only 1 mentioned adverse reactions. Conclusion More prospective, multicenter, large-scale, high-quality randomised trials are needed, and recommendations should also be made for future evaluations of methodological quality.
【Abstract】ObjectiveTo review the epidemiology, etiology, pathology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment, recurrance and prognosis of Mondor disease. MethodsLiteratures on Mondor disease were reviewed, and our study of Mondor disease was also included. ResultsMondor disease is difficult to diagnose, but is with good prognosis in most patients. It’s unclear whether Mondor disease is associated with the etiology of breast cancer. ConclusionThe diagnosis and therapy of Mondor disease are important, especially when it is accompanied with breast cancer.
Objective To investigate the effects of gefitinib in the treatment of sarcomatoid carcinoma. Methods Clinical data of a case of sarcomatoid carcinoma was analyzed and related literatures were reviewed.Results A patient with sarcomatoid carcinoma was admitted with progressive dry cough,chest pain and dyspnea for 3 months. The patient was diagnosed as lung sarcomatoid carcinoma by thoracoscopy and treated with gefitinib. After 2 weeks treatment, symptoms disappeared and tumor was stable for 4 months. Literatures review suggested that sarcomatoid carcinoma is a rare malignant tumor. Treatment of sarcomatoid carcinoma includes surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but these methods show little effect in advanced patients. In our case, the patient with sarcomatoid carcinoma in stage Ⅳ was treated by gefitinib and showed favourable effect. Conclusions Advanced sarcomatoid carcinoma patients have a short life span and poor life quality. Gefitinib may provide these patients a feasible therapeutic approach.
Objective To reveal the worldwide research status and hot topics of sleep apnea syndrome ( SAS) . Methods Articles were searched from Web of Science ( SCI) , Essential Science Indicator ( 2000 to 2010) database using sleep apnea syndrome or apnea as keywords. Retrieved documents were analyzed using the database with its own statistical functions and histcite software ( version 8.12. 16) .Results Since 1992 the international scientific papers on the SAS study showed a gradual upward trend.The United States is a world leader in this field. Recent research has focused on vascular endothelial barrier function and repair, oxidative stress, inflammation, cognitive function, special populations such as the elderlyor children patients with SAS. Conclusion Clinical researchers have paid more attention to SAS than before, but there are still many important issues unresolved.
ObjectiveTo explore the abilities of thesis writing of postgraduate medical freshpeople and their factors, and provide a basis for postgraduate education and course design of thesis writing.MethodsA designed questionnaire was administered to postgraduate medical freshpeople enrolled in West China Medical School of Sichuan University in 2020. The general characteristics, current status of skills or experiences related to thesis writing, and abilities including literature retrieval and reading, statistical analysis, diagramming, research paper writing, and journal selection and submission of the postgraduates were collected in September 2020. Logical regression was conducted to analyze the factors affecting the abilities of thesis writing.ResultsA total of 503 valid questionnaires were collected. Over one half of the graduate students (58.3%) were satisfied with the ability of literature retrieval and reading, with the highest score among the five abilities [median (lower quartile, upper quartile) was 3 (2, 3)]. Less than 20% of the students were satisfied with the remaining four abilities, with the lowest scores in the abilities of diagramming, research paper writing, and journal selection and submission [each median (lower quartile, upper quartile) was 1 (1, 2)]. Research experience and acknowledge of reporting guidelines were independent factors for all abilities related to thesis writing (P<0.05). Proficiency in statistical software was an independent factor for the abilities of data statistical analysis, diagramming, research paper writing, and journal selection and submission (P<0.05). Having published scientific paper was an independent factor for ability of journal selection and submission [odds ratio=4.695, 95% confidence interval (2.166, 10.180), P<0.001].ConclusionsThe postgraduate medical freshpeople of West China Medical School are not satisfied with the ability of statistical analysis, diagramming, paper writing, or journal selection and submission. Attention should be paid to research practice and learning of reporting guidelines, while statistical courses and diagramming courses should be set up expressly.
ObjectivesTo explore the effect of the deep learning algorithm convolutional neural network (CNN) in screening of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in Chinese medical literatures.MethodsLiterature with the topic " oral science” published in 2014 were retrieved from CNKI and exported citations containing title and abstract. RCTs screening was conducted by double independent screening, checking and peer discussion. The final results of the citations were used for CNN algorithm model training. After completing the algorithm model training, a prospective comparative trial was organized by searching all literature with the topic "oral science" published in CNKI from January to March 2018 to compare the sensitivity (SEN) and specificity (SPE) of algorithm with manual screening. The initial results of a single screener represented the performance of manual screening, and the final results after peer discussion were used as the gold standard. The best thresholds of algorithm were determined with the receptor operative characteristic (ROC) curve.ResultsA total of 1 246 RCTs and 4 754 non-RCTs were eventually included for training and testing of CNN algorithm model. 249 RCTs and 949 non-RCTs were included in the prospective trial. The SEN and SPE of manual screening were 98.01% and 98.82%. For the algorithm model, the SEN of RCTs screening decreased with the increase of threshold value while the SPE increased with the increase of threshold value. After 27 changes of threshold value, ROC curve were obtained. The area under the ROC curve was 0.9977, unveiling the optimal accuracy threshold (Threshold=0.4, SEN=98.39%, SPE=98.84%) and high sensitivity threshold (Threshold=0.06, SEN=99.60%, SPE=94.10%).ConclusionsA CNN algorithm model is trained with Chinese RCTs classification database established in this study and shows an excellent classification performance in screening RCTs of Chinese medical literature, which is proved to be comparable to the manual screening performance in the prospective controlled trial.
ObjectiveTo investigate the current research status and its developing trend of Crohn’s disease (CD) in Chinese journals in the past 40 years, and to provide reference for future research on CD.MethodsWith “Crohn’s disease” as the retrieval word, the literature about CD published from January 1978 to December 2017 were retrieved in the SinoMed database. The distributions of publication dates, journals, research institutions, and regions of literature were analyzed by EndNote, Excel, MySQL, and GraphPad Prism softwares.ResultsA total of 2 140 papers matched the searching criteria, including 1 391 papers published in the core journals. The number of papers increased by year, especially in the past 20 years, the growth rate of the total number of papers every 5 years was 96.67%, 202.54%, 85.15%, and 29.35%, respectively. A total of 152 papers met the criteria of evidence-based documents, and the proportion of evidence-based articles in the total papers every 5 years was 2.54%, 3.92%, 4.69%, and 12.16%, respectively. In the respect of region distribution of literature, the first addresses of 1 060 papers were in East China, accounting for 50.36% of the total number of papers. Jiangsu Province, Guangdong Province, Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, and Beijing had published a total of 1 257 papers, accounting for 59.71% of the total number of papers. In our research field, most of the studies were conducted by teaching hospitals.ConclusionsIn the past 40 years, the output of research on CD increased significantly in China. The proportion of evidence-based articles has increased, while the number of evidence-based research still needs to be improved. The regional distribution of literature was unbalanced, and teaching hospitals played a vital role in the research field.
Objective To explore the characteristics of articles related to Evidence-based Nursing (EBN) and to identify the problems and difficulties encountered by clinical nurses when they were engaged in evidence-based practice in China.Methods We searched for articles published in 6 nursing journals in China from 2000 to early 2006, and classified, investigated and analyzed the retrieved articles. Results Research on EBN has been changing from explaining theories and methods to applying research results in nursing practice. Among articles on clinical application, 90.9% did not describe the methods and search strategy used; 63.6% did not specify the sources of the evidence applied in practice; 93.9% did not describe the methodological quality of the evidence; only 6.1% used the results of systematic reviews or randomized trials to guide clinical practice; and 72.7% did not use effective evaluation methods to identify the nursing outcomes after applying evidences in clinical practice. Conclusions The quality of EBN related articles needs to improve further. Nurses should learn more about the knowledge and skills associated with EBN so as to improve the quality of nursing practice and of academic articles on EBN
Patients with chronic diseases usually face severe challenges during their transition from hospital to home, such as poor discharge preparation, the increased incidence of medical errors, insufficient self-care capability, and poor participation in healthcare decision, which can result in increased readmission and poor patient safety. This paper reviews the definition of transitional care, single-element transitional care intervention strategy, and multiple-element transitional care intervention strategy, in order to provide new insights into the development of effective and safe transitional care strategies in China.
Objective To introduce the method of reading systematic reviews. Methods Papers and books on reading and evaluating medical literature were searched comprehensively, and general principles and approaches of reading systematic reviews were summarized. Results The following 10 points were summarized to help read systematic reviews in a scientific, rapid, and efficient way: ① Was there any overviews of reviews? ② Was there a recent update? ③ Were the previous relevant systematic reviews integrated? ④ Were sound searching strategies established and implemented? ⑤ Was quality evaluation done concerning the original research? ⑥ Were the results of the original research conflated properly? ⑦ Was there any explanation to the limitations or weaknesses of the systematic review? ⑧ Were the problems to be solved in the next stage put forward? ⑨ Were the abstracts and full-texts reported sufficiently? ⑩ Were the systematic reviews helpful in solving practical problems? Additionally, the readers were divided into the four groups based on their application of the systematic reviews: health policy makers, health care suppliers, researchers as well as patients and common people. Conclusion The reading of the systematic reviews should be stressed in order to better guide decision-making and promote evidence-based practice.