TrialPanorama/TrialPanorama-benchmark huggingface dataset:
Background: This is an updated version of the original review, published in Issue 1, 2011, of The Cochrane Library. Acute lower abdominal pain is common, and making a diagnosis is particularly challenging in premenopausal women, as ovulation and menstruation symptoms overlap with symptoms of appendicitis, early pregnancy complications and pelvic infection. A management strategy involving early laparoscopy could potentially provide a more accurate diagnosis, earlier treatment and reduced risk of complications.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and harms of laparoscopy for the management of acute lower abdominal pain in women of childbearing age.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that included women of childbearing age who presented with acute lower abdominal pain, non-specific lower abdominal pain or suspected appendicitis were included. Trials were included if they evaluated laparoscopy with open appendicectomy, or laparoscopy with a wait and see strategy. Study selection was carried out by two review authors independently.
Background: Medicinal plant products are used orally for treating osteoarthritis. Although their mechanisms of action have not yet been elucidated in full detail, interactions with common inflammatory mediators provide a rationale for using them to treat osteoarthritic complaints.
Objectives: To update a previous Cochrane review to assess the benefits and harms of oral medicinal plant products in treating osteoarthritis.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of orally consumed herbal interventions compared with placebo or active controls in people with osteoarthritis were included. Herbal interventions included any plant preparation but excluded homeopathy or aromatherapy products, or any preparation of synthetic origin.
Background: Migraine is a common, disabling condition and a burden for the individual, health services, and society. Zolmitriptan is an abortive medication for migraine attacks, belonging to the triptan family. These medicines work in a different way to analgesics such as paracetamol and ibuprofen.
Objectives: To determine the efficacy and tolerability of zolmitriptan compared to placebo and other active interventions in the treatment of acute migraine attacks in adults.
Selection criteria: We included randomised, double-blind, placebo- or active-controlled studies, with at least 10 participants per treatment arm, using zolmitriptan to treat a migraine headache episode.
Background: Psychological stress has been widely implicated in asthma exacerbation. Evidence suggests that written emotional disclosure, an intervention that involves writing about traumatic or stressful experiences, helps to reduce stress and promote physical and psychological well-being. Written emotional disclosure may have a role in the management of asthma.
Objectives: This review aims to determine the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure for people with asthma, specifically, to assess:1. overall efficacy of emotional disclosure compared with emotionally neutral writing on self reported quality of life in people with asthma;2. overall efficacy of emotional disclosure compared with emotionally neutral writing on objective measures of health outcome in people with asthma; and3. comparative efficacy of different types of emotional disclosure for people with asthma.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials published in any language comparing written emotional disclosure intervention versus a control writing (emotionally neutral) intervention in participants with asthma were included in the review.
Background: Antidepressants are widely used to treat chronic neuropathic pain (pain due to nerve damage), usually in doses below those at which they exert antidepressant effects. An earlier review that included all antidepressants for neuropathic pain is being replaced by new reviews of individual drugs examining individual neuropathic pain conditions.Imipramine is a tricyclic antidepressant that is occasionally used to treat neuropathic pain.
Objectives: To assess the analgesic efficacy of imipramine for chronic neuropathic pain in adults, and to assess the associated adverse events.
Selection criteria: We included randomised, double-blind studies of at least two weeks' duration comparing imipramine with placebo or another active treatment in chronic neuropathic pain. Participants were adults aged 18 and over. We included only articles with full journal publication and extended trial abstracts and summaries.
Background: Seborrhoeic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder affecting primarily the skin of the scalp, face, chest, and intertriginous areas, causing scaling and redness of the skin. Current treatment options include antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and keratolytic agents, as well as phototherapy.
Objectives: To assess the effects of topical pharmacological interventions with established anti-inflammatory action for seborrhoeic dermatitis occurring in adolescents and adults.
Selection criteria: We included RCTs in adults or adolescents (> 16 years) with diagnosed seborrhoeic dermatitis of the scalp or face, comparing topical anti-inflammatory treatments (steroids, calcineurin inhibitors, and lithium salts) with other treatments.
Background: Parental psychosocial health can have a significant effect on the parent-child relationship, with consequences for the later psychological health of the child. Parenting programmes have been shown to have an impact on the emotional and behavioural adjustment of children, but there have been no reviews to date of their impact on parental psychosocial wellbeing.
Objectives: To address whether group-based parenting programmes are effective in improving parental psychosocial wellbeing (for example, anxiety, depression, guilt, confidence).
Selection criteria: We included randomised controlled trials that compared a group-based parenting programme with a control condition and used at least one standardised measure of parental psychosocial health. Control conditions could be waiting-list, no treatment, treatment as usual or a placebo.
Background: Retained placenta affects 0.5% to 3% of women following delivery and it is a major cause of maternal death due to postpartum haemorrhage. Usually, retained placenta has been managed by manual removal or curettage under anaesthesia, which may be associated with haemorrhage, infection and uterine perforation. Medical management to facilitate the delivery of the retained placenta could be a safe alternative avoiding surgical intervention.
Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and safety of prostaglandins for the management of retained placenta.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled clinical trials comparing the use of prostaglandins (or prostaglandin analogues) with placebo, expectant management, tocolytic drugs, any other prostaglandins or surgical interventions for the management of retained placenta after vaginal delivery of singleton live infants of 20 or more weeks of gestation.
Background: Standard care of adjuvant treatment for anaplastic oligodendrogliomas (AO) and anaplastic oligoastrocytomas (AOA) is not yet well defined. The benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT), given as single modalities or sequentially, is still unclear. Furthermore, insight into the predictive and prognostic impact of various biomarkers is surging.
Objectives: To compare postoperative sequential RT and chemotherapy to RT alone in adults with newly diagnosed AO or mixed AOA. To evaluate the predictive and prognostic impact of the following biomarkers: codeletion of chromosomes 1p and 19q, O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promotor methylation and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-1 and -2 mutations.
Selection criteria: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of adults with AO, AOA or anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) comparing adjuvant treatment of chemotherapy, RT, or sequential chemotherapy and RT. We excluded no specific chemotherapy regimens.
Background: Approximately 13% of women diagnosed with endometrial cancer present with advanced stage disease (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage III/IV). The standard treatment of advanced endometrial cancer consists of cytoreductive surgery followed by radiation therapy, or chemotherapy, or both. There is currently little agreement about which adjuvant treatment is the safest and most effective.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of adjuvant chemotherapy compared with radiotherapy or chemoradiation, and to determine which chemotherapy agents are most effective in women presenting with advanced endometrial cancer (FIGO stage III/IV).
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of adjuvant chemotherapy compared with radiotherapy or chemoradiation in women with FIGO stage III and IV endometrial cancer.
Background: Fungating wounds arise from primary, secondary or recurrent malignant disease and are associated with advanced cancer. A small proportion of patients may achieve healing following surgical excision, but treatment is usually palliative. Fungating wound management usually aims to slow disease progression and optimise quality of life by alleviating physical symptoms, such as copious exudate, malodour, pain and the risk of haemorrhage, through selection of appropriate dressings and topical agents.
Objectives: To review the evidence of the effects of dressings and topical agents on quality of life, and symptoms that impact on quality of life, in people with fungating malignant wounds.
Selection criteria: Eligible studies comprised randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or, in their absence, controlled clinical trials (CCTs) with a concurrent control group.
Background: Effective use of warfarin involves keeping the international normalised ratio (INR) within a relatively narrow therapeutic range. However, patients respond widely to their dose of warfarin. Overcoagulation can lead to an increased risk of excessive bleeding, while undercoagulation can lead to increased clot formation. There is some evidence that patients with a variable response to warfarin may benefit from a concomitant low dose of vitamin K.
Objectives: To assess the effects of concomitant supplementation of low-dose oral vitamin K for anticoagulation control in patients being initiated on or taking a maintenance dose of warfarin.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials comparing the addition of vitamin K versus placebo in patients initiating warfarin or already taking warfarin.
Background: Pericyazine is a 3-cyano-10 (3-4'-hydroxypiperidinopropyl) phenothiazine. It is overall pharmacologically similar with chlorpromazine, though particularly sedating. Dopamine receptor subtype analysis has not been performed for pericyazine, but the drug appears to induce greater noradrenergic than dopaminergic blockade. Compared to chlorpromazine, pericyazine reportedly has more potent antiemetic, antiserotonin, and anticholinergic activity.
Objectives: To evaluate the clinical effects and safety of pericyazine in comparison with placebo, typical and atypical antipsychotic agents and standard care for people with schizophrenia.
Selection criteria: All relevant randomised controlled trials focusing on pericyazine for schizophrenia and other types of schizophrenia-like psychoses (schizophreniform and schizoaffective disorders). We excluded quasi-randomised trials.
Background: For most patients who require intensive care, the success of clinical decision making and interventions is dependent on the accuracy of different physiological variables measured or obtained from samples using an arterial catheter. Maintaining the patency of these catheters is therefore essential for obtaining accurate measures, minimizing patient discomfort and reducing expenses incurred when an occluded catheter requires replacement. Uncertainty exists amongst clinicians as to best practice surrounding the contents of the arterial catheter flush solution (heparin or saline). The use of heparin is more expensive and is accompanied by significant risks such as haemorrhage, hypersensitivity and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).
Objectives: The objective of this review was to evaluate whether normal saline is as efficacious and safe as heparin in maintaining the patency of arterial intravascular catheters in adult patients without a haematological disorder.
Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials and quasi-randomized studies irrespective of blinding or language that compared an arterial catheter flush solution comprising any dose of heparin versus an infusion of normal saline only.
Background: Insufficient bone volume is a common problem encountered in the rehabilitation of the edentulous posterior maxillae with implant-supported prostheses. Bone volume is limited by the presence of the maxillary sinus together with loss of alveolar bone height. Sinus lift procedures increase bone volume by augmenting the sinus cavity with autogenous bone or commercially available biomaterials, or both. This is an update of a Cochrane review first published in 2010.
Objectives: To assess the beneficial or harmful effects of bone augmentation compared to no augmentation when undertaking a sinus lift procedure. Secondly, to compare the benefits and harms of different maxillary sinus lift techniques for dental implant rehabilitation.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of different techniques and materials for augmenting the maxillary sinus for rehabilitation with dental implants that report the outcome of implant success or failure at least to four months after initial loading.
Background: Total knee replacement (TKR) is a common and often painful operation. Femoral nerve block (FNB) is frequently used for postoperative analgesia.
Objectives: To evaluate the benefits and risks of FNB used as a postoperative analgesic technique relative to other analgesic techniques among adults undergoing TKR.
Selection criteria: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing FNB with no FNB (intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) opioid, epidural analgesia, local infiltration analgesia, and oral analgesia) in adults after TKR. We also included RCTs that compared continuous versus single-shot FNB.
Background: A sedentary lifestyle and stress are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Since yoga involves exercise and is thought to help in stress reduction it may be an effective strategy in the primary prevention of CVD.
Objectives: To determine the effect of any type of yoga on the primary prevention of CVD.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials lasting at least three months involving healthy adults or those at high risk of CVD. Trials examined any type of yoga and the comparison group was no intervention or minimal intervention. Outcomes of interest were clinical CVD events and major CVD risk factors. We did not include any trials that involved multifactorial lifestyle interventions or weight loss.
Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder with multiorgan effects. In a subgroup with pancreatic insufficiency malabsorption of the fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) may occur. Vitamin D is involved in calcium homeostasis and bone mineralisation and may have extraskeletal effects. This review examines the evidence for vitamin D supplementation in cystic fibrosis.
Objectives: To assess the effects of vitamin D supplementation on the frequency of vitamin D deficiency, respiratory outcomes and vitamin D toxicity in the cystic fibrosis population.
Selection criteria: Randomised and quasi-randomised controlled studies of vitamin D supplementation compared to placebo in the cystic fibrosis population regardless of exocrine pancreatic function.
Background: Exercise training as a component of pulmonary rehabilitation improves health-related quality of life (HRQL) and exercise capacity in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, some individuals may have difficulty performing exercise at an adequate intensity. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) during exercise improves exercise capacity and dyspnoea during a single exercise session. Consequently, NIV during exercise training may allow individuals to exercise at a higher intensity, which could lead to greater improvement in exercise capacity, HRQL and physical activity.
Objectives: To determine whether NIV during exercise training (as part of pulmonary rehabilitation) affects exercise capacity, HRQL and physical activity in people with COPD compared with exercise training alone or exercise training with sham NIV.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials that compared NIV during exercise training versus exercise training alone or exercise training with sham NIV in people with COPD were considered for inclusion in this review.
Background: Hip or knee replacement is a major surgical procedure that can be physically and psychologically stressful for patients. It is hypothesised that education before surgery reduces anxiety and enhances clinically important postoperative outcomes.
Objectives: To determine whether preoperative education in people undergoing total hip replacement or total knee replacement improves postoperative outcomes with respect to pain, function, health-related quality of life, anxiety, length of hospital stay and the incidence of adverse events (e.g. deep vein thrombosis).
Selection criteria: Randomised or quasi-randomised trials of preoperative education (verbal, written or audiovisual) delivered by a health professional within six weeks of surgery to people undergoing hip or knee replacement compared with usual care.
Background: Intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) is a mechanical method of delivering compression to swollen limbs that can be used to treat venous leg ulcers and limb swelling due to lymphoedema.
Objectives: To determine whether IPC increases the healing of venous leg ulcers. To determine the effects of IPC on health related quality of life of venous leg ulcer patients.
Selection criteria: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the effects of IPC with control (sham IPC or no IPC) or made comparisons between IPC treatment regimens, in venous ulcer management.
Background: Mucus retention in the lungs is a prominent feature of bronchiectasis. The stagnant mucus becomes chronically colonised with bacteria, which elicit a host neutrophilic response. This fails to eliminate the bacteria, and the large concentration of host-derived protease may contribute to the airway damage. The sensation of retained mucus is itself a cause of suffering, and the failure to maintain airway sterility probably contributes to the frequent respiratory infections experienced by many patients.Hypertonic saline inhalation is known to accelerate tracheobronchial clearance in many conditions, probably by inducing a liquid flux into the airway surface, which alters mucus rheology in a way favourable to mucociliary clearance. Inhaled dry powder mannitol has a similar effect. Such agents are an attractive approach to the problem of mucostasis, and deserve further clinical evaluation.
Objectives: To determine whether inhaled hyperosmolar substances are effective in the treatment of bronchiectasis.
Selection criteria: Any randomised controlled trial (RCT) using hyperosmolar inhalation in patients with bronchiectasis not caused by cystic fibrosis.
Background: Research shows that administration of prophylactic antibiotics before colorectal surgery prevents postoperative surgical wound infection. The best antibiotic choice, timing of administration and route of administration remain undetermined.
Objectives: To establish the effectiveness of antimicrobial prophylaxis for the prevention of surgical wound infection in patients undergoing colorectal surgery. Specifically to determine:1. whether antimicrobial prophylaxis reduces the risk of surgical wound infection;2. the target spectrum of bacteria (aerobic or anaerobic bacteria, or both);3. the best timing and duration of antibiotic administration;4. the most effective route of antibiotic administration (intravenous, oral or both);5. whether any antibiotic is clearly more effective than the currently recommended gold standard specified in published guidelines;6. whether antibiotics should be given before or after surgery.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of prophylactic antibiotic use in elective and emergency colorectal surgery, with surgical wound infection as an outcome.
Background: Informed consent is a critical component of clinical research. Different methods of presenting information to potential participants of clinical trials may improve the informed consent process. Audio-visual interventions (presented, for example, on the Internet or on DVD) are one such method. We updated a 2008 review of the effects of these interventions for informed consent for trial participation.
Objectives: To assess the effects of audio-visual information interventions regarding informed consent compared with standard information or placebo audio-visual interventions regarding informed consent for potential clinical trial participants, in terms of their understanding, satisfaction, willingness to participate, and anxiety or other psychological distress.
Selection criteria: We included randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials comparing audio-visual information alone, or in conjunction with standard forms of information provision (such as written or verbal information), with standard forms of information provision or placebo audio-visual information, in the informed consent process for clinical trials. Trials involved individuals or their guardians asked to consider participating in a real or hypothetical clinical study. (In the earlier version of this review we only included studies evaluating informed consent interventions for real studies).
Background: This is an updated version of the original Cochrane review first published in Issue 2, 2009, and updated in Issue 4, 2012.Etoricoxib is a selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor licensed for the relief of chronic pain in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and acute pain in some jurisdictions. This class of drugs is believed to be associated with fewer upper gastrointestinal adverse effects than conventional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Objectives: To assess the efficacy and adverse effects of single dose etoricoxib for acute postoperative pain using methods that permit accurate comparison with other analgesics evaluated in the same way, using criteria of efficacy recommended by in-depth studies at the individual patient level.
Selection criteria: Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of single dose, oral etoricoxib for acute postoperative pain in adults.
Background: A number of tocolytics have been advocated for the treatment of threatened preterm labour in order to delay birth. The rationale is that a delay in birth may be associated with improved neonatal morbidity or mortality. Nitric oxide donors, such as nitroglycerin, have been used to relax the uterus. This review addresses their efficacy, adverse effects and influence on neonatal outcome.
Objectives: To determine whether nitric oxide donors administered in threatened preterm labour are associated with a delay in birth, adverse effects or improved neonatal outcome.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of nitric oxide donors administered for tocolysis.