TrialPanorama/TrialPanorama-benchmark huggingface dataset:
Background: Women at risk of pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension are sometimes advised to rest. Whether this, overall, does more good than harm is unclear.
Objectives: To assess the effects of rest or advice to reduce physical activity during pregnancy for preventing pre-eclampsia and its complications in women with normal blood pressure.
Selection criteria: Studies were included if they were randomised trials evaluating the effects of rest or advise to reduce physical activity for preventing pre-eclampsia and its complications in women with normal blood pressure.
Background: Non-specific cough is defined as non-productive cough in the absence of identifiable respiratory disease or known aetiology. It is commonly seen in paediatric practice. These children are treated with a variety of therapies including a variety of asthma medications. The leukotriene pathway is reported to be involved in the sensory (neurogenic) pathway, which is a mechanism thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic cough.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) in treating children with prolonged non-specific cough.
Selection criteria: All randomised controlled trials comparing LTRA with a placebo medication in children with non-specific cough.
Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent chronic joint disorder worldwide and is associated with significant pain and disability.
Objectives: To assess the effects of viscosupplementation in the treatment of OA of the knee. The products were hyaluronan and hylan derivatives (Adant, Arthrum H, Artz (Artzal, Supartz), BioHy (Arthrease, Euflexxa, Nuflexxa), Durolane, Fermathron, Go-On, Hyalgan, Hylan G-F 20 (Synvisc Hylan G-F 20), Hyruan, NRD-101 (Suvenyl), Orthovisc, Ostenil, Replasyn, SLM-10, Suplasyn, Synject and Zeel compositum).
Selection criteria: RCTs of viscosupplementation for the treatment of people with a diagnosis of OA of the knee were eligible. Single and double-blinded studies, placebo-based and comparative studies were eligible. At least one of the four OMERACT III core set outcome measures had to be reported (Bellamy 1997).
Background: The relative efficacy of fluticasone (FP) and beclomethasone (BDP) propelled with CFCs has been well established. The potency of HFA-BDP is thought to have been improved with new propellant and some studies suggest that it may equipotent at half the dose of CFC propelled-BDP. There is a need to revisit this question in the light of a potentially more potent new non-CFC propellant.
Objectives: To determine the relative efficacy of FP and HFA-propelled BDP in chronic asthma.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion in the review. We compared either CFC or HFA-propelled FP with HFA-propelled BDP. We made a distinction between HFA-BDP and HFA-BDP extra fine, which dispenses smaller particles of drug, leading to different, usually more peripheral distribution in the airways. Any inhaler device was considered, and there was no restriction on studies with or without spacers. We included studies which assessed HFA-BDP given via either pMDI, breath-actuated MDI, or DPI.
Background: Clinical trials have shown that calcium supplementation in children can increase bone mineral density (BMD) although this effect may not be maintained. There has been no quantitative systematic review of this intervention.
Objectives: . To determine the effectiveness of calcium supplementation for improving BMD in children. . To determine if any effect varies by sex, pubertal stage, ethnicity or level of physical activity, and if any effect persists after supplementation is ceased.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of calcium supplementation (including by food sources) compared with placebo, with a treatment period of at least 3 months in children without co-existent medical conditions affecting bone metabolism. Outcomes had to include areal or volumetric BMD, bone mineral content (BMC), or in the case of studies using quantitative ultrasound, broadband ultrasound attenuation and ultrasonic speed of sound, measured after at least 6 months of follow-up.
Background: Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age in developing countries. When hospitalisation is required, the usual practice includes administering parenteral antibiotics if a bacterial infection is suspected. This has disadvantages as it causes pain and discomfort to the children, which may lead to treatment refusal or reduced compliance. It is also associated with needle-related complications. In some settings this equipment is in short supply or unavailable necessitating transfer of the child, which increases risks and healthcare costs.
Objectives: To determine the equivalence in effectiveness and safety of oral antibiotic compared to parenteral antibiotic therapies in the treatment of severe pneumonia in children between three months and five years of age.
Selection criteria: The review included published or unpublished randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs comparing any oral antibiotic therapy with any parenteral antibiotic therapy for the treatment of severe pneumonia in children from three months to five years of age.
Background: Paracoccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection found in particular geographic localities in Latin America. Treatment can last for up to two years is often associated with complications, including relapse, but people may die without it.
Objectives: To evaluate drugs used for treating paracoccidioidomycosis.
Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials comparing drugs for treating people with paracoccidioidomycosis.
Background: Aqueous shunts are employed for intraocular pressure (IOP) control in primary and secondary glaucomas that fail medical, laser, and other surgical therapies.
Objectives: This review compares aqueous shunts for IOP control and safety.
Selection criteria: We included all randomized and quasi-randomized trials in which one arm of the study involved shunts.
Background: Treatment of people with schizophrenia using older typical antipsychotic drugs such as haloperidol can be problematic. Many fail to respond to these older antipsychotics and more people experience disabling adverse effects. Aripiprazole is said to be one of a new generation of atypical antipsychotics with good antipsychotic properties and minimal adverse effects.
Objectives: To evaluate the effects of aripiprazole for people with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychoses.
Selection criteria: All clinical randomised trials comparing aripiprazole with placebo, typical or atypical antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychoses.
Background: A favourable regimen for people infected with HIV/AIDS is one that provides optimal efficacy, durability of antiretroviral activity, tolerability, and has low adverse effects and drug-drug interactions. The combination of the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor nevirapine (NVP), and two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, stavudine (d4T) and lamivudine (3TC), is widely used as first-line therapy, especially in low-resource countries. Analysis of the efficacy, durability and tolerability of the regimen is thus important to clinicians, consumers and policy-makers living in both rich and poor countries.
Objectives: To examine the efficacy of the stavudine, lamivudine and nevirapine regimen for the treatment of HIV infection and AIDS in adults.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of the stavudine, lamivudine and nevirapine regimen, compared with any other regimens for treating HIV/AIDS, in antiretroviral treatment-naive or antiretroviral treatment-experienced adults.
Background: Allergic rhinitis represents a global health problem. Non-specific nasal hyperresponsiveness is an important feature of allergic and non-allergic rhinitis. This phenomenon is believed to result from the effect of allergic inflammation on the sensory nerves that supply the upper airway mucosa. A pharmacologic agent that has proved useful in the investigation of effects of neuronal stimulation is capsaicin, the pungent component of hot pepper. Intranasal capsaicin specifically stimulates afferent nerves consisting mostly of unmyelinated C fibers and some myelinated A-delta fibers. As a result it can trigger central and axonal reflexes, the latter being putatively mediated by the release of neuropeptides. Capsaicin as a blocking agent of neuropeptides, blocks the axon reflex and may exert a curative effect on allergic rhinitis.
Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of capsaicin for allergic rhinitis in adults.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of capsaicin for allergic rhinitis in adults were included.
Background: Palliative endoscopic stents or surgical by-pass are often required for inoperable pancreatic carcinoma to relieve symptomatic obstruction of the distal biliary tree. The optimal method of intervention remains unknown.
Objectives: To compare surgery, metal endoscopic stents and plastic endoscopic stents in the relief of distal biliary obstruction in patients with inoperable pancreatic carcinoma.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing surgery to endoscopic stenting, endoscopic metal stents to plastic stents, and different types of endoscopic plastic and metal stents, used to relieve obstruction of the distal bile duct in patients with inoperable pancreatic carcinoma.
Background: Malaria in pregnancy is associated with adverse consequences for mother and fetus. Protection with insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) during pregnancy is widely advocated, but evidence of their benefit has been inconsistent.
Objectives: To compare the impact of ITNs with no nets or untreated nets on preventing malaria in pregnancy.
Selection criteria: Individual and cluster randomized controlled trials of ITNs in pregnant women.
Background: It has been shown that central nervous system dopamine can play a major role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Brain glutamate is thought to mediate symptoms in schizophrenia due to the influence of glutamate neurons on the dopaminergic transmission in the brain. It might be possible to decrease negative symptoms and the cognitive impairment of people with schizophrenia by treatment with glutamatergic drugs.
Objectives: To determine the efficacy of glutamatergic drugs in the treatment of schizophrenia.
Selection criteria: We included all randomised controlled trials in which glutamatergic medication was administered to people with schizophrenia.
Background: Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and sodium cromoglycate (SCG) have become established as effective controller medications for children and adults with asthma, but their relative efficacy is not clear.
Objectives: To compare the relative effectiveness and adverse effects of ICS and SCG among children and adults with chronic asthma.
Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials comparing the effect of ICS with SCG in children and adults with chronic asthma.
Background: The main treatment for tuberculosis is antituberculous drugs. Low level laser therapy is used as an adjunct to antituberculous drugs, predominantly in the former Soviet Union and India.
Objectives: To compare low level laser therapy plus antituberculous drugs with antituberculous drugs alone for treating tuberculosis.
Selection criteria: Randomized trials comparing low level laser therapy plus antituberculous drugs with antituberculous drugs alone in people with tuberculosis.
Background: Electrostimulation might improve motor recovery after stroke by providing neuromuscular re-training.
Objectives: To find if electrostimulation improved functional motor ability, and the ability to undertake activities of daily living.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of electrostimulation delivered to the peripheral neuromuscular system which was designed to improve voluntary movement control, functional motor ability and activities of daily living.
Background: The role of corticosteroids in the process of labour is not well understood. Animal studies have shown the importance of cortisol secretion by the fetal adrenal gland in initiating labour in sheep. Infusion of glucocorticosteroids into the fetus has also shown to induce premature labour in sheep. Given these studies it has been postulated that corticosteroids will promote the induction of labour in women. This is one of a series of reviews of methods of cervical ripening and labour induction using standardised methodology.
Objectives: To determine the effects of corticosteroids for third trimester cervical ripening or induction of labour in comparison with other methods of cervical priming or induction of labour.
Selection criteria: Clinical trials of corticosteroids for third trimester cervical ripening or labour induction.
Background: Penfluridol, available since 1970, is an unusual long acting oral antipsychotic agent for the treatment of schizophrenia. It may be considered a depot medication as it is administered once a week.
Objectives: To review the effects of penfluridol for treatment of those with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like illnesses in comparison to placebo, other antipsychotic medication or no intervention.
Selection criteria: We reliably selected all randomised clinical trials comparing penfluridol to placebo or typical or atypical antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia or serious mental illness.
Background: Preterm infants experience a range of morbidity related to the immaturity of their organ systems and to concurrent disease states. There is concern that an unfavourable environment in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may compound this morbidity. Modification of the environment could minimize the iatrogenic effects. Developmental care is a broad category of interventions designed to minimize the stress of the NICU environment. These interventions may include elements such as control of external stimuli (vestibular, auditory, visual, tactile), clustering of nursery care activities, and positioning or swaddling of the preterm infant. Individual strategies have also been combined to form programs, such as the 'Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program' (NIDCAP) (Als 1986).
Objectives: In preterm infants, do developmental care interventions reduce neurodevelopmental delay, poor weight gain, length of hospital stay, length of mechanical ventilation, physiological stress and other clinically relevant adverse outcomes?
Selection criteria: Randomized trials in which elements of developmental care are compared to routine nursery care for infants < 37 weeks gestation and that measured clinically relevant outcomes. Reports were in English or a language for which a translator was available. Computerized searches were conducted and all potentially relevant titles and abstracts were extracted. Retrieved articles were assessed for relevance independently by two reviewers, based on predetermined criteria. Articles that met all criteria for relevance were assessed for methodological quality based on predetermined criteria. Articles judged to have the appropriate quality by both reviewers were included in the analysis.
Background: In traditional didactic teaching, the learner has a passive role, digesting the knowledge presented by the teacher. Stimulating and active teaching processes may be better at instilling information than more pedestrian approaches. Games involving repetition, reinforcement, association and use of multiple senses have been proposed as part of experiential learning.
Objectives: To assess the effects of educational games on the knowledge and clinical skill of mental health professionals compared to the effects of standard teaching approaches.
Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials comparing any educational game aiming at increasing knowledge and/or skills with a standard educational approach for mental health professionals.
Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition associated with high morbidity, mortality and cost to the community. Patients often report symptomatic improvement with short-acting beta-2 agonists (SABA) and anticholinergic bronchodilator medications, and both are recommended in COPD guidelines. These medications have different mechanisms of action and therefore could have an additive effect when combined.
Objectives: To compare the relative efficacy and safety of regular long term use (at least four weeks) of ipratropium bromide and short- acting beta-2 agonist therapy in patients with stable COPD.
Selection criteria: All randomised controlled trials comparing at least 4 weeks of treatment with an anticholinergic agent (ipratropium bromide) alone or in combination with a beta-2 agonist (short acting) versus the beta-2 agonist alone, delivered via metered dose inhaler or nebuliser, in non-asthmatic adult subjects with stable COPD.
Background: Amantadine hydrochloride and rimantadine hydrochloride have antiviral properties, but they are not widely used due to a lack of knowledge of their potential value and concerns about possible adverse effects.
Objectives: The objective of this review was to assess the efficacy, effectiveness and safety ("effects") of amantadine and rimantadine in healthy adults.
Selection criteria: Randomised and quasi-randomised studies comparing amantadine and/or rimantadine with placebo, control medication or no intervention, or comparing doses or schedules of amantadine and/or rimantadine in healthy adults.
Background: Internal fixation, commonly used for extracapsular hip fractures, may fail particularly in unstable fractures. Replacement of the hip using arthroplasty, often used for intracapsular fractures, has been used as an alternative.
Objectives: To compare replacement arthroplasty with internal fixation for the treatment of extracapsular hip fractures in adults.
Selection criteria: Randomised and quasi-randomised trials comparing replacement arthroplasty with an internal fixation implant for adults with an extracapsular hip fracture.
Background: Since the introduction of the first cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) in 1997, most clinicians and probably most patients would consider the cholinergic drugs, donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine, to be the first line pharmacotherapy for mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.The drugs have slightly different pharmacological properties, but they all work by inhibiting the breakdown of acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter associated with memory, by blocking the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. The most that these drugs could achieve is to modify the manifestations of Alzheimer's disease. Cochrane reviews of each ChEI for Alzheimer's disease have been completed (Birks 2005, Birks 2005b and Loy 2005). Despite the evidence from the clinical studies and the intervening clinical experience the debate on whether ChEIs are effective continues.
Objectives: To assess the effects of donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine in people with mild, moderate or severe dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.
Selection criteria: All unconfounded, blinded, randomized trials in which treatment with a ChEI was compared with placebo or another ChEI for patients with mild, moderate or severe dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.
Background: A large and growing number of older people across the world suffer from schizophrenia. Recommendations for their treatment are largely based on data extrapolated from studies of the use of antipsychotic medications in younger populations. In addition most manufacturers of such medications recommend prescription of reduced doses to the elderly. The evidence base for these assumptions is unclear and raises obvious questions regarding the appropriateness of such prescribing practice.
Objectives: To find and assimilate good evidence of the effects of antipsychotic medication for treatment of schizophrenia in people over 65 years of age.
Selection criteria: All clinical randomised trials evaluating antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychoses in older people.
Background: The improvement of renal allograft survival by pre-transplantation transfusions alerted the medical community to the potential detrimental effect of transfusions in patients being treated for cancer.
Objectives: The present meta-analysis aims to evaluate the role of perioperative blood transfusions (PBT) on colorectal cancer recurrence. This is accomplished by validating the results of a previously published meta-analysis (Amato 1998); and by updating it to December 2004.
Selection criteria: Patients undergoing curative resection of colorectal cancer (classified either as Dukes stages A-C, Astler-Coller stages A-C2, or TNM stages T1-3a/N0-1/M0) were included if they had received any amount of blood products within one month of surgery. Excluded were patients with distant metastases at surgery, and studies with short follow-up or with no data.
Background: Artemisinin-based combination treatments are strongly advocated, but supplies are limited. Sulfadoxine combined with amodiaquine is an alternative non-artemisinin combination.
Objectives: To compare sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine (SP plus AQ) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus artesunate (SP plus AS) for treating uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria.
Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials comparing SP plus AS with SP plus AQ for treating uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria.
Background: For many years, intravenous sodium bicarbonate has been used to reverse acidosis during newborn resuscitation. However, controversy surrounds its use. Most of the evidence has been derived from studies in animals, adult humans, or in uncontrolled, descriptive experiments. Despite the lack of evidence from the human neonatal population and concerns about its safety, some international resuscitation guidelines still recommend the use of sodium bicarbonate in resuscitation of the newborn.
Objectives: To determine whether an intravenous infusion of sodium bicarbonate, compared to placebo or no treatment, reduces mortality and morbidity (in particular regarding neurodevelopmental outcome) in infants receiving resuscitation in the delivery room at birth.
Selection criteria: Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials of newborn infants receiving sodium bicarbonate infusion during any resuscitation in the delivery room at birth.
Background: Abnormal delayed relaxation of skeletal muscles, known as myotonia, can cause disability in myotonic disorders. Sodium channel blockers, tricyclic antidepressive drugs, benzodiazepines, calcium-antagonists, taurine and prednisone may be of use in reducing myotonia.
Objectives: To consider the evidence from randomised controlled trials on the efficacy and tolerability of drug treatment in patients with clinical myotonia due to a myotonic disorder.
Selection criteria: We considered all (quasi) randomised trials of participants with myotonia treated with any drug treatment versus no therapy, placebo or any other active drug treatment. The primary outcome measure was:reduced clinical myotonia using two categories: (1) no residual myotonia or improvement of myotonia or (2) No change or worsening of myotonia. Secondary outcome measures were:(1) clinical relaxation time; (2) electromyographic relaxation time; (3) stair test; (4) presence of percussion myotonia; and (5) proportion of adverse events.
Background: Heat and cold are commonly utilised in the treatment of low-back pain by both health care professionals and people with low-back pain.
Objectives: To assess the effects of superficial heat and cold therapy for low-back pain in adults.
Selection criteria: We included randomised controlled trials and non-randomised controlled trials that examined superficial heat or cold therapies in people with low-back pain.