Plos One
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This systematic review evaluated the clinical utility of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in traumatic brain injury (TBI). ⋯ This review demonstrates Level IIA evidence (at least one non-randomized controlled trial) for the value of SPECT in TBI. Given its advantages over CT and MRI in the detection of mild TBI in numerous studies of adequate quality, and given its excellent negative predictive value, it may be an important second test in settings where CT or MRI are negative after a closed head injury with post-injury neurological or psychiatric symptoms.
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Meta Analysis
Adoptive immunotherapy of cytokine-induced killer cell therapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
The aim of this study was to systemically evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. ⋯ The CIK cell combined therapy demonstrated significant superiority in the overall survival, clinical response rate, and T lymphocytes responses and did not present any evidence of major adverse events in patients with NSCLC.
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Short telomeres have been linked to various age-related diseases. We aimed to assess the association of telomere length with incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in prospective cohort studies. ⋯ Low RTL is independently associated with the risk of incident T2DM. To avoid regression dilution biases in observed associations of RTL with disease risk, future studies should implement methods correcting for within-person variability in RTL. The causal role of short telomeres in T2DM development remains to be determined.
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Choice of outcomes is critical for clinical trialists and systematic reviewers. It is currently unclear how systematic reviewers choose and pre-specify outcomes for systematic reviews. Our objective was to assess the completeness of pre-specification and comparability of outcomes in all Cochrane reviews addressing four common eye conditions. ⋯ Outcome pre-specification was largely incomplete; we encourage systematic reviewers to consider all five elements. This will indicate the importance of complete specification to clinical trialists, on whose work systematic reviewers depend, and will indirectly encourage comparable outcome choice to reviewers undertaking related research questions. Complete pre-specification could improve efficiency and reduce bias in data abstraction and analysis during a systematic review. Ultimately, more completely specified and comparable outcomes could make systematic reviews more useful to decision-makers.
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Meta Analysis
Association between IL-10 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility of tuberculosis: evidence based on a meta-analysis.
A number of observational studies have been conducted to investigate the association of IL-10 gene polymorphisms with tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility. However, the results of different studies were inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between IL-10 -1082G/A, -819T/C, and -592A/C polymorphisms and TB risk by meta-analysis. ⋯ This meta-analysis provides strong evidence that IL-10-1082G/A polymorphism was associated with TB risk in Europeans and Americans, and IL-10 -819T/C and -592A/C polymorphisms could be risk factors for TB in Asians. Additional well designed large studies were required for the validation of our results.