Bmc Med
-
Meta Analysis Historical Article
A systematic review of changing malaria disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa since 2000: comparing model predictions and empirical observations.
The most widely used measures of declining burden of malaria across sub-Saharan Africa are predictions from geospatial models. These models apply spatiotemporal autocorrelations and covariates to parasite prevalence data and then use a function of parasite prevalence to predict clinical malaria incidence. We attempted to assess whether trends in malaria cases, based on local surveillance, were similar to those captured by Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) incidence surfaces. ⋯ In many locations, both local surveillance data and modelled estimates showed declines in malaria burden and hence similar trends. However, there was a weak association between individual surveillance datasets and the modelled predictions where stalling in progress or resurgence of malaria burden was empirically observed. Surveillance data were patchy, indicating a need for improved surveillance to strengthen both empiric reporting and modelled predictions.
-
A number of studies have reported an association between the occurrence of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and clinical efficacy in patients undergoing treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), but the results remain controversial. ⋯ PROSPERO CRD42019129310.
-
Sepsis is a leading cause of death in intensive care units (ICUs), but outcomes of individual patients are difficult to predict. The recently developed clinical metabolomics has been recognized as a promising tool in the clinical practice of critical illness. The objective of this study was to identify the unique metabolic biomarkers and their pathways in the blood of sepsis nonsurvivors and to assess the prognostic value of these pathways. ⋯ DRMP analysis minimizes the discrepancies of results obtained from different metabolomic methods and is more practical than blood metabolite biomarkers for sepsis mortality prediction.
-
Meta Analysis
Factors associated with the prescribing of high-dose opioids in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
The risks of harms from opioids increase substantially at high doses, and high-dose prescribing has increased in primary care. However, little is known about what leads to high-dose prescribing, and studies exploring this have not been synthesized. We, therefore, systematically synthesized factors associated with the prescribing of high-dose opioids in primary care. ⋯ PROSPERO, CRD42018088057.
-
The majority of Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases in Africa are treated with the artemisinin combination therapies artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and artesunate-amodiaquine (AS-AQ), with amodiaquine being also widely used as part of seasonal malaria chemoprevention programs combined with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. While artemisinin derivatives have a short half-life, lumefantrine and amodiaquine may give rise to differing durations of post-treatment prophylaxis, an important additional benefit to patients in higher transmission areas. ⋯ Choosing a first-line treatment which provides optimal post-treatment prophylaxis given the local prevalence of resistance-associated markers could make a significant contribution to reducing malaria morbidity.