scholarly journals Development of the Rehabilitation Health Policy, Systems, and Services Research Field: Quantitative Analyses of Publications over Time (1990–2017) and across Country Type

Author(s):  
Tiago S. Jesus ◽  
Helen Hoenig ◽  
Michel D. Landry

Background: Health policy, systems and services research (HPSSR) is increasingly needed to enable better access to, and value of, rehabilitation services worldwide. We aim to quantify the growth of Rehabilitation HPSSR publications since 1990, compared to that of overall rehabilitation research and overall HPSSR. Methods: Quantitative, comparative analysis of publication trends using the PubMed database and its indexation system. Comprehensive search filters, based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), were built and calibrated to locate research articles with content on HPSSR and rehabilitation of physical impairments. Additional filters were used for locating research publications declaring funding support, publications in rehabilitation journals, and finally publications focused on high-income (HICs) or low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The same approach was used for retrieving data on comparator fields—overall HPSSR and overall rehabilitation research. Linear regressions, with ANOVA, were used for analyzing yearly publication growths over the 28-year time frame. Results: Rehabilitation HPSSR publications in PubMed have grown significantly from 1990 to 2017 in the percentage of all rehabilitation research (from 11% to 18%) and all HPSSR (from 2.8% to 3.9%; both p < 0.001). The rate of Rehabilitation HPSSR published in rehabilitation journals did not change significantly over time (p = 0.47). The rates of publications with declared funding support increased significantly, but such growth did not differ significantly from that of the comparator fields. Finally, LMICs accounted for 9.3% of the country-focused rehabilitation HPSSR since 1990, but this percentage value increased significantly (p < 0.001) from 6% in 1990 to 13% in 2017. Conclusion: Rehabilitation HPSSR publications, i.e., those indexed in PubMed with related MeSH terms, have grown in both absolute and relative values. Rehabilitation HPSSR publications focused on LMICs also grew significantly since 1990, but still remained a tiny portion of the Rehabilitation HPSSR publications with country-specific MeSH terms.

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-250
Author(s):  
Patrick Mapulanga ◽  
Jaya Raju ◽  
Thomas Matingwina

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine levels of health research evidence in health policies in Malawi. Design/methodology/approach The study selected a typology of health policies in Malawi from 2002 to 2017. The study adopted the SPIRIT conceptual framework and assessed the levels of research evidence in health policy, systems and services research using the revised SAGE policy assessment tool. Documentary analysis was used to assess levels of health research evidence in health policies in Malawi. Findings In 29 (96.7 per cent) of the health policies, policy formulators including healthcare directors and managers used generic search engines such as Google or Google Scholar to look for heath research evidence. In 28 (93.3 per cent) of the health policies, they searched for grey literature and other government documents. In only 6 (20 per cent) of the heath policy documents, they used academic literature in a form of journal articles and randomised controlled trials. No systematic reviews or policy briefs were consulted. Overall, in 23 (76.7 per cent) of the health policy documents, health research evidence played a minimal role and had very little influence on the policy documents or decision-making. Research limitations/implications The empirical evidence in the health policy documents are limited because of insufficient research citation, low retrievability of health research evidence in the policy documents and biased selectivity of what constitutes health research evidence. Practical implications The study indicates that unfiltered information (data from policy evaluations and registries) constitutes majority of the research evidence in health policies both in health policy, systems and services research. The study seeks to advocate for the use of filtered information (peer reviewed, clinical trials and data from systematic reviews) in formulating health policies. Originality/value There is dearth of literature on the levels of health research evidence in health policy-making both in health policy, systems and services research. This study seeks to bridge the gap with empirical evidence from a developing country perspective.


2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seema S. Sonnad ◽  
Dan Greenberg ◽  
Allison B. Rosen ◽  
Peter J. Neumann

Objectives: The diffusion of cost-utility analyses (CUAs) through the medical literature was examined, documenting visible patterns and determining how they correspond with expectations about the diffusion of process innovations.Methods: This study used 539 CUAs from a registry. It includes data elements comprising year of publication, the research center in which the study was performed, the clinical area covered by the CUA, and the specific journal. Finally, each paper was assigned to a journal type that could be one of the three categories: health services research, general medicine, or clinical specialty.Results: When the average number of publications is plotted against time, the plot reveals an S-shaped curve. It appears that, whereas CUAs initially were published more frequently in general medical or health services research journals, there was a clear increase in the diffusion of CUA into subspecialty journals over time. The concentration ratio for research centers as measured by the Herfindhal–Hirschman Index decreased over time.Conclusions: The spread of CUA through the medical literature follows patterns identified for the diffusion of other new technologies and processes. Future research should focus on what impact this spread has had on the practice of medicine and formulation of health policy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 110-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayala Klein ◽  
Sharon Ovnat-Tamir ◽  
Tal Marom ◽  
Ofer Gluck ◽  
Naomi Rabinovics ◽  
...  

Introduction Fish bone foreign body (FFB) impaction in the upper aerodigestive tract is a common cause for emergency department referral. Its management varies in both diagnosis and treatment paradigms. Fish bone foreign bodies are more commonly found in the oropharynx in cases of patients < 40 years old, and in the esophagus in cases of patients > 40 years old. Symptoms are typically non-indicative for the location of the FFB, with the exception of foreign body sensation at/superior to the cervical esophagus. A lack of findings during the physical examination is routinely followed by imaging, with computed tomography (CT) being the preferred modality. In practice, many patients undergo unnecessary imaging studies, including CT scans. Objectives To identify patients with suspected fish bone impaction who do not require CT imaging and can be safely discharged. Data Synthesis We have searched the PubMed database for the following medical subject headings (MeSH) terms: fish bone, fish foreign body AND oropharynx, hypopharynx, esophagus, flexible esophagoscopy, and rigid esophagoscopy. Our search in the English language yielded 32 papers. Case reports were included, since they highlighted rare and serious complications. Conclusion In patients > 40 years old suspected of fish bone impaction, non-contrast CT is recommended and should be urgently performed, even in the presence of ambiguous symptoms. However, in patients < 40 years old presenting within 24 hours from ingestion, imaging has little diagnostic value due to the low probability of esophageal fish bones. For this specific subgroup, in the absence of clinical findings, discharge without imaging studies may be considered safe.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHIEN WEI ◽  
Julie Chi Chow ◽  
Willy Chou

UNSTRUCTURED The article, published on 23 July 2021, is well-written and of interest, but remains several questions that are required for clarifications, such as (1) the static choropleth map of collaboration analysis between countries should be dynamically visualized and highlighted by top three countries on their publications and author collaboration characteristics; (2) the research achievements in authors, institutes, and countries should be quantified by author-weighted scheme considering author order in article bylines; and (3) keyword analysis was too simple to identify the difference in article types between countries. We downloaded 2,268 abstracts from the Pubmed database with a search string of (COVID-19[MeSH Major Topic]) AND (pediatrics[Affiliation]), similar to the mentioned study, and displayed (1) choropleth maps highlighted by the most productive and highly author-collaborated countries, and (2)forest plot to identify differences in article types between two countries. The medical subject headings(MeSH terms) were used to denote the article types in articles. We observed that (1) three top productive countries were the United States, Italy, and India; (2) three top countries collaborated the authors affiliated with the US were Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy; and (3) only the MeSH term of epidemiology presents the difference in article types between the US and India when the top 10 most frequently occurred MeSH terms were compared. We produced the dashboard-type visualizations to provide valuable information for readers. The novel visual representations make data clear with a better understanding of bibliographic analysis. The methods used in this study are recommended for future studies, not just limited to the field of COVID-19 research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Heidary ◽  
Sedigheh Madani ◽  
Reza Gharebaghi ◽  
Fahimeh Asadi-amoli

Introduction: There are successful reports of the concomitant management of herpes infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), using both acyclovir (ACV) and COVID-19 treatment regimens. Furthermore, ACV has been proposed to effectively treat COVID-19, through various mechanisms, such as inhibition of viral proteases, multiple viral gene expressions, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP). Therefore, this study aimed to review the reported cases of patients with concomitant herpes infection and COVID-19, receiving concurrent antiviral drugs for herpetic lesions. Methods: A search was done to find the relevant articles, published between December 2019 and December 2020, with no language limitations, in the PubMed database, using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms related to herpes simplex virus or herpes zoster (namely, shingles) combined with COVID-19. Accordingly, the reports of the concomitant herpes infection and COVID-19, receiving concurrent antiviral drugs for herpetic lesions were included. Results: Out of 90 articles, 11 records reporting the cases of herpes infection and concurrent laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, receiving antiherpetic therapies, were reviewed. There were 28 patients (age range of 7-82 years) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, concomitant with reactivation of herpes infection, receiving antiviral drugs alongside candidate COVID-19 treatment regimens, but no mortality. The mean (standard deviation [SD] range) age of these 28 patients during treatment was 56.4 (18.6 [7-82]) years, and the majority were male (n=18, 64.3%). A total number of 20 patients had also received ACV and eight cases had been administered with other two antiviral compounds, including seven cases with valacyclovir, and one case with famciclovir, with no mortality. Conclusion: The potential use of ACV, as an add-on therapy, along with candidate COVID-19 treatment regimens was proposed in this study. However, further clinical trials are recommended to test this hypothetical adjuvant therapy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (15) ◽  
pp. 1783-1790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Pastor ◽  
Josep A. Tur

Background: Several drugs have been currently approved for the treatment of obesity. The pharmacokinetic of liraglutide, as well as the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, have been widely described. Objective: To analyze the published systematic reviews on the use of liraglutide for the treatment of obesity. Methods: Systematic reviews were found out through MEDLINE searches, through EBSCO host and the Cochrane Library based on the following terms: "liraglutide" as major term and using the following Medical Subject Headings (MesH) terms: "obesity", "overweight", "weight loss". A total of 3 systematic reviews were finally included to be analyzed. Results: From the three systematic reviews selected, only two included the randomized clinical trials, while the third study reviewed both randomized and non-randomized clinical trials. Only one review performed statistical tests of heterogeneity and a meta-analysis, combining the results of individual studies. Another review showed the results of individual studies with odds ratio and confidence interval, but a second one just showed the means and confidence intervals. In all studies, weight loss was registered in persons treated with liraglutide in a dose dependent form, reaching a plateau at 3.0 mg dose, which was reached just in men. Most usual adverse events were gastrointestinal. Conclusion: More powerful and prospective studies are needed to assess all aspects related to liraglutide in the overweight and obesity treatment.


Author(s):  
Deepak Meshram ◽  
Khushbo Bhardwaj ◽  
Charulata Rathod ◽  
Gail B. Mahady ◽  
Kapil K. Soni

Background: Leukotrienes are powerful mediators of inflammation and interact with specific receptors in target cell membrane to initiate an inflammatory response. Thus, Leukotrienes (LTs) are considered to be potent mediators of inflammatory diseases including allergic rhinitis, inflammatory bowel disease and asthma. Leukotriene B4 and the series of cysteinyl leukotrienes (C4, D4, and E4) are metabolites of arachidonic acid metabolism that cause inflammation. The cysteinyl LTs are known to increase vascular permeability, bronco-constriction and mucus secretion. Objectives: To review the published data for leukotriene inhibitors of plant origin and the recent patents for leukotriene inhibitors, as well as their role in the management of inflammatory diseases. Methods: Published data for leukotrienes antagonists of plant origin were searched from 1938 to 2019, without language restrictions using relevant keywords in both free text and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH terms) format. Literature and patent searches in the field of leukotriene inhibitors were carried out by using numerous scientific databases including Science Direct, PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Patents, US Patents, US Patent Applications, Abstract of Japan, German Patents, European Patents, WIPO and NAPRALERT. Finally, data from these information resources were analyzed and reported in the present study. Results: Currently, numerous anti-histaminic medicines are available including chloropheneremine, brompheniramine, cetirizine, and clementine. Furthermore, specific leukotriene antagonists from allopathic medicines are also available including zileuton, montelukast, pranlukast and zafirlukast and are considered effective and safe medicines as compared to the first generation medicines. The present study reports leukotrienes antagonistic agents of natural products and certain recent patents that could be an alternative medicine in the management of inflammation in respiratory diseases. Conclusion: The present study highlights recent updates on the pharmacology and patents on leukotriene antagonists in the management of inflammation respiratory diseases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Mohamadi ◽  
Kaveh Momenzadeh ◽  
Aidin Masoudi ◽  
Kempland C. Walley ◽  
Kenny Ierardi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Knowledge regarding the biomechanics of the meniscus has grown exponentially throughout the last four decades. Numerous studies have helped develop this knowledge, but these studies have varied widely in their approach to analyzing the meniscus. As one of the subcategories of mechanical phenomena Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms, mechanical stress was introduced in 1973. This study aims to provide an up-to-date chronological overview and highlights the evolutionary comprehension and understanding of meniscus biomechanics over the past forty years. Methods A literature review was conducted in April 2021 through PubMed. As a result, fifty-seven papers were chosen for this narrative review and divided into categories; Cadaveric, Finite element (FE) modeling, and Kinematic studies. Results Investigations in the 1970s and 1980s focused primarily on cadaveric biomechanics. These studies have generated the fundamental knowledge basis for the emergence of FE model studies in the 1990s. As FE model studies started to show comparable results to the gold standard cadaveric models in the 2000s, the need for understanding changes in tissue stress during various movements triggered the start of cadaveric and FE model studies on kinematics. Conclusion This study focuses on a chronological examination of studies on meniscus biomechanics in order to introduce concepts, theories, methods, and developments achieved over the past 40 years and also to identify the likely direction for future research. The biomechanics of intact meniscus and various types of meniscal tears has been broadly studied. Nevertheless, the biomechanics of meniscal tears, meniscectomy, or repairs in the knee with other concurrent problems such as torn cruciate ligaments or genu-valgum or genu-varum have not been extensively studied.


Author(s):  
Alka Mandke ◽  
Manjula Sarkar ◽  
Charulata Deshpande ◽  
Arun Maheshwari ◽  
Bhupesh Kumar ◽  
...  

AbstractMyocardial protection with volatile anesthetic agents have been suggested by multiple studies. These studies, however, are scattered and are often limited to a particular aspect of cardiac anesthesia. Older inhalational agents like halothane is known to cause significant hepatic damage in patients undergoing long duration surgeries while isoflurane is known to have marked vasodilating properties that also affects the coronary arteries leading to coronary “steal” phenomenon. Additionally, newer agents, like sevoflurane and desflurane, have shown more prominent cardioprotective effects than older agents. We searched ScholarOne, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library. The medical subject headings (MeSH) terms “anaesthesia, inhalational,” “anaesthesia, intravenous, or TIVA,” and “Cardiac anaesthesia or Cardiac Surgery” were used. Additional studies were identified by review of the reference sections of all eligible studies. The aim of this review article is to bring together the evidences with newer inhalational agents and provide a holistic view of their benefits and shortcomings in cardiac anesthesia.


1995 ◽  
Vol 21 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 241-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Rodwin

Owen Barfield, the British solicitor and literary scholar, reminds us that many legal concepts have their origin as metaphors and legal fictions. We often fail to see the nature of legal metaphors, Barfield argues, because over time they ossify and we read them literally rather than figuratively. Look closely at changes in law over time, Barfield advises us, to see how effectively metaphor works in law and language. Many legal categories and procedures we now use had their origin in using a metaphor that revealed a new way of looking at a problem or that helped solve a legal problem. Legal metaphors also help us to identify critical limits and strains in adapting to new facts and circumstances.George Annas has pointed out that our choice of metaphors for medicine can reframe our debates about health policy reform. And Analee and Thomas Beisecker remind us that patient-physician relations have been viewed through many metaphors. These include parent-child relations (paternalism); seller-purchaser transactions (consumerism); teacher-student learning (education); relations among partners or friends (partnership or friendship); or rational parties entering into negotiations or contracts (negotiation or rational contract).


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