In this study, we discuss the integration in systematic reviews of research developed from a Marxist perspective of knowledge production and their results as evidence in healthcare. The study objectives are to review the assumptions of dialectical and historical materialism (DHM) and discuss the implications of dialectics for a literature review and the synthesis of evidence. DHM is a powerful ...

INTRODUCTION Traditional scientific review processes are not well suited for evaluating the merits of research in situations where the available scientific evidence is limited and if review panels have widely divergent opinions. This study tested whether a Delphi process is useful in grant selection. MATERIALS AND METHOD A Delphi process prioritized novel research proposals in pancreatic canc...

OBJECTIVE TO SHARE WITH POTENTIAL AUTHORS TIPS FOR CONSTRUCTING A SCHOLARLY MANUSCRIPT AND FOR ORGANIZING INFORMATION IN VARIOUS TYPES OF SCHOLARLY MANUSCRIPTS: experimental reports, literature reviews, case reports, and clinical techniques. DESCRIPTION The goal of writing a scientific/technical/ medical article is to communicate new information that hopefully has clinical relevance and will ...

New approaches to evidence synthesis, which use human effort and machine automation in mutually reinforcing ways, can enhance the feasibility and sustainability of living systematic reviews. Human effort is a scarce and valuable resource, required when automation is impossible or undesirable, and includes contributions from online communities ("crowds") as well as more conventional contribution...

* Correspondence: [email protected] Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK The National Centre for Text Mining and School of Computer Science, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK Toyota Technological I...

OBJECTIVE To summarize the evidence concerning bias and confounding in conducting systematic reviews (SRs). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING Literature was identified through searching the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, PsycINFO until November 2006, and the authors' files. Studies were included if they were SRs of bias that can occur while conducting a SR. Risk of bias in the SRs was appraised using the ...

Evidence of the effect of clinical interventions in allergology, and in medicine as a whole, can be hierarchically grouped based on the research design producing the evidence. The most weight is given to systematic reviews and metaanalyses, and to randomised controlled trials. These trial designs are superior to non-randomised controlled trials and cohort studies, which in turn are superior to ...

Claims for malpractice and medical negligence are a potentially important source of information on the causes of harm to patients and have provided valuable lessons in the past. However today, with many additional sources of information and methods of analysis, the role of claims analysis needs to be reappraised. We consider the role of claims analysis in relation to other methods of studying a...

Objectives To seewhether telling peer reviewers that their signed reviews of original research papers might be posted on the BMJ’s website would affect the quality of