The beneficial effects of anthocyanins consumption on cardiovascular risk are supported by mechanistic and epidemiologic evidence. In order to explore the effects of Vaccinium berries rich in anthocyanins on serum lipids, we conducted a meta-analysis of relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Sixteen studies with 1109 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. Significant heterogeneity...

BACKGROUND Isoflavone from soy and other plants modulate hormonal effects in women, and the hormone disorder might result in different caners including endometrial cancer. However, it's effect on the risk of endometrial cancer is still inconclusive. We aimed to assess the effects of isoflavone on endometrial thickness, a risk factor of endometrial cancer in peri- and post-menopausal women. ME...

Over the past decade, the use of biologics has significantly changed the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Biologics selectively target components of the immune system, resulting in better disease control. However, the growing use of biologics in RA has increased safety concerns among rheumatologists. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and registries are the most reliable sources of cli...

Obtaining spirometric testing and providing those results to individuals who smoke has been advocated as a motivational tool to improve smoking cessation. However, its effectiveness is not known. We conducted a systematic review to determine if this approach improves rates of smoking cessation. Data sources included MEDLINE (1966 to October 2005), the Cochrane Library, and experts in the field....

BACKGROUND We performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of intrathecal sufentanil in preventing shivering during neuraxial anesthesia. MATERIAL/METHODS We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase for all randomized controlled trials (RCT) on use of intrathecal sufentanil for preventing shivering during neuraxial anesthesia. References of retrieved articles were also scree...

The articles [2], [6], [10], [4], [7], [18], [8], [13], [1], [3], [5], [15], [16], [17], [21], [22], [9], [19], [20], [11], [14], and [12] provide the notation and terminology for this paper. Let F be a set. We introduce F is n-long as a synonym of F is empty. We introduce F is finite sequence-membered as an antonym of F is empty. We introduce F is quasi-prebasis as an antonym of F is empty. We...

BACKGROUND Network meta-analysis (NMA) is a methodology for indirectly comparing, and strengthening direct comparisons of two or more treatments for the management of disease by combining evidence from multiple studies. It is sometimes not possible to perform treatment comparisons as evidence networks restricted to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) may be disconnected. We propose a Bayesian N...

AIM The aim of this study was to explore the logistical and methodological strengths and weaknesses of some of the more common research designs which can be used to evaluate the impact of system- or population-level approaches for reducing alcohol-related harms. METHOD This paper identifies studies that have evaluated system or population approaches to reduce alcohol-related harms. It highlig...

BACKGROUND There is a growing interest in teledermatology in today's clinical practice, but the maturity of the evaluation research of this technology is still unclear. OBJECTIVES This systematic review describes the maturity of teledermatology evaluation research over time and explores what kind of teledermatology outcome measures have been evaluated. METHODS Systematic review of literatur...

We investigate functors between abelian categories having a left adjoint and a right adjoint that are similar (these functors are called quasi-Frobenius functors). We introduce the notion of a quasi-Frobenius bimodule and give a characterization of these bimodules in terms of quasi-Frobenius functors. Some applications to corings and graded rings are presented. In particular, the concept of qua...