Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Mar 2013
Neuropsychological tests for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease dementia and other dementias: a generic protocol for cross-sectional and delayed-verification studies.
This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To determine the cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy of [index test] at various thresholds for ADD and other dementias [target condition] in [target population]. ⋯ To highlight the quality and quantity of research evidence available on the effectiveness of the index test in the target population. To identify gaps in the evidence and determine where further research is required.
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Influenza is a communicable acute respiratory infection which, during epidemics, can cause high morbidity and mortality rates. Traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, often administered following a particular Chinese medical theory, may be a potential treatment of choice. ⋯ Most Chinese medical herbs in the included studies showed similar effects to antiviral drugs in preventing or treating influenza. Few were shown to be superior to antiviral drugs. No obvious adverse events were reported in the included studies. However, current evidence remains weak due to methodological limitations of the trials. More high-quality RCTs with larger numbers of participants and clear reporting are needed.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Mar 2013
ReviewHormonal versus non-hormonal contraceptives in women with diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2.
Adequate contraceptive advice is important in both women with diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2 to reduce the risk of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality in unplanned pregnancies. A wide variety of contraceptives are available for these women. However, hormonal contraceptives might influence carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and increase micro- and macrovascular complications, so caution in selecting a contraceptive method is required. ⋯ The four included randomised controlled trials in this systematic review provided insufficient evidence to assess whether progestogen-only and combined contraceptives differ from non-hormonal contraceptives in diabetes control, lipid metabolism and complications. Three of the four studies were of limited methodological quality, sponsored by pharmaceutical companies and described surrogate outcomes. Ideally, an adequately reported, high-quality randomised controlled trial analysing both intermediate outcomes (that is glucose and lipid metabolism) and true clinical endpoints (micro- and macrovascular disease) in users of combined, progestogen-only and non-hormonal contraceptives should be conducted. However, due to the low incidence of micro- and macrovascular disease and accordingly the large sample size and long follow-up period needed to observe differences in risk, a randomised controlled trial might not be the ideal design.