First Appraisals

Zhelnov P. First appraisals. Zheln. 2020 Sep 30;40(1):s1e1. URI: https://zheln.com/summary/2020/09/30/1/.

Highlights

• The appraisals are going slow, but they are going
• Browsing and searching Zheln for appraisals is already worth checking out
• How effective behavioral weight-loss interventions in diabetes are?
• What is the risk of congenital malformations associated with beta-blocker use?
• These are appraisals in progress; meanwhile, please help me crowdfund Zheln!

How Are the Appraisals Going?

• I still fall short of the expected mark of 570 appraisals per day.
• As an example, I downloaded 447 & 67 records since the last summary for Sep 26 & Sep 27, respectively.
• Sep 28 records are unavailable since PubMed indexing failed on this date, and Sep 29 records are unavailable yet because I’m waiting until the day is over in the IDLW time zone.
• So of these records, I’ve only appraised nine.
• Clearly, this is a very large mismatch.
• I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to deal with it yet, but I’m already checking some steps, like appraising records in a random order or documenting the record debt; so I’m certain, eventually, I will find a way.

Appraisals by Subject

• The topic landscape is quite large with 90+ specialty tags already used in at least one appraisal.
• The most popular specialty is, predictably, Family Medicine / General Practice that already contains seven records despite the current very low appraisal rate.
• Most of the systematic reviews I’ve appraised seem too narrow to me to embark autonomously on their appraisal.
• Therefore, these appraisals are put on hold until anyone shows interest in and crowdfunds them. Please choose any specialty or use the appraisal search if you want a look at these.
• Also, it is still quite difficult to choose among specialty tags, but I have polished these methods along the way.

Featured Appraisals

• A few systematic reviews seem important enough and are likely to have a great practice impact.
• If I face one, I select it for full appraisal on my own initiative.
• I’ve got two such systematic reviews by now:
• How effective behavioral weight-loss interventions in diabetes are?
• What is the risk of congenital malformations associated with beta-blocker use in early pregnancy?
• Both of these, as I see it, are relatable to very large patient populations and, consequently, represent important public health concerns warranting wide awareness.
• You can expect completion of these appraisals no earlier than I’ve established stable record triage.
• In any case, I’m not to start full appraisals until I’ve registered Zheln with PROSPERO.

In the Meantime

Please follow progress summaries here on Zheln, or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Telegram twice a week!

There was a delay once, but I’ve fixed this since. 🙂

Get in Touch Now or Get Back on Sat, Oct 3

Email Me

Help Crowdfund Zheln

Zheln Is Supported by Crowdfunding Only

 Subscribe on Patreon for $1–10/mo

 PayPal Donations Also Accepted

 Search for Appraisals,  Browse by AMA Specialty, or  Read Biweekly Appraisal Summaries