Struggling to Get on Track

Zhelnov P. Struggling to get on track. Zheln. 2020 Nov 4;45(1):s14e2. URI: https://zheln.com/summary/2020/11/04/1/.

Status Report

• Now it’s 170 recent systematic review records on Zheln. They are added daily, most of them were published this fall, and each of them is counting as a true positive by Shojania & Bero 2001 criteria for systematic reviews.
• Moreover, I annotated all of them with AMA specialty tags taken from the AMA Physician Masterfile specialty list.
• So you can browse Zheln by AMA Specialty or use free-text search.
• These records came from my Replicated Systematic Subset PubMed query, producing tens of thousands of records per month, of which I’m currently struggling to process 10% daily.
• In the previous Zheln summary, I wrote about my plan to improve performance; however, I wasn’t terribly successful in the past three days.
• Also, as you can now see, I worked for only 11 hours this week while I should have worked for 24 hours in total.
• The reasons for that were listed in that latest summary, too, so this is really the best I can do for now.
• In the future summary posts, I’m planning to use PRISMA 2020 flow diagrams to display progress.
• Also, I’m planning to start posting YouTube videos reporting day-by-day progress.
• However, these new features as well as the full-featured academic protocol for Zheln and the Zheln nonprofit business plan are on hold until I recover and ensure a stable appraisal pace, which is critical for Zheln survival.
• Once I’ve finalized the protocol, I will also start conducting thorough full critical appraisals (with focused replication) of a few select reviews, that will also become publicly available.

Appraisals in Progress

As a rule, I select a review for full appraisal when the topic covered is likely to have a very large practice impact with regard either to both global health care workers and the public or to the minorities. Also, crowdfunding an appraisal is possible.

Alternatively, you can browse appraisals by AMA Specialty.

Browsing by PubMed-indexing date is under development—preview how it would look like for Oct 30 records.

1. New How effective is a combination of alpha-blockers and PDE5-inhibitors for lower urinary tract symptoms?
2. Is it good and safe to allow mother and baby skin-to-skin contact during a cesarian?
3. What interventions are there to manage diabetes in homeless adults?
4. What use are mindfulness-based interventions for mental symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
5. What progress has been made to date in terms of universal influenza vaccines?
6. How effective are interventions to improve antibiotic-prescription behavior among PCPs?
7. What are the reports of practical use of national guidelines on movement in Canada and similar countries?
8. What evidence is there to support active break policies in elementary schools?
9. What is known regarding policy to address pediatric suicidality?
10. How important is postural control in Down syndrome?
11. What works for at-risk mental states?
12. What is the effect of ticagrelor monotherapy after PCI?
13. How good is social accountability for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health?
14. What is in the American Psychiatric Association guideline on schizophrenia?
15. Crowdfunded How effective are tooth decay prevention measures in children six years old or younger?
16. How good is C-reactive protein measurement with regard to health outcomes?
17. What is the association between sugar-free gum and dental caries?
18. How big is the impact of perinatal care systems on infant mortality?
19. How effective is empathy training in health care education?
20. What are the current therapeutic applications of human mesenchymal stem cells?
21. How useful is patient blood management to improve outcomes of major surgery?
22. What is the effectiveness of eHealth interventions for improving public health?
23. What is the risk of congenital malformations associated with beta-blocker use in early pregnancy?
24. How effective behavioral weight-loss interventions in diabetes are?

Full Text Wanted!

I had selected these systematic reviews for full appraisal, but their full texts were unavailable to me. Please contact me if you wish to help procuring them.

1. How good is the uptake of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist in low- and middle-income countries?
2. What are the outcome predictors of Parent Management Training for child conduct problems?
3. What is the role of a Registered Dietitian in weight management?
4. How effective are anti-amyloid-β drugs for Alzheimer’s disease?
5. How is homelessness experienced by transgender people?
6. How useful is physical exercise for people living with breast cancer?

See You Around, Peer

Get in Touch Now or Get Back on Sat, Nov 7

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Help Crowdfund Zheln

Zheln Is Supported by Crowdfunding Only

Running Zheln takes most of my work capacity. I’ve managed to stay off other jobs for now but will be forced to find another job unless crowdfunded by the end of this year.

In other words, you can’t be sure Zheln isn’t suspended in 2021 if you avoid funding it. But if you donate, I pledge to keep running Zheln in recognition of your support.

If you want Zheln to live on, please use one of these options:

 Subscribe on Patreon for $1/mo to $600/mo

 Subscribe on GitHub Sponsors or Open Collective for $1/mo to $600/mo

 Send $1 via PayPal

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You can also easily contact me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Telegram.

 Bonus for Star Wars Fans!

Subscribing on Patreon enables you to change the icon of a given Zheln record to a Star Wars symbol of your choice! Learn more on Patreon.

All Other Zheln Features Are Free for Everyone

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