Managing the Flow

Zhelnov P. Managing the flow. Zheln. 2020 Nov 7;45(2):s15e6. URI: https://zheln.com/summary/2020/11/07/2/.

Status Report

• Now it’s 179 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 persistently bad performance as well as the reasons for it.
• Sadly, it has not changed much.
• You can examine my performance in more detail using this freshly-cut flow diagram, modified from the PRISMA 2020 Statement preprint by Matthew Page et al. and the SRflowdiagram tool by Neal Haddaway:

• In total, as of now, I have 1,017 records of debt. Also, as you can see, I worked for only about 24 hours this week while I should have worked for 48 hours in total or twice more.
• Honestly, I’m not quite sure how to proceed. So I guess, for now, I’ll just keep appraising records and watching how it goes.
• Also, I want to modify and better specify my weekly schedule while also maintaining the 120 records of debt per week target.

• Here is what my new schedule will look like:

  • Sun (Sun 7am EST – Mon 7am EST): 10% Fri.
  • Mon (Mon 7am EST – Tue 7am EST): 10% Sat and 10% Sun.
  • Tue (Tue 7am EST – Wed 7am EST): 10% Mon + Wed summary. Wed summary should report: Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon.
  • Wed (Wed 7am EST – Thu 7am EST): 10% Tue.
  • Thu (Thu 7am EST – Fri 7am EST): 10% Wed.
  • Fri (Fri 7am EST – Sat 7am EST): 10% Thu + Sat summary. Sat summary should report: Tue, Wed, and Thu.
  • Sat (Sat 7am EST – Sun 7am EST): day off.
• I’m still planning to start posting YouTube videos reporting day-by-day progress, but I really want to stay focused on the appraisals for the time being, so it will wait.
• And so will the full-featured academic protocol for Zheln and the Zheln nonprofit business plan. It is of note, however, that I’m thinking about publishing the protocols for Zheln Primary and Full Appraisals separately to expedite publication of the first formal protocol for Zheln.
• Once I’ve finalized the protocols, I will also start conducting thorough full critical appraisals (with focused replication) of a few select reviews, that will also become publicly available.
• Finally, I must acknowledge a concurrent project: the translation of the PRISMA 2020 into Russian. It will also take much of my time, so some corrections to the Zheln schedule will likely be necessary.
• From the other hand, I’m planning to run a separate campaign to crowdfund my translation, that could also raise awareness of Zheln as a by-product.

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 What are the outcomes of acetaminophen v. ibuprofen for fever or pain in children under two years old?
2. New Is quality and safety of hospital care different in outlying patients?
3. How effective is a combination of alpha-blockers and PDE5-inhibitors for lower urinary tract symptoms?
4. Is it good and safe to allow mother and baby skin-to-skin contact during a cesarian?
5. What interventions are there to manage diabetes in homeless adults?
6. What use are mindfulness-based interventions for mental symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
7. What progress has been made to date in terms of universal influenza vaccines?
8. How effective are interventions to improve antibiotic-prescription behavior among PCPs?
9. What are the reports of practical use of national guidelines on movement in Canada and similar countries?
10. What evidence is there to support active break policies in elementary schools?
11. What is known regarding policy to address pediatric suicidality?
12. How important is postural control in Down syndrome?
13. What works for at-risk mental states?
14. What is the effect of ticagrelor monotherapy after PCI?
15. How good is social accountability for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health?
16. What is in the American Psychiatric Association guideline on schizophrenia?
17. Crowdfunded How effective are tooth decay prevention measures in children six years old or younger?
18. How good is C-reactive protein measurement with regard to health outcomes?
19. What is the association between sugar-free gum and dental caries?
20. How big is the impact of perinatal care systems on infant mortality?
21. How effective is empathy training in health care education?
22. What are the current therapeutic applications of human mesenchymal stem cells?
23. How useful is patient blood management to improve outcomes of major surgery?
24. What is the effectiveness of eHealth interventions for improving public health?
25. What is the risk of congenital malformations associated with beta-blocker use in early pregnancy?
26. 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

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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.

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