Through collecting and synthesizing the paper concerning the method of dealing with heterogeneity in the meta analysis, to introduce the multi-levels statistical models, such as meta regression and baseline risk effect model based on random effects, and random effects model based on hierarchical bayes, and to introduce their application of controlling the meta analysis heterogeneity. The multi-levels statistical model will decompose the single random error in the traditional model to data structure hierarchical. Its fitting effect can not only make the meta-analysis result more robust and reasonable, but also guide clinical issues through the interpretation of association variable.
Objective To compare the ability of three propensity score weighting methods to balance the covariates and the advantages and disadvantages to estimate the treatment effects when dealing with multiple treatment data under different sample sizes. Methods Monte Carlo simulation was used to generate data sets and the advantages and disadvantages of balancing covariates and estimating the treatment effects of three propensity score weighting methods, Logistic-IPTW, Logistic-OW and GBM-OW were compared. The evaluation index of covariate equilibrium level was the absolute standard mean difference. The evaluation indexes of effect estimation included the point estimate of treatment effect, root mean square error and confidence interval coverage. Results Compared with Logistic-IPTW and Logistic-OW, GBM-OW was better in effect estimation and had a smaller root mean square error in five scenarios where covariates were related to treatment factors and outcome variables with different varying degrees of complexity. In terms of covariate equilibrium, all three methods had good effects. GBM-OW method performed better when the overlap of propensity score distribution of multiple treatment data was relatively low and covariables had increasingly complex nonlinear relationships with treatment factors and outcome variables. Conclusion When dealing with multiple treatment data, GBM-OW method has advantages over the other two methods when there is nonlinearity and/or interaction between covariates and treatment factors and outcome variables. Using this method, the effect estimation is closer to the real value, which is a better choice.
Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of chewing gum in promoting bowel recovery after cesarean section. Methods Such databases as The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMbase and CBM were searched from their establishment to 2010 to include the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of comparing chewing gum with other procedures for promoting postoperative bowel function after cesarean section. The risks of bias in the included studies were evaluated at randomization, allocation concealment, blinding, completeness of outcomes, and selective reporting. Meta-analyses were performed by RevMan 5.0.22 software. Results Three RCTs involving 745 participants were included. The results of meta-analyses showed chewing gum after cesarean section significantly shortened the time before getting the first postoperative flatus (MD= –6.54, 95%CI –7.82 to –5.27, Plt;0.000 01), reduced the risks of postoperative ileus (RR=0.54, 95%CI 0.34 to 0.87, P=0.01) and possibly shortened the length of hospital stay (MD= –0.21, 95%CI –0.39 to –0.03, P=0.02) compared with blank control. Currently, no adequate data supported the safety of chewing gum after cesarean section. Conclusion Chewing gum after cesarean section can promote the postoperative bowel recovery, and reduce the odds of postoperative ileus. However, more high quality RCTs are required for lack of included studies and poor quality of methodology.
Objective
To investigate the clinical effect of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and uterine artery embolization (UAE) in the treatment of cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP).
Methods
A total of 152 patients with CSP diagnosed by B-type ultrasonography were enrolled prospectively in this study from June 2014 to May 2016 in Chengdu Women and Children’s Central Hospital and Suining Central Hospital. Six patients from Chengdu Women and Children’s Central Hospital and 84 from Suining Central Hospital for Volunteered HIFU treatment were regarded as observation group. The other 62 patients from Chengdu Women and Children’s Central Hospital were selected to accept UAE treatment voluntarily were designated as control group. The clinical efficacy and therapeutic safety of the two groups were compared after the treatment.
Results
Eighty-two patients (91.1%) in the observation group and 32 (51.6%) in the control group had a bleeding volume equal to 100 mL or lower during complete curettage of uterine cavity (P<0.05). The hospitalization expenses of the above two groups were respectively (25 126.51±1 473.49) and (32 928.42 ±1 579.35) yuan (P<0.05). The hospitalization time was (11.03±1.52) and (10.65±1.87) days respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the normal rate of human chorionic gonadotropin recovery between the observation group and the control group at 14 days after treatment (P>0.05). Eighty-seven patients (96.7%) in the observation group and 51 (82.3%) in the control group had their menstrual recovery to normal level at 2 months after treatment, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The incidence of postoperative complications was 1.1% and 6.4% in the observation group and the control group, respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05).
Conclusions
HIFU in the treatment of CSP is safe and effective. Compared with UAE, HIFU requires less cost with fewer complications, which is worth promoting.
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are often limited because of ethical or operational reasons. Quasi-experimental studies could be an alternative to RCTs to make causal inferences without randomization by controlling the confounding effects of the study. This paper introduced the general statistical analysis methods of quasi-experimental design through basic ideas, characteristics, limitations and applications in medicine, including difference-in-difference models, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity design, interrupted time series, and so on, and to provide references for future research.
Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic staging and surgery for patients with cervical cancer. Methods We searched The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMbase, CBM (from inception to 2009). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and then the quality of included trials was accessed, and the data were extracted. Meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.0.2 software. Results Two RCTs involving 120 participants were included. The results of meta-analyses showed laparoscopic surgery, compared with open surgery, shortened postoperative ileus time (MD= –18.20, 95%CI –22.20 to –14.20, Plt;0.001), reduced the postoperative pain (MD= –1.30, 95%CI –1.86, to –0.74, Plt;0.001) and shortened the overall hospital stay (MD= –1.30, 95%CI –1.59 to –1.01, Plt;0.001). Currently, no evidence supported the superiority of laparoscopic surgery on duration of surgery, number of harvested lymph node and intraoperative blood loss over open surgery. Moreover, the laparoscopic surgery neither increased nor decreased the risk of postoperative complications. Conclusion The laparoscopic staging and surgery could shorten the recovery time of gastrointestinal function, shorten hospital stay, reduce pain in patients, but have no advantages in postoperative complications, operative time, number of lymph node biopsy, and intraoperative blood loss, compared with open surgery. However, the evidence is not b enough because of the low quality of the included studies. Thus, more high-quality RCTs are required in future.
Objective To access and identify risk factors related to death and injuries in earthquakes. Method We searched The Cochrane Library, SCI, PubMed, CBM and CNKI from establishment to June 2008 to identify cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies involving risk factors related to death and injuries in earthquakes. The methodological quality of included cohort and case-controlled studies were assessed, and the potential risk factors of earthquake related death and injuries were systematically enumerated. Results Two cohort, 2 case-control and 4 cross-sectional studies were included. Some included studies might be associated with selection bias. Risk factors for earthquake death and injuries included age, gender, mental disease, physical disabled, socioeconomics status, type/ age/ height/ collapse of building, motor vehicle driver and geographical location when the earthquake occurred. Conclusions Death and injuries in earthquakes may be attributed to 3 categories: demographic characteristics, building features, and seismic/ geographical/ location factors. However, the conclusion of this review and its implications may be limited by the potential selection bias of included studies and the regional characteristics of the included populations. Original studies from Chinese seismic areas are especially needed.
The article aims to explore the optimal concentration of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on HepG2 of liver cancer cells, and the effect of As2O3 on the migration, invasion and apoptosis of HepG2 cells. In this study, the activity of HepG2 cells treated with 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 μmol/L As2O3 was tested by CCK-8 method, the semi-inhibitory concentration (IC50) was calculated, and the morphological changes of HepG2 cells were observed after the action of As2O3 at IC50 concentration for 12, 24, 48 h. The effect of As2O3 on cell migration and invasion ability was verified by wound healing experiment and Transwell invasion experiment. Western blot and qRT-PCR were used to detect the effects of As2O3 on the gene and protein expression levels related to cell migration, invasion and apoptosis. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the activity of HepG2 cells decreased with the increase of the concentration of As2O3 treatment, showing a dose-dependent effect, and its IC50 was 7.3 μmol/L. After 24 hours’ treatment with 8 μmol/L As2O3, HepG2 cells underwent significant apoptosis, and its migration and invasion abilities were significantly reduced. In addition, the protein expression levels of RhoA, Cdc42, Rac1 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) were down-regulated, the protein and mRNA expression levels of anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 were significantly down-regulated, and the protein and mRNA expression levels of pro-apoptotic genes Bax and Caspase-3 were significantly up-regulated. The above results indicate that certain concentration of As2O3 can inhibit the migration and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and promote the apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
Objective To learn the current situation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) systematic reviews/meta-analyses published in Chinese journals. Methods All TCM systematic reviews/meta-analyses published from 1978 to July 31, 2009 were searched in the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM). According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, relevant information was extracted on the basis of research purpose. Meanwhile, publication year, journal name, author’s district, number of authors and their articles, types of diseases and interventions were took as the indexes, and then descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS 15.0 software. Results A total of 245 articles including 238 in Chinese and 7 in English were included. All of them were published in 117 different journals from 1998 to 2008, showing an accelerating growth trend of article number. In addition to only one article with first author from Germany, the first author of other 244 were from 24 domestic provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities); the number of authors ranged from 1 to 11; a total of 186 people had published articles as first author, and the number of their published articles ranged from 1 to 29. There were 16 types of diseases according to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition (ICD-10). Totally, 218 articles took drugs as interventions (including 106 listed drugs, 25 self-made prescriptions, 70 related to both listed drugs and self-made prescriptions, and 17 without reporting detailed interventions), accounting for 89%; and 27 articles were about non-drug interventions (including 26 about acupuncture and 1 about massage), accounting for 11%. Most (95.8%) of the articles about self-made prescriptions and listed drugs/self-made prescriptions adopted inappropriate pooled analyses. Conclusion Evidence-based medicine has been spread into the field of TCM, the number of TCM systematic reviews/meta-analyses shows an accelerated growth trend. The types of diseases discussed in the literature were almost the same as the diseases those could be effectively treated by TCM, but there existed imbalance in districts. In the future, systematic review/meta-analysis on drug intervention should aim at Chinese patent medicines and single medicines rather than self-made prescriptions, and should pay more attention to advantageous drugs and advantageous treatments of diseases. Moreover, importance should be also attached to clinical heterogeneity controlling when using acupuncture as a non-drug intervention.
