The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official document that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions.

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Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions

Part 1: Social Analysis, Discourse Analysis, Text Analysis 1. Introduction 2. Texts, Social Events, and Social Practices 3. Intertextuality and Assumptions Part 2: Genres and Action 4. Genres 5. Meaning Relations between Sentences and Clauses 6. Types of Exchange, Speech Functions, and Grammatical Mood Part 3: Discourses and Representations 7. Discourses 8. Representations of Social Events Part 4: Styles and Identities 9. Styles 10. Modality and Evaluation 11. Conclusion

http://disciplinas.stoa.usp.br/pluginfile.php/270695/mod_folder/content/0/ii.%20Norman_Fairclough_Analysing_discourse.pdf?forcedownload=1

Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research

Diabetes mellitus is commonly associated with systolic/diastolic hypertension, and a wealth of epidemiological data suggest that this association is independent of age and obesity. Much evidence indicates that the link between diabetes and essential hypertension is hyperinsulinemia. Thus, when hypertensive patients, whether obese or of normal body weight, are compared with age- and weight-matched normotensive control subjects, a heightened plasma insulin response to a glucose challenge is consistently found. A state of cellular resistance to insulin action subtends the observed hyperinsulinism. With the insulin/glucose-clamp technique, in combination with tracer glucose infusion and indirect calorimetry, it has been demonstrated that the insulin resistance of essential hypertension is located in peripheral tissues (muscle), is limited to nonoxidative pathways of glucose disposal (glycogen synthesis), and correlates directly with the severity of hypertension. The reasons for the association of insulin resistance and essential hypertension can be sought in at least four general types of mechanisms: Na+ retention, sympathetic nervous system overactivity, disturbed membrane ion transport, and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Physiological maneuvers, such as calorie restriction (in the overweight patient) and regular physical exercise, can improve tissue sensitivity to insulin; evidence indicates that these maneuvers can also lower blood pressure in both normotensive and hypertensive individuals. Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia are also associated with an atherogenic plasma lipid profile. Elevated plasma insulin concentrations enhance very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) synthesis, leading to hypertriglyceridemia. Progressive elimination of lipid and apolipoproteins from the VLDL particle leads to an increased formation of intermediate-density and low-density lipoproteins, both of which are atherogenic. Last, insulin, independent of its effects on blood pressure and plasma lipids, is known to be atherogenic. The hormone enhances cholesterol transport into arteriolar smooth muscle cells and increases endogenous lipid synthesis by these cells. Insulin also stimulates the proliferation of arteriolar smooth muscle cells, augments collagen synthesis in the vascular wall, increases the formation of and decreases the regression of lipid plaques, and stimulates the production of various growth factors. In summary, insulin resistance appears to be a syndrome that is associated with a clustering of metabolic disorders, including non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, lipid abnormalities, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Insulin Resistance: A Multifaceted Syndrome Responsible for NIDDM, Obesity, Hypertension, Dyslipidemia, and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

By Matthew James Keelingand Pejman RohaniPrinceton, NJ: Princeton University Press,2008.408 pp., Illustrated. $65.00 (hardcover).Mathematical modeling of infectious dis-eases has progressed dramatically over thepast 3 decades and continues to ﬂourishat the nexus of mathematics, epidemiol-ogy, and infectious diseases research. Nowrecognized as a valuable tool, mathemat-ical models are being integrated into thepublic health decision-making processmore than ever before. However, despiterapid advancements in this area, a formaltraining program for mathematical mod-eling is lacking, and there are very fewbooks suitable for a broad readership. Tosupport this bridging science, a commonlanguage that is understood in all con-tributing disciplines is required.

Modeling Infectious Diseases in Humans and Animals

High quality protocols facilitate proper conduct, reporting, and external review
 of clinical trials. However, the completeness of trial protocols is often
 inadequate. To help improve the content and quality of protocols, an
 international group of stakeholders developed the SPIRIT 2013 Statement
 (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials). The SPIRIT
 Statement provides guidance in the form of a checklist of recommended items to
 include in a clinical trial protocol. This SPIRIT 2013 Explanation and Elaboration paper provides important
 information to promote full understanding of the checklist recommendations. For
 each checklist item, we provide a rationale and detailed description; a model
 example from an actual protocol; and relevant references supporting its
 importance. We strongly recommend that this explanatory paper be used in
 conjunction with the SPIRIT Statement. A website of resources is also available
 (www.spirit-statement.org). The SPIRIT 2013 Explanation and Elaboration paper, together with the Statement,
 should help with the drafting of trial protocols. Complete documentation of key
 trial elements can facilitate transparency and protocol review for the benefit
 of all stakeholders.

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/346/bmj.e7586.full.pdf

SPIRIT 2013 explanation and elaboration: guidance for protocols of clinical trials

The National Prescribing Centre, now part of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, published A Single Competency Framework for all Prescribers in 2012. A draft of the revised version should appear on the website of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society later this year (see www.rpharms.com/what-s-happening-/news_show.asp?id=2666), and all prescribers should read it when it appears and offer comments.

So are you a good prescriber? Well, it helps if you understand what the relevant words mean.

The framework emphasises the importance of assessing …

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/352/bmj.i537.full.pdf

Good prescribing: benefits, hazards, harms, and risks

I recently learnt about a rare type of neuropathy called hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (abbreviated to HNPP) or hereditary pressure sensitive neuropathy (HPSN), also known as tomaculous neuropathy. In many cases it is associated with a deletion in chromosome 17p11.2. However, the term is not exclusive, and tomaculous changes have been described in other neuropathies, such as type 1B Charcot—Marie—Tooth syndrome and hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy.

Tomaculous refers to the sausage shaped …

When I use a word…: Sausages

Definitions come in different varieties, as it were diagnostic categories. Here I describe seven types: nominal definitions, which are of two types, word–for–word definitions and word–for–thing definitions; descriptive definitions; stipulative definitions, which can be either intensional or extensional; operational definitions; and ostensive definitions. In each case I give examples from medical practice.

/pdf/when-i-use-a-word-diagnosing-definitions-2ajb6tnt.pdf

When I use a word . . . .Diagnosing definitions

The number of monoclonal antibodies with clinical uses is bewildering. I recently counted about 50, from abciximab to zolimomab aritox. Their names seem bewildering too, but are actually easy to decipher.

Modern international non-proprietary drug names have two parts. The suffix, or stem, tells you what group the drug belongs to, ideally chosen to reflect its pharmacological action. For instance, -vastatin …

When I use a word

Placebos and their beneficial clinical and psychological effects are well-researched, but nocebo effects receive far less attention, despite being highly undesirable. The aim of this restricted scoping review was to examine how nocebo effects are represented in the biomedical literature and to identify the trends and gaps in existing knowledge. After searching five biomedical databases and two clinical trials registries (from their inception to 23 December 2020) for papers on nocebo effects or negative placebo effects, 1161 eligible publications were identified. The two main publication types were non-systematic reviews (37.7%) and primary research studies (35.6%); only 85 publications (7.3%) were systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The non-systematic reviews, many of them heavily opinion-based, may contribute to the amplification of narratives, attitudes, and beliefs about nocebo effects that do not objectively reflect the primary research. The primary research papers often used nocebo effects to explain results, rather than as the primary phenomenon under investigation. Most publications were concerned with both positive and negative placebo effects, rather than just nocebo effects. Over half of the abstracts were in the field of neurology, psychiatry, psychology, or neuroscience (52.8%). The nocebo effect was most frequently investigated in the context of pain. Studies were almost exclusively in adults, and more often in healthy participants than in patients. In conclusion, in the biomedical literature there is an overabundance of non-systematic reviews and expert opinions and a lack of primary research and high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses specifically dealing with nocebo effects.

Jeffrey K Aronson

Papers

Good prescribing: benefits, hazards, harms, and risks

When I use a word…: Sausages

When I use a word . . . .Diagnosing definitions

When I use a word

Placebo's invisible brother: a restricted scoping review of biomedical literature on the nocebo effect.