Searches the literature by a method fixed in advance. It shows reliably what exists, and just as reliably what is missing.
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HOHorse
Evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of basal plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone concentration for diagnosing pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction in horses: A systematic review
2021 · The Veterinary Journal
With mean detection of affected animals at 75.5 per cent and a mean rate of correctly classified healthy animals of 95.2 per cent, the basal value rules the disease out better than it rules it in; the authors declined a meta-analysis because of the bias found and the strong differences between studies.
Epidemiology of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction: A systematic literature review of clinical presentation, disease prevalence and risk factors
2018 · The Veterinary Journal
Across 29 included publications the most robust frequency estimates are 21.2 per cent in equids aged fifteen and over and 2.9 per cent in the overall population, and the only established risk factor remains advancing age, while statements on breed and sex remain contradictory.
Platelet-rich plasma in orthopedic therapy: a comparative systematic review of clinical and experimental data in equine and human musculoskeletal lesions
2015 · BMC Veterinary Research
Across 123 papers in horse and human, favourable results for platelet-rich plasma occurred mostly in studies at high risk of bias, whereas absent effects were more common in methodologically better studies.
Equine non-septic tenosynovitis: A systematic literature review of site-specific pathological lesions, outcomes and surgical complications
2024 · Equine Veterinary Journal
Across 85 studies with 2,101 horses the digital flexor tendon sheath was most often affected, and the probability of returning to the previous level of performance was around 50 per cent for most structures.
Diagnostic utility of acute phase proteins and their ability to guide antibiotic usage in pigs, horses, and cattle: a mapping review
2024 · Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
Structured mapping review with a systematic literature search: acute phase proteins are elevated in diseased animals, yet the available research does not support their use to steer antibiotic treatment; in horses, serum amyloid A points to the underlying cause at best faintly.
Changes in C-reactive protein in response to anti-inflammatory therapy as a predictor of cardiovascular outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis
2020 · JRSM Cardiovascular Disease
Systematic review of 15 randomised trials: there was no relation between the extent of CRP lowering and the extent of risk reduction; a benefit of CRP as a treatment target is plausible at most in people with a high residual inflammatory risk despite normal blood lipids.
The effects of exercise interventions on the inflammatory profile of older adults: A systematic review of the recent literature
2021 · Experimental Gerontology
Systematic review of 23 studies: exercise programmes were most likely to lower CRP, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor alpha, more clearly in healthy older people than in those with disease; no study observed an intensification of inflammation through training.
Mild-moderate equine asthma: A scoping review of evidence supporting the consensus definition
2022 · The Veterinary Journal
From 2,275 hits, 44 studies with 6,092 horses were evaluated; a meta-analysis was impossible because of heterogeneity, and the relationship between lavage cell profile and lung function proved the least consistent.
The impact of outdoor pollution and extreme temperatures on asthma-related outcomes: A systematic review for the EAACI guidelines on environmental science for allergic diseases and asthma
2024 · Allergy
Short-term raised fine particulate and nitrogen dioxide levels probably increase asthma-related hospital admissions and emergency consultations, while the benefit of measures to reduce outdoor air pollution is only weakly supported.
The effectiveness of removal from exposure and reduction of exposure for managing occupational asthma: Summary of an updated Cochrane systematic review
2020 · American Journal of Industrial Medicine
From 26 before-and-after studies it emerged that complete removal from exposure improved symptoms and lung function, whereas mere reduction improved only the symptoms; the certainty of the evidence was rated as very low.
Healthcare outcomes assessed with observational study designs compared with those assessed in randomized trials
2014 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Across 14 methodological reviews holding data from 1,583 meta-analyses on 228 conditions, the effect estimates of randomised and observational studies did not differ meaningfully on average; 11 of the 14 reviews found no difference at all.
Comparison of treatment effects between animal experiments and clinical trials: systematic review
2007 · BMJ
For six treatments with a clear clinical result, animal experiment and clinical trial disagreed on several counts: tirilazad shrank the infarct area by 29 per cent in the animal model, while stroke patients given it fared worse.
The need for randomization in animal trials: an overview of systematic reviews
2014 · PLoS ONE
Across 31 systematic reviews of animal studies, 29 per cent of the individual studies reported a randomisation, 15 per cent a concealed allocation and 35 per cent a blinded outcome assessment; missing randomisation enlarged the effect estimates.
Parathyroidectomy for adults with primary hyperparathyroidism
2023 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
In the same review (8 randomised trials, 447 adults), certainty was rated moderate for the outcome of cure and very low for bone density at the lumbar spine.
Pharmacologic interventions for the treatment of equine herpesvirus-1 in domesticated horses: A systematic review
2024 · Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine
Of 7,009 publications screened, nine met the criteria; the risk of bias was moderate to high and the groups were small, and the authors saw only a minimal or limited benefit for all the drugs examined, both preventively and after infection.
A Systematic Review of Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine in Sport and Companion Animals: Electrotherapy
2022 · Animals
Of 5,385 publications screened, 41 were included, on average 3.7 per procedure; 20 of them carried a high risk of bias and the evidence was sufficient for no clinical application in horses, dogs or cats.
Nine randomised trials with 305 participants (one of them with horses) yielded low certainty for a slight reduction in depressive symptoms and no clear effect on quality of life; every trial was at high risk of performance bias.
Risk factors for equine laminitis: a systematic review with quality appraisal of published evidence
2012 · The Veterinary Journal
Of 17 fully appraised publications, six were rated the most reliable, and only the association between increasing age and chronic laminitis rested on good evidence, while sex, breed and bodyweight remained contradictory.
Frequency of equine laminitis: a systematic review with quality appraisal of published evidence
2011 · The Veterinary Journal
Of 69 appraised publications, ten remained as the most reliable, with frequency estimates between 1.5 and 34 per cent against predominantly poor quality, and the authors consider comparison of these figures with one another explicitly inadmissible.
Systematic review of the relationship between rumen acidosis and laminitis in cattle
2023 · Research in Veterinary Science
Sixteen papers were included out of 339 screened, fifteen of which confirmed rumen acidosis, while no clinical sign of laminitis appeared in two papers using oligofructose: the chain from fermentable carbohydrates to laminitis is not automatic in cattle either.
Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations
2015 · AJNR American Journal of Neuroradiology
In 33 studies covering 3,110 people without symptoms, disc degeneration rose from 37 per cent in those in their twenties to 96 per cent in those in their eighties, which leads the authors to assign many of these signs to normal ageing and to call for interpretation only in the clinical context.
Does magnetic resonance imaging predict future low back pain? A systematic review
2014 · European Journal of Pain
In twelve follow-up studies no consistent link emerged between magnetic resonance findings and later low back pain, but inconsistency and low quality prevented any pooling: the predictive value is unresolved rather than disproved.
Epidemiology, diagnosis and management of Baastrup's disease: a systematic review
2022 · Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences
35 studies covering 1,308 patients describe the human counterpart, Baastrup's disease, as a common and underdiagnosed cause of low back pain, while recording at the same time that the conservative and surgical treatments applied rest on no firm basis and that randomised trials are lacking.
Risk factors for acute abdominal pain (colic) in the adult horse: A scoping review of risk factors, and a systematic review of the effect of management-related changes
2019 · PLoS One
From 3,756 publications screened, 58 studies with 22 categories of risk factor remained; in the systematic part on management changes, 8 of 14 studies failed to meet the criterion for handling confounders, with feed changes and a recent change of housing forming the largest blocks of evidence.
Anastomotic techniques for small intestinal obstruction in horses. A scoping review
2024 · Equine Veterinary Journal
Of 3,024 publications screened, 104 met the criteria and only 42 reported technique and outcome in an analysable way; survival rates were above 70 per cent across all anastomotic techniques, though the authors rate the quality of the evidence as low.
Systematic review of gastrointestinal nematodes of horses from Australia
2019 · Parasites & Vectors
The review of 51 studies from 1950 to 2018 notes that routine diagnosis still rests on the McMaster technique and that the egg count above which treatment should be given remains expressly disputed.
Egg reappearance periods of anthelmintics against equine cyathostomins: The state of play revisited
2022 · International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance
Of 134 studies screened, 54 remained; the review finds eight different definitions of the time to egg reappearance, reports shortened periods of 35 days for moxidectin and 28 days for ivermectin from twenty comparable studies, and expressly leaves open whether resistance or biological factors lie behind them.
Molecular diagnostics for gastrointestinal helminths in equids: Past, present and future
2022 · Veterinary Parasitology
In 54 studies selected under PRISMA, molecular methods serve above all to separate species that faecal examination cannot tell apart; the review reports neither a comparative assessment of sensitivity and specificity against coproscopy nor validation for routine use.
A Systematic Review of Current Applications of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Horses
2023 · Veterinary Sciences
Out of the whole literature seven studies remained, whose quality the authors rate as suboptimal overall, with small numbers and missing control groups and without dependable information on donor selection, dose and procedure.
Methods of assessment of magnesium status in humans: a systematic review
2011 · Magnesium Research
Of 20 status markers examined across 21 publications, only serum or plasma magnesium, magnesium in red blood cells and urinary excretion responded measurably to a change in intake; for the rest the data supported no verdict.
Eight small trials with 576 women: the results for magnesium were contradictory and reported so differently that no pooling was possible; the certainty of the evidence was rated low to very low.
Carbohydrate quality and human health: a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
2019 · The Lancet
Across 185 prospective studies and 58 trials (nearly 135 million person-years), high versus low fibre intake was associated with 15 to 30 per cent lower mortality and disease incidence, with the greatest benefit at 25 to 29 grams per day; certainty of evidence moderate.
Who Is Healthy? A Review of How Equine Control Groups Are Defined in Clinical Orthopaedic Research 1999-2021
2022 · Veterinary and Comparative Orthopaedics and Traumatology
There is no standardised definition of the healthy horse: from 2,472 and 2,746 references screened there remained 127 papers on osteoarthritis with eleven and 84 papers on tendon and suspensory ligament disease with eight different procedures, a median of three per publication, and in several studies the comparison horses had not been examined for lameness.
A systematic review evaluating the use of ultrasound in the identification of osteochondrosis in horses
2022 · The Veterinary Journal
The authors note that radiographic screening for osteochondrosis at purchase is routine, but because the studies are too few and too heterogeneous they find no dependable data on the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound for osteochondral lesions.
A structured search left ten intervention studies with regression rates of 28 to 100 per cent per lesion and 9 to 100 per cent per horse; the authors expressly regard the evidence as insufficient to recommend one procedure over another and call urgently for randomised, placebo-controlled studies.
Prophylactic vaccination against human papillomaviruses to prevent cervical cancer and its precursors
2018 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
From 26 randomised studies with 73,428 participants, protection against the precursors of cervical cancer in women aged 15 to 26 follows with high certainty, with a fall in the precursors attributable to types 16 and 18 from 164 to 2 per 10,000 in women virus-negative at the outset; invasive cancer itself was measured as an outcome in no study.
Across 17 studies with around 7,600 participants with severe eosinophilic asthma the rate of worsening episodes falls roughly by half under passive blockade of interleukin 5, while the gains in quality of life and lung function mostly stay below the clinically noticeable threshold.
Animal to human translation: a systematic scoping review of reported concordance rates
2019 · Journal of Translational Medicine
Scoping review of 121 reviews: the transfer rates reported range from 0 to 100 per cent; because of high risk of bias and outdated material, the authors consider the cumulative evidence insufficient and the success of transfer unpredictable.
Mapping the preclinical to clinical evidence and development trajectory of the oncolytic virus talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC): a systematic review
2019 · BMJ Open
Five preclinical studies in 150 animals reported complete regression of up to 100 per cent (injected tumours) and 80 per cent (non-injected); clinically the highest complete response rate was 24 per cent, and 0 per cent in one study, with a consistently high risk of bias.
