Medical Conference Research Articles

Evaluation of publication bias for 12 clinical trials of molnupiravir to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection in 13 694 patients with meta-analysis.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) acquired the global licensing rights for the antiviral molnupiravir, promising affordable access via licensing deals. Numerous Indian pharmaceutical companies subsequently conducted trials of the drug. Registered trials of molnupiravir were searched on the Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI) and efforts made to detect resulting public data. Per the CTRI, 12 randomized trials of molnupiravir were conducted in 13 694 Indian patients, from mid-2021. By August 2022, only a preprint and medical conference presentation had resulted. Additionally, two trials were mentioned in press releases suggesting failure of treatment. The available data contain unexplained results that differ significantly from both the PANORAMIC and MSD MOVe-OUT trials. Approximately one-third of the global data on molnupiravir remain unpublished. We conducted a meta-analysis with four studies that provided results and observed that molnupiravir does not have a significant benefit for hospitalizations.

Letter: Addressing Barriers to Student Participation in Neurosurgical Conferences: Experiences From the Inaugural Early Career Neuroscience Virtual Research Symposium.

Letter: Addressing Barriers to Student Participation in Neurosurgical Conferences: Experiences From the Inaugural Early Career Neuroscience Virtual Research Symposium.

Medical conferences and medical practice

Medical conferences and medical practice

Longitudinal patient-reported outcomes 1 year after thoracoscopic segmentectomy versus lobectomy for early-stage lung cancer: a multicentre, prospective cohort study protocol

IntroductionSegmentectomy and lobectomy are the main surgical procedures for early-stage lung cancer. However, few studies have analysed patient-reported outcomes after segmentectomy versus lobectomy. This study aims to compare patient-reported outcomes—such...

Publication rates of research presented at the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Annual Meetings from 2008 to 2018: an 11-year review

BackgroundKnowledge dissemination is paramount so physicians may practice the most up-to-date, evidence-based medicine to best serve their patients. Medical conferences are a commonly employed method of facilitating this. By determining the publication rate of research presented at a conference, the quality of the conference is indirectly assessed. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the publication rate, along with other conference metrics, of abstracts presented at the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (CSOHNS) meetings from 2008 to 2018.MethodsAll abstracts presented at the CSOHNS Annual Meetings from 2008 to 2018 were reviewed from publicly available records. Presentation year, presentation type (i.e. oral or poster), whether each abstract was presented in the Poliquin Resident Research Competition, and the country in which the lead author’s institution was located, were collected. Publication status of each abstract was then determined using a six-tiered search strategy in PubMed and Google Scholar. All data were then analyzed using SPSS Version 27.0.ResultsFrom 2008 to 2018, 1947 abstracts were analyzed, yielding an overall publication rate of 58.7%. There was a significantly increasing trend in publication rate over the 11 years (p = 0.015). The rate of publication differed based on type of presentation (oral 65.1%, poster 50.2%; p = 0.001). Most presentations were presented by a first author associated with a Canadian institution (94.4%). The top journal in which research was published was Journal of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery (37.3%). The mean impact factor of the journals in which presentations were published was 2.92. Finally, the median time to publication was 14 months (IQR: 9.0–25.0).ConclusionsResearch presented at 2008–2018 CSOHNS annual meetings was published in academic journals at higher rates than research at comparable conferences. Oral presentations have a significantly greater publication rate, compared to poster presentations. Additionally, the upward trend in publication rate over the 11 meetings suggests a steady increase in the quality of research being presented.Graphical abstract

Improving Drug Therapy for Pediatric Patients: Unfinished History of Pediatric Drug Development.

Improving Drug Therapy for Pediatric Patients: Unfinished History of Pediatric Drug Development.

Gender representation in leadership & research: a 13-year review of the Annual Canadian Society of Otolaryngology Meetings

BackgroundThe gender disparity in surgical disciplines, specifically in speakers across North American medical and surgical specialty conferences, has been highlighted in recent literature. Improving gender diversity at society meetings and panels may provide many benefits. Our aim was to determine the state of gender diversity amongst presenters and speakers at the annual Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (CSO) meetings.MethodsScientific programs for the CSO annual meetings from 2008 to 2020 were obtained from the national society website. Participant name, role, gender, location, and subspecialty topic were recorded for all roles other than poster presenter. Gender (male or female) was determined using an online search. The total number of opportunity spots and proportion of women was then calculated. Gender differences were analyzed using chi-square test and logistic regression with odds ratios.Four categories were analyzed: Society Leadership, Invited Speaker Opportunities, Workshop Composition (male-only panels or “manels”, female-only panels, or with at least one female speaker), and Oral Paper Presenters (first authors).ResultsThere were 1874 leadership opportunity spots from 2008 to 2020, of which 18.6% were filled by women. Among elected leadership positions in the society, only 92 unique women filled 738 leadership opportunity spots. 13.2% of workshop chairs, 20.8% of panelists and 22.7% of paper session chairs were female. There was an overall increase in the proportion of leadership positions held by women, from 13.9% of leadership spots in 2008 to 30.1% in 2020. Of the 368 workshops, 61.1% were led by men only, 36.4% by at least 1 female surgeon, and 2.5% by women only. “Manels” have comprised at least 37.5% of workshops each year.ConclusionsThe proportion of women in speaking roles at the annual CSO meetings has generally increased over time, particularly among panelists, leading to fewer male-only speaking panels. However, there has been a slower rate of growth in the proportion of unique women in speaker roles. There remains an opportunity to increase gender/sex diversity at the major Canadian otolaryngology meeting.Graphical

Time to Publication for Randomized Clinical Trials Presented as Abstracts at Three Gastroenterology and Hepatology Conferences in 2017.

Results of randomized clinical trials are often first presented as conference abstracts, but these abstracts may be difficult to find, and trial results included in the abstract may not be followed by subsequent journal publications. In a review of abstracts submitted to eight major medical and surgical conferences in 2017, we identified 237 abstracts reporting primary results of randomized clinical trials accepted for presentation at three major gastroenterology and hepatology conferences. The aims of this new analysis were to determine the publication rate for these abstracts and the proportion of publications that included trial registration numbers in the publication abstract. Clinical trial registries, PubMed, Europe PMC, and Google Scholar were searched through November 1, 2021, for publications reporting trial results for the selected abstracts. Publications were reviewed to determine if they included a trial registration number and if the registration number was in the abstract. Publications were found for 157 abstracts (66%) within four years of the conference. Publications were found more frequently for the 194 abstracts reporting results of registered trials (144, 74%) than for the 43 abstracts reporting unregistered trials (13, 30%), but only 67% of these 144 publications included the registration number in the publication abstract. Ten unpublished trials had summary results posted on ClinicalTrials.gov. Clinical trial results could be more accessible if all trials were registered, authors included registration numbers in both conference and journal abstracts, and journal editors required the inclusion of registration numbers in publication abstracts for registered clinical trials.

A systematic review of therapeutic strategies in gastroenteropancreatic grade 3 neuroendocrine tumors.

Gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine neoplasms with Ki-67 > 20% were subdivided in the most recent 2019 World Health Organization histopathological classification into grade 3 (G3) neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), described as well-differentiated tumors, and neuroendocrine carcinomas, which are described as poorly differentiated tumors. This classification met the demand noted for different prognoses between these subgroups, prompting the need for treatment recommendations for well-differentiated G3 tumors. We systematically searched medical literature databases and oncology conferences for studies on G3 GEP NET to describe epidemiology, diagnosis, molecular features, and treatments used. We excluded studies that did not discriminate G3 NET data. Data were tabulated and described, and a quality analysis of the reports was performed. We found 23 published studies and six abstracts; 89.7% of studies were retrospective, six were composed exclusively of G3 NETs. Among 761 patients, the median number of patients per study was 15, most were male and older than 60 years, and functional imaging tests were positive in more than 80% of cases. Overall, the scientific evidence supporting the treatment of G3 GEP NETs is limited. For localized disease, resection remains the standard treatment but there is no evidence to support neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy. For advanced disease, capecitabine and temozolomide seems to be the most effective option, with a response rate, median progression-free survival, and median overall survival up to 37.9%, 20.6 months, and 41.2 months, respectively. The latest available data on the epidemiology, diagnosis, molecular changes, and treatment of G3 GEP NET are described. Yet, the level of evidence for treatment recommendations is low, as most studies are retrospective. A treatment algorithm for G3 GEP NET is proposed.

The impact of directionality and speech event type on target speech compression/expansion in simultaneous interpreting

Simultaneous interpreting is a complex cognitive activity that can be influenced by several factors, including source speech features (e.g., delivery rate), contextual variables, working languages, and directionality (e.g., interpreting from/into one’s native or foreign language), among others. Owing to the time constraints inherent in this interpreting mode, simultaneous interpreters must make swift decisions on how to best deliver the original message into the target language. Although explicitation is considered a universal feature of translation and interpreting, it is also true that part of (redundant) information is eventually omitted. In fact, as opposed to translated texts, interpreting corpora show a general trend of interpreted speeches being shorter than source speeches (in terms of number of words). However, a closer look at the Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting Corpus (DIRSI) partially disconfirms such a general trend. The DIRSI corpus consists of three medical conferences mediated by simultaneous interpreters (English/Italian). Each conference is analyzed in terms of speech length to ascertain to what extent directionality and speech event type may have an impact on the interpreters’ output. Results show that directionality cannot always be linked to target speech expansion, whereas the type of speech event is likely to play a role. In particular, this applies to the interpretation of source speeches under 500 words, as interpreters adopt optimization strategies to manage politeness, source speech ungrammaticality, and integrate contextual cues.

Why Pharma Companies Should be Allowed to Continue to Fund Medical Conferences and Doctors’ Attendance

Why Pharma Companies Should be Allowed to Continue to Fund Medical Conferences and Doctors’ Attendance

Book review on the Mr Oswal's autobiography <em>Globe Trotting and 62 Years of ENT</em>

As Vasant Oswal's professional colleague and friend, it gives me immense pleasure to review Vasant's biography, published and launched in Edinburgh in the U.K. in May 2022 at the Annual British Medical Association conference.
 I met Vasant at the annual meeting of the Form (Preparatory Committee) of the World Federation of Societies in Laser Medicine and Surgery (WFSLMS). I was elected Secretary-General and Vasant, Honorary Treasurer. Subsequently, our encounters went on for many years at the various international laser medical, dental, and veterinary conferences in different parts of the world. [...]

The Anbar 2nd International Medical Conference (AIMCO-2022): Approaching the “Updates in Medical and Health Sciences”

QScience.com is the innovative and collaborative, peer-reviewed, online publishing platform from Hamad bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press). It offers a fast and transparent Open Access scholarly publishing process, which is centered on the author, bringing their research to a global audience.

Serious games as an innovative learning tool at a medical conference to teach medical knowledge and crisis resource management: A narrative report.

From the Division of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, Affiliated with the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Correspondence to Dana Karol, MD, Tel Aviv Ichilov-Sourasky Medical Center: Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel E-mail: [email protected]

Exploring the significance of English-based communication for a community of medical academics in a public university teaching hospital in Algeria

This paper provides an in-depth and holistic description of the significance of English language use for a community of university hospital professors in a public university teaching hospital in Algeria. The research follows an exploratory qualitative study methodology. The participants included 26 community members who agreed to take part in focus group interviews, in addition to complementary in-depth interviews and field observations. The study revealed a complex linguistic situation that is characterized by multilingualism, diglossia, code switching, and code mixing. English is used in the traditional domains of research publication and dissemination but has also expanded to the formerly French-medium medical domains such as professional, vocational, educational, and social communication. Community members’ need to use English is motivated by their attempt to integrate into the international medical community through the practice of a variety of skills and tasks organised as domain-related task repertoires. The use of information and communication technologies and participation in international medical conferences have also increased the need for English language use. These results can be used for future ESP research on English for medicine involving the design of English for medical purposes curricula, materials and assessment models, and data collection instruments.

Use of digital technology to give and receive feedback in clinical training: a scoping review protocol

BackgroundFeedback is vital to improving trainee competencies in medical education. The challenges of the global COVID-19 pandemic related to social distancing to curb the spread of the virus ignited a rapid transition to online medical education. These changes highlight the need for digital feedback tools that enhance the efficacy and efficiency of feedback practices. This protocol is for a scoping review that aims to identify the different digital tools and applications in medical education as reported in the literature, as well as highlight gaps in the current literature and provide suggestions for future technological developments and research.Methods and analysisA review of the relevant literature will be guided using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodological framework for scoping studies. Using the search strategy developed by the authors, an electronic search of the following databases will be conducted: PubMed/MEDLINE, EBSCOhost (academic search complete, CINAHL with full text) Scopus, Google Scholar, Union Catalogue of Theses and Dissertations (UCTD) via SABINET Online and World Cat Dissertations and Theses via OCLC. Studies will be identified by searching literature from January 2010 to date of review. Using a validated data extraction form developed for the scoping review, the review team will screen eligible studies and import them onto an electronic library created specifically for this purpose. Data collection for the review will be documented through a PRISMA-P flowchart, and the scoping review will use a basic descriptive content analysis to analyse and categorise the extracted data. All review steps will involve two or more reviewers.DisseminationThe review will provide a comprehensive list of digital tools and applications used to enhance feedback in clinical training and inform future technological developments. The findings will be disseminated through medical education conferences and publications.

Say My Name: Understanding the Power of Names, Correct Pronunciation, and Personal Narratives.

Names are a reflection of identity and often have personal meaning. The chronic mispronunciation of names can undermine one's identity and be experienced as a microaggression. This workshop aims to provide historical context for names as well as resources for correct name pronunciation. We developed a 60-minute interactive virtual workshop with didactics, small-group sharing of personal experiences, and case discussions. We used an anonymous postworkshop survey to evaluate workshop effectiveness. We presented the workshop at one local academic conference and two local educational conferences to learners of all levels from medical students to faculty. We collected postworkshop survey results from 78 participants of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Participants reported learning historical context, ways to ask about correct name pronunciation, correcting name mispronunciation, documenting pronunciation, and sources for applications to practice. The main barriers to implementing workshop lessons included personal and structural factors. This workshop effectively fills an educational gap by addressing the importance of correct name pronunciation in order to provide a more inclusive environment for clinicians and patients alike.

Social Media and Cardiovascular Health: Implications for Women.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in adult women in the USA, yet CVD is underrecognized in women. Disparities in care are further pronounced in women of racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. In this review, we discuss the role of social media (SoMe) as a tool to (i) promote women's cardiovascular (CV) health and (ii) address and potentially reduce gaps in care, particularly in general cardiology (targeting atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease), cardio-oncology, and cardio-obstetrics. We also briefly discuss women's CV health as a common, although not unique, focus of women in cardiology on SoMe. Studies have suggested the utility of social media to help advance subspecialties of cardiology. Leaders within general cardiology, cardio-oncology, and cardio-obstetrics have curated social media strategies to advance their respective fields and call attention to cardiovascular health disparities in female populations and racial/ethnic minorities. In addition to these types of uses, women in cardiology also frequently use SoMe to encourage a career in cardiology and to share experiences, challenges, and resources for support and career advancement as healthcare professionals; men in cardiology and especially those who are allies for sex and racial/ethnic minorities also use SoMe for these means. Herein, we highlight the role and myriad applications of social media in the promotion of women's cardiovascular health. We discuss five primary roles of social media: increasing public awareness, disseminating medical literature in a rapid and accessible fashion, facilitating professional networking, serving as a platform for medical conferences, and empowering patients. These core strategies are discussed through the lens of general cardiology, cardio-oncology, and cardio-obstetrics. We also demonstrate how these applications can be leveraged to increase representation of women in cardiology, also supporting an increased focus on women's cardiovascular health.

The (commercialised) experience of operating: Embodied preferences, ambiguous variations and explaining widespread patient harm.

This article provides a detailed account of how surgeons perceived and used a device-procedure that caused widespread patient harm: transvaginal mesh for the treatment of pelvic floor disorders in women. Drawing from interviews with 27 surgeons in Canada, the UK, the United States and France and observations of major international medical conferences in North America and Europe between 2015 and 2018, we describe the commercially driven array of operative variations in the use of transvaginal mesh and show that surgeons' understanding of their hands-on, sensory experience with these variations is central to explaining patient harm. Surgeons often developed preferences for how to manage actual and anticipated dangers of transvaginal mesh procedures through embodied operative adjustments, but collectively the meaning of these preferences was fragmented, contested and deferred. We critically reflect on surgeons' understandings of their operative experience, including the view that such experience is not evidence. The harm in this case poses a challenge to some ways of thinking about uncertainty and errors in medical sociology, and calls for attention to a specific feature of surgical work: the extent and persistence of operative practices that elude classification as right or wrong but are still most certainly better and worse.

Toxicity Reporting Is Inconsistent and Incomplete, and Subjective Minimizing Language Is Common in Acute Leukemia Clinical Trials: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials Presented at ASH between 2017-2021

Introduction: Despite calls for greater transparency in reporting harms in cancer clinical trials, data on drug toxicity continues to be obscured by incomplete reporting and use of subjective, minimizing language. Subjective terms such as "acceptable" or "tolerable" toxicity are commonly employed in peer-reviewed publications in oncology (Gyawali et al. BMJ 2018). The use of subjective language that minimizes harms in clinical trials can adversely impact informed consent and shared decision-making by overlooking the fact that only individual patients can determine if a therapy is tolerable. The scope of this problem in clinical trials in hematologic malignancies and at medical conferences, however, remains unknown. To further assess this issue, we conducted a systematic review of abstracts presented at ASH annual meetings from 2017-2021 to characterize toxicity reporting and use of subjective, minimizing language in phase 3 clinical trials in acute leukemia. Methods: Following a pilot phase to identify and define minimization terms, we conducted a systematic search of all ASH abstracts from 2017-2021. Phase 3 randomized controlled trials in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were included; subset analyses, long-term follow up studies and supportive care trials were excluded. Subjective, minimizing language was defined a priori as use of "acceptable", "tolerable", "manageable", "favorable", "feasible" "safe", and/or "limited" in reference to treatment-related adverse events (AE), which falsely suggested that patients deemed the therapy as such without evaluating patient experiences. Primary toxicity outcome assessment included fatal AE (FAE), serious AE (SAE), and use of common terminology criteria for AE (CTCAE), as well as absent and incomplete AE reporting, defined in Table 1A. Complete severe AE reporting was defined as reporting of cumulative rates (per 100 patients; %) of CTCAE grade ≥3 toxicities or cumulative SAE. An across-disease assessment was performed including phase 3 clinical trials in multiple myeloma and lymphoma from the same time period. Results: 341 studies in acute leukemia underwent abstract screening, of which 40 met inclusion criteria. Study characteristics are reported in Table 1A. AE reporting was variable across trials. Ten trials (25%) provided no information on AE in their abstract, and 6 (15%) had incomplete AE reporting. Subjective, minimizing language was used to describe AE data in 16 trials (40%), with "tolerable" and "acceptable" being the most frequently used terms, and a total of 26 (65%) studies had either absent AE reporting or used minimizing terms (Table 1A). Minimizing language was seen across a range of different study types, including trials in patients with adult and pediatric leukemia, trials of systemic therapies and stem cell transplantation, and trials in frontline and relapsed/refractory settings. Severe toxicities were reported in 10 of the 16 trials that used minimizing language (62.5%) and FAE in 6 of 16 (37.5%). In experimental arms of trials using minimizing terms, rates of CTCAE grade ≥3 AE or SAE ranged from 17-97.3%, and rates of fatal AE from 0-19.5% (Table 1B). FAE and severe AE rates were similar or numerically higher in abstracts that used minimizing terms compared to those abstracts that did not. A total of 65 abstracts reporting results of randomized clinical trials in multiple myeloma and lymphoma (including Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma) were available for across-disease assessment and demonstrated similar high rates of absent and incomplete AE reporting, as well as subjective, minimizing terms, used to describe a wide range of severe AE (Table 1B). Discussion: This systematic review of ASH abstracts highlights inconsistent, incomplete, and often absent toxicity reporting, as well as frequent use of subjective, minimizing language. The findings suggest that formal toxicity minimization and subjective minimizing terms are common. Conference abstracts often form the first impression of a clinical trial and can have a disproportionate influence on physician perspectives, thus impacting clinical practice. These findings will inform a larger systematic review to inform policy to improve reporting transparency at hematology and oncology conferences. #co-senior authors Figure 1View largeDownload PPTFigure 1View largeDownload PPT Close modal