PROSPERO Research Articles

Efectos en la salud asociados a la ingesta de frutas cítricas en infantes de 6 a 24 meses de edad: Protocolo de una revisión sistemática

Introduction: In Latin America, the recommendations about the introduction of citrus in the complementary feeding are heterogeneous. Food restriction during the first years of life can increase the risk of nutritional deficiencies. The objective of the review is to identify the health effects associated with the citrus intake in infants from 6 to 24 months of age.Material and Methods: We will include studies with preterm infants, without diseases or surgical interventions that require dietary modification. Citrus are considered as Orange, Camu Camu, Tangelo, Lemon, Mandarin, Lime, Cider, Grapefruit, and Clementine, consumed in the natural form or in juices or extracts, or in combination with other foods. All health effects associated with the intake of citrus will be reported. The databases of MEDLINE (through PubMed), Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Epistemonikos, LILACS, and SciELO will be searched.Also, grey literature will be searched in international thesis repositories. Observational studies, randomized and non-randomized clinical trials will be included. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment will be done independently, in duplicate and with blinding. At the end of each stage, blinding will be lifted to resolve conflicts between reviewers through consensus. A narrative synthesis of the results of the primary studies and the risk of bias will be conducted.Ethics and Dissemination: The protocol is registered in PROSPERO: CRD42021230561.

The role of interventional radiotherapy (brachytherapy) in stage I esophageal cancer: an AIRO (Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology) systematic review.

This review aimed at examining efficacy of interventional radiotherapy (brachytherapy-IRT) alone or combined with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in stage I esophageal cancer as exclusive treatment. A systematic research using PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane library was performed. ClinicalTrials.gov was searched for ongoing or recently completed trials, and PROSPERO was searched for ongoing or recently completed systematic reviews. We analyzed only clinical study as full-text publication, reporting on patients with stage I esophageal cancer treated with IRT alone or in combination with other treatments (e.g., EBRT). Conference paper, survey, letter, editorial, book chapter, and review were excluded. Patients who underwent previous surgery were excluded. Time restriction (1990-2018) was applied for years of the publication. Twelve studies have been selected. The number of evaluated patients was 514; the median age was 69 years. In the IRT group, the median: local control (LC) was 77% (range 63%-100%), disease-free survival (DFS) was 68.4% (range 49%-86.3%), the overall survival (OS) was 60% (range 31%-84%), the cancer specific survival (CSS) was 80% (range 55-100%), and grade 3-4 toxicity range was 0%-26%. IRT alone or combined to EBRT is an effective and safe treatment option for patients with stage I esophageal cancer. Definitive radiation therapy could be an alternative to surgery in patients with superficial cancer.

Effect of grape polyphenols on selected inflammatory mediators: A systematic review and meta-analysis randomized clinical trials.

Grapes contain different polyphenols and might prevent inflammation by reducing Nitric Oxide (NO) inactivation through antioxidative enzymes. The aim of this article was to demonstrate the effects of grape polyphenols on the selected inflammatory mediators, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). To find papers assessing the effects of grape polyphenols on inflammatory mediators, electronic data bases, including ISI web of science, PubMed/Medline, SCOPUS, and Google scholar, were searched up to March 2019. Delphi checklist was used for evaluating the qualities of the included articles. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (No. CRD42019116695). The mean changes in the intervention and control groups were calculated by subtracting the end values from the baselines. Then, the difference between the two changes was measured and utilized as the effect size in meta-analysis. 9 and 8 articles were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. Our results indicated that grape polyphenols did not reduce hs-CRP levels, but omission of one article could lead to a significant reduction in hs-CRP (Weight Mean Difference (WMD): −0.54 mg/L, 95 % CI: −1.02, -0.06; P=0.026, I2=0.0 %). Regarding IL-6 and TNF-α, no significant changes were observed in the intervention compared to the control group (WMD: 0.04 pg/mL, 95 % CI: −0.02, 0.28; P=0.744, I2=0.0 %, WMD: -0.10 pg/mL, 95 % CI: −0.25, 0.05; P=0.183, I2=0.0 %, respectively). We found no beneficial effects of grape polyphenols on the selected inflammatory mediators. Still, more studies with higher doses of polyphenols, longer treatment durations, different sources of grape polyphenols, and larger numbers of participants are required.

What works in psychosocial programming in humanitarian contexts in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of the evidence

While there is growing evidence for the effectiveness of mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries and humanitarian contexts, this is lacking for psychosocial programming. We aimed to summarise the evidence for psychosocial programming in these contexts through a systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42017069066) of peer-reviewed and grey literature of programme evaluations. A total of n = 42,435 unique records were initially identified, with n = 211 records meeting full inclusion criteria. We identified 51 randomised controlled trials of 47 different interventions. The remaining studies used different evaluation methodology. Only three interventions had more than one experimental/quasi-experimental evaluation: Brief Intervention and Contact, Problem Management Plus and Child Friendly Spaces. While there are many studies of interventions, it was challenging to identify the same intervention across studies, leaving almost no interventions with more than one rigorous study supporting their use and many interventions that are poorly described. This makes it difficult to choose between them or even to implement them. Future research should focus on replication of well-described interventions in multiple different sites, to place future intervention selection on a more scientific basis. There is also a need to better understand the impact of psychosocial programmes in sectors other than health and protection, such as nutrition. These sectors may provide critical delivery mechanisms for psychosocial programming to broaden the reach of such interventions. Key implications for practice Efforts to build the evidence base for psychosocial programming in humanitarian settings are challenged by the breadth of programming delivered, populations served and outcomes targeted in this field, resulting in predominantly one-off studies of a wide range of interventions. To inform future intervention selection, research initiatives should focus on replication of well-described interventions in multiple contexts or stages of humanitarian response. Rigorous evaluation of community-focused psychosocial programmes is also needed.