Sequence Generation Method Research Articles

Laparoscopy versus laparotomy for the management of early stage endometrial cancer.

This is an update of a previous Cochrane Review published in 2012, Issue 9.Surgery for endometrial cancer (hysterectomy with removal of both fallopian tubes and ovaries) is performed through laparotomy. It has been suggested that the laparoscopic approach is associated with a reduction in operative morbidity. Over the last two decades there has been a steady increase of the use of laparoscopy for endometrial cancer. This review investigated the evidence of benefits and harms of laparoscopic surgery compared with laparotomy for presumed early stage endometrial cancer. To compare overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) for laparoscopic surgery versus laparotomy in women with presumed early stage endometrial cancer. For this update, we searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2018, Issue 5) in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via Ovid (April 2012 to June 2018) and Embase via Ovid (April 2012 to June 2018). We also searched registers of clinical trials, abstracts of scientific meetings and reference lists of included studies. The trial registers included NHMRC Clinical Trials Register, UKCCCR Register of Cancer Trials, Meta-Register and Physician Data Query Protocol. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing laparoscopy and laparotomy for early stage endometrial cancer. We independently abstracted data and assessed risk of bias. We used hazard ratios (HRs) for OS and recurrence free survival (RFS), risk ratios (RR) for severe adverse events and mean differences (MD) for continuous outcomes in women who received laparoscopy or laparotomy with 9% confidence intervals (CI). These were pooled in random-effects meta-analyses. We identified one new study in this update of the review. The review contains nine RCTs comparing laparoscopy with laparotomy for the surgical management of early stage endometrial cancer.All nine studies met the inclusion criteria and assessed 4389 women at the end of the studies. Six studies assessing 3993 participants with early stage endometrial cancer found no significant difference in the risk of death between women who underwent laparoscopy and women who underwent laparotomy (HR 1.04, 95% 0.86 to 1.25; moderate-certainty evidence) and five studies assessing 3710 participants found no significant difference in the risk of recurrence between the laparoscopy and laparotomy groups (HR 1.14, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.43; moderate-certainty evidence). There was no significant difference in the rate of perioperative death; women requiring a blood transfusion; and bladder, ureteric, bowel and vascular injury. However, one meta-analysis of three studies found that women in the laparoscopy group lost significantly less blood than women in the laparotomy group (MD -106.82 mL, 95% CI -141.59 to -72.06; low-certainty evidence). A further meta-analysis of two studies, which assessed 3344 women and included one very large trial of over 2500 participants, found that there was no clinical difference in the risk of severe postoperative complications in women in the laparoscopy and laparotomy groups (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.38). Most studies were at moderate risk of bias. All nine studies reported hospital stay and results showed that on average, laparoscopy was associated with a significantly shorter hospital stay. This review found low to moderate-certainty evidence to support the role of laparoscopy for the management of early endometrial cancer. For presumed early stage primary endometrioid adenocarcinoma of the endometrium, laparoscopy is associated with similar OS and DFS. Furthermore, laparoscopy is associated with reduced operative morbidity and hospital stay. There is no significant difference in severe postoperative morbidity between the two modalities.The certainty of evidence for OS and RFS was moderate and was downgraded for unclear risk of bias profiles and imprecision in effect estimates. However, most studies used adequate methods of sequence generation and concealment of allocation so studies were not prone to selection bias. Adverse event outcomes were downgraded for the same reasons and additionally for low event rates and low power thus these outcomes provided low-certainty evidence.

An Optimal Robotic Assembly Sequence Planning by Assembly Subsets Detection Method Using Teaching Learning-Based Optimization Algorithm

In recent days, many interacted shape products have been developed by manufacturing industries for different applications in various fields such as defense, aerospace, and space centers. In manufacturing, 30% of time consumption is due to assembly operation compared with the remaining processes in manufacturing. It is very difficult to get optimal sequence because assembly sequence planning is a multimodel optimization problem. As the number of parts in the assembly increases, the possible number of sequences increases exponentially therefore obtaining the optimal assembly sequence becomes more difficult and time consuming. There exist many mathematical algorithms to obtain optimal assembly sequences. But, recent studies state that they perform poorly when it comes to multiobjective optimal assembly sequence. In recent years, researchers have developed several soft computing-based algorithms for solving assembly sequence problems. In this paper, assembly subset detection method has been introduced. The proposed method is applied for the first time to solve assembly sequence problems. This method eliminates those assembly sets that have more directional changes and require more energy. The method is compared with other algorithms, namely, genetic algorithm (GA), enhanced GA, ant colony optimization (ACO), memetic algorithm, imperialistic harmonic search algorithm, and flower pollination algorithm (FPA), and is found to be successful in achieving the optimal assembly sequence for an industrial product with smaller number of iterations. Note to Practitioners —This paper is motivated by the redesign of helicopter cowling of a Canadian aircraft company using concepts of design for assembly. Though we could reduce the number of parts using advanced composite materials and manufacturing processes, obtaining a feasible assembly for the new assembly structure required a lot of computation time. Hence, the researchers studied the existing literature on assembly sequence generation methods and their limitations, and came up with efficient automated optimal sequence generation method.

Antidepressants for depression in adults with HIV infection.

Antidepressants for depression in adults with HIV infection.

Research on Multioperator silk screen printer Based on Communication Protocol Macro

Multioperator silk screen printer is automatic silk screen printing equipment. There are many advantages, such as energy saving, reduce the labor intensity and so on. The control system consists of an intermittent movement main motor and eight color working station printing cycle motion motors. The system controls nine frequency converters through protocol macro communication by using PLC. This paper studies the principle and process characteristics of multioperator silk screen printer. Besides, this paper adopts protocol macro sequence generation method for communication between PLC and frequency converter. This method can control the programming of parameters, such as frequency, operation and monitoring. It also can realize the printing of eight color working stations and monitor the printing status in real time. The practical application proves that the method meets the technical requirements and the reliability is good.

Slow versus fast subcutaneous heparin injections for prevention of bruising and site pain intensity.

Heparin is an anticoagulant medication that is usually injected subcutaneously. Subcutaneous administration of heparin may result in complications such as bruising, haematoma, and pain at the injection site. One of the factors that may affect pain, haematoma, and bruising is injection speed. For patients and healthcare providers, strategies that can reduce pain and bruising are considered important. Reducing patients' discomfort and concerns whenever and wherever possible is an important aim of nursing. Several studies have been carried out to see if speed of injection affects the amount of pain and bruising where the injection is given, but results of these studies have differed and study authors have not reached a clear final conclusion. This is the first update of the review first published in 2014. To assess the effects of duration (speed) of subcutaneous heparin injection on pain, haematoma, and bruising at the injection site in people admitted to hospitals or clinics who require treatment with unfractionated heparin (UFH) or low molecular weight heparin (LMWH). For this update, the Cochrane Vascular Information Specialist (CIS) searched the Specialised Register (last searched March 2017) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2017, Issue 2). The CIS also searched trials registries for details of ongoing or unpublished studies. Review authors searched two Persian databases - Iranmedex and Scientific Information Database (SID) - as well as Google Scholar. We sought randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effects of different durations of subcutaneous injection of heparin on pain, bruising, and haematoma at the injection site. Two review authors (MM, LJ), working independently, extracted data onto a structured form and assessed study quality. We used the criteria recommended by Cochrane to assess the risk of bias of included studies. For the outcomes, we calculated the mean difference (MD) or the standardised MD (SMD) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We pooled data using fixed-effect and random-effects models. We used GRADE to assess the overall quality of evidence supporting outcomes assessed in this review. For this update, we identified three new studies and therefore included in the Review four studies with a total of 459 participants who received subcutaneous injections of LMWH into the abdomen. Only one trial reported the injected drug volume (0.4 mL). Owing to the nature of the intervention, it was not possible to blind participants and care givers (personnel) in any included study. Two studies described blinding of outcome assessors; therefore overall, the methodological quality of included studies was moderate. The duration of the fast injection was 10 seconds and the duration of the slow injection was 30 seconds in all included studies.Three studies reported site pain intensity after each injection at different time points. Two studies assessed site pain intensity immediately after each injection, and meta-analysis on 140 participants showed no clear difference in site pain intensity immediately post slow injection when compared to fast injection (low-quality evidence; P = 0.15). In contrast, meta-analysis of two studies with 59 participants showed that 48 hours after the heparin injection, slow injection was associated with less pain intensity compared to fast injection (low-quality evidence; P = 0.007). One study (40 participants) reported pain intensity at 60 and 72 hours after injection. This study described no clear difference in site pain intensity at 60 and 72 hours post slow injection compared to fast injection.All four included studies assessed bruise size at 48 hours after each injection. Meta-analysis on 459 participants showed no difference in bruise size after slow injection compared to fast injection (low-quality evidence; P = 0.07). None of the included studies measured the incidence of haematoma as an outcome. We found four RCTs that evaluated the effect of subcutaneous heparin injection duration on pain intensity and bruise size. Owing to the small numbers of participants, we found insufficient evidence to determine any effect on pain intensity immediately after injection or at 60 and 72 hours post injection. However, slow injection may reduce site pain intensity 48 hours after injection (low-quality evidence). We observed no clear difference in bruise size after slow injection compared to fast injection (low-quality evidence). We judged this evidence to be of low quality owing to imprecision and inconsistency.

적합성시험을 위한 프로토콜 시험항목 생성방법의 비교분석

본 논문은 프로토콜 구현물이 프로토콜의 사양에 대한 적합성을 시험하기 위한 시험항목 생성방법들에 대하여 비교분석 한다. 대표적인 방법들인 천이 순회, 구별 시퀀스, 특징화 시퀀스, 유일 입출력 시퀀스와 변형된 이들 방법들을 분석하고, 유한 상태 기계 모델에 적용한 위의 방법들의 시험항목 길이를 비교 및 분석 한다. 결론에서는 프로토콜 적합성시험을 위한 시험항목 생성방법들에 대한 핵심적이고 분석적인 이슈 사안들을 다음과 같이 제시한다. 천이 순회 방법은 최단의 시험 항목을 생성하지만 최악의 오류 검출 성능을 제공한다. 특징화 시퀀스 방법은 완벽한 오류 검출 성능을 제공하지만 상대적으로 최장의 시험 항목을 생성한다. 구별 시퀀스 방법의 문제점은 이 구별 시퀀스가 항상 존재하지는 않는다는 것이다. 유일 입출력 시퀀스 방법이 비교적 폭넓게 적용될 수 있지만 구별 시퀀스 방법과 동일한 오류 검출 성능을 제공하지 못한다는 문제점이 있다. In this paper, a survey of test sequence generation methods for testing the conformance of a protocol implementation to its specification is presented. The best known methods proposed in the literature are called transition tour, distinguishing sequence, characterizing sequence, and unique input/output sequence. Also, several variants of the above methods are introduced. Applications of these methods to the finite state machine model are discussed. Then, comparative analysis of the methods is made in terms of test sequence length. Finally, conclusions are given as follows. The T-method produces the shortest test sequence, but it has the worst fault coverage. The W-method tends to produce excessively long test sequences even though its fault coverage is complete. The problem with the DS-method is that a distinguishing sequence may not exist. The UIO-method is more widely applicable, but it does not provide the same fault coverage as the DS-method.

PAPR Reduction in SLM–OFDM System Using Lehmer Sequence Without Explicit Side Information

Selected mapping (SLM) is one of the promising techniques used for peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. One of the major drawbacks in this technique is that, the transmitter is forced to transmit more amount of side information (SI) bits in order to recover the original data at the receiver, which leads to data rate loss and inefficient transmission. In this paper, a new phase sequence generation method using Lehmer Random Number Generator (LRNG) called Lehmer sequence is proposed for SLM technique. Using the periodicity property of this sequence, the SI bits are embedded within the transmitted data block for 16-PSK modulation, which ensures that SI bits are not explicitly sent. The simulation results show that the proposed SLM (PSLM) provides a slight improvement in PAPR reduction without compromising the bit error rate (BER) for higher values of an expansion factor when compared to conventional SLM (CSLM).

167: CRITICALLY APPRAISE OF THE REPORTING QUALITY OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS ARTICLES IN THE FIELD OF DIABETES IN MEDICAL GUIDELINES IN IRAN

Background and aims:To determine the quality of randomized controlled clinical trial reports in diabetes research in Iran and their presence in domestic and foreign credible guidelines which can imply whether...

The quality of surgical versus non-surgical randomized controlled trials.

BackgroundRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) of surgical interventions are often more difficult to conduct, and their quality may lag behind other trials.ObjectivesTo compare quality domains in trials of surgical interventions, to a previously reported control sample of general medical trials from December 2006.Data sourcesMEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL were searched in May 2009.Study eligibilityEnglish language, full text RCTs, performed on humans that compared a surgical intervention to any other intervention.Study appraisal and synthesisRecords were ordered according to their date of publication. The most recently published trials were assessed first, until the required sample of 400 trials was obtained. The search and data collection were piloted by three authors, and was thereafter collected by one author. Data was checked.ResultsAlthough most quality domains were poorly reported, surgical trials compared favourably to general medical trials. Surgical trials were 24% more likely to have an adequate method of random sequence generation, and 71% more likely to have an adequate method of allocation concealment. However, blinding was 40% less likely to be adequate in surgical trials, and sources of funding were 33% less likely to be reported.LimitationsA single author collected most data. Data was checked and this resulted in few changes.ConclusionsReporting of most quality domains in surgical intervention trials was better than general medical trials. Blinding was less likely due to the difficulty in conducting sham surgical trials, and reporting of sources of support should improve with adherence to reporting guidelines.

The quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials of electroacupuncture for stroke.

BackgroundElectroacupuncture (EA), as an extension technique of acupuncture based on traditional acupuncture combined with modern electrotherapy, is commonly used for stroke in clinical treatment and researches. However, there is still a lack of enough evidence to recommend the routine use of EA for stroke. This study is aimed at evaluating the quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on EA for stroke.MethodsRCTs on EA for stroke were evaluated by using CONSORT guidelines and STRICTA guidelines. Microsoft Excel 2010 and the R software were used for descriptive statistics analyses.ResultsSeventy studies involving 5468 stroke patients were identified. The CONSORT scores ranged from 16.2 to 67.6% and STRICTA scores from 29.4 to 82.4%. The central items in CONSORT as eligibility criterion, sample size calculation, primary outcome, method of randomization sequence generation, allocation concealment, implementation of randomization, description of blinding, and detailed statistical methods were reported in 100, 6, 68, 37, 14, 10, 16, and 97% of trials, respectively. The reporting of items in STRICTA as acupuncture rationale was 1a (91%), 1b (86%) and 1c 0%; needling details 2a (33%), 2b (97%), 2c (29%), 2d (64%), 2e (100%), 2f (55%) and 2 g (66%); treatment regimen 3a (69%) and 3b (100%); other components of treatment 4a (86%) and 4b (13%); practitioner background item 5 (16%); control intervention(s) 6a (93%) and 6b (10%).ConclusionsThe quality of reporting of RCTs on EA for stroke was generally moderate. The reporting quality needs further improvement.

Input‐series‐output‐parallel connected modular high frequency isolated AC–AC converters with positive compensation of inner‐current loop

A control strategy for input-series-output-parallel (ISOP) connected modular high frequency isolated AC–AC converter is proposed in this study. The circulating currents among all the constituent modules are avoided by the proposed pulse width modulation sequence generation method. Based on the revealed relationship between input voltage sharing (IVS) and output current sharing (OCS), a stable control strategy is proposed by using an output voltage loop and positive inner-current compensation loops. The individual input voltage sharing loops are eliminated. With the proposed control strategy, OCS or IVS can be achieved well for ISOP modular AC–AC converters under both steady and dynamic state, even in the case when the parameters of individual modules are mismatched. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the control strategy.

Antibiotics for preventing suppurative complications from undifferentiated acute respiratory infections in children under five years of age.

Undifferentiated acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are a large and heterogeneous group of infections not clearly restricted to one specific part of the upper respiratory tract, which last for up to seven days. They are more common in pre-school children in low-income countries and are responsible for 75% of the total amount of prescribed antibiotics in high-income countries. One possible rationale for prescribing antibiotics is the wish to prevent bacterial complications. To assess the effectiveness and safety of antibiotics in preventing bacterial complications in children aged two months to 59 months with undifferentiated ARIs. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL 2015, Issue 7), which contains the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group's Specialised Register, MEDLINE (1950 to August week 1, 2015) and EMBASE (1974 to August 2015). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs comparing antibiotic prescriptions with placebo or no treatment in children aged two months to 59 months with an undifferentiated ARI for up to seven days. Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted and analysed data using the standard Cochrane methodological procedures. We identified four trials involving 1314 children. Three trials investigated the use of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid to prevent otitis and one investigated ampicillin to prevent pneumonia.The use of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid compared to placebo to prevent otitis showed a risk ratio (RR) of 0.70 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.45 to 1.11, three trials, 414 selected children, moderate-quality evidence). Methods of random sequence generation and allocation concealment were not clearly stated in two trials. Performance, detection and reporting bias could not be ruled out in three trials.Ampicillin compared to supportive care (continuation of breastfeeding, clearing of the nose and paracetamol for fever control) to prevent pneumonia showed a RR of 1.05 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.49, one trial, 889 selected children, moderate-quality evidence). The trial was non-blinded. Random sequence generation and allocation concealment methods were not clearly stated, so the possibility of reporting bias could not be ruled out.Harm outcomes could not be analysed as they were expressed only in percentages.We found no studies assessing mastoiditis, quinsy, abscess, meningitis, hospital admission or death. There is insufficient evidence for antibiotic use as a means of reducing the risk of otitis or pneumonia in children up to five years of age with undifferentiated ARIs. Further high-quality research is needed to provide more definitive evidence of the effectiveness of antibiotics in this population.

Effective algorithms for constructing minimum cost adaptive distinguishing sequences

Context: Given a Finite State Machine (FSM), a checking sequence is a test sequence that determines whether the system under test is correct as long as certain standard assumptions hold. Many checking sequence generation methods use an adaptive distinguishing sequence (ADS), which is an experiment that distinguishes the states of the specification machine. Furthermore, it has been shown that the use of shorter ADSs yields shorter checking sequences. It is also known, on the other hand, that constructing a minimum cost ADS is an NP-hard problem and it is NP-hard to approximate. This motivates studying and investigating effective ADS construction methods.Objective:The main objective of this paper is to suggest new methods that can compute compact ADSs to be used in the construction of checking sequences.Method:We briefly present the existing ADS construction algorithms. We then propose generalizations of these approaches with a set of heuristics. We also conduct experiments to compare the size of the resultant ADSs and the length of the checking sequences constructed using these ADSs.Results:The results indicate that when the ADSs are constructed with the proposed methods, the length of the checking sequences may reduce up to 54% (40% on the average).Conclusions:In this paper, we present the state of the art ADS construction methods for FSMs and we propose generalizations of these methods. We show that our methods are effective in terms of computation time and ADS quality.

Transperitoneal versus retroperitoneal approach for elective open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

There has been extensive debate in the surgical literature regarding the optimum surgical access approach to the infrarenal abdominal aorta during an operation to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The published trials comparing retroperitoneal (RP) and transperitoneal (TP) aortic surgery show conflicting results. To assess the effectiveness and safety of the transperitoneal versus retroperitoneal approach for elective open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair on mortality, complications, hospital stay and blood loss. The Cochrane Vascular Trials Search Co-ordinator searched the Cochrane Vascular Specialised Register (last searched May 2015) and CENTRAL (2015, Issue 4) and trials databases (May 2015). The review authors searched the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and other resources including clinical trials registers. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the TP approach versus the RP approach for elective open abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. We evaluated the outcomes of mortality, complications, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, hospital stay, blood loss, aortic cross-clamp time and operating time. Two review authors independently selected RCTs against the inclusion criteria. We resolved any disagreements by discussion with a third review author. Two review authors independently extracted data from the included trials. We resolved any disagreements by discussion with a third review author. Two review authors independently assessed the risk of bias according to a standard quality checklist provided by Cochrane Vascular. We included four RCTs, with a combined total of 129 participants, that assessed the TP approach versus the RP approach for elective open AAA repair. The overall quality of the evidence was low to very low because of the low methodological quality of the included trials (unclear random sequence generation method and allocation concealment, and no blinding of outcome assessors), small sample sizes, small number of events, high heterogeneity and inconsistency between the included trials, no power calculations and relatively short follow-up. There were no differences between the RP approach and the TP approach regarding mortality (odds ratio (OR) 0.32, 95% CI 0.01 to 8.25; 110 participants; four trials; P = 0.49; I² statistic = 0%; very low quality evidence). However, the RP approach may increase complications, such as hematoma (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.13 to 6.48; 75 participants; two trials; P = 0.92; very low quality evidence), chronic wound pain (OR 2.20, 95% CI 0.36 to 13.34; 48 participants; one trial; P = 0.39; very low quality evidence) and abdominal wall hernia (OR 10.76, 95% CI 0.55 to 211.78; 48 participants; one trial; P = 0.12; very low quality evidence) compared with the TP approach in the patients for elective open AAA repair, but the confidence intervals (CIs) were wide. The RP approach reduced the blood loss (mean difference (MD) -504.87 mL, 95% CI -779.19 to -230.56; 129 participants; four trials; P = 0.003; very low quality evidence), ICU stay (MD -19.00 hours, 95% CI -31.41 to -6.59; 83 participants; two trials; P = 0.003; low quality evidence) and hospital stay (MD -3.14 days, 95% CI -4.82 to -1.45; 129 participants; four trials; P = 0.0003; low quality evidence). There were no differences between the RP approach and the TP approach regarding aortic cross-clamp time (MD 0.69 mins, 95% CI -7.23 to 8.60; 129 participants; four trials; P = 0.86; very low quality evidence) and operating time (MD -15.94 mins, 95% CI -34.76 to 2.88; 129 participants; four trials; P = 0.10; very low quality evidence). Very low quality evidence from four small RCTs indicates that the RP approach did not have advantages over the TP approach for elective open AAA repair in terms of mortality. Moreover, the RP approach may increase the risk of postoperative wound complications although the CIs were wide.Low quality evidence shows that the RP approach could reduce blood loss, hospital stay and ICU stay compared with the TP approach. Very low quality evidence shows no differences between the RP approach and TP approaches in aortic cross-clamp time and operating time.Further large-scale RCTs of the RP approach versus TP approach for elective open AAA repair are required.

A Risk of Bias Assessment of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) on Periodontal Regeneration Published in 2013

ObjectiveThe objective of this assessment is to evaluate the degree of risk of bias in randomized controlled trials published in 2013 and focusing on periodontal regeneration. MethodsThree reviewers searched and selected the trials based on pre-defined inclusion criteria. Predictor variables [number of authors, primary objective of the study, biomaterial employed, follow-up time periods, split mouth study (yes/no), journal, year of publication, country, scale (single/multi-center) and nature of funding] were extracted and risk of bias assessment using Cochrane risk of bias tool were performed independently by the three reviewers. ResultsSeventeen RCTs were included in this assessment. The risk of bias in RCTs published in 2013 with a focus in periodontal regeneration varied significantly with only in less than 30% of the included trials, the overall risk of bias was found to be low, while 41% of trials were designated to have a higher degree of bias. Specifically, when looking at the domains assessed, 70% of the included trials reported an accepted method of sequence generation, blinding (whenever possible), completeness of outcome data or avoided selective outcome reporting. Meanwhile, only 47% of the included trials reported some form of allocation concealment. ConclusionIn this assessment, of the included 17 trials, slightly more than 40% of them had a high risk of bias, underscoring the importance of careful appraisal of trials before implementing the study interventions in clinical practice and the need for more detailed analyses.

Deficiencies of effectiveness of intervention studies in veterinary medicine: a cross-sectional survey of ten leading veterinary and medical journals.

The validity of studies that assess the effectiveness of an intervention (EoI) depends on variables such as the type of study design, the quality of their methodology, and the participants enrolled. Five leading veterinary journals and 5 leading human medical journals were hand-searched for EoI studies for the year 2013. We assessed (1) the prevalence of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) among EoI studies, (2) the type of participants enrolled, and (3) the methodological quality of the selected studies. Of 1707 eligible articles, 590 were EoI articles and 435 RCTs. Random allocation to the intervention was performed in 52% (114/219; 95%CI:45.2–58.8%) of veterinary EoI articles, against 87% (321/371; 82.5–89.7%) of human EoI articles (adjusted OR:9.2; 3.4–24.8). Veterinary RCTs were smaller (median: 26 animals versus 465 humans) and less likely to enroll real patients, compared with human RCTs (OR:331; 45–2441). Only 2% of the veterinary RCTs, versus 77% of the human RCTs, reported power calculations, primary outcomes, random sequence generation, allocation concealment and estimation methods. Currently, internal and external validity of veterinary EoI studies is limited compared to human medical ones. To address these issues, veterinary interventional research needs to improve its methodology, increase the number of published RCTs and enroll real clinical patients.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of selected motor learning principles in physiotherapy and medical education.

BackgroundLearning of procedural skills is an essential component in the education of future health professionals. There is little evidence on how procedural skills are best learnt and practiced in education. There is a need for educators to know what specific interventions could be used to increase learning of these skills. However, there is growing evidence from rehabilitation science, sport science and psychology that learning can be promoted with the application of motor learning principles. The aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the evidence for selected motor learning principles in physiotherapy and medical education. The selected principles were: whole or part practice, random or blocked practice, mental or no additional mental practice and terminal or concurrent feedback.MethodsCINAHL, Cochrane Central, Embase, Eric and Medline were systematically searched for eligible studies using pre-defined keywords. Included studies were evaluated on their risk of bias with the Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of bias tool.ResultsThe search resulted in 740 records, following screening for relevance 15 randomised controlled trials including 695 participants were included in this systematic review. Most procedural skills in this review related to surgical procedures. Mental practice significantly improved performance on a post-acquisition test (SMD: 0.43, 95 % CI 0.01 to 0.85). Terminal feedback significantly improved learning on a transfer test (SMD: 0.94, 95 % CI 0.18 to 1.70). There were indications that whole practice had some advantages over part practice and random practice was superior to blocked practice on post-acquisition tests. All studies were evaluated as having a high risk of bias. Next to a possible performance bias in all included studies the method of sequence generation was often poorly reported.ConclusionsThere is some evidence to recommend the use of mental practice for procedural learning in medical education. There is limited evidence to conclude that terminal feedback is more effective than concurrent feedback on a transfer test. For the remaining parameters that were reviewed there was insufficient evidence to make definitive recommendations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0538-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

マルチパラダイムプログラミング言語における効率的学習順序の構築

Scala is a multi-paradigm programming language that integrates features of both object-oriented and functional programming, and has a high productivity of software development. But the complexity of the specification is difficult to learning. We developed a generation system of learning sequence for enhancing learning efficiency of Scala, and have achieved the creation of the study book as a result of using the system ‘s output. In this paper, we discuss about the method of sequence generation for the complex knowledge structure, and describes the construction of the study book and the possibility of efficient learning by the learning of prior knowledge beforehand.

Faster Scalar Multiplication Algorithm to Implement a Secured Elliptic Curve Cryptography System

Elliptic Curve Cryptography provides similar strength of protection comparing other public key cryptosystems but requires significantly smaller key size. This paper proposes a new faster scalar multiplication algorithm aiming at a more secured Elliptic Curve Cryptography scheme. This paper also proposes a novel Elliptic Curve Cryptography scheme where maximum length random sequence generation method is utilized as data mapping technique on elliptic curve over a finite field. The proposed scheme is tested on various bits length of prime field and key sizes. The numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed scheme reduces the computation time compared to conventional scheme and shows very high strength against cryptanalytic attack particularly random walk attack.

Quality of reporting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in diabetes in Iran; a systematic review.

ObjectiveTo determine the quality of randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) reports in diabetes research in Iran.DesignSystematized review.MethodsWe included RCTs conducted on diabetes mellitus in Iran. Animal studies, educational interventions, and non-randomized trials were excluded. We excluded duplicated publications reporting the same groups of participants and intervention. Two independent reviewers identify all eligible articles specifically designed data extraction form. We searched through international databases; Scopus, ProQuest, EBSCO, Science Direct, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed; and national databases (In Persian language) such as Magiran, Scientific Information Database (SID) and IranMedex from January 1995 to January of 2013 Two investigators assessed the quality of reporting by CONSORT 2010 (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) checklist statemen.t,. Discrepancies were resolved by third reviewer consulting.ResultsOne hundred and eight five (185) studies were included and appraised. Half of them (55.7 %) were published in Iranian journals. Most (89.7 %) were parallel RCTs, and being performed on type2 diabetic patients (77.8 %). Less than half of the CONSORT items (43.2 %) were reported in studies, totally. The reporting of randomization and blinding were poor. A few studies 15.1 % mentioned the method of random sequence generation and strategy of allocation concealment. And only 34.8 % of trials report how blinding was applied.ConclusionsThe findings of this study show that the quality of RCTs conducted in Iran in diabetes research seems suboptimal and the reporting is also incomplete however an increasing trend of improvement can be seen over time. Therefore, it is suggested Iranian researchers pay much more attention to design and methodological quality in conducting and reporting of diabetes RCTs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40200-016-0258-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.