Research in Medicine Flashcards
Define
Evidence-based medicine (EBM)
the conscientious, explicit, judicious and reasonable use of modern, best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients
Define
Systematic Review
a review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and reproducible methods to identify, select and critically appraise all relevant research, and to collect and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review
Define
National Health Priority Areas
diseases and conditions given focused attention because of their significant contribution to the burden of illness and injury in the Australian community.
Define
Selection bias
Systematic differences between baseline characteristics of groups compared
Define
Performance bias
Systematic differences in the care provided to the groups after enrolment
Define
Detection bias
Systematic differences between how outcomes are determined
Define
Attrition bias
Systematic differences due to withdrawals and incomplete data
Define
Reporting bias
Systematically different reporting methods that favour significant findings
Define
Publication bias
Published results are systematically different from unpublished reports
Definition
the conscientious, explicit, judicious and reasonable use of modern, best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients
Evidence-based medicine (EBM)
Definition
a review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and reproducible methods to identify, select and critically appraise all relevant research, and to collect and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review
Systematic Review
Definition
diseases and conditions given focused attention because of their significant contribution to the burden of illness and injury in the Australian community.
National Health Priority Areas
Definition
Systematic differences between baseline characteristics of groups compared
Selection bias
Definition
Systematic differences in the care provided to the groups after enrolment
Performance bias
Definition
Systematic differences between how outcomes are determined
Detection bias
Definition
Systematic differences due to withdrawals and incomplete data
Attrition bias
Definition
Systematically different reporting methods that favour significant findings
Reporting bias
Definition
Published results are systematically different from unpublished reports
Publication bias
What are the three myths of medicine research that cause a lot of preventable heartache?
- Every symptom has a diagnosis
- Every diagnosis has a treatment
- Every treatment is a cure
What does evidence-based medicine integrate?
Clinical experience
Patient values and preferences
Best available research information
What is the value of systematic reviews in medicine?
- Draws together all information relevant to a clinical question
- Conclusion lays out the facts as we know them following comprehensive and balanced review of the evidence
- Much more efficient for a practitioner to read a review than to try to find and evaluate every paper relevant to a clinical question
What are the different types of systematic reviews?
- Intervention
- Diagnostic test accuracy (DTA)
- Prognostic
- Methodological
- Qualitative
What are the steps of a systematic review?
- define the question / clear objective
- plan eligibility criteria
- plan methods
- publish protocol
- search for studies
- apply eligibility criteria
- collect data
- assess studies for risk of bias
- analyse and present results
- interpret results and draw conclusions
- improve and update review
How do meta-analyses differ from systematic reviews?
Meta-analysis only refers to the statistical analysis of data from multiple studies
Systematic reviews may or may not include meta-analysis
Meta-analyses can be selective with the studies they include whereas systematic reviews can not
What is Cochrane?
an international not-for-profit organisation which aims to help people make well-informed decisions about healthcare by preparing, maintaining and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of health care interventions
What types of bias are explored by a systematic review?
Selection bias
Performance bias
Detection bias
Attrition bias
Reporting bias
Publication bias
Define
Ethics
Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity
Define
Reduction
Any strategy that will result in fewer animals being used in research
Define
Refinement
Modification of experimental procedures to minimise pain
Define
Replacement
Methods which avoid or replace the use of animals in research
Define
Amnion Epithelial Cells (hAEC)
a subset of placental-derived stem cells that display plasticity and immunomodulation, and possess advantages over the other populations of stem cell-like cells in the placental tissues
Definition
Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity
Ethics
Definition
Any strategy that will result in fewer animals being used in research
Reduction
Definition
Modification of experimental procedures to minimise pain
Refinement
Definition
Methods which avoid or replace the use of animals in research
Replacement
Definition
a subset of placental-derived stem cells that display plasticity and immunomodulation, and possess advantages over the other populations of stem cell-like cells in the placental tissues
Amnion Epithelial Cells (hAEC)
What is the value of biomedical research?
Improving health
Training the next generation of scientists
Increasing knowledge
Strengthening the economy
Developing new technologies, products, and industries
How can we decrease the amount of time it takes to approve a drug?
- Remove red tape and improve processes
- Open interactions among researchers, and more effective relations among companies, government, foundations, and universities
- Increase resources
- Have researchers/clinicians working in parallel
- Less focus on mechanisms
Why are many scientists unable to replicate their own key scientic findings?
- False positive data
- Low statistical data
- Poor experimental design
- “Trimming and cooking the data”
- failing to report all the data
- Publish or perish
- Impact publications
- Number of publications
- Decreased funding
What are the 10 strategic imperatives to strengthen health & medical research?
- A healthy & empowered community
- Encourage giving
- Research active health services deliver higher quality care
- Developing implementation science – turning evidence into action
- Collaborating for success
- World class research needs world class researchers
- Funding research
- Encourage commercial investment in R&D
- A strategic national approach
- Reduce red tape
What does questionable research integrity include?
- Plagiarism
- Falsifying/fabricating data
- Duplicating results
- Inappropriate finance management
- Concealing conflicts of interest
- Stealing other peoples research
What happens to a paper if the research integrity is compromised?
It gets retracted
Why has there been a progressive increase in publication retraction?
Increased pressure to publish
By law, and in accord with Code, AECs must have at least one member from which categories?
- A veterinarian (Category A)
- An animal researcher (Category B)
- A welfare member (Category C, “a person with demonstrable commitment to, and established experience, in furthering the welfare of animals”)
- An independent lay person (Category D, “an independent person who does not currently and has not previously conducted scientific or teaching activities using animals”).
What are the three R’s?
Reduction
Refinement
Replacement
What things do animal ethics committees need to consider when evaluating research requests?
- the justification for the research
- its likely impact on the animals
- procedures for preventing or alleviating pain and distress.
What must a researcher in Australia do if they want to use embryonic stem cells?
In Australia, a researcher must obtain a licence from the NHMRC Licencing Committee to use excess human IVF embryos for research, including the derivation of new embryonic stem cell lines
What are the characterisitics of amnion epithelial cells?
Pluripotent properties
Readily available
Immunomodulatory properties
Lack tumorigenicity
Low immunigenicity
Non invasive extraction procedures
