Gray literature: An important resource in systematic reviews

Paez A. Gray literature: An important resource in systematic reviews. J Evid Based Med. 2017 Aug; 10(3):233-2 Systematic reviews are publications that provide a state-of-art synthesis of evidence on any given research question. While clinical trials and large studies are analysed to synthesize evidence, you cannot afford to ignore gray literature. The concept of Gray literature is described in this article as “that which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers”. Simply put, gray literature comprises the whole collection of research works that have…
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Medical YouTube Videos and Methods of Evaluation

Medical YouTube Videos and Methods of Evaluation

Drozd B, Couvillon E, Suarez A. Medical YouTube Videos and Methods of Evaluation: Literature Review. JMIR medical education. 2018 Jan;4(1). Do your patients check YouTube videos for getting health information? The answer is a most likely "Yes". Not only would they get them directly on YouTube, but their friends would forward them YouTube links too. How many of them think about the authenticity / quality of these videos? And if they did, how many would know how to evaluate them and then make a decision to view them? Here is a review article where the authors have identified 37 studies…
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Finding Our Way Through Shades of Gray: 6 Virtues to Guide Researchers in Planning, Conducting, and Writing Up Research.

O'Brien BC, Balmer DF, Maggio LA. J Grad Med Educ. 2017 Oct;9(5):555-559.  An article in a previous blog post offered a checklist of recommended practices that can help researchers to avoid the consequences associated with the ‘‘7 deadly sins’’ in medical research.  However, authors of this article felt that decisions in research are not always straightforward and also require consideration for uncertainty, complexity, circumstances, competing priorities, and values.  Hence,  they offer a set of six guiding principles to complement the recommendations on ‘‘7 deadly sins.’’ 1.Thoughtfully convening a research team:  While selecting team members a researcher should be clear about the goals of the research project and…
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