Does non-invasive brain stimulation or language training help people with primary progressive aphasia? Key messages • We do not know if non-invasive brain stimulation or various types of language training, or both of these treatments combined, help people with primary progressive aphasia as the evidence available is limited and generally of poor quality. • No severe side effects were reported in brain stimulation studies. What is primary progressive aphasia? Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a rare condition that slowly damages the parts of the brain that control speech and language....

Parenteral medication for the management of acute severe behavioural disturbance (ASBD) in the emergency department This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effectiveness and safety profiles of different parenteral medications for the management of acute severe behavioural disturbance in the emergency department setting. These medications are required following the failure of less restrictive means of controlling the patient’s behavioural disturbance. This is a protocol....

What are the different ways eye tests are carried out and spectacles provided in the community and in health clinics worldwide? Key messages 1. Outreach (a community-based approach to provide eye care in various settings, which are often not permanent locations), and school-based service delivery approaches were mainly used to provide eye care in the community, while vision centres were mainly used in primary care (first-line health care). 2. In the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia region, eye care was most often delivered using outreach and vision centres, whereas in the...

Manual therapy and exercise for treating lateral elbow pain Key messages Compared with placebo (sham) manual therapy, manual therapy may reduce pain and disability at the end of treatment. Longer-term effects are unknown. Compared with minimal or no treatment, manual therapy, prescribed exercises or both may slightly reduce pain and disability, and result in little to no improvement in quality of life and treatment success. We are uncertain if more people have adverse effects from the treatments. What is lateral elbow pain? Lateral elbow pain, known as 'tennis elbow', may arise spontaneously...

Transcutaneous bilirubin screening for jaundice in newborns Key messages – Jaundice is a common newborn condition. If left undetected and untreated, it can lead to brain injury. – Screening newborn babies by measuring jaundice levels through the skin (called transcutaneous bilirubin screening) may lead to a reduction in readmission for light therapy. It does lead to more babies having light therapy before discharge from the hospital and has little or no effect on the number of babies who require an exchange blood transfusion to treat their jaundice. It has little or no effect on the number...

Low-carbohydrate diet for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effects of a low-carbohydrate diet in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This is a protocol....

Do dressings and securement devices prevent complications for people with peripheral arterial catheters? Key messages – We are very uncertain whether different dressings and securement devices reduce the risk of peripheral arterial catheter complications or failure. – We found five studies that investigated this, but we are not very confident in their results due to small sample sizes and few outcome events. – Future research should compare products currently used to secure and dress arterial catheters in hospitals, with high-quality methods and large numbers of people receiving catheters. –...

Interventions for preventing dialysis dysequilibrium in dialysis patients Key messages - In haemodialysis patients, sodium modelling compared to slow dialysis may result in little to no difference in dialysis disequilibrium syndrome and death. The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of these interventions on adverse events. - The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of high-sodium dialysate and standard sodium dialysate on dialysis disequilibrium syndrome, death and adverse events. What did we want to find out? Haemodialysis is a medical treatment that helps remove waste and...

Do antioxidant supplements help people with sickle cell disease (unusually shaped red blood cells)? Key messages • Compared to a dummy pill (placebo), zinc and N-acetylcysteine (NAC; 1200 mg) may not reduce the frequency of painful episodes (crises) that people with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience. • Zinc may improve haemoglobin status (number of red blood cells) slightly, but L-arginine may not. L-arginine also probably reduces the severity of pain, but may not reduce the frequency of hospitalization. • Larger studies to assess the effects of vitamin C plus vitamin E, zinc, NAC,...

Is the use of continuous infusion of loop diuretics better than bolus injections for acute heart failure? Key messages – The use of continuous infusion over bolus injection of loop diuretics may result in little to no difference in all the outcomes we measured. – The use of continuous infusion over bolus injection of loop diuretics may result in little to no difference in harmful side effects. – Our research suggests there may be little to no difference between how loop diuretics are delivered. Future studies should focus less on how they are given and more on how they work for patients...

Interventions for quitting vaping This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To conduct a living systematic review to assess the benefits and harms of interventions to help people quit vaping compared to each other or to placebo or no intervention. We will also assess how these interventions affect the use of combustible tobacco, and whether effects vary based on participant characteristics. This is a protocol....

Do psychological and social interventions promote improved mental health in people living in low- and middle-income countries affected by humanitarian crises? Key message – We did not find enough evidence in favour of interventions for promoting positive aspects of mental health in humanitarian settings. Larger, well-conducted randomised studies are needed. Mental health during a humanitarian crisis A humanitarian crisis is an event, or series of events, that threatens the health, safety, security, and well-being of a community or large group of people, usually over a wide area. Examples...

Does treatment with SGLT2 inhibitors prevent complications for people with chronic kidney disease and diabetes? Key messages - Treatment with sodium-glucose co-transporter protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors decreases the risk of death and kidney problems for people with chronic kidney disease and diabetes. - We are not sure whether SGLT2 inhibitors are better than other diabetes drugs as not enough clinical research has been done directly comparing them in clinical studies. Chronic kidney disease and diabetes Diabetes is a common disease caused by reduced insulin activity (the hormone that...

Do dietary and activity strategies help prevent obesity in children aged 5 to 11 years? Key messages - Strategies for changing activity levels, or both activity levels and diet, of children to help prevent them developing overweight or obesity might be effective in making small reductions in body mass index (BMI) in children aged 5 to 11 years. - There is very little information about whether the strategies resulted in serious adverse events (e.g. injuries), but from what we found there appears to be little or no effect. - This change in BMI, when provided to many children across a whole...

Medicines to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder for people with acute traumatic stress symptoms Key messages - Acute stress symptoms are common after a traumatic experience. They are usually time-limited. However, for some people, they may persist or progress to a condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Medicines have been proposed to prevent later PTSD. - We found data for four medicines: escitalopram, an antidepressant; hydrocortisone, a hormone that reduces the immune response and is involved in the body's response to stress; oxytocin, a hormone that could lessen the...

Do dietary and activity strategies help prevent obesity in children and young people aged 12 to 18 years? Key messages - Strategies to encourage adolescents to change their diet or activity levels (or both), to prevent them becoming overweight or developing obesity make no or very little difference to their body mass index (BMI; an estimate of the amount of body fat according to height and weight). - Based on the very little information available about serious adverse events, there appears to be little or no effect of dietary or activity strategies, or both, to results in serious harms (e.g....

Do earplug fit tests plus training on how to fit earplugs help people who work in noisy environments? Key messages • Earplug fit testing paired with simple instructions for properly fitting earplugs probably does not improve noise reduction. • Earplug fit testing paired with extensive instructions probably improves protection against noise compared to receiving no instructions or simple instructions. Why are noisy work environments a problem? Noise exposure at work is associated with serious health conditions, from hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing or buzzing sounds in the ears without an...

Endovascular rectal artery embolisation (RAE) for symptomatic haemorrhoids This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the safety and clinical effectiveness of endovascular rectal artery embolisation (RAE) for symptomatic haemorrhoids. This is a protocol....

Weight reduction interventions for the management of atrial fibrillation in overweight and obese people This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the efficacy of weight loss interventions as adjunctive treatment for reducing atrial fibrillation burden. This is a protocol....

Early versus late tracheostomy in people with multiple trauma This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the benefits and harms of early tracheostomy compared to late tracheostomy in people with multiple trauma in the intensive care unit. This is a protocol....