Mastering the art of efficient literature reviews: a practical guide for medical professionals and students

The exponential growth of biomedical literature presents both an unprecedented opportunity and a significant challenge for medical professionals and students. Conducting a thorough yet efficient literature review is a fundamental skill, essential for evidence-based practice (EBP), research, education, and scholarly writing. However, navigating this vast information landscape effectively remains a common hurdle. This review aims to provide a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to conducting efficient and rigorous literature reviews tailored to the needs of medical professionals and students. It focuses on practical strategies, critical appraisal techniques, synthesis methods, and leveraging technology to optimize the process while maintaining scientific integrity. A narrative review methodology was employed, synthesizing established principles and methods from evidence-based medicine, information science, and academic writing. Key sources include guidelines from major medical libraries, EBP resources, and authoritative texts on research methodology and critical appraisal. The review outlines a structured approach encompassing: defining a focused question using frameworks like Participants; Intervention/Exposure; Comparison; and Outcome (PICO/PECO); developing and executing a systematic search strategy across multiple databases; efficient screening and selection of relevant literature; critical appraisal of study quality and relevance; effective synthesis of findings (narrative, thematic, or tabular); clear and concise writing; and strategies for maintaining currency. Emphasis is placed on leveraging technology (reference managers, databases, and AI tools) cautiously and avoiding common pitfalls, such as scope creep and uncritical acceptance of findings. A life-long experience that the academic writer learns through life, and yet may fall into them easily. An efficient literature review is not merely about speed, but about systematic rigor, critical thinking, and strategic use of resources. By adopting the structured, technology-enhanced, and critically appraised approach outlined, medical professionals and students can navigate the literature effectively, saving valuable time while producing high-quality, evidence-informed outputs for clinical practice, research, and education.

Karishma Karishma

The effects of covid-19 pandemic on the follow-up and treatment process of gynecological cancers and breast cancer

The present review was written to describe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on followup and treatment process of gynecological cancers and breast cancer in accordance with current literature, guidelines from national and international cancer associations. Recommendations were provided based on the consensus conference model. In the follow-up and treatment process of gynecological cancers and breast cancer, there are many factors, such as the clinical course of patient, the possibility of an emergency of the patient, the stage of the cancer and the current status of the chemotherapies. Although opinions in all types of cancer differ among themselves, general beliefs are postponement of non-urgent surgical operations, re-evaluation of chemotherapy processes, postponing appointments for new nonurgent diagnoses, reducing the length of hospital stay of patients in emergency procedures, conducting consultations by telemedicine or telephone, treatment of patients with COVID-19 suspicions after 15 days, planning biopsies or surgeries according to the staging status of cancers and planning conferences as video conferences in cases that require a multidisciplinary approach. Patients diagnosed with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic should not be lost, followup and treatment should be continued without disruption, patients should be remembered to be in the high-risk group in this process and necessary hygiene measures should be taken in both follow-up and treatment concerning risks and COVID-19 pandemics.

Reyhan Aydin Doğan Reyhan aydin doğan

Aluminum agglomerate size measurements in composite propellant combustion

Experimental and numerical investigation have been done to evaluate the aluminum agglomerate size in AP/HTPB/Aluminum propellants and compared it with burning rate results. Bimodal AP particle size distribution is considered in the present work. The effect of aluminum size, aluminum content, fine AP size, fine AP/binder ratio and coarse AP size in aluminum ignition, accumulation and agglomerate formation during combustion, typically in their ranges, are focused. The burning rates were found to be higher for the propellants with lower fine AP/binder ratio. The agglomerate sizes for the propellants with 10 % Al was found to be higher than those with 15 and 18 % aluminum. Observing the agglomerate sizes and the burning rate trends, it can be concluded that the agglomerate sizes vary inversely as the burning rates.

Boopathy Govindarajan Boopathy govindarajan

Physical activity and physical literacy: the pharmacological benefits of exercise, a women’s perspective

The valuable effects of regular exercise for promotion of health and therapy of diseases were obviously evaluated. The notion that exercise can be considered as a medication has been hypothesized. The growing problems of obesity and non-communicable diseases have placed a great burden on public health experts to promote physical literacy and physical activity among the modern day population. Physical literacy and physical activity have become the cornerstones of women’s health. Women have certain special needs that includes reproductive health. Increased physical activity and maintaining normal body image and body weight will help a woman attain physical, mental and spiritual development. With the growing number of women with obesity and the implication of obesity as one of the main risk factors for non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, stroke and osteoarthritis, a knowledge and awareness about physical activity is essential. Thus, physical activity is a fundamental aspect of the improvement of motor skills and work performance, allowing a better healthy lifestyle. Physical exercise is effective to be measured as a drug, however, more care should be considered to the dosing and individual variations between genders.

Mediterranean Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences

Toenail fungal infection: a case report

Fungal infection of the nails (onychomycosis) is a common condition that is hard to cure. The fungus hidden in the nail is difficult to treat with antifungal medications, and infected nails take months to heal. Antifungal nail polish can occasionally be used to treat mild cases, but blood-stream-permeable medications are required to treat more serious infections. We need something better because even these are not always successful and can have negative side effects like skin rash or liver issues. Additionally, onycholysis (the separation of the nail plate) creates a moist environment that can encourage the growth of fungi. Moreover, immunosuppressive medication use may worsen onychomycosis. In this example, the diseased entity's clinical presentation in an adult patient was described.

Mediterranean Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences

Disempowering the powerful: a critical pragmatic analysis of political discourse using brown and levinson’s face theory

Power and dominance exist everywhere and occur at the macro and micro levels. Being powerful and domineering are factors that serve as emblems for the people in the realm of politics. Power relations are overtly exercised in such discourse. But what is interesting is how power and dominance exist between or among those people who are branded as “powerful;” thus, using the Face Theory of Brown and Levinson (1978), this discourse analysis paper analyzed the power relations that transpired in a senate hearing and its relationship with the Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) used by the people involved in the discourse. A Philippine Senate hearing excerpt served as the primary corpus for analysis. Results showed that the people in the discourse were all powerful, creating tension when they projected their dominance on one another. Each member threatened and challenged their positive and negative faces. The power play evolved into a "pass-theball" effect, and no one has absolute power because it weakens once the person wielding its face is threatened. Hence, to disempower the empowered, a person must learn how to play and use FTAs such as insulting, disagreeing, disapproving, provoking, commanding, and demanding against the powerful to strike a social balance.

Darrel Ocampo Darrel ocampo

Antiemetic activity of bergenin from peltophorum roxburghii l.

The presented study initially attempted to discover bergenin as an antiemetic compound isolated from Peltophorum roxburghii L. leaves. It is the extension of antiemetic activity from the methanol extract of Peltophorum roxburghii L. leaves. The antiemetic activity was assessed using copper sulfate-induced emesis in the chick’s model. Bergenin (25 mg/kg, p.o.) exhibited significant antiemetic activity compared to the standard drug, chlorpromazine. This is the first time that bergenin has declared antiemetic activity. Bergenin has already been evaluated positively for its anti-inflammatory activity, and this paper will report its antiemetic activity. Both the activities of the same compound may be beneficial for drug design against the disease, as they have anti-inflammatory and antiemetic symptoms like migraines. The preliminary antiemetic evaluation of bergenin was conducted on a single dose due to the low yield of Bergenin. However, the result was significant in terms of the standard used. Further, the isolation and purification of Bergenin are in the process of establishing detailed data on different doses of Bergenin.

Dr. Salman Ahmed Dr. salman ahmed

Acute pancreatitis following laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: a case report and literature review

Recent reports showed an association between bariatric surgery and the development of acute pancreatitis. This report presents a case of acute pancreatitis following a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in a 24-year-old Indian female patient, who presented to the Emergency Department at Hamad General Hospital, Qatar, with severe epigastric pain and persistent vomiting 13 days after LSG. She was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis based on a high level of lipase greater than three times the upper limit of normal, and a computed tomography scan of the abdomen, which was consistent with acute pancreatitis. The patient was treated conservatively with a significant improvement in her symptoms and laboratory tests throughout her admission and consequently was discharged.

Karishma Karishma

Critical process parameters evaluation of modified nanoprecipitation method on lomustine nanoparticles and cytostatic activity study on l132 human cancer cell line.

This work was focused on identification and evaluation of process parameters of modified nanoprecipitation method, for fabrication of lomustine nanoparticles, with the aim of reducing cancer cell viability at low concentration of lomustine. The parameters controlling particle size, mostly in nanosize, were solvent/nonsolvent composition and emulsification speed of homogenizer along with aqueous phase volume. This controlled particle size is below 250 nm. The stabilizer concentration controlled particle size is within 68 nm ± 0.89 to 137 ± 0.94 nm with PDI 0.06 ± 0.008 to 0.25 ± 0.001. But, the stabilizer addition mode showed more uniform size distribution with PDI 0.085 ± 0.004. Entrapment efficiency was maintained well above 47 ± 0.23%. The drug release pattern was monophasic with controlled release over 24 hrs. In the method used, drug content was affected by ratio of polymer to drug to organic solvent, as well as homogenization speed and time. Percentage viable cells of L132 human lung cancer cell line remained, were only 5% at 100 μg/ml lomustine equivalent PLA nanoparticles.

Archana Mehrotra Archana mehrotra

Comparative analysis of machine learning classification models in predicting cardiovascular disease

For a long time, cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death worldwide. Machine learning has found significant usage in the medical field as it can find patterns in data. Classification models can help cardiologists to diagnose heart diseases and minimize misdiagnosis accurately. In this paper, we explored a dataset related to heart disease and compared the accuracy of 43 machine learning classification models. The dataset for this research was downloaded from Kaggle; it contained 1190 observations, 11 features (age, sex, chest pain type, resting blood pressure, serum cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, resting electrocardiogram results, maximum heart rate achieved, exercise induced angina, oldpeak, the slope of the peak exercise ST segment) and a binary target variable (no heart disease or observed cardiovascular disease). For data exploration, preprocessing, training, testing, and predictor importance analysis, we used MATLAB R2004a software and the Classification Learner app included in this software. Before training machine learning classification models, we divided the dataset into a training set (90% of observations) and a test set (10% of observations). To prevent overfitting during the training of classification models, 10-fold cross-validation was used. The result showed that the best accuracy was reached with an optimized ensemble classification model (validation accuracy: 0.9262 and test accuracy: 0.9580). After calculating the permutation importance of each feature, we observed that the most important feature among all 11 features was the slope of the peak exercise ST segment.

Ladislav Végh Ladislav végh

The role of technological innovation in the effective economic performances of enterprises

At present, numerous approaches have been verified and suggested in relation to the innovation policy formulation of the enterprise. However, less attention is paid to regions in the developing world. An attempt is made in this thesis towards that direction. I argue that from the system of innovation theory perspective, innovation policy practice for regions in the developed world is a problem solving based process, due to the path dependency of innovation policy and the development level of advanced economies. For this purpose, the article proves the possibility of every company’s making much more profit by realizing and improving effective innovative management in the developing economy. And, it will be calculated and assessed the correlation link between the costs of innovation and total revenues of the world’s most innovative companies. In the end, it will be done some conclusions and discussions of nowadays innovators practice.

Ikboljon Odashev Mashrabjonovich Ikboljon odashev mashrabjonovich

Evaluation of the antifungal efficacy of mitracarpus scaber extracts and ocimum gratissimum oil against clinical isolates of fungi

Dermatophytes and Candida albicans are widespread with increasing prevalence and pose a grave threat to public health globally. Ocimum gratissimum and Mitracarpus scaber have been used in Southeastern Nigeria for several purposes, including antimicrobial effects, and have exhibited inhibition of growth to fungi. This study aimed to evaluate and ascertain the antifungal potential of these extracts against dermatophytes and Candida albicans. A total of 50 samples of dermatophytes and Candida albicans previously isolated from clinical samples at two different Hospitals, in the Southeast of Nigeria were used. The clinical samples were vaginal discharge, sputum, swab samples from the endocervix, urine, groin, mouth thrush, and palm. These organisms were all identified using standard mycological identification and characterization techniques. The sensitivity of selected fungi to the extracts (ethanolic extract of M. scaber and O. gratissimum oil) and ketoconazole was evaluated using a modified cup-agar diffusion plate method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts was determined by the agar dilution method. Their minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) and killing rates against the isolates were also determined. The organisms remain an important etiological agent in this species, implicated in several kinds of infections. The result showed that the activity of the O. gratissimum oil was comparable with that of the conventional drugs, indicating the potential in this extract. The MIC values for Candida isolates were consistently lower against O. gratisimum compared to ketoconazole. The MFC results indicated that O. gratissimum oil had a greater biocidal effect against most of the test organisms in contrast to ketoconazole. The killing rate study also indicated that the oil has very good activity against the isolates. O. gratissimum oil holds great potential for use in treating a wider spectrum of fungal pathogens.

Mediterranean Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences

The complex landscape of human trafficking: a comprehensive exploration with emphasis on legal safeguards for victims in egyptian and arab legislation

Human trafficking victims suffer a direct assault on their fundamental rights, enduring a modern form of slavery and exploitation. Perpetrated by criminal groups, human trafficking exploits victims, especially women and children, in forced labor, prostitution, or organ trafficking, treating them as commodities in a market driven by supply and demand, thereby profiting at the cost of fundamental rights and human dignity. This chapter underscores the critical significance of understanding the multifaceted challenges inherent in combating human trafficking, emphasizing the urgent need for effective measures. By delving into the complexities of the transnational organized structure of this crime, the chapter provides valuable insights into the hurdles faced by law enforcement and investigative agencies. Recognizing the gravity of human trafficking as a direct violation of fundamental rights and human dignity, this chapter aims to contribute to the development of comprehensive strategies and policies to address this pervasive issue.

Prof. Ramy El-Kady Prof. ramy el-kady

Effect of six months intensive multidisciplinary approach for fifteen months post-traumatic brain injury patient - a case report

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury is caused by an external physical force which may result in altered level of consciousness with or without impairment of cognitive and physical functions in individuals. It is neither congenital nor degenerative in nature. The impairments can be permanent with partial or total functional disabilities or psychosocial maladjustment. The Intensive rehabilitation with multiple health disciplinary teams can improve a certain extent of physical and cognitive aspects of brain injury patients. Case Report: In this case report we are presenting a 19 year old boy diagnosed as diffuse axonal injury with Glasgow coma scale (GCS ) Score of 4/15 (E1M2V1) at the time of incident has come to our department after 8 months with no head control, no cognitive and no voluntary attempts to do functional activity. The main objective of management is to improve mobility, communication, perception and cognitive functions with minimum period of time by working as a health team. Conclusion: After 14 months post incident with intense rehabilitation of six months his GCS score is improved with scoring of 13/15 (E4M6V3). The improvement seen may be partly attributed to the coordinated work of the team members who meet in the case conference every two weeks to review & revise the treatment protocol. Such that common and individual goals are shared and total therapy time is managed, to incorporate all goals by team members

Nagarjuna narayanasetti

A deep learning approach visual recognition of bird species in noisy environments

In this paper, we propose a deep learning approach for visual recognition of bird species in noisy environments. Bird species recognition has been a challenging task due to the high variation in bird appearances and the presence of noise and clutter in natural environments. Our approach utilizes a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to learn discriminative features from bird images and classify them into different species. We also incorporate data augmentation techniques to increase the diversity of the training data and improve the robustness of the model. To address the issue of noisy environments, we introduce a novel noise-robust loss function that penalizes the model for incorrect predictions caused by noise. We evaluate our approach on a dataset of bird images collected from diverse environments and compare it with state-of-the-art methods. Our results demonstrate that our approach achieves superior performance in both clean and noisy environments, highlighting the effectiveness of our noise-robust loss function. Our approach has the potential to be applied in real world scenarios for bird species recognition and conservation.

PK Dutta Pk dutta

Stress among banking employee- a literature review

For banking employees around the globe, stress on the job can be a challenge; stress can be sometimes positive and sometimes negative. Positive stress leads to productivity and negative stress leads to loss for the organization. There is already a certain level of stress in Banking employees work life and then encounter even more stress arising from the work pressure that Banking employees face on the job. Many employees cannot cope with such rapid changes taking place in the jobs. Role conflict, Service for customer, contribution, rapid technological change, lack of customer response is the great transaction of stress for the banking workers. The aim of this research is to understand roots and outcomes of job stress on the employee performance in banking sector.

Dr MANJUNATHA M K Dr manjunatha m k

An iot based system to detect a person/wheelchair fall

Keeping an in depth tab of recent folks or folks on chair with bound health conditions for his or her health and safety is a very important task. With maturity, weak bones and weakness because of alternative health connected problems could lead to will increase risk of falling. A supervisor might not continually be on the market with them and if correct assistance is not provided at the correct time it should cause larger health considerations which will need extra resources for treatment. For this purpose we've projected a wise IOT Fall Detection System exploitation acceptable sensors that square measure integrated facilitate|to assist} report these incidents to assist avail help at the correct time to forestall additional injury to health. The same system uses sensors like associate degree measuring system to live the speed of the person, a rotating mechanism to live the person’s orientation so as to live their stability, a load sensing element once the system is employed by an individual employing a chair to live their weight, a Wi-Fi module and a microcontroller that sends the general readings to alert the involvedthose that shall give with the right suggests that to assist the person in want. The microcontroller receives all the info from the sensors and perpetually transmits and monitors the acceleration and also the orientation of the person. Any fast abrupt modification within the system which will result from a fall is taken into account as a ‘fall’ and is reported . a serious concern would be that not all fast movement may end up from a fall and be thought of as a matter of concern. To avoid this warning a napbutton is provided to snooze the system. This button will be ironed before a definite time say 15-30 seconds to prevent the system from causation the alert, thus avoiding any confusion and panic. this method will be mounted to the person’s chair or will be created compact to be created into a wearable device which will be worn on the hand.

Dr H Shaheen Dr h shaheen

Evaluation of four trichoderma spp. for the biological control of black bundle disease (cephalosporium acremonium) in maize

Four Trichoderma species with known biocontrol activity (T. harzianum, T. hamantum, T. viride and T. virens) were tested for their efficacy against Cephalosporium acremonium, a causal organism of Black bundle disease in maize. Interactions between the fungi were assessed in vitro to study mutual antagonisms. Among the four bio-agents, T. hamantum proved to be promising which showed maximum inhibition (51.3%) followed by T. virens (45.2%), T. harzianum (44.6%) and T. viride (20.3%). T. hamantum was also found to be hyperparasite on C. acremonium whereas, T. harzianum and T. viride showed mycelial deformation. The volatile toxicants released by all the Trichoderma spp. were inferior in inhibiting the growth of C. acremonium when compared to the control as evident by inverted plate technique. The results of in vivo experiments confirmed the results from the in vitro study and showed that all the four bio-agents significantly reduced the disease incidence of Black bundle disease.

Veerabhadraswamy AL Veerabhadraswamy al

Occurrence of hypopituitarism in tunisian turner syndrome patients: familial versus sporadic cases

Objective: To explore unusual association between Turner Syndrome (TS) and Hypopituitarism in a Tunisian cohort. Methods: We reported 6 patients with TS associated to Hypopituitarism, including three familial cases except the fourth sister who showed only a TS phenotype. Biochemical analysis, resonance magnetic imaging and cytogenetic analyses were performed. Results: The average age of our patients was 17.2 years (11-31 years). They were all referred for short stature and pubertal delay, except for the fourth sister who presented spontaneous puberty with the integrity of the pituitary axis and the presence of an X ring chromosome. Karyotype analysis showed monosomy in 3 cases and a mosaic TS in the 3 remaining cases, including one patient with abnormal X chromosome structure. Somatotropic and corticotropic deficiencies were confirmed in 2 sporadic cases while the gonadotropic and thyrotropic axes were spared. In contrast; familial cases were consistently affected by the integrity of the corticotropic axis. MRI showed pituitary hypoplasia in all familial cases and pituitary stalk interruption syndrome in only one sporadic case. No correlation was found between the chromosome formula and the anterior pituitary involvement. Conclusion: Co-segregation of congenital Hypopituitarism with pituitary hypoplasia and X chromosome aberrations could imply a molecular anomaly of transcription factors responsible for the differentiation and development of pituitary cells such as PROP1, POUF1, Hesx1, Lhx3, Lhx4. The etiopathogenic link between X chromosome abnormalities and the occurrence of Hypopituitarism remains unclear; however, the progress of molecular biology may clarify the interrelation between transcription factors and sex chromosome segregation abnormalities.

Mariam moalla Mariam moalla

Risk factors for measles outbreak in al-dali governorate, yemen

Background: In addition to the recent civil war in Yemen, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a collapse of the health system, a decline in vaccination coverage, and the spread of numerous outbreaks. In 2022, a measles outbreak impacted Al Dali governorate. This study aimed to describe the demographics of measles patients, measles risk factors, and disease outcomes in Al Dali Governorate, Yemen. Methods: All measles-infected children who sought medical attention at Al Tadhamon Hospital in Al Dali, Yemen, between February and December 2022 were included in this prospective and observational study. Results: During the study period, 154 parents gave their consent to enroll their children in this study; 88 (57.1%) were males, and 66 (42.9%) were females. The mean age of the children was 3.56±2.90 (0.3–12 years). More than half of the mothers (n=88, [57.1%]) were illiterate or had a basic educational level, while most of the fathers (n=126, [81.8%]) were well-educated. Nutritional status was normal in most children (n=146, [94.8%]), and all children were unvaccinated. Most children (n=152, [98.7]) came from areas having measles and most of them (n=130, [84.4]) were in contact with measles cases. Health facilities were close (<3 km) to many children (n=151 [98.1]), and house ventilation was good in 66.2% (n=102) of cases while crowdedness was found in 135 (87.7) cases. Family members were 7 or more in 90 (58.4) cases. Two children under the age of 5 years died because of the disease. Conclusion: Our study showed that the main risk factor for the recent measles outbreak in Al Dali governorate was lack of vaccination, as all involved children were unvaccinated. Routine immunization needs to be reinforced through health centers in different districts and community education about the dangers of the disease and the benefits of the vaccines should be enhanced to prevent outbreaks from recurring.

Karishma Karishma

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