BACKGROUND Previous studies have revealed the importance of microRNAs' (miRNAs) function as biomarkers in diagnosing human bladder cancer (BC). However, the results are discordant. Consequently, the possibility of miRNAs to be BC biomarkers was summarized in this meta-analysis. METHODS In this study, the relevant articles were systematically searched from CBM, PubMed, EMBASE, and Chinese Nati...

Standard meta-analytical and pharmacoeconomic techniques were used to study the clinical effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness ratio of the prophylactic (or pre-emptive) administration of G-CSF to patients with small cell lung cancer treated with conventional myelosuppressive cytotoxic chemotherapy. In the first part of our study, we conducted a meta-analysis of the randomized clinical trial...

BACKGROUND Recently, the tuberculosis (TB) Task Force Impact Measurement acknowledged the need to review the assumptions underlying the TB mortality estimates published annually by the World Health Organization (WHO). TB mortality is indirectly measured by multiplying estimated TB incidence with estimated case fatality ratio (CFR). We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the TB case fatality r...

Comparative analysis of the roles of explanation and meta explanation is conducted assessing the validity of explanation exchanged between human agents. Meta explanation links the overall structure of a current scenario with that of previously learned scenarios of multi agent interaction. The scenario structure includes communicative actions of involved agents and argumentation attack relations...

BACKGROUND Pairwise meta-analysis, indirect treatment comparisons and network meta-analysis for aggregate level survival data are often based on the reported hazard ratio, which relies on the proportional hazards assumption. This assumption is implausible when hazard functions intersect, and can have a huge impact on decisions based on comparisons of expected survival, such as cost-effectivenes...

The MESSAGE methodology has shown that the application of meta-models in the development of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) facilitates the integration of current software engineering processes and the use of agent technology concepts in analysis and design activities. This paper presents an extension to the MESSAGE meta-models and how to conduct the modelling (i.e., instantiation of the meta-models ...

This paper reports a flexible and stretchable metamaterial-based "skin" or meta-skin with tunable frequency selective and cloaking effects in microwave frequency regime. The meta-skin is composed of an array of liquid metallic split ring resonators (SRRs) embedded in a stretchable elastomer. When stretched, the meta-skin performs as a tunable frequency selective surface with a wide resonance fr...

background: to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on controlled treatment trials of meta-cognitive therapy for anxiety disorders. materials and methods: studies were included if they employed controlled methodology and treated people above 18 years with anxiety disorders. case studies (with less than 4 cases) and single case designed studies were excluded. a comprehensive literature ...

Preventive healthcare aims at reducing the likelihood and severity of potentially life-threatening illnesses by protection and early detection. In this paper, a bi-objective mathematical model is proposed to design a network of preventive healthcare facilities so as to minimize total travel and waiting time as well as establishment and staffing cost. Moreover, each facility acts as M/M/1 queuin...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) technology has theoretical advantages in comparison with traditional adjuvant radiation therapy (whole-breast irradiation; WBI) after breast-conserving surgery. However, published randomized controlled trials have shown inconsistent outcomes. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness and safety of APBI technol...