introduction chronic hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection is one of the most important health problems worldwide with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. it is a major risk factor for cirrhosis and liver cancer. currently, iran is located in the intermediate hbv zone; however, recent studies have provided some evidence indicating an epidemiological change in the country. the aim of this study ...

background: image-guided radiotherapy used multiple imaging during the radiation therapy course to improve the precision and accuracy of health care provider's treatment. objectives: this study aims to assess the safety, effectiveness and economic aspects of image-guided radiation therapy for decision-making about this technology in iran. methods: in this study, the most important medical datab...

introduction: intraoperative radiation therapy device (iort) is one of the several options for partial breast irradiation. iort is sent to the tumor bed during surgery and can be replaced with conventional standard therapy (ebrt). the aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of iort machine compared with ebrt and to determine the dominant option in terms of the cost-effect...

abstract: in contrast to traditional reviews, systematic reviews explore theliterature on a specific topic comprehensively using a well-defined protocol and recruit the findings of eligible studies after the assessment of their qualities, using a clear and reproducible method. checking the assumptions, we may merge the findings of recruited studies in a systematic review and use metaanalysis te...

conclusions in conclusion, toxicological studies showed that, although contamination level in caspian sea fishes was relatively low, the present status might pose a risk about food chain contamination. results the review showed that nine studies were recorded in databases about pesticide residues in caspian sea fish tissues. these studies reported that there is limited evidence of organochlorin...

noise-induced hearing loss, which is one of the 10 leading occupational diseases, is a debilitating and irreversible disease. during the recent 15-years period (1997-2012), several studies have investigated the association between noise, hearing damage and other side effects of noise in iran. the aim of this study was to review systematically the relevant literature related to noise-induced hea...

background and aim: pediatric obesity and overweight have become worldwide epidemics. iran is not an exemption in this regard. in the last decade, numerous studies have been conducted in iran in relation to obesity in children, and an increasing rate of obesity has been reported in the iranian context. some of these studies have included an extensive domain covering several provinces, while oth...

Background Active-control randomised trials are typically conducted to evaluate the benefit of a novel intervention relative to an established treatment. The appropriate design, analysis and conclusions depend upon whether the novel intervention is anticipated to be superior or non-inferior on the primary outcome measure. But despite their widespread application, active-control studies are ofte...

The briefing paper is written by members of the Institute’s Decision Support Unit. It is intended to provide a brief summary of the issues that are proposed for discussion at a workshop to inform an update to the Institute’s Guide to Methods of Technology Appraisal. It is not intended to reflect a comprehensive or systematic review of the literature. The views presented in this paper are those ...