Cochrane is pleased to announce plans to establish a new, open and collaborative Network within China.

A group of interested stakeholders have been invited to a two-day strategic planning meeting to be held on 9-10 October in Beijing (hosted by the Peking University Health Science Center), to discuss the strategic direction and the establishment of a Cochrane China Network. 

The Cochrane China Network primary functions will be around ensuring that Cochrane’s evidence is increasingly used in policy and practice inside China; supporting the Cochrane community of volunteers (authors, methodologists, editors) in China; and promoting and representing Cochrane in the country.

This initiative involves the current Cochrane China Centre in Chengdu, as well as the new leadership of the Cochrane Hong Kong Affiliate. It is expected that a formal launch of Cochrane’s China Network will take place in early 2019.

For more information of Cochrane’s China Network, and sharing suggestions and information that promote Cochrane’s work across China, please contact Sylvia de Haan, Senior Advisor (Centres, Partnerships and Fundraising), Cochrane.

Additional resource:

• Structures and Functions of Cochrane Geographically oriented structures

During the Cochrane Governing Board meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, last March, the establishment of the Cochrane Mexico Centre was approved. This Centre, part of the Cochrane Iberoamerican Network, will have more autonomy to promote Cochrane activities in Mexico. 

The Mexican Cochrane Centre consists of five Associated Centres located at Culiacán (Sinaloa's Pediatric Hospital), Guadalajara (University of Guadalajara), Mexico City (Mexico's Children Hospital Federico Gómez and Clínica Médica Sur Foundation) and Cuernavaca (National Institute of Public Health).

To celebrate this achievement, Cochrane Mexico is organizing a National Symposium on August 30 and 31, in Mexico City. The event is preceded by a series of pre-symposium workshops (see for further details lanzamiento de Cochrane Mexico).

The launch of Cochrane Mexico coincides with the launch of the new Cochrane Library online platform. Our online platform has been redesigned and enhanced to improve user experience and functionality. It includes several features that will improve the user experience for people whose preferred language is not English, including improved visibility of non-English content, a new Spanish language homepage, and the ability to search in different languages.

To learn more about the Cochrane Library and how to use the new site, see the Cochrane Library Training page (available in Spanish).

For further information, please contact,
Giordano Pérez-Gaxiola
Director, Cochrane Mexico

Cochrane is pleased to announce that the Cochrane Library, which provides high-quality, independently produced evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, has been redesigned and enhanced to improve user experience and functionality.

Cochrane is a global independent network of researchers, professionals, patients, carers, and people interested in health. Cochrane contributors and groups produce high-quality systematic reviews, which collate and summarize the best available evidence on the effects of interventions, to inform decisions about health. Cochrane Reviews are recognized internationally as representing a gold standard for high-quality, trusted information, and are published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, one of the databases within the Cochrane Library.

The new online platform, designed in collaboration with Cochrane’s publisher Wiley and built by the technology platform provider HighWire, includes several features that will improve the user experience for people whose preferred language is not English, including improved visibility of non-English content, a new Spanish language homepage, and the ability to search in different languages. The new Cochrane Library also delivers a series of improved design features and functionality and allows users to search across varying content types, including Cochrane Reviews and Protocols, CENTRAL trials reports, Cochrane Clinical Answers, Editorials, Special Collections, and other systematic reviews from Epistemonikos, a collaborative, multilingual database of health evidence.

Cochrane’s Editor in Chief, David Tovey warmly welcomed today’s launch: “I am delighted to see the launch of our newly designed Cochrane Library today. This complex project has been all about improving user experience; we have ambitious plans for future development of the Cochrane Library and these can only be delivered by this move to a new and more flexible platform. With this launch, users will immediately notice a richer experience, but we see this is as merely the start of our journey.”

Wiley’s Editorial Director, Deborah Pentesco-Murphy added: “We are delighted that Wiley are able to offer Cochrane’s gold standard Evidence, including the Cochrane Clinical Answers Database, on a new multi-lingual platform, including a Spanish interface, to serve our global audience of users better and with an improved ability to quickly locate relevant information to make informed health decisions. ”

HighWire CEO, Dan Filby, said, “The Cochrane Library is globally recognized for publishing world leading research. We are proud to deliver a user experience for Cochrane that reflects the high quality of content; improving discoverability to help users in their research.”

• Visit the Cochrane Library
• Learn more about the Cochrane Library and how to use the new site
• Read this Press Release in Spanish

For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact,
Jo Anthony
T +44 207 183 7503
E pressoffice@cochrane.org

About Cochrane Reviews
Cochrane Reviews are systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy, and are internationally recognized as the highest standard in evidence-based health care. Cochrane Systematic Reviews investigate the effects of interventions for disease prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting.  Cochrane Library is published by Wiley.

About Wiley
Wiley, a global research and learning company, helps people and organizations develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Our online scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, combined with our digital learning, assessment and certification solutions help universities, learned societies, businesses, governments and individuals increase the academic and professional impact of their work. For more than 210 years, we have delivered consistent performance to our stakeholders. The company's website can be accessed at www.wiley.com.

About HighWire
HighWire is the technology partner of choice for world-leading commercial and academic publishers. With offices globally, HighWire provides digital publishing solutions and platform expertise across all aspects of the publishing life cycle, including content management and hosting, e-commerce, analytics, access and identity management, manuscript submission and tracking. HighWire also delivers strategic consulting services for system and application development, and improving the customer experience.

Dear Cochrane Members,

Thank you for voting in the recent Cochrane elections!

We are delighted to announce the results:

• Nicky Cullum has been elected as a member of the Governing Board. Nicky is Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Wounds Group and is based in Manchester, UK
• Agustín Ciapponi has been elected as an Author representative on the Cochrane Council. Agustín is an author on over 20 Cochrane Reviews and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina

If you’re attending the forthcoming Cochrane Colloquium in Edinburgh, 16-18 September, you’re invited to attend the Annual General Meeting on 17 September, and meet the members of the Board and Council. More information about the AGM will be sent to you soon.

Thank you to all the candidates who stood in these elections. The vote count for the Board election is available at elections.cochrane.org and for the Council election upon request by email to elections@cochrane.org.

Learn more about the Governing Board and Council on the Cochrane Community website.

Cochrane is pleased to announce plans to establish a new, open and collaborative Network within the US.

An internal review of Cochrane’s structures carried out in 2016 highlighted that a single Center approach for a country the size of the US has many limitations, and that a Network of multiple groups based across the country is a better model to deliver a wider range and expanded scale of Cochrane activities, share collaboration across and between institutions, and create greater impact of that work in diverse regions and different contexts.

There is a sophisticated and well-developed health evidence landscape in the US, and while Cochrane evidence is well known and widely respected, we believe we can do more and better. The Cochrane US Network primary functions will be around ensuring that Cochrane’s evidence is increasingly used in policy and practice inside the US; supporting the Cochrane community of volunteers (authors, methodologists, editors) in the US; and promoting and representing Cochrane in the country.

In the coming months, we will consult widely with a range of stakeholders to develop the strategy and focus of this new Cochrane Network:

This will include:

• An open meeting to be held during the Cochrane Colloquium in Edinburgh, on Tuesday 18th September, from 07.30-08.45;
• A two-day strategic planning meeting (by invitation) to be held on 29th-30th October in Fort Worth, Texas.

Following these consultative meetings, a call for ‘Expressions of Interest’ will be issued that allows institutions in the US to express their interest to become a member of the Cochrane US Network.

The responsibility for leading the establishment of the new Cochrane US Network is being taken by Cochrane’s Chief Executive Office, but the process is advised and fully supported by the existing Cochrane US West Associate Centre based at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU, Portland, Oregon), and the consultation meeting in October is to be hosted by the Texas Christian University.

It is expected that a formal launch of Cochrane’s US Network will take place in early 2019.

For more information of Cochrane’s US Network, and sharing suggestions and information that promote Cochrane’s work across the US, please contact Sylvia de Haan, Senior Advisor (Centres, Partnerships and Fundraising), Cochrane.

Additional resource:

• Structures and Functions of Cochrane Geographically oriented structures

Cochrane Review on methods of consumer engagement in health is being updated

That patients, families, their representatives and the broader public (collectively, ‘consumers’) should be actively involved, or engaged, in all levels of healthcare policy, research and services is an idea that has well and truly arrived. Amongst the explosion of literature, standards and guidance documents is a familiar refrain: ‘More evidence of impact, please’. A team of Cochrane reviewers has partnered with a stakeholder advisory group to do just that, by updating an existing Cochrane Review on methods of consumer engagement in health.

The topic was selected as a priority review for the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Group (CCCG) after a comprehensive priority setting activity. Debra Kay, co-author and consumer member, SAHMRI Consumer and Community Advisory Committee, explains, ‘I wanted to be part of this review update because this topic is right at the heart of the questions that consumer groups I work with want answered in order to better influence healthcare at a systemic level. I was also keen to support a respectful and genuine coproduction process between Cochrane reviewers and stakeholders.’

Given the rapid developments in the consumer engagement space since 2009 (when the last update was published), the team elected to work on a new protocol, just published and available here. Lead author, Louise Wiles, University of South Australia, says, ‘our advisory group includes mainly consumer representatives, along with policy makers, health service managers, clinicians and researchers. We first showed them the 2009 update and asked them what they would like to change. After having incorporated their feedback into a draft protocol, we asked for a second round of feedback before finalising the protocol. I’ve been blown away by how much the review direction and approach has changed thanks to stakeholders’ input, from the objectives, terminology, data extraction items and even a commitment to write the entire review in plain language. As a result, we feel so much more confident the review is going to be useful and relevant to the people who might want to use it.’

In another exciting development, the author team and stakeholders have agreed to go under the microscope, and have their engagement approach evaluated by Cochrane Consumers and Communication Group Editor, and PhD student, Annie Synnot. Annie explains, ‘While we have lots of published examples of author teams working together with consumers and other stakeholders on systematic reviews, they are very rarely evaluated. By documenting how stakeholders and authors worked together on this Cochrane Review, and exploring the impact on the people involved, the research process and the systematic review itself, I hope to provide valuable information for future systematic review authors wanting to do something similar’.

With the protocol now published, the author team can start the real work – finding the studies and analysing the results. And in the spirit of engagement, they’d love to get your help! If you know of any randomised controlled trials that assess effects of consumer engagement in health services, policy or research please let us know.

You can find the latest information about the review progress, share any feedback or contact the team here.

Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care  (PaPaS)  group addresses the gap in knowledge on chronic  pain in childhood and helps push solutions forward.

On July 12th at the Wellcome Trust in London, UK,  world-leading experts came together to look at evidence, policy and practice in the area of childhood pain.

Clinicians, researchers, funders and policy makers from charities, universities and hospitals discussed the lack of knowledge in this area and shared their collective ambition to increase the quality of evidence in this field.

Professor Christopher Eccleston, Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive (PaPaS)  Review Group, who initiated the event explained, “Four years ago the Cochrane PaPaS Group promised a programme of systematic reviews on the evidence for interventions for adults with chronic pain (both neuropathic and cancer related) and children with chronic pain. The work was supported by the NIHR. We produced 49 systematic reviews in a three year period, 10 of which for children and adolescents with chronic pain. The principal finding from these ten reviews was a distinct lack of evidence,  with too few trials in this area. The lack of research in this important field is so striking that we wanted to gather a group of influencers together fast  to address this gap in knowledge and think creatively about what the solutions could be.”

Presentations were shared on pain in babies, pharmalogical treatments in chronic pain, pharmalogical treatments for disease related pain and psychological treatments for chronic pain followed by discussions which highlighted the lack of large, high quality trials in this area.

Discussion ranged from concerns about how pain is identified in children to the impact social media is having on expectations and the opportunity smart phones offer to collect data differently.

The initiative led by the Cochrane PaPaS Group was funded by NIHR and backed by partners including the European Pain Federation, Wellcome Trust, and Arthritis Research UK. 

Co-organiser Systematic reviewer and editorial assistant Dr Emma Fisher from the PaPaS Group, explained, “All the attendees are working in some way to mitigate the lack of data in this field, for some it is a daily challenge - treating young patients, knowing they can’t help them as much as they would like. This is a springboard and just the beginning. As an academic collective we will focus on taking our recommendations forward.” 

• Cochrane is in the process of developing new online training and resources to help all Cochrane contributors and Groups learn more and provide practical help in facilitating and promoting the update of evidence in their work.
• If you have examples of your Knowledge Translation work that you would like to share, please contact support@cochrane.org

Re-posted from Cochrane South Africa

Professor Bongani Mayosi, one of the world’s top cardiologist, passed away on 27 July 2018.

Professor Mayosi was a member of the Advisory Board of Cochrane South Africa for many years and served as the chair from 2007 to 2009. He was a strong proponent of the work done by Cochrane and co-authored three Cochrane Reviews. We will always be eternally grateful for his guidance and support. He was an inspiration to us all.

“I am so devastated. Bongani and I have come a long way. He was my connection to Cochrane and to South Africa” says Professor Charles Wiysonge, Director of Cochrane South Africa. “In 2000, Bongani sent me the advert for the fellowship that led me to Cochrane, and in 2004 he convinced me to relocate from Cameroon to South Africa”, he added.

In 2006‚ at the age of 38‚ Professor Mayosi became the first black person to be made Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town. “We work where angels fear to tread‚” he said of the type of research he and his colleagues tackled.

Professor Mayosi received many awards and honours during his distinguished career. In 2009 he was awarded the South African highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe (Silver); he was elected to the Fellowship of the World Academy of Arts and Science (2013); he received the National Research Foundation Award for Transforming the Science Cohort in South Africa (2011). Since 2011 he had been advising the South African Minister of Health on the policy and strategy for health research in his capacity as the National Health Research Committee chair. Last year he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in the US, the only African on the highly prestigious list. Professor Mayosi published over 300 peer-reviewed academic articles individually and collectively. He was part of the team which discovered one of the genes responsible for causing the life threatening heart disease arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, this discovery was regarded as one of the most important medical advances in South Africa since the first human heart transplantation. Apart from being world famous for his gene discovery‚ he was also highly regarded for his work on preventing rheumatic fever and on tuberculosis of the heart. He led a groundbreaking series of multinational research studies into the management of pericarditis‚ including an African trial of the use of steroids in treating tuberculous pericarditis.  These are just a few of his many achievements.

For the past two years Professor Mayosi was Dean of the Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town. He was much loved and respected by his students, fellow researchers and peers. He worked tirelessly to improve the health of people in low and middle-income countries.

The Cochrane Community will miss Professor Mayosi dearly.

• Visit the Cochrane South Africa website

Leading institutions, including Cochrane, sign on to international platform which aims to accelerate medical research

The nonprofit organization Vivli launched a novel data-sharing and analytics platform to help researchers move faster toward new treatments and cures. This innovative platform makes it easy for researchers worldwide to discover, share and analyze data from clinical trials, regardless of who sponsored the research or where the research took place.

The Vivli platform launches at a crucial time in the evolution of science. Increasingly, researchers are being required to make their data openly available. New guidelines issued this month by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors demand that researchers share the data underlying their published results. Government and non-profit research funders are stipulating data-sharing as a condition of their grants. The culture within industry is also shifting to reward more open sharing of data. The Vivli platform boosts these emergent data-sharing efforts by bringing data from all clinical trials together in one place.

“To this day, much of the world’s clinical trial data is not shared, and even when it is shared, it is not integrated across the entire clinical research ecosystem,” said Vivli’s Executive Director Rebecca Li, PhD. “Vivli acts as bridge, enabling researchers of every stripe across the world to build upon each other’s work and speed up science.”

Vivli provides researchers with a secure, easy-to-use online platform to store and share clinical trial data across all diseases, nations and research entities. Vivli also allows researchers to freely combine and analyze data from multiple trials using state of the art tools. This means researchers can validate research findings—from confirming a treatment’s safety to identifying side effects—and avoid duplicative studies, thus reducing costs and shielding research participants from unnecessary risks. The data can also be combined to ask new research questions, such as how a disease evolves over time, and gain information to inform the design of future studies.

Vivli evolved from a project at the Harvard policy center, The Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital to enhance access to clinical trials data. For five years, a group of volunteers embarked on a mission to define, design and launch a global solution for sharing clinical trial data. “Sharing clinical trial data is critical in order to move science forward. We owe nothing less to the people who put themselves at risk by participating in these studies that benefit us all,” said Li.

The Vivli platform was built with grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The platform is powered by Microsoft.

About Vivli

Vivli is a non-profit organization working to advance human health through the insights and discoveries gained by sharing and analyzing data. It is home to an independent global data-sharing and analytics platform which serves all elements of the international research community. The platform includes a data repository, in-depth search engine and cloud-based analytics, and harmonizes governance, policy and processes to make sharing data easier. Vivli acts as a neutral broker between data contributor and data user and the wider data sharing community. For more information, visit www.vivli.org and follow us on Twitter @VivliCenter.