Each horizontal line represents the results of one study, while the diamond represents the combined result - our best estimate of whether the treatment is effective or harmful. The diamond sits clearly to the left of the vertical line representing “no difference”; therefore the evidence indicates that the treatment is beneficial. We call this representation a “forest plot”. This forest plot within our logo illustrates an example of the potential for systematic reviews to improve health care. It shows that corticosteroids given to women who are about to give birth prematurely can save the life of the newborn child.
Despite several trials showing the benefit of corticosteroids, adoption of the treatment among obstetricians was slow. The systematic review (originally published by Crowley et al. and with a new update published 21 March) was influential in increasing use of this treatment. This simple intervention has probably saved thousands of premature babies.
The Governing Board is delighted to announce that sponsored registration for one person from each Cochrane Group to attend Cochrane Colloquia has been extended to Associate Centres and Satellites of Cochrane Review Groups. This applies to the Global Evidence Summit in Cape Town, from 13-16 September 2017, which this year replaces the normal Cochrane Colloquium. Sponsored Group registrants will be required to pay for their own travel, accommodation, optional or additional social events tickets.
The submission deadline for the Global Evidence Summit is 12 noon (UTC) Thursday 1 June 2017. To claim your sponsored Group registration, you are required to complete an online form on behalf of the person who is to receive the sponsored registration for your Group. After 1 June no more applications will be accepted for 2017. Instead, the funds allocated to any Groups that have not been applied for will be diverted to the stipends fund to enable a limited number of consumers and colleagues from low- and middle-income countries to attend the Global Evidence Summit.
If you experience any problems in registering yourself or a colleague for the sponsored place, please e-mail sponsoredgroup@cochrane.org.
Following the publication of The Lancet’s 2014 series on ‘Research: increasing value, reducing waste’, a team of researchers undertook a project evaluating processes that research funders use to provide transparency and reduce waste in making funding decisions. They have presented the results of their research in a letter to The Lancet, published 9 March 2017. Plymouth University is featuring the research project on their website, including a video interview with lead author Mona Nasser, a longtime Cochrane contributor and Governing Board member.
Evidence published in the BMJ suggests that tweeting out links to Cochrane Reviews increases ‘product placement’ of evidence, which has the potential to then influence care. Members of the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group conducted a randomized controlled trial to see whether sharing Cochrane Reviews on Weibo and Twitter affects visits to Cochrane evidence pages, as well as secondary outcomes such as time spent on page. They found that there was more time spent on the target site, and that users stayed longer on the page. They didn’t find that China (where they use Weibo) was any more or less effective compared with the rest of the world.
"Twitter is a powerful platform to scientifically disseminate information about reviews. There is clear evidence from our one small trial that tweeting increases visibility of the evidence – even for topics that have been dormant for a while. People using Twitter not only visited more Cochrane evidence pages; they also had more in-depth interactions while there. Hopefully this will lead to better-informed consumers and clinicians," says Dr. Mahesh Jayaram, lead author of the trial. "More trials evaluating other social media platforms are needed; our second Twitter trial is now well underway, andh trials using other social media platforms are under development."
While there is more research to be done, this work provides a great reminder to Cochrane Groups about the power of disseminating your evidence through social media. Here are some resources to assist you:
Every year Cochrane recognizes the outstanding work of Thomas C Chalmers, famous for his role in the development of the randomized controlled trial and meta-analysis in medical research. Thomas is perhaps best known for the notion ‘randomize the first patient’, his belief that it is more ethical to randomize patients than to treat them in the absence of good evidence.
To acknowledge Tom's work, Cochrane gives an annual award at its Colloquium to the principal author of both the best oral and the best poster presentation addressing methodological issues related to systematic reviews given by an early career investigator. The presentations must demonstrate originality of thought, high quality science, relevance to the advancement of the science of systematic reviews and clarity of presentation.
2016’s winner of the Thomas Chalmers Award for the best poster presentation is Juan Franco. Juan is a family physician at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires. He’s currently doing a Master’s Degree in Clinical Effectiveness and is actively involved with the Argentine Cochrane Center at the Instituto Universitario Hospital Italiano.
“ I saw incredible presentations from young researchers who could have easily won, too. I think it’s a good tradition for Cochrane in a way they can highlight some of the valuable research presented”
He wanted to share with us a little more about his work, and what made him decide to enter for this prestigious Cochrane award:
As a medical student, I was introduced to Evidence Based Medicine through Cochrane Reviews. I continue to use them in my training as a Family Physician and I decided to become involved in their development when I finished my residency programme. I knew about Thomas Chalmers from the introductory texts of Evidence Based Medicine and I found out about the Award when I signed up for my first attendance to the Colloquium.
Can you tell us a little more about what made you decide to enter for the award and the process involved?
I hesitated in signing up. I thought that since it’s my first Colloquium attendance, it could be somewhat presumptuous of me. However, I noticed that this award was targeted to early career investigators and I thought that the work and effort that our team had put up with this research deserved at least the application. It was my first Colloquium, my first contribution for Cochrane and my presentation was in English, which is not my first language. I hadn’t heard of any other Latin American researcher who had won this award.
And, you won! Many congratulations –what does this award mean you, personally?
I feel very honored. For me it’s an incredible vote of confidence for me and for my group at the University. Being a family physician and being only recently involved in Cochrane, this reward renewed my enthusiasm to the whole experience at a Cochrane Colloquium.
What’s been the impact to you, and your work, winning the Award?
I received very constructive feedback after my presentation that will allow me to improve the manuscript subject to publication. The academic staff and chancellor at the University were thrilled. Time and resources are limited to those involved in this type of research in our country and this award allowed us to gain local visibility. Additionally, it made our team more confidence in addressing research on methods. We are already thinking in several projects in this area.
Firstly, I would like to publish our research. Secondly, I would like to jumpstart some projects we have on “research on research”. If we work hard I think we’ll be able to present some results at the Iberoamerican Meeting, and the Global Evidence Summit. It would make me proud to be able to consolidate our working group and our Iberoamerican Network.
What would be your message to other colleagues, Cochrane collaborators, who are considering entering for this particular award this year? Any advice for their entry?
I think that if you fulfill the entry criteria you should sign up, with no hesitation! I would tell them to try their best at their presentation and seize all the great feedback they’ll receive. I saw incredible presentations from young researchers who could have easily won, too. I think it’s a good tradition for Cochrane in a way they can highlight some of the valuable research presented, and as I said before, renew the enthusiasm it inspires.
2017 will take us to the mid-point of the Strategy to 2020. It will be another year of delivery and continuity, focusing particularly on the implementation and output phases of already established projects that featured as Targets in 2016. For this reason, there are a reduced number of Targets this year – we are not starting new work. Cochrane’s focus will be on demonstrating to our stakeholders – the users of our evidence, our contributors, our partners and funders - the outcomes and tangible benefits that the implementation of Strategy to 2020 is bringing to their experience with Cochrane year on year.
A detailed overview of the Targets and how they will be implemented in 2017 is available on the Strategy to 2020 Community page.
In preparation for the Cochrane Board meeting in April in Geneva, we have prepared an update paper to inform the Cochrane community about work with our external partners. Some of the key developments to note:
The planning for the Global Evidence Summit is progressing well and provides an opportunity to connect many of our external partners: sessions are being planned with various groups at WHO, G-I-N, Campbell, JBI, and consumer organizations.
MoUs have been signed with Epistemonikos, G-I-N, and MAGIC, and with the March for Science.
The work on the Partnership Toolkit, an online resource for Cochrane Groups to use for their own partnership development, will evolve alongside the Knowledge Translation Strategy, to ensure that they are connected and complementary; the next phase is scheduled to start following the Mid-Year Meeting in Geneva.
The annex in the paper provides a detailed overview per partner, also specifying the plans for the coming months. For further information please contact Sylvia De Haan, Partnerships Coordinator.
Registration for early bird tickets open until 30 June 2017
Registration has now opened for the first ever Global Evidence Summit! Register before the 30 June 2017 to get over 11% off the standard ticket price.
This year, Cochrane, has joined with four other leading organizations – Guidelines International Network, Campbell Collaboration, International Society for Evidence-based Health Care, and Joanna Briggs Institute - to hold the first ‘Global Evidence Summit’ in Cape Town, South Africa from 13-16 September 2017.
The Global Evidence Summit have also launched a number of stipend and bursaries to help consumers, students, and other attendees based in developing countries to attend.
Find out if you are eligible to apply for one of the stipends or bursaries available. Cochrane are providing the annual consumer and developing country stipends. But the organisers have also received further funding to support delegates from a LMIC setting including policy makers and researchers as well as African-based students. Follow the link to find out whether you are eligible and how to apply. The deadline for Cochrane and Global Evidence Summit stipends is the 28 April 2017.
We regret to advise the Cochrane community that Michael Makanga has announced his resignation from the Cochrane Governing Board, due to changing demands in his primary role as Executive Director of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). Michael’s resignation takes effect from 1st March. Although his time on the Governing Board was brief we would like to thank him for his service and his contributions to its work during a period of significant transition.
We will fill Michael’s now-open position on the Board later in the year as part of the planned process to recruit additional external representatives.
Lisa Bero and Cindy Farquhar
Co-Chairs, Cochrane Steering Group
