From Star Wars to Real Life: New Prosthesis Transforms Lives

Although Luke Skywalker makes only a cameo appearance in the latest Star Wars® film, his reappearance is also awakening interest in a prosthetic limb nicknamed for the fictional hero with a cybernetic hand. 

The DEKA Arm—which its inventor, Dean Kamen , affectionately calls “Luke”—is a real device created by the engineering minds at Kamen’s New Hampshire–based company, DEKA Research and Development.

Luke, the most advanced prosthetic arm yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), translates signals from muscles in order to perform complex tasks, such as flexing fingers and grasping objects. It’s a transformative innovation in upper-limb prosthetics for amputees.

Please click here to learn more.

ADHD and physical activity Cochrane review protocol published

Dr JackParker, TaCT theme manager and research associate at the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) and colleagues at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust have published a Cochrane review protocol to carry out a systematic literature review to determine the effects of physical activity interventions for children and adolescents aged 18 years or younger with a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The full review will be undertaken over the next six months and will be also be published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Parker J, Martyn-St James M, Green MA, Lewis-Hanna L, Dias R, Morris B, Shibib S, Chalhoub N. Physical activity for improving the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2016, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD012107. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012107.

The protocol can be accessed here.

Review of self-management support for long term conditions

Great systematic review published by the NIHR entitled: "A rapid synthesis of the evidence on interventions supporting self-management for people with long term conditions: PRISMS - Practical systematic review of self-management support for long-term conditions."

Full reference: 

Taylor SJC, Pinnock H, Epiphaniou E, Pearce G, Parke HL, Schwappach A, et al. A rapid synthesis of the evidence on interventions supporting self-management for people with long-term conditions: PRISMS – Practical systematic RevIew of Self-Management Support for long-term conditions. Health Serv Deliv Res 2014;2(53).

To access the review please click here.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Short Course

Overview

The aim of this three day course is to provide participants with an introduction to methods for conducting systematic reviews in health care. Sessions will be delivered by ScHARR staff experienced in systematic review methods and health technology assessment. The course will be interactive and practical, with delivery of sessions based on lectures and individual and small group practical exercises.

Who will benefit from this course?

The course is suitable for researchers who require an introduction to methods for conducting systematic 
reviews in health care, and professionals who need to develop the ability to interpret and asses the quality of systematic reviews. The course is also suitable for:

• Clinicians wanting to undertake their own systematic review
• PhD Students with a significant review component to their thesis
• Members of academic systematic review teams
• Pharmaceutical companies and consultancies requiring an understanding of review methods

No previous knowledge of systematic reviews or meta-analysis is assumed.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course participants should be able to:

• Identify the key stages of the systematic review process
• Define a review question and understand how to develop a review protocol
• Describe methods for identifying sources of evidence for systematic reviews
• Develop a search strategy to identify relevant studies for a specific review question and understand how to conduct a literature search
• Apply inclusion criteria to identify relevant studies
• Undertake critical appraisal of evidence using standardised quality checklists
• Develop a data extraction form and extract relevant outcomes from reported studies
• Select appropriate methods of evidence synthesis and be able to describe and summarise key results
• Be familiar with statistical methods for analysis of quantitative data
• Explore the use of meta-analysis in data synthesis using computer software
• Understand potential sources of heterogeneity between included studies
• Be familiar with good practice in reporting of systematic reviews
• Critically appraise a systematic review

For further information or to enrol please visit the website here.