bims-librar Biomed News
on Biomedical librarianship
Issue of 2021–07–18
23 papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. Behav Anal Pract. 2021 Jul 08. 1-12
      The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2020a) states that behavior analysts must provide services based on the published scientific evidence (Code 2.01, "Providing Effective Treatment") and maintain competence by reading relevant scholarly literature (Code 1.06, "Maintaining Competence"). Carr and Briggs (2010) acknowledged several potential barriers that might prevent behavior analysts from pursuing this obligation and offered helpful recommendations for circumventing these barriers. Although the nature of these barriers has primarily stayed the same since the publication of Carr and Briggs, the profession and field have grown more complex over the past decade, and several additional barriers have emerged. Luckily, technological advances and resources recently made available offer additional solutions for behavior analysts to consider adopting. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an update to the strategies described by Carr and Briggs for overcoming barriers related to searching the literature, accessing journal content, and contacting the contemporary literature. In addition, we conclude with how leaders might incorporate the proposed strategies into their organization at a systems-wide level.
    Keywords:  continuing education; ethical obligation; evidence-based practice; information literacy; professional development
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00590-8
  2. Health Info Libr J. 2021 Jul 17.
       BACKGROUND: A librarian led task force at the University of Tennessee Medical Center sought to evaluate their medical centre's health literacy attributes utilizing a widely used tool. This research ultimately led to the update of the tool.
    OBJECTIVES: To discuss the evaluation of health literacy attributes of health care organizations and detail the process of updating the Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers (HLEHHC) tool.
    METHODS: Subsequent to utilizing the HLEHHC, the task force was invited to assist in updating the tool. A collaborative was formed between the original author and task force. The collaborative performed an extensive literature review focused on emerging health literacy issues, reviewed each section and formulated changes.
    RESULTS: The collaborative update process yielded an improved instrument for assessing the extent to which a health care organization accommodates low health literacy patients.
    DISCUSSION: Through editing, creating new questions and rearranging the format, the HLEHHC was improved and updated.
    CONCLUSION: The assessment conducted by the health literacy task force is helping shape changes in the organization. Medical librarians acted in leadership roles in the collaborative process of developing the new institutional assessment tool for health literacy (HLE2).
    Keywords:  collaboration; evaluation; health literacy; hospitals, teaching; leadership; libraries, medical
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12390
  3. Health Info Libr J. 2021 Jul 17.
      In 2015, the Italian Ministry of Education in Italy launched innovative upper school educational programmes envisaging school-work initiatives. In this framework, the National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS) was among the first scientific institutions to develop educational programmes with school. Involving school students in health research activities allowed health literacy improvement, acquisition of scientific communication skills and fostered student interest in science careers. This article focuses on how health literacy and health promotion can be taught to school students through taking part in this programme. It is a multi-disciplinary collaboration among different stakeholders-ISS tutors (researchers, information and communication experts), teachers and students. This collaborative initiative is a good example of 'teaching and learning' in action since all stakeholders could benefit from cross-fertilisation in an informal educational context.
    Keywords:  communication; health literacy; health professionals; information science; research networks; research skills
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12375
  4. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Jul 06. pii: S0895-4356(21)00208-0. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: We investigated systematic review automation tool use by systematic reviewers, health technology assessors and clinical guideline developers.
    STUDY DESIGN AND SETTINGS: An online, 16-question survey was distributed across several evidence synthesis, health technology assessment and guideline development organisations. We asked the respondents what tools they use and abandon, how often and when they use the tools, their perceived time savings and accuracy, and desired new tools. Descriptive statistics were used to report the results.
    RESULTS: 253 respondents completed the survey; 89% have used systematic review automation tools - most frequently whilst screening (79%). Respondents' 'top 3' tools included: Covidence (45%), RevMan (35%), Rayyan and GRADEPro (both 22%); most commonly abandoned were Rayyan (19%), Covidence (15%), DistillerSR (14%) and RevMan (13%). Tools saved time (80%) and increased accuracy (54%). Respondents taught themselves to how to use the tools (72%); lack of knowledge was the most frequent barrier to tool adoption (51%). New tool development was suggested for the searching and data extraction stages.
    CONCLUSION: Automation tools will likely have an increasingly important role in high-quality and timely reviews. Further work is required in training and dissemination of automation tools and ensuring they meet the desirable features of those conducting systematic reviews.
    Keywords:  Automation; automation tools; clinical practice guideline; health technology assessment; systematic review; systematic review automation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.06.030
  5. Chem Teach Int. 2021 Mar;3(1): 57-65
      PubChem (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) is one of the top five most visited chemistry web sites in the world, with more than five million unique users per month (as of March 2020). Many of these users are educators, undergraduate students, and graduate students at academic institutions. Therefore, PubChem has a great potential as an online resource for chemical education. This paper describes the PubChem Periodic Table and Element pages, which were recently introduced to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the periodic table. These services help users navigate the abundant chemical element data available within PubChem, while providing a convenient entry point to explore additional chemical content, such as biological activities and health and safety data available in PubChem Compound pages for specific elements and their isotopes. The PubChem Periodic Table and Element pages are also available as widgets, which enable web developers to display PubChem's element data on web pages they design. The elemental data can be downloaded in common file formats and imported into data analysis programs (e.g., spreadsheet software, like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, and computer scripts, such as python and R). Overall, the PubChem Periodic Table and Element pages improve access to chemical element data from authoritative sources.
    Keywords:  PubChem; chemical database; chemical element; periodic table
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1515/cti-2020-0006
  6. J Biomed Inform. 2021 Jul 07. pii: S1532-0464(21)00194-5. [Epub ahead of print] 103865
      We present an overview of the TREC-COVID Challenge, an information retrieval (IR) shared task to evaluate search on scientific literature related to COVID-19. The goals of TREC-COVID include the construction of a pandemic search test collection and the evaluation of IR methods for COVID-19. The challenge was conducted over five rounds from April to July, 2020, with participation from 92 unique teams and 556 individual submissions. A total of 50 topics (sets of related queries) were used in the evaluation, starting at 30 topics for Round 1 and adding 5 new topics per round to target emerging topics at that state of the still-emerging pandemic. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the structure and results of TREC-COVID. Specifically, the paper provides details on the background, task structure, topic structure, corpus, participation, pooling, assessment, judgments, results, top-performing systems, lessons learned, and benchmark datasets.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; TREC-COVID; information retrieval; pandemics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2021.103865
  7. Pharmaceut Med. 2021 Jul 14.
    MILE (Medical Information Leaders in Europe)
      European pharmaceutical companies have a legal requirement to provide non-promotional Medical Information (MI) services to support healthcare professionals (HCPs) who are using their medicinal products. While the industry has self-regulating bodies with established Codes of Practice, these mainly focus on promotional messaging and commercial activities. In the absence of similar frameworks for MI, such services struggle to understand how to meet HCP digital expectations, often in fear of breaching the promotional codes. This is limiting access to the wealth of non-promotional patient-focussed information held within the industry. Meanwhile, a large volume of unregulated, low-quality information can be readily found on the internet. To understand the current status, the Medical Information Leaders in Europe (MILE) industry association performed a benchmarking survey which explored the online MI service provision of 13 mid-large pharmaceutical companies across Europe. This highlighted a great diversity in approach in terms of geographical coverage and content. Visibility and access for HCPs is complex, compromising online engagement and website utilisation. This MILE position paper highlights the critical need to establish a clear governance model, which empowers pharmaceutical company MI functions to provide unbranded, non-promotional, medicinal product information sources to support HCP online information needs. It is essential to build confidence, transparency and trust by establishing a practical quality framework with principles and standards for online MI services for HCPs.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s40290-021-00390-z
  8. F1000Res. 2021 ;pii: ELIXIR-268. [Epub ahead of print]10
      Background: Many types of data from genomic analyses can be represented as genomic tracks, i.e. features linked to the genomic coordinates of a reference genome. Examples of such data are epigenetic DNA methylation data, ChIP-seq peaks, germline or somatic DNA variants, as well as RNA-seq expression levels. Researchers often face difficulties in locating, accessing and combining relevant tracks from external sources, as well as locating the raw data, reducing the value of the generated information. Description of work: We propose to advance the application of FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) to produce searchable metadata for genomic tracks. Findability and Accessibility of metadata can then be ensured by a track search service that integrates globally identifiable metadata from various track hubs in the Track Hub Registry and other relevant repositories. Interoperability and Reusability need to be ensured by the specification and implementation of a basic set of recommendations for metadata. We have tested this concept by developing such a specification in a JSON Schema, called FAIRtracks, and have integrated it into a novel track search service, called TrackFind. We demonstrate practical usage by importing datasets through TrackFind into existing examples of relevant analytical tools for genomic tracks: EPICO and the GSuite HyperBrowser. Conclusion: We here provide a first iteration of a draft standard for genomic track metadata, as well as the accompanying software ecosystem. It can easily be adapted or extended to future needs of the research community regarding data, methods and tools, balancing the requirements of both data submitters and analytical end-users.
    Keywords:  FAIR; epigenomics; functional genomics; genomic tracks; genomics; interoperability; metadata; sequence annotations
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.28449.1
  9. Bioinformatics. 2021 Jul 16. pii: btab520. [Epub ahead of print]
       MOTIVATION: Knowledge curation from the biomedical literature is very valuable but can be a repetitive and laborious process. The paucity of user-friendly tools is one of the reasons for the lack of widespread adoption of good biomedical knowledge curation practices.
    RESULTS: Here we present Ontoclick, a web browser extension that streamlines the process of annotating a text span with a relevant ontology term. We hope this tool will make biocuration more accessible to a wider audience of biomedical researchers.
    AVAILABILITY: Ontoclick is freely available under the GPL-3.0 license on the Chrome Web Store and on the Mozilla Add-Ons for Firefox Store. Source code and documentation are available at: https://github.com/azankl/Ontoclick.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btab520
  10. BMC Fam Pract. 2021 Jul 10. 22(1): 150
       BACKGROUND: Medicines are central to healthcare in aging populations with chronic multi-morbidity. Their safe and effective use relies on a large and constantly increasing knowledge base. Despite the current era of unprecedented access to information, there is evidence that unmet information needs remain an issue in clinical practice. Unmet medicines information needs may contribute to sub-optimal use of medicines and patient harm. Little is known about medicines information needs in the primary care setting. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of medicines information needs in routine general practice and understand the challenges and influences on the information-seeking behaviour of general practitioners.
    METHODS: A mixed methods study involving 18 New Zealand general practitioner participants was undertaken. Quantitative data were collected to characterize the medicines information needs arising during 642 consultations conducted by the participants. Qualitative data regarding participant views on their medicines information needs, resources used, challenges to meeting the needs and potential solutions were collected by semi-structured interview. Integration occurred by comparison of results from each method.
    RESULTS: Of 642 consultations, 11% (n = 73/642) featured at least one medicines information need. The needs spanned 14 different categories with dosing the most frequent (26%) followed by side effects (15%) and drug interactions (14%). Two main themes describing the nature of general practitioners' medicines information needs were identified from the qualitative data: a 'common core' related to medicine dose, side effects and interactions and a 'perplexing periphery'. Challenges in the perplexing periphery were the variation in information needs, complexity, 'known unknowns' and 'unknown unknowns'. Key factors affecting general practitioners' strategies for meeting medicines information needs were trust in a resource, presence of the patient, how the information was presented, scarcity of time, awareness of the existence of a resource, and its accessibility.
    CONCLUSIONS: General practitioners face challenges in meeting wide-ranging medicines information needs in patients with increasingly complex care needs. Recognising the challenges and factors that influence resource use in practice can inform optimisation of medicines information support resources. Resources for general practitioners must take into account the complexity and time constraints of real-world practice. An individually responsive approach involving greater collaboration with pharmacists and specialist medicines information support services may provide a potential solution.
    Keywords:  Drug prescribing; Family practice; General practice; Information storage and retrieval; Medicines information; Primary health care
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-021-01451-7
  11. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jul 14. 23(7): e26180
       BACKGROUND: Previous research has identified disparities in seeking and using web-based health information to inform health-related behaviors. Relatively few studies however have examined the correlations between web-based health information seeking and use based on race, gender, age, and the presence of chronic health conditions.
    OBJECTIVE: In this study, we identify factors associated with seeking and using web-based health information among a uniquely vulnerable and intersectional population-middle-aged and older (40 years and older) African American and Hispanic men living with one or more chronic conditions.
    METHODS: Survey responses were collected from a purposive sample of African American and Hispanic men using Qualtrics web-based survey management software. To qualify for inclusion in the study, respondents had to identify as African American or Hispanic men, report having at least one chronic condition, and be aged 40 years and older. A series of binary logistic regression models was created using backward elimination. Statistical significance was determined at P<.05 for all analyses.
    RESULTS: Web-based health information seeking among African American and Hispanic men is a function of education, the presence of multiple chronic conditions, frustration with health care providers, internet use, and the perceived reliability of web-based health information. The use of web-based health information to inform interactions with health care providers was more common among African American and Hispanic men, who rated their health as relatively good, perceived barriers to care, used technology regularly, and took more daily medications.
    CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the factors that influence African American and Hispanic men seeking web-based health information may help improve the care and treatment of chronic conditions. African American and Hispanic men seek web-based health information as a substitute for routine care and to inform their discussions with health care providers.
    Keywords:  chronic disease; communication with health care providers; minority men; mobile phone; online information seeking
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/26180
  12. BMC Nephrol. 2021 Jul 14. 22(1): 263
       BACKGROUND: Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is a hereditary disorder that has no cure and can result in end stage kidney failure. Searching for health information online and via social media is a common phenomenon in many medical conditions. However, no recent studies have documented the information needs, online behaviours, and concerns of people with PKD. The aim of this study was to explore the information needs of individuals with PKD and their carers by documenting (i) the information needs (ii) online information health seeking behaviours (iii) the perceived challenges of living with PKD and (iv) dietary concerns.
    METHODS: A 17-item survey was constructed by undertaking a social listening analysis. This survey was then distributed via PKD related social media groups on Facebook. Seven groups distributed the survey with permission from the group owners. Open free text survey questions were analysed thematically using content analysis.
    RESULTS: A total of 536 respondents completed the online survey (70.9 % female, 77 % aged 35-70, 70.2 % diagnosed more than 10 years ago). The major information need expressed by participants with PKD was for dietary information. Information regarding medications, medical management and symptom control were also desired. The overarching themes arising from the free text responses to the major challenge of living with PKD included 'learning to navigate dietary ambiguities'; 'managing social, psychological and emotional needs'; and 'accepting an uncertain future'. In addition to a strong desire for practical and specific dietary information, participants expressed a need for more online information pertaining to management of fatigue, pain, complications and how to manage mental health. Online peer support was also highly regarded and desired.
    CONCLUSIONS: This study provides contemporary insights into the type of information desired by people with PKD. The results indicated that there was a strong desire for unambiguous information and guidance from health professionals to facilitate self-management, alleviate concerns, and address the complexities of living with Polycystic Kidney Disease. While diet is an important and frequently expressed need, there also remains a large demand for information on how to support psychological needs, and on medical management in order to support treatment decision making. Future work is required to develop specific, actionable and evidence-based resources for patients that are available online and through health professionals. Increased access to renal dietitians, peer support and additional training for health professionals could also improve patient-centered care and support self-management.
    Keywords:  Cross sectional study; Diet; Information needs; Patient preferences; Patient-centered care; Polycystic kidney disease; Self-management; Social listening; Thematic analysis; online survey
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12882-021-02472-1
  13. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2021 Jul 09. pii: S0104-42302021005020206. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: To assess the credibility and the quality content of COVID-19 pandemic information on Brazilian websites.
    METHODS: We performed Google searches and screened the first 45 websites. The websites were categorized as academic, commercial, government, hospital, media, nongovernmental organizations, and professionals. The credibility was assessed by JAMA benchmark criteria and HONCODE. A checklist with WHO information about COVID-19 was developed to assess the quality content. For each website, the level of agreement with WHO information was categorized into "total," "partial," or "disagreement".
    RESULTS: A total of 20 websites were analyzed. None of the websites had HONCODE certification. Six websites (30%) met none of the four JAMA criteria and only one website (5%) fulfilled all the four criteria. Only 11 out of 20 websites showed overall coverage >50% for the checklist. Overall, 70% (14/20) of the websites had at least 50% total agreement with WHO items. The government websites presented more disagreement with the WHO items than media websites in the overall quality content analysis.
    CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 information on Brazilian websites have a moderate-to-low credibility and quality, particularly on the government websites.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.67.Suppl1.20200721
  14. J Pediatr Nurs. 2021 Jul 02. pii: S0882-5963(21)00204-9. [Epub ahead of print]
       PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the content quality, reliability, and audience participation analysis of YouTube videos as a source of information about COVID-19 for children.
    DESIGN AND METHODS: This study was conducted in a descriptive design. The keywords "COVID-19, explain, children" were searched on the YouTube platform on March 17, 2021, and 294 videos were reviewed. The content of the selected videos was analyzed by 2 independent reviewers. Meet the inclusion criteria, 57 videos were evaluated according to the presenter source and the presented audience with the COVID-19 for Children Checklist (CCC), DISCERN score and the Global Quality Score (GQS).
    RESULTS: When the contents of 57 videos included in the study were reviewed, it was determined that 56.1% (n = 32) were informative and 43.9% (n = 25) were misleading. Kappa value among the two independent observers was 0.89. 17.5% (n = 10) of the videos scored 5 points from DISCERN and 31.6% (n = 18) scored 4 points from GQS. The mean scores of GQS, DISCERN and CCC of videos with the grouped as informative were found to be statistically higher. There was a significant difference between the DISCERN mean score of ministry/academic/hospital/physician channel videos was higher than the mean score of entertainment/individual channel videos.
    CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown that videos explaining COVID-19 to children have high viewing rates, but also videos that are low in terms of quality and reliability.
    PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: It is thought that this study will reduce the rates of hospitalization by protecting children from COVID-19 by providing them access to healthier and more reliable sources.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; Children; Information; YouTube
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2021.06.024
  15. BMJ Open. 2021 07 08. 11(7): e046364
       OBJECTIVE: Countries have major differences in the acceptance of face mask use for the prevention of COVID-19. This work aims at studying the information online in different countries in terms of information quality and content.
    DESIGN: Content analysis.
    METHOD: We analysed 450 webpages returned by searching the string 'are face masks dangerous' in Italy, the UK and the USA using three search engines (Bing, Duckduckgo and Google) in August 2020. The type of website and the stance about masks were assessed by two raters for each language and inter-rater agreement reported as Cohen's kappa. The text of the webpages was collected from the web using WebBootCaT and analysed using a corpus analysis software to identify issues mentioned.
    RESULTS: Most pages were news outlets, and few (2%-6%) from public health agencies. Webpages with a negative stance on masks were more frequent in Italian (28%) than English (19%). Google returned the highest number of mask-positive pages and Duckduckgo the lowest. Google also returned the lowest number of pages mentioning conspiracy theories and Duckduckgo the highest. Webpages in Italian scored lower than those in English in transparency (reporting authors, their credentials and backing the information with references). When issues about the use of face masks were analysed, mask effectiveness was the most discussed followed by hypercapnia (accumulation of carbon dioxide), contraindication in respiratory disease and hypoxia, with issues related to their contraindications in mental health conditions and disability mentioned by very few pages.
    CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that: (1) public health agencies should increase their web presence in providing correct information on face masks; (2) search engines should improve the information quality criteria in their ranking; (3) the public should be more informed on issues related to the use of masks and disabilities, mental health and stigma arising for those people who cannot wear masks.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; journalism (see medical journalism); public health; world wide web technology
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046364
  16. Health Info Libr J. 2021 Jul 14.
       BACKGROUND: Library websites are important for marketing library services and providing access to electronic resources.
    OBJECTIVES: To determine the extent and quality of medical college (school) library websites in Pakistan, according to predetermined criteria.
    METHODS: A checklist of 40 items was developed from the literature on academic library website evaluation as well as observation of known best practice. The checklist was used on the 45 medical college websites that fitted initial inclusion criteria.
    RESULTS: Of the possible 114 candidates for inclusion, 52 institution websites contained no information about the library, 17 only provided minimum details, leaving 45 medical college library websites that could be included. Library websites lack uniformity, and most of the important features as only three library websites contained more than 20 items from the checklist. The Agha Khan University Medical College, Karachi library website contained the highest (27) number of items.
    DISCUSSION: The findings indicate the design of medical college library websites is generally inadequate in Pakistan. The websites are not performing a useful role in communicating with faculty and students. The findings point to inadequate website design skills among librarians or the lack of co-operation with professional website designers.
    CONCLUSIONS: Marketing of library services and good customer relations demand improvements in the information architecture of medical college library websites as well as continued maintenance of the content to ensure that it is up to date.
    Keywords:  Pakistan; evaluation; libraries, academic; libraries, health science; libraries, medical; marketing; websites Ensure there is a ; where you have l
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12386
  17. Transplant Proc. 2021 Jul 06. pii: S0041-1345(21)00429-2. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: Many websites do not appear to be sources from which the public will learn reliable information about organ donation (OD). We visited websites related to OD and analyzed the quality of their content and the readability of the texts in English.
    METHODS: OD websites were identified using the search terms "organ donor" or "organ donation" on Google. A relevant websites list was compiled consisting of the 100 top-ranking ".gov" websites, the top 100 ".edu" websites, and the 100 top-ranking ".org" websites concerning their domain suffixes. We generated a scoring system to identify the quality of information about OD. Flesch-Kincaid grade formula, FOG index, Flesch Reading ease test, and a Fry graph test were used to assess the readability grade.
    RESULTS: Of 300 websites, 50 were eligible for evaluation. Only 3 (27.3%) of the relevant 11 ".gov" websites were of high quality. Seven (43.8%) of 16 ".edu" websites and only 9 (39.1%) of 23 ".org" websites were deemed as being high quality. None of these websites had fairly easy, easy, or very easy readability levels. The median readability score was 11.5 (interquartile range, 10.25-13.50) grade level. Quality scores and readability grades were not different among the website sources containing ".edu", ".gov", and ".org" (P = .795, P = .218, respectively).
    CONCLUSION: In the present study, the most important finding was that the content of websites related to OD far exceeds current readability grade recommendations, and they do not have a satisfactory quality.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2021.06.014
  18. J Orofac Orthop. 2021 Jul 16.
       PURPOSE: The goal was to evaluate the content, quality, and readability of the information available about clear aligner treatment on the Internet.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: The search terms "aligner," "clear aligner," and "Invisalign" (Align Technology, Tempe, AZ, USA) were analyzed in three search engines (Google [Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA], Bing [Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA], and Yahoo [Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA, USA]). The first 50 websites for each keyword in each search engine were screened. Duplicate websites, advertisements, links to scientific articles, videos, and other irrelevant websites were excluded. The quality of the remaining websites was analyzed using the DISCERN and Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark instruments together with the Health on the Net code (HONcode, Health On the Net Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland). The readability of the websites was evaluated by the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL). Statistical analyses were performed by one-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis and Fischer's exact tests, with p < 0.05 accepted to be statistically significant.
    RESULTS: Among 111 evaluated websites, most belonged to multidisciplinary dental clinics (n = 49; 44.2%), followed by aligner companies (n = 26; 23.4%), orthodontists (n = 26; 23.4%), and professional organizations (n = 10; 9%). The mean DISCERN score (sections 1 and 2) for all websites was 29.95/75. The average FRES and FKGL were 55.77 and 9.74, respectively. Professional organization websites had significantly higher DISCERN scores than others (p < 0.001), and together with multidisciplinary dental clinic websites, they showed better compliance with JAMA benchmark criteria. Professional organization websites' FRES and FKGL were also higher than other websites (p > 0.05).
    CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the quality of web-based information about clear aligners was poor and the readability of the data was insufficient. Websites presenting high-quality data with better readability are needed for potential aligner patients.
    Keywords:  Clear aligner appliances; Consumer information; Orthodontic appliances, removable; Orthodontics; Quality of information
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00056-021-00331-0
  19. Front Public Health. 2021 ;9 586333
      Objective: This study aims to explore vaccine information-seeking behavior and its determinants among pregnant women in Khartoum state, Sudan. The findings from this study will be used to inform further development of policies and interventions in Sudan to increase vaccine acceptance and demand. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in two public hospitals, Omdurman maternity and AL-Saudi hospitals in Omdurman, Khartoum state, from February to April 2020. Results: We interviewed 350 pregnant women in the two hospitals. Our findings showed that one-third of pregnant women (35.7%) searched for information about vaccines. The vast majority searched for this information before pregnancy and during pregnancy (34.4 and 59.2%, respectively). They primarily searched for topics related to vaccine schedules and vaccine side effects (28.8% for each). The main sources of vaccine-related information consumed by pregnant women were healthcare professionals, particularly doctors (40%), and the internet (20.8%). Findings showed that a high level of education was associated with a greater likelihood of searching for additional vaccine information. Moreover, those who perceived their family to have a high income were more likely to search for information. Additionally, pregnant women with low confidence in vaccines were more likely to be involved in searching for additional vaccine information. This highlights the need for high-quality, easily accessible information that addresses their needs. Conclusion: Our findings showed that confidence in vaccine influences seeking for relevant information. We recommend the development of client-centered communication interventions to help increasing vaccine confidence and consequently vaccine acceptance and demand.
    Keywords:  Khartoum; Sudan; hospitals; pregnant women; seeking behavior; vaccine confidence; vaccine information
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.586333
  20. Orthop J Sports Med. 2021 Jun;9(6): 23259671211016340
       Background: Online video-sharing platforms such as YouTube have become popular sources of medical information for patients. However, concern exists regarding the quality of such non-peer reviewed content. In fact, a previous investigation found the majority of YouTube information related to femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) to be of poor quality.
    Purpose: To provide an updated assessment of the quality of FAI-related videos available on YouTube.
    Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
    Methods: The terms FAI, femoroacetabular impingement, and hip impingement were searched on YouTube, and exclusion criteria were applied to the first 100 results for each term. The diagnostic and treatment content of each video was graded and assigned a quality assessment rating based on a previously used rubric. Video characteristics (e.g. duration, views, "likes") were compared using both quality assessment rating and video source.
    Results: A total of 142 videos were included in the final analysis. The most common video source was educational (48.6%), followed by physician-sponsored (30.3%). The majority of videos were graded as "somewhat useful" for both diagnostic and treatment content (59.4% and 61.6%, respectively); however, treatment content was rated "not useful" more often than diagnostic information (20.3% vs. 8.7%, respectively). Videos rated as "somewhat useful" received the most views per day on average, while educational videos were the most viewed by source (views and views per day). Educational videos had more views and likes on average than physician-sponsored videos (P < .05), but all other comparisons of video characteristics by source were not significant. Video duration was the only characteristic found to vary significantly by quality assessment rating (P < .001 for both diagnostic and treatment analyses), with higher-quality videos tending to be longer. Videos rated as "excellent" and "very useful" had mean durations >30 minutes but were viewed the least.
    Conclusion: The overall quality of FAI-related content on YouTube remains low. Clinicians should be familiar with medical information available to patients on the internet, as it can influence patients' perspectives and shared decision-making processes. This review substantiates the need for more publicly available, high-quality video content regarding the diagnosis and treatment of FAI.
    Keywords:  FAI; YouTube; femoroacetabular impingement; hip impingement
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671211016340
  21. J Gynecol Obstet Hum Reprod. 2021 Jul 13. pii: S2468-7847(21)00134-3. [Epub ahead of print] 102197
       AIM: Youtube is one of the most popular video-sharing websites, and people use Youtube as a source of information. Patients with urinary incontinence may seek information about their condition on Youtube. This study aims to assess the videos on Youtube about urinary incontinence and evaluate the information regarding whether patients can understand and/or act accordingly.
    METHODS: We performed a Youtube search with the keywords of "incontinence," "urinary incontinence," and "overactive bladder" in the English language with the incognito mode on the browser. All links were extracted and recorded in an excel file. Duplicated links were removed, and metadata of the videos were collected. A custom python language script was used to perform this operation. We selected the most viewed 150 videos for the assessment. After removing the non-related videos, 112 of them were included in the study. Two researchers separately evaluated all the videos with the Patients Education Material Assessment Tool (PEMAT, audiovisual version).
    RESULTS: The total duration of all included (n:112) videos was 12.6 hours, and these videos had been watched 37,332,178 times until the query date. The vast majority of the videos were about information, management, and treatment options (Kegel exercises, surgery modalities) of incontinence, individual experiences of patients with incontinence, commercials about the diapers, and healthcare professionals who wanted to introduce themselves or their services. Mean understandability and actionability scores of the videos were 57.9% and, 44.7% respectively. Our analysis showed that only 12.5% of the videos on Youtube related to incontinence were understandable, as well as actionable, in terms of PEMAT scores.
    CONCLUSION: According to our study, 87.5% of the videos about incontinence on Youtube.com in the English language were not understandable and actionable for users. Development of high-quality content about incontinence is needed.
    Keywords:  Overactive Bladder; Social Media; Urinary Incontinence
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogoh.2021.102197
  22. Int J Spine Surg. 2021 Jul 15. pii: 8088. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: YouTube has become a popular source for patient education, though there are concerns regarding the quality and reliability of videos related to orthopaedic and neurosurgical procedures. This study aims to evaluate the credibility and educational content of videos on YouTube related to cervical fusion. Secondarily, the study aims to identify factors predictive of higher or lower quality videos.
    METHODS: A YouTube query using the search terms "cervical fusion" was performed, and the first 50 videos were included for analysis. Reliability was assessed using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria. Educational quality was assessed using the Global Quality Score (GQS) and the Cervical Fusion Content Score (CFCS). Videos were stratified by content and source, and differences in JAMA, GQS, and CFCS scores were assessed. Multivariable linear regression was used to identify predictors of higher or lower JAMA, GQS, and CFCS scores. Statistical significance was established at P < 0.05.
    RESULTS: Total number of views was 6 221 816 with a mean of 124 436.32 ± 412 883.32 views per video. Physicians, academic, and medical sources had significantly higher mean JAMA scores (P = 0.042). Exercise training and nonsurgical management videos had significantly higher mean CFCS scores (P = 0.018). Videos by physicians (β = 0.616; P = 0.025) were independently associated with higher JAMA scores. Advertisements were significant predictors of worse CFCS (β = -3.978; P = 0.030), and videos by commercial sources predicted significantly lower JAMA scores (β = -1.326; P = 0.006).
    CONCLUSIONS: While videos related to cervical fusion amassed a large viewership, they were poor in both quality and reliability. Videos by physicians were associated with higher reliability scores relative to other sources, whereas commercial sources and advertisements had significantly lower reliability and educational content scores. Currently, YouTube seems to be an unreliable source of information on cervical fusion for patients.
    LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.
    CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The results of this study aid surgeons in counseling patients interested in cervical fusion, and suggest that publicly available videos regarding cervical fusion may not be an adequate tool for patient education at this time.
    Keywords:  cervical; fusion; patient education; surgery; video
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.14444/8088
  23. Bioinformatics. 2021 07 12. 37(Suppl_1): i468-i476
       MOTIVATION: Biomedical research findings are typically disseminated through publications. To simplify access to domain-specific knowledge while supporting the research community, several biomedical databases devote significant effort to manual curation of the literature-a labor intensive process. The first step toward biocuration requires identifying articles relevant to the specific area on which the database focuses. Thus, automatically identifying publications relevant to a specific topic within a large volume of publications is an important task toward expediting the biocuration process and, in turn, biomedical research. Current methods focus on textual contents, typically extracted from the title-and-abstract. Notably, images and captions are often used in publications to convey pivotal evidence about processes, experiments and results.
    RESULTS: We present a new document classification scheme, using both image and caption information, in addition to titles-and-abstracts. To use the image information, we introduce a new image representation, namely Figure-word, based on class labels of subfigures. We use word embeddings for representing captions and titles-and-abstracts. To utilize all three types of information, we introduce two information integration methods. The first combines Figure-words and textual features obtained from captions and titles-and-abstracts into a single larger vector for document representation; the second employs a meta-classification scheme. Our experiments and results demonstrate the usefulness of the newly proposed Figure-words for representing images. Moreover, the results showcase the value of Figure-words, captions and titles-and-abstracts in providing complementary information for document classification; these three sources of information when combined, lead to an overall improved classification performance.
    AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Source code and the list of PMIDs of the publications in our datasets are available upon request.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btab331