Narrative review
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The Role of Polyphenols in Human Health and Food Systems: A Mini-Review Open
This narrative mini- review summarizes current knowledge of the role of polyphenols in health outcomes-and non-communicable diseases specifically-and discusses the implications of this evidence for public health, and for future directions …
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Factors Influencing Children’s Eating Behaviours Open
Relevant factors involved in the creation of some children’s food preferences and eating behaviours have been examined in order to highlight the topic and give paediatricians practical instruments to understand the background behind eating…
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Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidelines on the Treatment and Management of Patients With COVID-19 (April 2020) Open
Background There are many pharmacologic therapies that are being used or considered for treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is a need for frequently updated practice guidelines on their use, based on critical evaluation…
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Time to challenge the spurious hierarchy of systematic over narrative reviews? Open
Cynthia Mulrow's important paper calling for literature reviews to be undertaken more systematically (and hence be more informative and reliable) is now 30 years old.1 A recent paper in BMC Medical Research Methodology compared the proport…
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Coronavirus Diseases (COVID-19) Current Status and Future Perspectives: A Narrative Review Open
At the end of 2019 a novel virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing severe acute respiratory syndrome expanded globally from Wuhan, China. In March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the SARS-Co…
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Guided bone regeneration: materials and biological mechanisms revisited Open
Guided bone regeneration ( GBR ) is commonly used in combination with the installment of titanium implants. The application of a membrane to exclude non‐osteogenic tissues from interfering with bone regeneration is a key principle of GBR .…
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The Health Benefits of Dietary Fibre Open
Background: Dietary fibre consists of non-digestible forms of carbohydrate, usually as polysaccharides that originate from plant-based foods. Over recent decades, our diet within Westernised societies has changed radically from that of our…
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Determinants and Consequences of Obesity Open
Objectives. To review the contribution of the Nurses’ Health Studies (NHS and NHS II) in addressing hypotheses regarding risk factors for and consequences of obesity. Methods. Narrative review of the publications of the NHS and NHS II betw…
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Origin of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance, and Their Impacts on Drug Development: A Narrative Review Open
Antibiotics have revolutionized medicine, saving countless lives since their discovery in the early 20th century. However, the origin of antibiotics is now overshadowed by the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance. This global crisis stem…
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Ultra-Processed Foods and Health Outcomes: A Narrative Review Open
The nutrition literature and authoritative reports increasingly recognise the concept of ultra-processed foods (UPF), as a descriptor of unhealthy diets. UPFs are now prevalent in diets worldwide. This review aims to identify and appraise …
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Global Contributors to Antibiotic Resistance Open
Introduction: Antibiotic-resistant infections have become increasingly prevalent nowadays. As a result, it is essential to examine the key socioeconomic and political factors which contribute to the rise in the prevalence of antibiotic res…
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Burnout in Healthcare Workers: Prevalence, Impact and Preventative Strategies Open
Approximately, one in three physicians is experiencing burnout at any given time. This may not only interfere with own wellbeing but also with the quality of delivered care. This narrative review discusses several aspects of the burnout sy…
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Fruits, vegetables, and health: A comprehensive narrative, umbrella review of the science and recommendations for enhanced public policy to improve intake Open
Fruit and vegetables (F&V) have been a cornerstone of healthy dietary recommendations; the 2015-2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that F&V constitute one-half of the plate at each meal. F&V include a diverse collection o…
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Global Impacts of Western Diet and Its Effects on Metabolism and Health: A Narrative Review Open
The Western diet is a modern dietary pattern characterized by high intakes of pre-packaged foods, refined grains, red meat, processed meat, high-sugar drinks, candy, sweets, fried foods, conventionally raised animal products, high-fat dair…
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An update on the clinical consequences of polypharmacy in older adults: a narrative review Open
The prevalence of polypharmacy is increasing worldwide. More than half of the older population is exposed to polypharmacy in some settings. Polypharmacy is associated with a broad range of clinical consequences. However, methods to assess …
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Bone grafts: which is the ideal biomaterial? Open
Bovine xenograft materials, followed by synthetic biomaterials, which unfortunately still lack documented predictability and clinical performance, dominate the market for the cranio‐maxillofacial area. In Europe, new stringent regulations …
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Resilience strategies to manage psychological distress among healthcare workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic: a narrative review Open
Summary The COVID‐19 pandemic marks an extraordinary global public health crisis unseen in the last century, with its rapid spread worldwide and associated mortality burden. The longevity of the crisis and disruption to normality is unknow…
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The Female Autism Phenotype and Camouflaging: a Narrative Review Open
Autism is more commonly diagnosed in males than females. One explanation is the ‘female protective effect’: there is something inherent in being female which reduces the likelihood of developing autism. However, evidence suggests that the …
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Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence Open
Literature reviews on how social media use affects adolescent mental health have accumulated at an unprecedented rate of late. Yet, a higher-level integration of the evidence is still lacking. We fill this gap with an up-to-date umbrella r…
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Machine learning for clinical decision support in infectious diseases: a narrative review of current applications Open
Considering comprehensive patient data from socioeconomically diverse healthcare settings, including primary care and LMICs, may improve the ability of ML-CDSS to suggest decisions adapted to various clinical contexts. Currents gaps identi…
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Neuroscience of Virtual Reality: From Virtual Exposure to Embodied Medicine Open
Is virtual reality (VR) already a reality in behavioral health? To answer this question, a meta-review was conducted to assess the meta-analyses and systematic and narrative reviews published in this field in the last twenty-two months. Tw…
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Blue space, health and well-being: A narrative overview and synthesis of potential benefits Open
Research into the potential health and well-being benefits from exposure to green spaces such as parks and woodlands has led to the development of several frameworks linking the different strands of evidence. The current paper builds on th…
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Narrative Reviews: Flexible, Rigorous, and Practical Open
Narrative reviews are a type of knowledge synthesis grounded in a distinct research tradition. They are often framed as non-systematic, which implies that there is a hierarchy of evidence placing narrative reviews below other review forms.…
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CGRP and the Trigeminal System in Migraine Open
Objective The goal of this narrative review is to provide an overview of migraine pathophysiology, with an emphasis on the role of calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) within the context of the trigeminovascular system. Background Migrai…
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Vitamins and Minerals for Energy, Fatigue and Cognition: A Narrative Review of the Biochemical and Clinical Evidence Open
Vitamins and minerals are essential to humans as they play essential roles in a variety of basic metabolic pathways that support fundamental cellular functions. In particular, their involvement in energy-yielding metabolism, DNA synthesis,…
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The 5As: A practical taxonomy for the determinants of vaccine uptake Open
Suboptimal vaccine uptake in both childhood and adult immunisation programs limits their full potential impact on global health. A recent progress review of the Global Vaccine Action Plan stated that "countries should urgently identify bar…
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Current and Emerging Methods of Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing Open
Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) specifies effective antibiotic dosage and formulates a profile of empirical therapy for the proper management of an individual patient’s health against deadly infections. Therefore, rapid diagnostic …
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The Global Burden of Musculoskeletal Pain—Where to From Here? Open
To summarize the current understanding of the global burden of musculoskeletal pain–related conditions, consider the process of evidence generation and the steps to generate global pain estimates, identify key gaps in our understanding, an…
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Advantages and Limitations of Bacteriophages for the Treatment of Bacterial Infections Open
Bacteriophages (BPs) are viruses that can infect and kill bacteria without any negative effect on human or animal cells. For this reason, it is supposed that they can be used, alone or in combination with antibiotics, to treat bacterial in…
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Trajectory Modelling Techniques Useful to Epidemiological Research: A Comparative Narrative Review of Approaches Open
Trajectory modelling techniques have been developed to determine subgroups within a given population and are increasingly used to better understand intra- and inter-individual variability in health outcome patterns over time. The objective…