THE COCHRANE COLLABORATION VISITING FELLOWSHIP

 

 

 

 

Progress report: 17 October 2004 –19 November 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karishma Busgeeth

Trials Search Coordinator

HIV/AIDS Cochrane Review Group

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

            Title                                                                                                                             Page

 

  1. Acknowledgements                                                                                                       3

 

  1. The Problem Area                                                                                                         4

 

  1. Aims of the fellowship                                                                                                    4

 

  1. Progress made towards overcoming the barriers to solving the problem                         5

 

  1. Outline of plan for implementing the learned strategies                                                    7

 

  1. Additional opportunities and achievements, not specific to the programme                                  8

 

  1. What was not achieved?                                                                                                            8

 

Appendix 1                                                                                                                         9

Appendix 2                                                                                                                                     10

Appendix 3                                                                                                                         11

Appendix 4                                                                                                                         12

Appendix 5                                                                                                                                     13

 

 

 

 

 

1.       Acknowledgements

 

I acknowledge the assistance, help and support of Nandi Siegfried throughout the fellowship.  Many thanks for the conversations that clarified my thinking and for the thoughtful and creative comments.

 

I am particularly grateful to Mark Fenton of the Schizophrenia Group for his advice, guidance and suggestions regarding the HIV/AIDS trials register.

 

Special thanks go to Jini Hetherington for ensuring the success of the fellowship.

 

Two colleagues graciously made time for me, helped me to consolidate my information management skills and provided me with the necessary TSC skills.  In this regard, I am indebted to Anne Eisinga and Carol Lefebvre, Information Specialists at the UKCC.

 

Thank you to the South African Cochrane Centre and the Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat for their financial support for the fellowship.  Thanks also to the Co-convenors of the Quality Advisory Group for selecting me as the recipient of the Cochrane Collaboration Exchange Fellowship. 

 

Last but not least, thank you to the UKCC staff for being so nice and accommodating.

 

 

2.       The Problem Area

 

The Cochrane HIV/AIDS Review Group (CRG) had not had a dedicated Trials Search Coordinator (TSC) since 2001.  As a result, the register had not been well maintained.  The register was reference-based and was maintained in ProCite, a bibliographic software package.  The HIV/AIDS CRG believes that creating a study-based, rather than a reference-based register is more appropriate, not least because of the practice of multiple publications from single studies.  The UK Cochrane Centre, Schizophrenia Review Group, others in The Cochrane Collaboration and Update Software have developed a software tool, MeerKat (MS Access), specifically to support study-based registers.  After visiting the editorial bases of the Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group and the Schizophrenia Group to see how study-based registers were maintained in ProCite and MeerKat respectively, Karishma Busgeeth (KB) and Nandi Siegfried (NS), the Deputy Co-ordinating Editor of the HIV/AIDS Review Group, decided to adopt MeerKat, in particular because of Karishma’s extensive knowledge and experience of MS Access.

 

           

3.       Aims of the fellowship

 

The aims of the fellowship were to

 

1.       Transfer all current HIV/AIDS records in CENTRAL (The Cochrane CENTRAL Register of Controlled Trials) to MeerKat;

2.       Acquire skills to maintain and update the HIV/AIDS trials register with studies retrieved from searches conducted on PUBMED, EMBASE, AIDSearch and other databases identified as relevant;

3.       Finalise the EMBASE and AIDSearch comprehensive HIV/AIDS search strategy;

4.       Acquire skills to effectively and efficiently prepare the register for regular submission to CENTRAL;

5.       Code studies appropriately using a comprehensive coding sheet;

6.       Procure full-text articles for the trials in the register.

 

 

4.       Progress made towards overcoming the barriers to solving the problem

 

(See Appendix 1)

 

4.1   Transfer of all current HIV/AIDS records in CENTRAL to MeerKat

 

The Cochrane highly sensitive search strategy was used to download 5952 HIV/AIDS records from CENTRAL and using the CLIB configuration file, the records were transferred from CENTRAL to ProCite.  The duplicates were then configured by comparing the fields: title, author, date of publication and location in work. (See Appendix 2)

 

The deduplication process revealed 338 duplicates, 8 triplicates and one quadruplicate.  Since HIV only became an entity in the early 1980s, NS and KB decided to delete all records before 1980.  The number of records left in ProCite was then 5550. 

 

After the deduplication process, Mark Fenton (MF), TSC of the Schizophrenia Group, assisted KB in transferring the records from ProCite to MeerKat.  This process involved configuring the bibliography in ProCite, printing the bibliography in ProCite and finally defining the references in MeerKat.  (See Appendix 3)

 

A screenshot of the HIV/AIDS trials register (SR–HIV) in MeerKat is provided in Appendix 4.  For ease of information transfer and the awesome responsibility of efficiently coding each and every reference in the register, it was decided that initially 2004 records would be transferred to Meerkat followed by 2003 records then 2002 and so on.

 

 

4.2   Maintaining and updating of the HIV/AIDS trials register with studies retrieved from searches conducted on PUBMED, EMBASE and other databases identified as relevant

 

MF assisted KB in setting bibliography and configuring files for both PubMed and EMBASE.  These configuration files would facilitate the transfer of records from PubMed and EMBASE to ProCite.  MK also demonstrated the different functionalities of MeerKat in terms of maintaining, updating and searching the SR-HIV.

 

NS and KB decided on the studies to be included or excluded in the SR-HIV. All randomized and controlled clinical trials evaluating the efficacy or effectiveness of prevention or treatment of HIV/AIDS will be included. This will include those studies which assess sexual behaviour relating to condom use (non-HIV specific) as no other register is currently capturing these. Studies specifically excluded are non-HIV Sexually Transmitted Infections (e.g. Herpes) trials and Phase 1 (safety) trials.

 

 

4.3   Finalising EMBASE and AIDSearch comprehensive HIV/AIDS search strategy

 

Anne Eisinga (AE), Information Specialist at the UKCC, provided her assistance in translating the comprehensive HIV/AIDS search strategy via OVID to EMBASE.COM.  At the South African Cochrane Centre (SACC), EMBASE is accessed via EMBASE.COM and not via OVID.  Both NS and AE helped to develop and finalise the comprehensive HIV/AIDS search strategy for AIDSearch. 

 

 

4.4   Effective and efficient preparation of the register for regular submission to CENTRAL

 

Carol Lefebvre (CL), Information Specialist at the UKCC, and MF provided much insight into the submission of the SR–HIV to CENTRAL.  During the fellowship, several meetings were arranged between KB and CL.  The points discussed were:

·        TSC role and duties in the Cochrane Collaboration

·        Identifying RCT/CCT

·        ‘Included studies’ in the register

·        Reviewer’s support

·        Copyright legislation

 

 

4.5   Coding studies appropriately using a comprehensive coding sheet

 

NS and KB decided on the different domains within the SR-HIV.  The domains are as follows:

·        Design: RCT, CCT, Systematic review

·        Intervention: Treatment and Prevention (these are further expanded into specific interventions)

·        Methods: Allocation concealment, Blinding, Loss to follow up

·        Outcomes: Morbidity, Mortality

·        ISRCTN

·        Geographical Coordinates of RCT location (this will allow for mapping of trials)

 

KB spent much time during the fellowship coding the references as RCT/CCT (See Appendix 5) for 2004 and 2003. For the year 2004, the number of records coded was 62 while 400 records were coded for 2003.  A quality control carried out by NS on the first 60 records and thereafter of all records coded as ‘unclear’ or ‘delete’ revealed a 95% agreement. 

 

 

4.6   Procurement of full-text articles for the trials in the register.

 

NS assisted KB in the procurement of full-text articles in pdf format from various databases accessed via the UKCC and the University of Oxford.  The total number of pdf articles obtained was 36.

 

5.       Outline of plan for implementing the learned strategies

 

The table below shows an ‘idealized’ monthly schedule structured for implementing the learned strategies.

 

Time

Tasks

1 week
  • Reviewer’s search on CENTRAL, MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, AIDSearch

1 week
  • Update, maintain, code the register
  • Procurement of full-text articles for the register

3 days
  • Submission to CENTRAL in March 2005
    • CENTRAL (SR-HIV): 1 Jan 2003 – 19 Oct 2004
    • PubMed (MeerKat): 19 Oct 2004 – 15 Feb 2005
    • EMBASE (ProCite): 19 Oct 2004 – 15 Feb 2005

2 days
  • Determine content of AIDSearch – what conferences are covered?
  • Time scale of GATEWAY and AIDSearch

3 days
  • Look into the availability of geographical coordinates
  • Geographic Information System (GIS) project

2 days
  • Other TSC duties and SACC duties
  • Procurement of articles for reviewers
  • Attend journal club, Systematic review meetings, staff meetings

 

 

            Specific aims for the next 6 months are to

 

1.       Code ‘study design’ and possibly ‘intervention’ in SR-HIV for all studies from all years

2.       Procure full-text articles for the register from other sources (e.g. Medical Research Council library, South African Universities libraries etc)

3.       Code the location (geographical coordinates) of the RCT/CCT for 2003

4.       Design and develop the GIS system

5. Write an article for the CCInfo in March-April

6.      Write a paper on the development of the register for publication purposes in Mid-April

7.      Prepare an abstract of the development of the register to present at the Melbourne Colloquium

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.       Additional opportunities and achievements, not specific to the programme

·        Attended weekly Clinical Trials Service Unit (CTSU) seminars at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford.  Attended a seminar presented by Prof Harald Jaffe, new head of the Oxford University Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, on the ”Global Challenge of HIV/AIDS”.

·        Presented the HIV/AIDS trials register at the monthly UKCC seminar.

·        Hand searched for RCT/CCT from French records in African Index Medicus

·        Hand searched for RCT/CCT from French Medical Journal ‘Medecine Afrique Noire’ for the year 1990-1999.

 

        

7.       What was not achieved?

 

·        The pharmaceutical contacts are yet to be established.  Due to time constraints, it was decided that this task would be followed up in South Africa.

·        The comprehensive HIV/AIDS search strategy for LILACS requires further testing and translating.  AE is currently busy with the testing phase.

·        The content and timescale of AIDSearch and GATEWAY are yet to be finalized. 

 

Appendix 1

 

Appendix 1 displays the five-weeks fellowship programme at the UKCC.

 

 

 

MONDAY 18

TUESDAY 19

WEDNESDAY 20

THURSDAY 21

FRIDAY 22

Morning

UKCC orientation/planning

9AM Laptop             11AM Carol

Dedupl Procite 10AM Mark Fenton

Transfer into Meerkat

Tfer into Meerkat    11AM Carol

 

 

1PM GC seminar

 

12.30 DPH seminar

 

Afternoon

2PM: AIM French translation

Run HIV strat in Central – Procite

Mark Fenton          Dedupl Procite

Develop register domains

2PM – troubleshoot NS (domains)

 

MONDAY 25

TUESDAY 26

WEDNESDAY 27

THURSDAY 28

FRIDAY 29

Morning

Develop Embase strategy

Develop Embase strategy

Run EMBASE    10AM Mark Fenton

MARK FENTON

Register cleaning

 

 

1PM GC seminar

 

 

 

Afternoon

Register cleaning

Develop Embase strategy

Mark Fenton          Run EMBASE   

 

2PM – troubleshoot NS

 

MONDAY 1

TUESDAY 2

WEDNESDAY 3

THURSDAY 4

FRIDAY 5