CCInfo: Electronic news bulletin of The Cochrane Collaboration 20 August 2009 Contents: A. Monitoring and Registration Group News B. Request for participants - risk of bias tool evaluation--CORRECTION C. Cochrane CAM reviews - a new Cochrane column D. CAM Field Bursary Scheme (2009) - Call for applications E. RAP Nigeria - Call for applications F. New entity newsletter G. Clinical Trials courses H. Job ad - Principal Research Fellow I. Next issue of CCInfo XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX A. Sender: Claire Allen [CAllen@cochrane.org] The Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat Subject: Monitoring and Registration Group News As most of you will already know, the MRG (a sub-group of the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group) held its annual face to face meeting in Bahrain at the end of May 2009. We would like to feed back to you on two items that are of interest to all entities: A. New Co-Convenor: Karen New has replaced Rob Scholten as Co-Convenor of the MRG. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rob for his dedication and hard work as Co-Convenor of the MRG. Rob will complete his current term as a member of the MRG until his Steering Group membership ends in October 2010. B. Deregistration criteria The Executive, on 29th July 2009, approved changes to the current deregistration criteria (as outlined in the Cochrane Policy Manual) and the criteria will now read: “Criteria for deregistration The four criteria for de-registration rest upon the core principles of The Cochrane Collaboration, and its objectives as outlined in its mission statement. Any one of the four criteria could lead to deregistration. The four criteria are that: 1. Either an entity is no longer able to function (e.g. to fulfil its core functions) or funding ceases leading to an inability to function and the entity has no reasonable likelihood of being able to function in a timeframe specified by the Monitoring and Registration Group'; or 2. There is persistent failure to provide evidence of core function activities to the Monitoring and Registration Group; or 3. An entity is in contravention of the principles of The Cochrane Collaboration such that a continued relationship cannot be sustained; or 4. An entity is bringing The Cochrane Collaboration into disrepute to the extent that a continued relationship cannot be sustained.” If you have any questions about either of the above items, please don’t hesitate to contact one, or both of us. Best wishes, Karen New (incoming Co-Convenor) Hans van der Wouden (Co-Convenor) Monitoring and Registration Group XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX B. Sender: Laura Weeks [lweeks@ohri.ca] Cochrane Bias Methods Group Subject: Request for participants - risk of bias tool evaluation--CORRECTION (correction to date/time of focus group and to include non-Bias Methods Group members as invited participants) The Bias Methods Group (BMG) is currently conducting an evaluation of the Risk of Bias Tool (funded by the Cochrane Opportunities Fund). The evaluation has as its goals to evaluate the need for changes to the Risk of Bias Tool and accompanying guidance materials and to develop training materials in collaboration with the Training Working Group. To achieve these goals, the Bias Methods Group will conduct two one-hour focus groups with both users and non-users of the Risk of Bias Tool. One focus group will take place in Ottawa, Canada in August or September 2009. The second focus group will take place during the 17th Cochrane Colloquium in Singapore on 13 October 2009 at 15:30 local time. We invite the participation of any member of the Cochrane Collaboration who is willing to share their perspectives on the Risk of Bias tool to inform this evaluation project. Both users and non-users of the Risk of Bias tool are invited to participate. For more information or to volunteer to participate in one of the focus groups, please contact Laura Weeks, BMG Coordinator, at lweeks@ohri.ca. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX C. Sender: Eric Manheimer [emanheimer@compmed.umm.edu] Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field Subject: Cochrane CAM reviews - a new Cochrane column Beginning with the July/August 2009 issue of the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, the CAM Field launched a new column called Cochrane CAM Reviews: Summaries of Findings. The purpose of this column is to highlight some of the recent ‘Summary of Findings’ tables of CAM-related Cochrane reviews. For the first column, we focused on the Cochrane review ‘The effect of probiotics on preventing necrotizing enterocolitis in premature babies’. The column is available (with subscription) in the current issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine at http://www.alternative-therapies.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/Content.Main/id/66/TOC. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX D. Sender: Eric Manheimer [emanheimer@compmed.umm.edu] Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field Subject: CAM Field Bursary Scheme (2009) - Call for applications The Cochrane Collaboration Complementary Medicine Field is pleased to announce our 2009 bursary scheme made possible through funds from the US National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The purpose of this bursary scheme is to ensure that reviews relevant to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are completed and published in The Cochrane Library. Funding offered: • 2 review proposals in the amount of $5,000 USD each will be funded. The funding must be paid directly to the individual bursary recipient; it cannot be paid to the recipient’s institution. Eligibility requirements: • Review must be registered with a Cochrane Collaborative Review Group, and the relevant protocol/review must already be published in The Cochrane Library • The topic of the review must relate to CAM (see scope in Call for Applications) • Bursaries will be targeted to reviews for which substantial progress has already been made and whose completion has been stalled due to a lack of funding Timeline: Completed application forms and letters of support should be e-mailed to Eric Manheimer (emanheimer@compmed.umm.edu) by 23 October 2009. Forms and letters sent by postal delivery or fax will not be accepted. Successful candidates will be notified by 13 November 2009. Funds will be distributed to successful applicants in a single installment, after the award notification. Funds must be paid to the individual recipients of the bursary, and not to their institutions. For more information (e.g. the assessment criteria, additional details about eligibility and application procedures), please see the full Call for Applications and Application Form (available at: http://www.compmed.umm.edu/cochrane_bursary.asp). Congratulations to the recipients of the 2008 CAM Field bursary scheme awards: • Anna Lee, for the Cochrane Anaesthesia Group Review ‘Stimulation of the wrist acupuncture point P6 for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting’ • John Deare, for the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group Review ‘Acupuncture for treating fibromyalgia’ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX E. Sender: Emmanuel Effa [emmanueleffa@yahoo.co.uk] Nigeria Branch of South African Cochrane Centre Subject: Reviews for Africa Programme (RAP) Nigeria - Call for applications The Nigeria Effective HealthCare Research Programme (EHCAP), Calabar, Nigeria; Institute of Tropical Disease Research & Prevention, Calabar, Nigeria, South African Cochrane Centre (SACC), Cape Town, South Africa; Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), UK; Cochrane HIV/AIDS Review group and The Nuffield Foundation are collaborating to hold the First Edition of the Reviews for Africa Programme (RAP) in Nigeria. RAP aims to train African health researchers and providers in the science of research synthesis and assist them to initiate and prepare Cochrane Reviews, ultimately for publication in The Cochrane Library. RAP Nigeria will start 19-30 October 2009 and will consist of three phases. Applications are invited from suitably qualified individuals. Deadline for applications is 4 pm, 11 September 2009 and successful applicants will be informed in writing by 30 September 2009. To receive an application form, the full advert/eligibility criteria send an email to: cochranenigeria@yahoo.co.uk and copy emmanueleffa@yahoo.co.uk and dremeka31@yahoo.com. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX F. Sender: Cheryl Arratoon [carratoo@uottawa.ca] Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre Subject: New entity newsletter We invite you to browse through the following new Cochrane entity newsletter: The Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma Group http://www.cochrane.org/newslett/BJMTBulletinAug09.pdf XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX G. Sender: Sue Collins [sc27@york.ac.uk] University of York Subject: Clinical Trials courses Workshop: Introduction to Clinical Trials Courses Date: 24 September - 1 October 2009 Location: University of York Details: The Introduction to Statistics for Clinical Trials - The aims of this course are to give participants a basic understanding of the statistics used in the analysis of clinical trial data and their interpretation. Introduction to the Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials - This course will cover a variety of topics including methods of randomisation, protocol development, different trial designs and the CONSORT statement. Contact: Sue Collins Email: sc27@york.ac.uk Website: http://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/gsp/trials09.pdf XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX H. Sender: Matthew Westmore [m.j.westmore@soton.ac.uk] University of Southampton Subject: Job ad - NETSCC Principal Research Fellow in Health Research Management Position: Principal Research Fellow in Health Research Management Organisation: NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre Location: University of Southampton, UK Details: We wish to recruit a Principal Research Fellow to lead and develop our in-house research activities. The post will provide the successful applicant with excellent opportunities to further their career in the study of evaluation research, to develop a growing team of researchers, and to coordinate the national and international research activities of a key health research commissioner. The University of Southampton is home to (the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre) is part of the University of Southampton (NETSCC) which and was established in April 2008. NETSCC manages 5 evaluation research programmes on behalf of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). More information about the programmes we manage, and NETSCC can be found on our website. http://www.netscc.ac.uk Application deadline: 18 September 2009 at 12:00 midday Please quote reference number Ref 3444-09-M on all correspondence. Contact: Matthew Westmore, m.j.westmore@soton.ac.uk Website: http://www.jobs.soton.ac.uk/soton/jobboard/JobDetails.aspx?__ID=*0DDFBAEF16C9CC9E XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I. Sender: Lisa McGovern [cochrane@uottawa.ca], Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre Subject: Next issue of CCInfo The next issue of CCInfo will be published 3 September 2009. Please submit your items to cochrane@uottawa.ca and include "CCInfo" in the subject line. Unless you request otherwise, your submissions to the CCInfo may be duplicated in other regular Cochrane Collaboration news channels such as Cochrane News and the Cochrane Collaboration web site, at the discretion of the editors. Best regards, Lisa Lisa McGovern Administrative Assistant Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre 1 Stewart St, 2nd Floor Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5 Email: cochrane@uottawa.ca Web: www.ccnc.cochrane.org XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the CCInfo list, please go to http://lists.cochrane.org/mailman/listinfo/ccinfo, or contact the Editor at cochrane@uottawa.ca