CCInfo: Electronic news bulletin of The Cochrane Collaboration 6 August 2009 Contents: A. Steering Group meeting, Singapore - Call for agenda items B. The Bill Silverman Prize – nomination deadline changed C. Cochrane CAM reviews - a new Cochrane column D. Request for participants - risk of bias tool evaluation E. New entity newsletters F. WHO international clinical trials registry platform G. Online training courses H. Job ad: Specialist in Health Research Management I. Next issue of CCInfo XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX A. Sender: Jini Hetherington [JHetherington@cochrane.org] The Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat Subject: Steering Group meeting, Singapore - Call for agenda items The preliminary draft agenda for the next face to face Steering Group meeting, being held in Singapore on 10 and 15 October 2009, will undergo revisions and refinements over the next couple of months. If you have any queries about items that are already on this agenda, or any points you wish to have raised under a particular item, please contact your entity representative(s). Background papers should be with the Secretariat by Tuesday 8 September 2009, please. Late papers will not be accepted, I'm afraid. The recommended format for papers is available at www.cochrane.org/docs/FORMATFORCCSGSUBMISSIONS-Oct06.doc Note that background papers should be in Word format (NOT PDF), please, so that we can add the appropriate headers and footers, etc. All papers should be marked ‘Open Access’, ‘Restricted’, ‘Confidential’, or ‘Commercial-in-Confidence’. The background papers for this meeting will be accessible to Steering Group members within 'Archie' after 18th September. The majority of background papers for these meetings are usually 'Open Access', so your entity representative(s) will be able to provide you with copies for information after that date, upon request. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX B. Sender: Cindy Farquhar [c.farquhar@auckland.ac.nz] Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group Subject: The Bill Silverman Prize – nomination deadline changed We have decided to bring forward the time for final submission date for the Bill Silverman nomination by one month to the 28th August 2009 in order to have sufficient time to process the nominations in time for the Annual Cochrane Colloquia in Singapore. If anyone feels that this is disadvantaging them in anyway please let me know. The works should have been presented by the end of June 2009. Please read the criteria below before submission. This is not just a submission of a Cochrane review. Here is the original Call for Nominations William (Bill) Silverman (1924-2004) was one of the founders of American neonatal medicine. As he reiterated frequently, criticism is a form of trouble making that can help to drive progress. Furthermore, he was clear that criticism should not be limited to examining the work of others, but should also include self-criticism. With the approval of Bill's family, the agreement of the Steering Group and a start-up donation from Iain and Jan Chalmers, the Bill Silverman Prize was established in 2008 in his honour and to continue this tradition. The Prize acknowledges explicitly the value of criticism of The Cochrane Collaboration, with a view to helping to improve its work and achieve its aim of helping people make well-informed decisions about health care. The Prize is a cash award of US$1000 and a certificate. It is awarded annually to the author(s) of a relevant publication or presentation. The criteria for the prize are: 1. The publication or presentation evaluated any aspect of the preparation, maintenance or dissemination of Cochrane reviews or the work of The Cochrane Collaboration more generally. 2. It is of high quality. 3. It was accompanied by constructive suggestions on how the relevant aspects of the work of The Cochrane Collaboration could be improved, 4. It has had, or is likely to have, a positive impact on the scientific quality, relevance and use of Cochrane reviews. 5. It was published or presented before June 30 2009. Nominations can be made by anyone, including the authors of the publication or presentation being nominated. Nominations must be received by the co-chairs of the Prize committee, Cindy Farquhar and Suzanne Hill (c.farquhar@auckland.ac.nz and hills@who.int) by email. The email should have 'Bill Silverman Prize' in the subject heading, and contain the citation for the publication or presentation and a brief explanation of how it meets the criteria for the Prize. The Prize recipient(s) will be the author(s) of the chosen publication or presentation, and will be announced at the Cochrane Colloquium in Singapore in October 2009. Additional information, including details of last year's Prize recipient and the relevant abstract, can be found at http://www.cochrane.org/docs/prizes.htm#BSP 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: Laura Weeks [lweeks@ohri.ca] Cochrane Bias Methods Group Subject: Request for participants - risk of bias tool evaluation The Bias Methods Group 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 12 October 2009 at 17:00 local time. We invite the participation of any Bias Methods Group member 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 E. Sender: Cheryl Arratoon [carratoo@uottawa.ca], Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre Subject: New entity newsletters We invite you to browse through the following new Cochrane entity newsletters: Neurological Network www.cochrane.org/newslett/NeurologicalNetworkJuly2009.pdf and Orange pages www.cochrane.org/newslett/NeurologicalNetworkOrangePagesJuly2009.doc and Green pages www.cochrane.org/newslett/NeurologicalNetworkGreenPagesJuly2009.doc Nigeria Branch of the South African Cochrane Centre www.cochrane.org/newslett/CochraneNigeriaInfoSheetJuly2009.pdf XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX F. Sender: Davina Ghersi [ghersid@who.int], WHO Subject: WHO International clinical trials registry platform Most of the web site of the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) is now available in all of the organization's official languages (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic). Go to www.who.int/ictrp and click your language of choice. The site provides information on: - what is trial registration and why is it important - how to register a clinical trial - The Registry Network and the ICTRP Search Portal - the trial registration data set XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX G. Sender: Philip Rose [P.Rose@ioe.ac.uk], University of London Subject: Online training courses Event: Launch of two fully online courses i) Evidence for policy, practice and personal decisions; and ii) Methods for research synthesis Date: 7 September 2009, 8 February 2010 and 17 May 2010. Host: EPPI-Centre Location: Online Details: The first of these courses will enable you to involve policy makers, practitioners and service users in doing and using research. You will critically engage with the latest theories and debates about the relevance and application of research findings for policy, practice and personal decisions. The second course will equip you with the skills to undertake a qualitative or quantitative synthesis in a systematic review. These online versions enable you to choose where and when you study, whilst still receiving online tuition from experienced researchers at the EPPI-Centre in London. Contact: Kim Reynolds, Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 6280, Email: k.reynolds@ioe.ac.uk Website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=704&language=en-US XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX H. Sender: Luis Gabriel Cuervo [cuervolu@paho.org], PAHO Subject: Job ad – Specialist in Health Research Management Position: Specialist in Health Research Management The incumbent will be, among other things, the liaison officer for EVIPNet Americas, a flagship knowledge translation initiative of WHO/PAHO working under the supervision of the Senior Advisor for Research Promotion & Development (Luis Gabriel Cuervo). Organisation: WHO/PAHO Location: Washington DC Application deadline: 29 August 2009 (apply early if you are not acquainted with the system) Website: https://erecruit.who.int/public/hrd-cl-vac-view.asp?o_c= 1000&jobinfo_uid_c=21865&vaclng=en 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 20 August 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