What makes an article a must read in medical education?

BACKGROUND: The dissemination of published scholarship is intended to bring new evidence and ideas to a wide audience. However, the increasing number of articles makes it challenging to determine where to focus one's attention. This study describes factors that may influence decisions to read and recommend a medical education article. METHODS: Authors analyzed data collected from March 2021 through September 2022 during a monthly process to identify "Must Read" articles in medical education. An international team of health sciences educators, learners, and researchers voted on titles and abstracts to advance articles to full text review. Full texts were rated using five criteria: relevance, methodology, readability, originality, and whether it addressed a critical issue in medical education. At an end-of-month meeting, 3-4 articles were chosen by consensus as "Must Read" articles. Analyses were used to explore the associations of article characteristics and ratings with Must Read selection. RESULTS: Over a period of 19 months, 7487 articles from 856 journals were screened, 207 (2.8%) full texts were evaluated, and 62 (0.8%) were chosen as Must Reads. During screening, 3976 articles (53.1%) received no votes. BMC Medical Education had the largest number of articles at screening (n = 1181, 15.8%). Academic Medicine had the largest number as Must Reads (n = 22, 35.5%). In logistic regressions adjusting for the effect of individual reviewers, all rating criteria were independently associated with selection as a Must Read (p < 0.05), with methodology (OR 1.44 (95%CI = 1.23-1.69) and relevance (OR 1.43 (95%CI = 1.20-1.70)) having the highest odds ratios. CONCLUSIONS: Over half of the published medical education articles did not appeal to a diverse group of potential readers; this represents a missed opportunity to make an impact and potentially wasted effort. Our findings suggest opportunities to enhance value in the production and dissemination of medical education scholarship.

Obesity, weight loss and gynecologic neoplasms: a narrative review.

Obesity is a chronic metabolic condition affecting up to 40% of the adult population. Gynecologic neoplasms, such as those involving the breasts, uteri, and ovaries, are all associated with obesity, but data on whether weight loss could reduce cancer incidence, recurrence or mortality are still scarce. This article focuses on review the association between obesity and gynecologic cancer incidence and prognosis.

Hospital management of hyperglycemia in the context of COVID-19: evidence-based clinical considerations.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented crisis, and early on, it has been shown that diabetes is an important risk factor for complications and mortality in infected patients, as demonstrated by several studies. Moreover, hyperglycemia, regardless of whether patients have diabetes, is associated with poorer outcomes, which suggests that adequate monitoring and treatment of elevated glycemia in the hospital setting can improve patient outcomes. In patients with COVID-19, glycemic control may be impaired as a consequence of the infection itself (aggravating pre-existing diabetes and potentially precipitating new-onset diabetes), inflammation, or corticosteroid use-a well-established therapy to reduce COVID-19 complications, especially in the intensive care unit. This article reviews the link between diabetes and hyperglycemia, and COVID-19, with a brief review of potential mechanisms, along with emerging evidence on the effect of glycemic control on COVID-19 outcomes, especially in hospital settings.

Wikipedia in Health Professional Schools: from an Opponent to an Ally.

As an online encyclopedia, Wikipedia is the world's largest reference Web site, with 1.7 billion visits per month. Given how easy it is to access and read, students use Wikipedia globally, despite most faculty members' admonitions. Since 2013, health professional schools worldwide have incorporated Wiki-editing into their formal curricula. These courses impact students by (1) strengthening their ability to evaluate evidence-based content and (2) multiplying their contributions to society through improvements to Wikipedia articles accessed by millions. We showcase several models of incorporating Wikipedia-editing assignments into health professions education worldwide. These successful initiatives can be replicated everywhere.

Intermittent fasting for obesity and related disorders: unveiling myths, facts, and presumptions

ABSTRACT Intermittent fasting (IF) is an increasingly popular method of weight loss, as an alternative to daily caloric restriction (DCR). Several forms of IF exist, such as alternate-day fasting or time-restricted feeding regimens. Some of its proponents claim several health benefits unrelated to caloric restriction or weight loss, which rely mainly on animal models. Although several studies published in the last few years confirm that IF can be a useful and safe therapeutical option for obesity and related disorders, no superiority to conventional caloric restriction diets have emerged. There are still several questions left answered. In this Review, we discuss some of the claims, unveiling myths, facts, and presumptions about several models of IF. The focus of this article is obesity, but there is a brief discussion of the potential benefits of IF on overall human health.

Intermittent fasting for obesity and related disorders: unveiling myths, facts, and presumptions.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an increasingly popular method of weight loss, as an alternative to daily caloric restriction (DCR). Several forms of IF exist, such as alternate-day fasting or time-restricted feeding regimens. Some of its proponents claim several health benefits unrelated to caloric restriction or weight loss, which rely mainly on animal models. Although several studies published in the last few years confirm that IF can be a useful and safe therapeutical option for obesity and related disorders, no superiority to conventional caloric restriction diets have emerged. There are still several questions left answered. In this Review, we discuss some of the claims, unveiling myths, facts, and presumptions about several models of IF. The focus of this article is obesity, but there is a brief discussion of the potential benefits of IF on overall human health.

External validity of type 2 diabetes clinical trials on cardiovascular outcomes for a multimorbid population.

AIM: To investigate the external validity of recent antihyperglycaemic trials evaluating cardiovascular outcomes in a multimorbid population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Selection criteria of 15 randomized controlled trials from the 2020 American Diabetes Association Standard of Care statement were applied in a stepwise manner to tertiary care patients with type 2 diabetes. Primary outcomes were the number of patients eligible per individual trial and for the aggregate of trials. Secondary outcomes included patient predictors of trial eligibility. RESULTS: Of 1059 patients, the mean (SD) age was 66 (10.74) years, the median (IQR) Charlson index was 2 (2, 3) and 458 (43%) had documented cardiovascular disease. The median (IQR) number of patients included in individual trials was 263 (174.25-308.75) and 795 (75.1%) of them were eligible for at least one trial. Among those 264 ineligible, 127 (48.1%) had an HbA1c level of 7% or less and no cardiovascular disease; 53.5% and 34.4% of the patients were eligible for two and three different classes of drugs, respectively. The strongest predictor of trial eligibility was cardiovascular disease (risk ratio 2.17, 95% CI 2.01-2.35). CONCLUSIONS: A considerable proportion of multimorbid patients would be eligible for recent antihyperglycaemic trials. This positive finding can be attributed to development guidance in diabetes trials and the different approach we took, in which we evaluated inclusion by trials as an aggregate.