United States internet searches for "infertility" following COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

CONTEXT: On December 1, 2020, Drs. Wolfgang Wodarg and Micheal Yeadon petitioned to withhold emergency use authorization of the BNT162b2 messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) manufactured by BioNTech and Pfizer, raising concern for female infertility risks but acknowledging the lack of evidence. The European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration ultimately issued emergency use authorizations, but misinformation claiming that COVID-19 vaccines cause female infertility began circulating on social media, potentially influencing public perception and medical decision making among pregnant patients or those seeking to become pregnant. OBJECTIVES: To determine the potential influence misinformation may have had on public interest in infertility related topics, as analyzed through internet search statistics in the US. METHODS: The Google Trends tool was used to analyze results for the search terms "infertility," "infertility AND vaccine," and "infertility AND COVID vaccine" in the US from February 4, 2020 to February 3, 2021. We applied autoregressive integrated moving average models to forecast expected values, comparing them with actual observed values. RESULTS: At peak interest (100), the forecasted relative search volumes interest for the search terms "infertility," "infertility AND vaccine," and "infertility AND COVID vaccine" were 45.47 (95% CI, 33.27-57.66; p<0.001), 0.88 (95% CI, 2.87-4.63; p<0.001), and 0.29 (95% CI, -2.25-2.82; p<0.001). The actual relative search volumes at peak searching represented 119.9, 11,251, and 34,900% increases, respectively, when compared with forecasted values. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 vaccine misinformation corresponded with increased internet searches for topics related to infertility in the US. Dispelling misinformation and informing patients about the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination may prevent unnecessary vaccine hesitancy or refusal, contributing to successful vaccination efforts.

Evaluation of spin in the abstracts of systematic reviews and meta-analyses covering surgical management, or quality of life after surgical management, of osteoarthritis of the knee.

Objective: Our primary objective was to identify the prevalence of spin - misleading reporting practices that overemphasize benefit or underemphasize harm - within the abstracts of systematic reviews and meta-analyses focused on surgical management of osteoarthritis of the knee. Methods: A search string was developed to search Ovid MEDLINE and Ovid Embase for articles pertaining to surgical management, or quality of life after surgical management, of osteoarthritis of the knee. Titles and abstracts were screened according to our protocol, developed a priori, followed by full-text evaluation for spin in included articles. Study characteristics were simultaneously extracted with spin data and each included study received an AMSTAR-2 quality appraisal. All procedures were performed by two examiners in a masked, duplicate fashion. Results: Of the 1419 articles returned, 96 systematic reviews qualified for inclusion. 35.4% of the included abstracts (34/96) contained at least one type of spin with a total of 36 occurrences (two abstracts contained two types of spin). Selective reporting favoring benefit (type 3; 15/36, 41.7%) was the most prevalent followed by selective reporting of harms (type 6; 7/36, 19.4%). None of the abstracts contained spin types 2, 4, or 8. We found no significant association between spin and either AMSTAR-2 rating or extracted study characteristics. Conclusion: Of the included systematic reviews and meta-analyses, 35.4% contained spin in their abstract. To improve the reliability of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, researchers should act to minimize spin in future abstracts.

Quantification of mechanical stabilization for the performance of off-pump coronary artery surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Our objective was to analyze the motion of a coronary artery in 3-dimensional (3-D) space and to quantify the stabilization afforded by a mechanical arm using 3-D digital sonomicrometry. METHODS: The left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was exposed in swine (n = 7) via sternotomy. A 2-mm sonomicrometry crystal was sutured to the LAD, and an acrylic (Plexiglas) ring with 3 2-mm crystals fixed in an equilateral triangle was placed in the oblique pericardial sinus. Sonomicrometry measurements were obtained before and 10 minutes after placement of a stabilizing arm. Traces were analyzed for motion and velocity on a beat-to-beat basis in the x, y, and z planes by means of triangulation theory. Excursion was defined as the average maximum observed distance between LAD Cartesian positions p(k) = [px(k),py(k),pz(k)] over a beat such that the Excursion = max(j,k in beat) sqrt ([px(j) - px(k)]2 + [py(j) - py(k)]2 + [pz(j) - pz(k)]2). The maximum and the average of the Cartesian velocity magnitude, v = sqrt[vx(2) + vy(2) + vz(2)], were also calculated. RESULTS: Analysis of the LAD motion in planar space demonstrated a biphasic pattern in all 3 planes that appeared to be stable through the duration of the data acquisition period. The stabilizer dampened the motion of the LAD to a monophasic pattern and reduced the total distance traveled by the LAD crystal in all 3 planes. Stabilization resulted in a significant reduction of excursion, the maximum Cartesian velocity, and the average Cartesian velocity of the LAD. CONCLUSIONS: This method allows the precise quantification of LAD artery motion in 3-D space before and after the application of a stabilizing arm. We have demonstrated a significant reduction in the complexity of motion, the degree of motion in planar space, and the velocity of the LAD after application of a stabilizer.