bims-librar Biomed News
on Biomedical librarianship
Issue of 2018‒11‒25
eighteen papers selected by
Thomas Krichel
Open Library Society


  1. Disabil Health J. 2018 Nov 15. pii: S1936-6574(18)30241-3. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND: The varied use of the term "disability" in the scientific literature makes it challenging to conduct systematic reviews of health issues among people with disability. Utilizing general disability search terms has been suggested as an efficient way to ensure a broad capture of the literature related to disability.OBJECTIVES: This study evaluates the utility of general disability terms versus condition-specific terms, in the context of systematically searching for articles related to disability and other conditions or issues, in this case, opioid use.
    METHODS: Systematic searches were conducted using three databases. An initial search of articles mentioning opioids and disability was conducted employing the general search terms recommended by Walsh et al.1 The results were then compared to 16 condition-specific searches. The proportion of unique articles from each condition-specific search that overlapped with the general search was assessed.
    RESULTS: There was very little overlap between the articles captured using condition-specific search terms and the articles captured utilizing the general search terms. The highest amount of overlap was for spinal muscular atrophy at 33.3%, with the overall median proportion of overlap being 13.4% (mean = 15.7%; SD = 11.7%).
    CONCLUSIONS: With a systematic search for articles about disability associated with opioid use as an example, condition-specific search terms capture a large proportion of articles not identified using general disability search terms. Disability researchers should be aware of pitfalls using general terminology and the importance of using disability-specific search terms.
    Keywords:  Disability; Literature search; Opioid
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2018.11.009
  2. J Pediatr Urol. 2018 Sep 06. pii: S1477-5131(18)30498-4. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND: Hypospadias is one of the most common genital anomalies. Treatment of hypospadias requires surgical repair, usually in childhood. Patients are increasingly using the internet to learn more about their health or that of their children, which can often empower patients to make well-informed healthcare decisions.OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate not only the readability but also the quality and accuracy of available online health information for the treatment of hypospadias.
    STUDY DESIGN: Search terms for hypospadias treatment were queried on major search engines. Each website was classified into one of four categories: institutional, commercial, charitable organization, or personal website. Content on each website discussing treatment options was analyzed for readability using three readability formulas. A validated tool, the DISCERN instrument, was used to measure the quality of online health information regarding hypospadias treatment. Accuracy was independently assessed by two pediatric urologists on a 1-5 scale, in which 1 and 5 correspond to 0% and 100% of the information in the text being accurate, respectively.
    RESULTS: A total of 150 search engine results were acquired, of which 46 were analyzed for readability, quality, and accuracy. The mean readability scores across all websites were 14.89 (Gunning-Fog), 11.01 Simple Measure of Goddledygook (SMOG), and 8.44 (Dale-Chall), which correspond to an 11th- to 12th-grade reading level. Most websites (65.2%) were considered of 'good' quality. Readability and quality scores were not statistically different between website categories. Institutional and charitable websites had the highest mean accuracy scores (3.91 and 3.50, respectively), with institutional websites proving to have significantly more accurate information regarding hypospadias treatment than commercial websites (3.91 and 3.42, respectively; P = 0.001).
    DISCUSSION: Pediatric urologists should know what information about hypospadias and its treatment exists on the Internet and understand if it is accurate and of good quality and, more importantly, if the material is written at a reading level comprehensible by the majority of parents. Limitations included analysis of only English-written websites regarding hypospadias treatment specifically, using search engines alone rather than other online resources, not evaluating online videos or illustrations, and not using more than two pediatric urologists for determining content accuracy.
    CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that online health materials regarding hypospadias and its treatment are written at a level far greater than the reading level of most adults. Most websites were considered of adequate quality, and websites from institutions or references had significantly more accurate information than those from commercial websites.
    Keywords:  Accuracy; Hypospadias; Hypospadias treatment; Online health information; Quality; Readability
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2018.08.020
  3. BMC Med Educ. 2018 Nov 20. 18(1): 265
      BACKGROUND: Pharmacy training programs commonly ask students to develop or edit drug monographs that summarize key information about new medicines as an academic exercise. We sought to expand on this traditional approach by having students improve actual medicines information pages posted on Wikipedia.METHODS: We placed students (n = 119) in a required core pharmacy course into groups of four and assigned each group a specific medicines page on Wikipedia to edit. Assigned pages had high hit rates, suggesting that the topics were of interest to the wider public, but were of low quality, suggesting that the topics would benefit from improvement efforts. We provided course trainings about editing Wikipedia. We evaluated the assignment by surveying student knowledge and attitudes and reviewing the edits on Wikipedia.
    RESULTS: Completing the course trainings increased student knowledge of Wikipedia editing practices. At the end of the assignment, students had a more nuanced understanding of Wikipedia as a resource. Student edits improved substantially the quality of the articles edited, their edits were retained for at least 30 days after course completion, and the average number page views of their edited articles increased.
    CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that engaging pharmacy students in a Wikipedia editing assignment is a feasible alternative to writing drug monographs as a classroom assignment. Both tasks provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their skills at researching and explaining drug information but only one serves to improve wider access to quality medicines information. Wikipedia editing assignments are feasible for large groups of pharmacy students and effective in improving publicly available information on one of the most heavily accessed websites globally.
    Keywords:  Curriculum; Pharmacy; Students, pharmacy; Wikipedia
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1375-z
  4. F1000Res. 2018 ;7 1185
      Many scientific congresses and conferences are held every year around the world. The aim of the World Society of Emergency Surgeons.it (WSES) and Academy of Emergency Medicine and Care (AcEMC) was to develop a simple mathematical parameter as an indicator of academic quality and scientific validity of a congress. In this opinion article, a new metric, the Congress Impact Factor (IFc), is proposed taking into consideration the widely used Impact Factor as an indicator of journals' prestige and using H-index analysis. The IFc is derived from the mathematical ratio between the mean H-index of invited lecturers normalized for lecture topic and number of lectures in the conference. In case of multiple sessions, the mean of all IFc is calculated along with its standard deviation.  We conclude that the IFc can be a useful measure for evaluating and comparing congress prestige, and may also represent a potentially useful parameter for improving academic curriculum and helping participants to choose the more prestigious meetings for their education.
    Keywords:  Academic Curriculum; Congress Impact Factor; Educational Program; HIndex; Scientific Quality
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.15429.1
  5. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2018 Nov 10. pii: S1353-8020(18)30495-4. [Epub ahead of print]
      This study charts the evolution of the scientific literature on Parkinson's disease (PD) from 1983 to 2017 to inform communities of scientists, physicians, patients, caregivers and politicians concerned with PD. Articles published in journals indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded database of the Web of Science were retrieved and analyzed in seven five-year periods: 1983-1987, 1988-1992, 1993-1997, 1998-2002, 2003-2007, 2008-2012 and 2013-2017. Over 35 years the number of research papers on PD increased 33-fold: 885 papers in 1983-1987 to 29,972 in 2013-2017. At the same time the number of countries contributing to PD research increased from 37 to 131. The USA was the most prolific country throughout, followed by several European (UK, Germany, Italy and France) and English-speaking (Canada and Australia) countries. By 2003, several Asian countries (China, South Korea, India and Turkey) emerged with rapid increases in publications related to PD. By 2013-2017, China surpassed all but the USA to rank 2nd globally in productivity. Despite an increase from 4 to 22 African countries publishing PD research from 1983 to 2017, most were either unproductive or contributed ≤5 papers in each five-year period. There has also been a 12-fold increase in the number of journals (232-2824) containing papers on PD. In 2013-2017 three PD-focused journals (Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, Movement Disorders and Journal of Parkinson's Disease) contained 6.8% of all PD papers while a large majority (82.5%) of journals published ≤ 10 papers. This quantitative study complements the numerous extant qualitative reviews to provide a global perspective on PD research.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Country productivity; Journal analysis; Parkinson's disease; Publication growth
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2018.11.011
  6. Prof Inferm. 2018 Jul-Sep;71(3):71(3): 173-177
      INTRODUCTION: The nature of nursing has prompted researchers nurses to use a large number of qualitative methodology research. The trend showed a substantial increase in its production between 1997 and 2000 to settle back down in the following years although until recently the qualitative methodology was considered a non-scientific research. The growing number of publications with qualitative design is paid concern to verify the rigor and credibility of studies using this method. The use of the quality assessment tools showed that the methodological precision of studies with a qualitative design has grown over time.AIM: Assessing, using the tool Critical Appraisal Skills Programme, the quality of qualitative studies published in the last five years by international nursing journals with higher impact factor.
    METHOD: We will search the qualitative articles published on the ten most influential nursing journals that will be submitted by two independent researchers at the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool in its original version.
    EXPECTED RESULTS: The results make it possible to observe whether the qualitative research produced in the field of nursing uses a rigorous methodology in the drafting of the report, assuming that the quality has grown in the past five years than in previous years.
    CONCLUSION: The study will help researchers assess which level reached nurses in the development of qualitative research.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7429/pi.2018.713173
  7. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2018 Oct 25. 6(10): 1878-1881
      AIM: This study aimed at assessing the trends of publications of Indian Endodontists in the field of rotary Endodontics in the PubMed database from 2000-2017.METHODS: The date of publication was set from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2017, wherein keywords entered in the advanced search were "Indian" AND "Dental" AND "Rotary Endodontics". From the collected articles the following criteria were noted: year of publication, the name of the journal, status of the journal, name of the first author, state of origin and the rotary Endodontic file system used.
    RESULTS: All data was subjected for statistical analysis by SPSS software version 16. The data were subjected to chi-square test, and a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) was obtained in the inter-6 yearly interval starting from 2000-2017; in the status of the journal; the state of origin and in the generation of rotary files which were published during the study period.
    CONCLUSION: The plethora of publications by Indian Conservative Dentists and Endodontists is on the rise, and with the advent of better technology a greater interest in the mechanics and properties of these rotary file systems has invoked greater research work.
    Keywords:  Endodontists publications; Indian-authors; PubMed; Rotary Endodontics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2018.402
  8. Front Psychol. 2018 ;9 2134
      The scientific study of consciousness emerged as an organized field of research only a few decades ago. As empirical results have begun to enhance our understanding of consciousness, it is important to find out whether other factors, such as funding for consciousness research and status of consciousness scientists, provide a suitable environment for the field to grow and develop sustainably. We conducted an online survey on people's views regarding various aspects of the scientific study of consciousness as a field of research. 249 participants completed the survey, among which 80% were in academia, and around 40% were experts in consciousness research. Topics covered include the progress made by the field, funding for consciousness research, job opportunities for consciousness researchers, and the scientific rigor of the work done by researchers in the field. The majority of respondents (78%) indicated that scientific research on consciousness has been making progress. However, most participants perceived obtaining funding and getting a job in the field of consciousness research as more difficult than in other subfields of neuroscience. Overall, work done in consciousness research was perceived to be less rigorous than other neuroscience subfields, but this perceived lack of rigor was not related to the perceived difficulty in finding jobs and obtaining funding. Lastly, we found that, overall, the global workspace theory was perceived to be the most promising (around 28%), while most non-expert researchers (around 22% of non-experts) found the integrated information theory (IIT) most promising. We believe the survey results provide an interesting picture of current opinions from scientists and researchers about the progresses made and the challenges faced by consciousness research as an independent field. They will inspire collective reflection on the future directions regarding funding and job opportunities for the field.
    Keywords:  consciousness; consciousness research; consciousness science; meta-science; survey
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02134
  9. Patient Educ Couns. 2018 Nov 06. pii: S0738-3991(18)30970-4. [Epub ahead of print]
      OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesized paths for Online Health Information Seeking (OHIS) behaviors in developing health literacy, leading to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among Korean Americans (KAs) using Health Literacy Skills Frameworks (HLSF) and Cognitive Mediation Model (CMM).METHODS: A total of 433 KAs aged 50 through 75 in a metropolitan area in the Southeastern U.S. completed a cross-sectional survey regarding sociodemographics, OHIS behaviors, information overload, health literacy, decisional balance, and CRC screening history. Path analyses were implemented to assess the hypothesized causal models by examining the relationships among these variables.
    RESULTS: OHIS was positively associated with information overload and health literacy; information overload was negatively associated with health literacy. Health literacy was positively associated with decisional balance; decisional balance was positively associated with uptake of sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy.
    CONCLUSION: The findings supported both theoretical frameworks, HLSF and CMM, for OHIS to develop health literacy, leading to CRC screening. These findings highlight the significant roles of information overload and attitudes and beliefs about screening in enhancing health literacy and CRC screening among KAs.
    PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Practice efforts for facilitating CRC screening among medically underserved older KAs should target improving access to and use of OHIS and culturally-tailored health information delivery.
    Keywords:  Cognitive mediation model; Colorectal cancer screening; Health literacy; Health literacy skills frame; Online health information seeking; Path analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2018.11.002
  10. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2018 Nov 16. pii: S0002-9378(18)32116-1. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND: The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AJOG) has had a profound influence in nearly 150 years of publishing. A bibliometric analysis, which uses citation analysis to evaluate the impact of articles, can be used to identify the most impactful papers in AJOG's history.OBJECTIVE: The objective was to identify and characterize the top-cited articles published in AJOG since 1920.
    STUDY DESIGN: We used the Web of Science and Scopus databases to identify the most frequently cited AJOG articles from 1920-2018. The top 100 articles from each database were included in our analysis. Articles were evaluated for several characteristics including year of publication, article type, topic, open access, and country of origin. Using the Scopus data, we performed an unadjusted categorical analysis to characterize the articles and a two time point analysis to compare articles before and after 1995, the median year of publication from each database list.
    RESULTS: The top 100 articles from each database were included in the analysis. This includes 120 total articles; 80 articles listed in both and 20 unique in each database. Over half (52%) were observational studies, 9% were RCTs, and 75% were from US authors. When the post-1995 studies were compared to the articles published before 1995, articles were more frequently cited (median 27 versus 13 citations per year, P <0.001), more likely to be randomized (14.0% versus 4.8%, P=0.009) and more likely to originate from international authors (33.3% versus 17.5%, P=0.045).
    CONCLUSIONS: Slightly more than half of the top-cited papers in AJOG since 1920 were observational studies and three-quarters of all papers were from US authors. Compared to top-cited papers before 1995, the Journal's top-cited papers after 1995 were more likely to be randomized and to originate from international authors.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; case report; citation analysis; citation classic; observational study; obstetrics and gynecology; randomized controlled trial; top-cited
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2018.11.1091
  11. Syst Rev. 2018 Nov 20. 7(1): 200
      BACKGROUND: Researchers performing systematic reviews (SRs) must carefully consider the relevance of thousands of citations retrieved from bibliographic database searches, the majority of which will be excluded later on close inspection. Well-developed bibliographic searches are generally created with thesaurus or index terms in combination with keywords found in the title and/or abstract fields of citation records. Records in the bibliographic database Embase contain many more thesaurus terms than MEDLINE. Here, we aim to examine how limiting searches to major thesaurus terms (in MEDLINE called focus terms) in Embase and MEDLINE as well as limiting to words in the title and abstract fields of those databases affects the overall recall of SR searches.METHODS: To examine the impact of using search techniques aimed at higher precision, we analyzed previously completed SRs and focused our original searches to major thesaurus terms or terms in title and/or abstract only in Embase.com or in Embase.com and MEDLINE (Ovid) combined. We examined the total number of search results in both Embase and MEDLINE and checked whether included references were retrieved by these more focused approaches.
    RESULTS: For 73 SRs, we limited Embase searches to major terms only while keeping the search in MEDLINE and other databases such as Web of Science as they were. The overall search yield (or total number of search results) was reduced by 8%. Six reviews (9%) lost more than 5% of the relevant references. Limiting Embase and MEDLINE to major thesaurus terms, the number of references was 13% lower. For 15% of the reviews, the loss of relevant references was more than 5%. Searching Embase for title and abstract caused a loss of more than 5% in 16 reviews (22%), while limiting Embase and MEDLINE that way this happened in 24 reviews (33%).
    CONCLUSIONS: Of the four search options, two options substantially reduced the overall search yield. However, this also resulted in a greater chance of losing relevant references, even though many references were still found in other databases such as Web of Science.
    Keywords:  Bibliographic; Databases; Information storage and retrieval; Review literature as topic; Sensitivity and specificity
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-018-0864-9
  12. J Biomed Inform. 2018 Nov 20. pii: S1532-0464(18)30219-3. [Epub ahead of print]
      OBJECTIVES: Finding recent clinical studies that warrant changes in clinical practice ("high impact" clinical studies) in a timely manner is very challenging. We investigated a machine learning approach to find recent studies with high clinical impact to support clinical decision making and literature surveillance.METHODS: To identify recent studies, we developed our classification model using time-agnostic features that are available as soon as an article is indexed in PubMed®, such as journal impact factor, author count, and study sample size. Using a gold standard of 541 high impact treatment studies referenced in 11 disease management guidelines, we tested the following null hypotheses: 1) the high impact classifier with time-agnostic features (HI-TA) performs equivalently to PubMed's Best Match sort and a MeSH-based Naïve Bayes classifier; and 2) HI-TA performs equivalently to the high impact classifier with both time-agnostic and time-sensitive features (HI-TS) enabled in a previous study. The primary outcome for both hypotheses was mean top 20 precision.
    RESULTS: The differences in mean top 20 precision between HI-TA and three baselines (PubMed's Best Match, a MeSH-based Naïve Bayes classifier, and HI-TS) were not statistically significant (12% vs. 3%, p=0.101; 12% vs. 11%, p=0.720; 12% vs. 25%, p=0.094, respectively). Recall of HI-TA was low (7%).
    CONCLUSION: HI-TA had equivalent performance to state-of-the-art approaches that depend on time-sensitive features. With the advantage of relying only on time-agnostic features, the proposed approach can be used as an adjunct to help clinicians identify recent high impact clinical studies to support clinical decision-making. However, low recall limits the use of HI-TA for literature surveillance.
    Keywords:  Clinical decision support; concept drift; evidence-based medicine; literature database; machine learning; patient care
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2018.11.010
  13. Equine Vet J. 2018 Nov 17.
      BACKGROUND: Veterinarians often provide supplemental healthcare information to horse owners via newsletters and website articles. However, articles written above the reading level of the intended audience contributes to misunderstanding. To ensure that the text in equine healthcare articles and brochures is consistent with the literacy of clients, veterinarians can adopt guidelines set forth by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Medical Association (AMA) for a target 6th grade readability level.OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to evaluate the readability levels of a sample of American Association of Equine Practitioners' (AAEP) Newsletter and Website Articles prepared expressly for veterinarians to download and share with their clients. Examples from these handouts are used to illustrate principles and techniques veterinary professionals can use to align their writing with the literacy of their intended audience.
    STUDY DESIGN: Software-based readability analysis of 17 AAEP Newsletter and Website Articles.
    METHODS: A free online readability calculator was used to generate a consensus grade level readability score for 17 downloadable AAEP Veterinary Newsletter and Website Articles.
    RESULTS: Sixteen of 17 articles were written above the recommended 6th grade reading level.
    MAIN LIMITATIONS: We propose that a 6th grade readability level, as set forth by the AMA, is a reasonable target for the diverse population that makes up veterinary clients; however, there is currently no research that establishes this target for veterinary clients and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has yet to issue a consensus statement on the subject.
    CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of the issue of client literacy and use of tools such as readability analysis software can help veterinarians provide clients with "easy to read" written materials that deliver a message that clients can comprehend, thus improving their health literacy and empowering them as partners in the veterinary-client relationship. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
    Keywords:  client education; horse; horse owner; literacy; medical writing; readability
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.13042
  14. Int J Prev Med. 2018 ;9 91
      Background: Health literacy has been considered as a predictor of starting, maintaining, and stop smoking. However, such relations have not been well documented in previous texts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between health literacy and changes in the behavior of smoking in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.Methods: In this correlational descriptive study, a total of 297 employees of Tabriz health centers were examined. To collect data, a demographic-social questionnaire, Iranian Health Literacy Questionnaire, and DiClemente's behavior change questionnaire were used. Besides, SPSS 13 software (significance level = 0.05) was employed to analyze the data.
    Results: The average health literacy rate of participants was 70, and most respondents had adequate health literacy. Nearly 41.1% were in the precontemplation phase which is one of the stages of behavior change. There was a positive and significant statistical relation between behavior change variable with all health literacy areas (except the scope of understanding) and total health literacy score (P = 0.011 and r = 0.147). The results of ordinal regression analysis demonstrated that there is a significant positive relationship between the score of health literacy and behavioral change (b = 0.019, 95% confidence interval = (0.010-0.029), P < 0.001).
    Conclusions: Improving the level of health literacy can lead to change people's behavior in relation to tobacco consumption. However, due to the lack of relevant texts, there is a need for further studies in this field.
    Keywords:  Health literacy; smoking; stages of change; transtheoretical model
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_259_17
  15. Sleep Sci. 2018 May-Jun;11(3):11(3): 183-210
      Introduction: Previous diagnosis and intervention in patients with sleep-disordered breathing involves several health professionals. Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) performance has been solidified through scientific production.Objective: To describe the inclusion of Brazilian Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) in the field of sleep disorders, through the description of studies, scientific publications and participation in scientific events.
    Data Synthesis: A search and an analysis of the Brazilian SLP publications in the field of sleep disorders were carried out, including articles, monographs, dissertations, thesis and abstracts published in annals of events. The databases Lilacs, SciELO, Pubmed, Google Scholar tool and Lattes platform were accessed, with final search in January 2018. The analysis consisted of a description of the year of publication, type of publication, area of the SLHS, place of publication and/or event. 40 articles were found in national and international journals, from 1999 to 2017. In relation to publications in books, one book about the subject was published in 2009 and eight chapters of books were published. In the monograph format, 21 studies were carried out, there are 13 dissertations and eight thesis. A total of 151 abstracts were published in annals of scientific events, from 2001 to 2017 and 63 lectures were conducted by SLP.
    Conclusion: The inclusion of Brazilian SLP in the area of sleep disorders has been supported by scientific publications in the format of articles in national and international journals, monographs, thesis, dissertations, books and publications in event annals.
    Keywords:  Hearing; Language; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive; Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic; Speech
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5935/1984-0063.20180033
  16. J Food Sci. 2018 Nov 19.
      The aim of the present research was to ascertain the importance of electronic bibliographic database selection and multiple database usage during the information retrieval phase of research in the food sciences. Six commonly recommended databases were compared with respect to overall journal coverage and journal overlap. Databases were also evaluated with respect to coverage of food science-based journals and the extent of article coverage therein. A case study approach, focused on bile acid/dietary fiber interactions, was used to illustrate the ramifications of database selection/usage when dealing with specific research topics. Databases differed with respect to the breadth of disciplines covered, the total number of journals indexed, the number of food science discipline-specific journals indexed, and the number of articles included per indexed journal. All of the databases contained citations that were unique to the given database. The data resulting from the case study provide an example of the extent to which relevant information may be missed if pertinent databases are not mined. In the present case, over half of the articles retrieved on the focus research topic were unique to a single database. The combined data from this study point to the importance of thoughtful database selection and multiple database usage when comprehensively assessing knowledge in the food sciences. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This paper provides insights into article database usage for food science-relevant information retrieval. Online information retrieval is an efficient way to assess current knowledge in any of the food science disciplines. Acquired knowledge in turn is the underpinning of effective problem solving; whether it be private sector- or academic/government-based research.
    Keywords:  databases; dietary fiber; food sciences; information retrieval; research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.14388
  17. J Am Acad Audiol. 2017 Dec 21.
      BACKGROUND: Because of the wealth of information available on the internet and increasing numbers of individuals relying on websites as a primary source of information for health-related questions, it is important that the readability of their content is within the comprehension level of most readers.OBJECTIVE: The study evaluated the quality and readability of English-language Internet information for tinnitus.
    RESEARCH DESIGN: Analysis of Internet websites on tinnitus.
    STUDY SAMPLE: A total of 134 websites with tinnitus information.
    DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Three key words (i.e., tinnitus, ringing in the ear, and buzzing in the ear) were entered in five country-specific versions of the most commonly used internet search engine in August 2016. For each of the 15 searches, the first 20 relevant websites were examined. After removing duplicates, a total of 134 websites were assessed. Their origin (commercial, nonprofit organization, government, personal, or university), quality (Health On the Net [HON] certification and DISCERN scores), and readability (Flesch Reading Ease score, Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level Formula, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) were assessed.
    RESULTS: Most websites were of commercial (49.3%) or nonprofit organization (38.8%) origin. Their quality and readability was highly variable. Only 13.5% of websites had HON certification. χ² analysis showed that there was significant association between website origin and HON certification [χ²(4) = 132.9, p < 0.0001]. The mean DISCERN scores were 2.39. No association between DISCERN scores and website origin was found. Readability measures showed that on average, only people with at least 10-12 yr of education could read and understand the internet information for tinnitus in websites. Almost all the websites exceeded the most stringent reading level recommended for health information.
    CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight great variability in the quality and readability of health information, specifically for tinnitus in the internet. These findings underscores the need for stakeholders (e.g., web-developers, clinicians) to be aware of this and to develop more user-friendly health information on websites to make it more accessible for people with low literacy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3766/jaaa.17070