This document discusses developing a risk of bias corpus from randomized controlled trials. Annotations were conducted on 10 RCT full texts using the Revised Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 tool as guidelines. Inter-annotator agreement was around 75% for identifying text spans and response judgments. Errors included annotating different text spans, sections, and disagreement on polarity and degree of risk of bias. Future work includes refining the guidelines through an iterative process to improve annotation quality and expanding the corpus size.
The article summarizes a presentation reviewing the top medical education articles from 2016. It discusses how OSCE design factors like the number of competencies raters assess and station order can impact reliability. It also explores how narrative comments from standardized patients can identify problematic student behaviors not captured by checklists. A non-binary checklist was found to provide flexibility in scoring OSCE progress tests and allow feedback on partially completed tasks. The presentation aims to help educators incorporate innovations from the literature into their practice to improve assessment and training.
Doug Altman - MedicReS World Congress 2012 MedicReS
The document discusses tools for assessing risk of bias in systematic reviews. It outlines the development of the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool, which evaluates randomized controlled trials across 7 domains related to selection bias, performance bias, detection bias, attrition bias, and reporting bias. The tool aims to provide a standardized approach for assessing bias in a way that is transparent and focuses on biases rather than other quality issues. It has informed the risk of bias assessment approach used in Cochrane systematic reviews.
David Moher - MedicReS World Congress 2012MedicReS
This document discusses sources of bias in medical research and means to assess bias. It acknowledges the Cochrane Collaboration's Bias Methods Group and provides an overview of the impact of bias. Sources of bias can occur in the production and dissemination of evidence, including reporting biases like publication bias. Meta-epidemiological studies have found empirical evidence of biases in randomized controlled trials. Methods have been developed to assess bias in primary studies. While registration of clinical trials and systematic review protocols are attempts to minimize bias, bias remains an issue and further efforts are still needed.
1. The document provides an overview of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and the process of critically appraising research evidence. EBM involves integrating the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values and preferences.
2. The key steps of EBM are outlined, including formulating a clear clinical question using PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcome), searching for and appraising the evidence, and applying the results to the clinical problem.
3. Users' guides are provided for critically appraising different study designs, focusing on whether the results are valid and assessing the magnitude and precision of the treatment effect. Factors like randomization, blinding, follow-up, and equal treatment of groups
Evaluation of Gender Aware Health Interventions in South Asia: What do we kn...MEASURE Evaluation
This document summarizes a presentation on evaluating gender-aware health interventions in South Asia. It outlines the objectives, methodology, preliminary findings, discussion questions, limitations, and next steps of the evaluation. The methodology included searching for publications, establishing relevance, abstracting data, and rating interventions on their level of gender integration. Preliminary findings showed variation in study designs, sampling methods, control groups, gender measurement, analysis plans, impact levels, and use of multiple endlines. Discussion questions focused on measurement challenges and how to improve future evaluations. Limitations included the small number of interventions evaluated and use of only English publications. Next steps were to finalize analysis, incorporate a global review, and disseminate findings.
This document provides an overview of evidence-based medicine (EBM). It defines EBM as integrating the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. The key steps of EBM are outlined as formulating a clinical question using PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcome), searching for evidence, appraising research studies, and applying the evidence to clinical problems. Study designs such as randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews are discussed. Methods for critically appraising studies including assessing validity and determining the clinical importance of results are also summarized.
This document outlines the objectives and agenda for a workshop on journal clubs and evidence-based medicine reviews. The workshop will teach participants how to present clinical evidence-based medicine summaries to peers, critically appraise clinical studies, and discuss how to integrate evidence-based findings into clinical practice. Participants will have opportunities to present on their own clinical scenarios and evidence searches.
This document discusses correlational research methodologies. It defines correlational research as investigating relationships between two variables through quantitative analysis. The main purposes are explanatory, to help explain behaviors, and predictive, to predict outcomes. Key aspects covered include using scatter plots to visualize relationships and predict scores, developing prediction equations, more complex techniques like multiple regression and factor analysis, basic research steps, and threats to internal validity like subject characteristics, location, instrumentation, and mortality.
The article summarizes a presentation reviewing the top medical education articles from 2016. It discusses how OSCE design factors like the number of competencies raters assess and station order can impact reliability. It also explores how narrative comments from standardized patients can identify problematic student behaviors not captured by checklists. A non-binary checklist was found to provide flexibility in scoring OSCE progress tests and allow feedback on partially completed tasks. The presentation aims to help educators incorporate innovations from the literature into their practice to improve assessment and training.
Doug Altman - MedicReS World Congress 2012 MedicReS
The document discusses tools for assessing risk of bias in systematic reviews. It outlines the development of the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool, which evaluates randomized controlled trials across 7 domains related to selection bias, performance bias, detection bias, attrition bias, and reporting bias. The tool aims to provide a standardized approach for assessing bias in a way that is transparent and focuses on biases rather than other quality issues. It has informed the risk of bias assessment approach used in Cochrane systematic reviews.
David Moher - MedicReS World Congress 2012MedicReS
This document discusses sources of bias in medical research and means to assess bias. It acknowledges the Cochrane Collaboration's Bias Methods Group and provides an overview of the impact of bias. Sources of bias can occur in the production and dissemination of evidence, including reporting biases like publication bias. Meta-epidemiological studies have found empirical evidence of biases in randomized controlled trials. Methods have been developed to assess bias in primary studies. While registration of clinical trials and systematic review protocols are attempts to minimize bias, bias remains an issue and further efforts are still needed.
1. The document provides an overview of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and the process of critically appraising research evidence. EBM involves integrating the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values and preferences.
2. The key steps of EBM are outlined, including formulating a clear clinical question using PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcome), searching for and appraising the evidence, and applying the results to the clinical problem.
3. Users' guides are provided for critically appraising different study designs, focusing on whether the results are valid and assessing the magnitude and precision of the treatment effect. Factors like randomization, blinding, follow-up, and equal treatment of groups
Evaluation of Gender Aware Health Interventions in South Asia: What do we kn...MEASURE Evaluation
This document summarizes a presentation on evaluating gender-aware health interventions in South Asia. It outlines the objectives, methodology, preliminary findings, discussion questions, limitations, and next steps of the evaluation. The methodology included searching for publications, establishing relevance, abstracting data, and rating interventions on their level of gender integration. Preliminary findings showed variation in study designs, sampling methods, control groups, gender measurement, analysis plans, impact levels, and use of multiple endlines. Discussion questions focused on measurement challenges and how to improve future evaluations. Limitations included the small number of interventions evaluated and use of only English publications. Next steps were to finalize analysis, incorporate a global review, and disseminate findings.
This document provides an overview of evidence-based medicine (EBM). It defines EBM as integrating the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. The key steps of EBM are outlined as formulating a clinical question using PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcome), searching for evidence, appraising research studies, and applying the evidence to clinical problems. Study designs such as randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews are discussed. Methods for critically appraising studies including assessing validity and determining the clinical importance of results are also summarized.
This document outlines the objectives and agenda for a workshop on journal clubs and evidence-based medicine reviews. The workshop will teach participants how to present clinical evidence-based medicine summaries to peers, critically appraise clinical studies, and discuss how to integrate evidence-based findings into clinical practice. Participants will have opportunities to present on their own clinical scenarios and evidence searches.
This document discusses correlational research methodologies. It defines correlational research as investigating relationships between two variables through quantitative analysis. The main purposes are explanatory, to help explain behaviors, and predictive, to predict outcomes. Key aspects covered include using scatter plots to visualize relationships and predict scores, developing prediction equations, more complex techniques like multiple regression and factor analysis, basic research steps, and threats to internal validity like subject characteristics, location, instrumentation, and mortality.
KT research involves studying how to effectively promote the uptake of knowledge into clinical practice. Passive educational activities like conferences are generally ineffective at changing physician behavior, while knowledge translation approaches in the clinical environment using tools like clinical pathways and decision support can impact outcomes. The examples described implemented guidelines for diagnosing pulmonary embolism and increased physician use of electronic resources through a mobile clinical decision support system.
The top articles in medical education for 2017 focused on improving feedback practices through various methods. One article described using the R2C2 model to structure feedback conversations and found it enabled meaningful and goal-oriented discussions. Another article found that an institution's culture is central to how residents perceive feedback quality and credibility. A third article identified qualitative differences in the feedback male and female residents receive, highlighting the need for awareness of potential gender bias. An additional article demonstrated that high rates of direct observation were achievable in an ambulatory setting despite initial faculty skepticism. Overall, the articles emphasized the importance of feedback and observation for trainee development and highlighted approaches to enhance current practices.
Resident Presentations - Evidence-Based Medicine for HaematologyRobin Featherstone
This document provides information about a workshop on evidence-based medicine (EBM) for residents. The workshop objectives are to present clinical EBM summaries to peers and critically reflect on applying clinical studies to practice. The document reviews the EBM process and provides worksheets and resources for critically appraising different study designs, including randomized controlled trials, cohort and case-control studies, and systematic reviews. Key points of the critical appraisal worksheets are summarized for each study design. Logistical details are provided for the next workshop.
Comparison of registered and published intervention fidelity assessment in cl...valéry ridde
A methodologically oriented systematic review was conducted to study current practices concerning the assessment of intervention fidelity in CRTs of public health interventions conducted in LMICs.
The document discusses key aspects of systematic reviews that should be addressed to minimize bias, including clearly specifying inclusion/exclusion criteria, conducting comprehensive searches to identify most relevant studies, and accounting for quality of reviewed studies. It emphasizes the importance of transparently reporting how trials were selected and quality assessed to strengthen the evidence provided by the systematic review.
Dataset Codebook BUS7105, Week 8 Name Source RepreseOllieShoresna
This document provides a codebook describing variables in a dataset collected through an online survey. It defines 12 variables including subject identification number, gender, age, education level, personality traits, job satisfaction, engagement, trust in leader, motivation, and intent to quit. For each variable, it identifies the data source and type (e.g. categorical, continuous), measurement scale, and response values and their meanings. It also discusses measurement levels and provides references on using Likert scales in statistical analysis.
Quick introduction to critical appraisal of quantitative researchAlan Fricker
1) The document provides an introduction to critically appraising quantitative research for healthcare. It discusses key concepts such as levels of evidence, validity, reliability, and transferability.
2) Critical appraisal involves assessing a study's validity, rigor, and relevance through a structured process using checklists to evaluate aspects like research design, sample size, randomization, and potential for bias.
3) Statistical measures like p-values, confidence intervals, and effect sizes are important to consider, but clinical significance is also key when determining if results can be applied to practice.
Systematic review and meta analysis is considered as the highest body of evidence in research evidence hierarchy. Often misunderstood or skipped over, this powerful tool can broaden our understanding on a specific topic and form basis of practicing evidence based medicine for us.
I presented systematic review and meta analysis as part of my PG seminar and got a good feedback. Now I wanted to share the presentation for a broader audience.
Any kind of constructive feedback is welcome.
Dr. Anik Chakraborty
JR3, Dept. Of Community Medicine
Pt. B. D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak
1) The document describes a webinar presented by the National Collaborating Centre Methods and Tools (NCCMT) on the ROBINS-I tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomized studies.
2) The webinar provided an overview of ROBINS-I, including its development process, contributors, key features such as the seven bias domains and signaling questions, and how it can be used to make risk of bias assessments.
3) Attendees of the webinar were given information on how to access the presentation and recording afterward on the NCCMT website.
This document provides an overview of how to conduct a systematic review. It begins by defining what a systematic review is and why they are important for evidence-based practice. It then outlines the key steps in conducting a systematic review, including formulating an answerable question using PICO(T), performing a comprehensive literature search, selecting studies and extracting data in an unbiased manner, critically appraising the evidence, and synthesizing the data. The document emphasizes that systematic reviews need to follow a structured, systematic process and make all methods explicit to minimize bias. It also discusses challenges that can arise in systematic reviews like database, publication, and language biases.
Efficacy of Information interventions in reducing transfer anxiety from a cri...Ambika Rai
Efficacy of Information interventions in reducing transfer anxiety from a critical care setting to a general ward: A systematic review and a meta-analysis
Development of health measurement scales - part 1Rizwan S A
This document outlines the basic steps involved in developing health measurement scales. It discusses devising items, scaling responses, selecting items, and addressing biases. The key steps covered are:
1. Devising items by exploring various sources like focus groups, interviews, clinical observations, and existing scales. Items must demonstrate content validity.
2. Scaling responses by determining the level of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) and using methods like Likert scales, visual analogue scales, and paired comparisons.
3. Selecting items by assessing reliability using techniques like internal consistency and validity through face, content, construct, and criterion assessments.
The document provides an overview of the fundamental concepts and processes in developing
Correlational research investigates relationships between two variables without manipulating either variable. It can be used for explanatory purposes to help explain behaviors, or for prediction purposes to predict outcomes. Common correlational techniques include scatter plots, regression analysis, multiple regression, and factor analysis. Threats to internal validity like subject characteristics, location, instrumentation, and mortality must be evaluated. The basic steps in correlational research are problem selection, sampling, instrumentation, design, data collection, and evaluating threats to validity.
Correlational research investigates relationships between two variables without manipulating either variable. It can be used for explanatory purposes to help explain behaviors, or for prediction purposes to predict outcomes. Common correlational techniques include scatter plots, regression analysis, multiple regression, and factor analysis. Threats to internal validity like subject characteristics, location, instrumentation, and mortality must be evaluated. The basic steps in correlational research are problem selection, sampling, instrumentation, design, data collection, and evaluating threats to validity.
Jan Hrabal: Evaluation of medical information quality #bcs2015KISK FF MU
Talk given at the BOBCATSSS 2015 conference - http://www.bobcatsss2015.com/.
The paper deals with the concept of quality of health-related information in the internet environment. It brings definitions of indicators of medical information quality, which are set into the methodics for evaluation of medical information quality on Czech websites. The methodics is divided in two parts: one for non-expert sources in common online environment designed for laymen and one extended version designed for experts, which includes also criteria for evaluation of research papers and reviews.
SHE, Quality, and Ethics in Medical Laboratories - PCLPAlAcademia Tsr
The document discusses various topics related to medical laboratories including quality control, safety, and ethics. It begins by covering types of quality control including internal quality control methods to check precision and external quality assessment schemes to check accuracy. It then discusses types of hazards in medical laboratories including chemical, physical, biological, and safety hazards. Recommendations are provided for safely handling chemical hazards. Finally, the document discusses the importance of ethics in relation to one's profession, laboratory premises, patients, and community.
This document provides guidance on critically analyzing research articles. It begins with background on the rapidly expanding medical literature and challenges of keeping up. It then discusses the different types of studies and offers "cheat sheets" to systematically review articles. For cohort studies, it suggests assessing validity, results and applicability. Key points include checking for objective exposure determination and covariate balance. It provides similar guides for diagnostic tests, prognosis, treatment and meta-analyses. The overall goal is to review articles systematically and focus on methodological validity, clinically meaningful results and applicability to one's practice.
Achieving behaviour change for patient safety, Judith Dyson, Lecturer, Mental Health - University of Hull
Presentation from the Patient Safety Collaborative launch event held in London on 14 October 2014
More information at http://www.nhsiq.nhs.uk/improvement-programmes/patient-safety/patient-safety-collaboratives.aspx
This document provides guidance on how to critically appraise research articles. It explains that critical appraisal is the process of carefully examining research evidence to assess its validity, results, and relevance. The document outlines key aspects of articles to appraise, including study design, potential for bias, statistical analysis, measures used, results, and comparison to other research. It also provides an example of critically appraising a cohort study on harm or risk. The overall message is that critical appraisal of articles is important for evaluating evidence and making informed health decisions.
KT research involves studying how to effectively promote the uptake of knowledge into clinical practice. Passive educational activities like conferences are generally ineffective at changing physician behavior, while knowledge translation approaches in the clinical environment using tools like clinical pathways and decision support can impact outcomes. The examples described implemented guidelines for diagnosing pulmonary embolism and increased physician use of electronic resources through a mobile clinical decision support system.
The top articles in medical education for 2017 focused on improving feedback practices through various methods. One article described using the R2C2 model to structure feedback conversations and found it enabled meaningful and goal-oriented discussions. Another article found that an institution's culture is central to how residents perceive feedback quality and credibility. A third article identified qualitative differences in the feedback male and female residents receive, highlighting the need for awareness of potential gender bias. An additional article demonstrated that high rates of direct observation were achievable in an ambulatory setting despite initial faculty skepticism. Overall, the articles emphasized the importance of feedback and observation for trainee development and highlighted approaches to enhance current practices.
Resident Presentations - Evidence-Based Medicine for HaematologyRobin Featherstone
This document provides information about a workshop on evidence-based medicine (EBM) for residents. The workshop objectives are to present clinical EBM summaries to peers and critically reflect on applying clinical studies to practice. The document reviews the EBM process and provides worksheets and resources for critically appraising different study designs, including randomized controlled trials, cohort and case-control studies, and systematic reviews. Key points of the critical appraisal worksheets are summarized for each study design. Logistical details are provided for the next workshop.
Comparison of registered and published intervention fidelity assessment in cl...valéry ridde
A methodologically oriented systematic review was conducted to study current practices concerning the assessment of intervention fidelity in CRTs of public health interventions conducted in LMICs.
The document discusses key aspects of systematic reviews that should be addressed to minimize bias, including clearly specifying inclusion/exclusion criteria, conducting comprehensive searches to identify most relevant studies, and accounting for quality of reviewed studies. It emphasizes the importance of transparently reporting how trials were selected and quality assessed to strengthen the evidence provided by the systematic review.
Dataset Codebook BUS7105, Week 8 Name Source RepreseOllieShoresna
This document provides a codebook describing variables in a dataset collected through an online survey. It defines 12 variables including subject identification number, gender, age, education level, personality traits, job satisfaction, engagement, trust in leader, motivation, and intent to quit. For each variable, it identifies the data source and type (e.g. categorical, continuous), measurement scale, and response values and their meanings. It also discusses measurement levels and provides references on using Likert scales in statistical analysis.
Quick introduction to critical appraisal of quantitative researchAlan Fricker
1) The document provides an introduction to critically appraising quantitative research for healthcare. It discusses key concepts such as levels of evidence, validity, reliability, and transferability.
2) Critical appraisal involves assessing a study's validity, rigor, and relevance through a structured process using checklists to evaluate aspects like research design, sample size, randomization, and potential for bias.
3) Statistical measures like p-values, confidence intervals, and effect sizes are important to consider, but clinical significance is also key when determining if results can be applied to practice.
Systematic review and meta analysis is considered as the highest body of evidence in research evidence hierarchy. Often misunderstood or skipped over, this powerful tool can broaden our understanding on a specific topic and form basis of practicing evidence based medicine for us.
I presented systematic review and meta analysis as part of my PG seminar and got a good feedback. Now I wanted to share the presentation for a broader audience.
Any kind of constructive feedback is welcome.
Dr. Anik Chakraborty
JR3, Dept. Of Community Medicine
Pt. B. D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak
1) The document describes a webinar presented by the National Collaborating Centre Methods and Tools (NCCMT) on the ROBINS-I tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomized studies.
2) The webinar provided an overview of ROBINS-I, including its development process, contributors, key features such as the seven bias domains and signaling questions, and how it can be used to make risk of bias assessments.
3) Attendees of the webinar were given information on how to access the presentation and recording afterward on the NCCMT website.
This document provides an overview of how to conduct a systematic review. It begins by defining what a systematic review is and why they are important for evidence-based practice. It then outlines the key steps in conducting a systematic review, including formulating an answerable question using PICO(T), performing a comprehensive literature search, selecting studies and extracting data in an unbiased manner, critically appraising the evidence, and synthesizing the data. The document emphasizes that systematic reviews need to follow a structured, systematic process and make all methods explicit to minimize bias. It also discusses challenges that can arise in systematic reviews like database, publication, and language biases.
Efficacy of Information interventions in reducing transfer anxiety from a cri...Ambika Rai
Efficacy of Information interventions in reducing transfer anxiety from a critical care setting to a general ward: A systematic review and a meta-analysis
Development of health measurement scales - part 1Rizwan S A
This document outlines the basic steps involved in developing health measurement scales. It discusses devising items, scaling responses, selecting items, and addressing biases. The key steps covered are:
1. Devising items by exploring various sources like focus groups, interviews, clinical observations, and existing scales. Items must demonstrate content validity.
2. Scaling responses by determining the level of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) and using methods like Likert scales, visual analogue scales, and paired comparisons.
3. Selecting items by assessing reliability using techniques like internal consistency and validity through face, content, construct, and criterion assessments.
The document provides an overview of the fundamental concepts and processes in developing
Correlational research investigates relationships between two variables without manipulating either variable. It can be used for explanatory purposes to help explain behaviors, or for prediction purposes to predict outcomes. Common correlational techniques include scatter plots, regression analysis, multiple regression, and factor analysis. Threats to internal validity like subject characteristics, location, instrumentation, and mortality must be evaluated. The basic steps in correlational research are problem selection, sampling, instrumentation, design, data collection, and evaluating threats to validity.
Correlational research investigates relationships between two variables without manipulating either variable. It can be used for explanatory purposes to help explain behaviors, or for prediction purposes to predict outcomes. Common correlational techniques include scatter plots, regression analysis, multiple regression, and factor analysis. Threats to internal validity like subject characteristics, location, instrumentation, and mortality must be evaluated. The basic steps in correlational research are problem selection, sampling, instrumentation, design, data collection, and evaluating threats to validity.
Jan Hrabal: Evaluation of medical information quality #bcs2015KISK FF MU
Talk given at the BOBCATSSS 2015 conference - http://www.bobcatsss2015.com/.
The paper deals with the concept of quality of health-related information in the internet environment. It brings definitions of indicators of medical information quality, which are set into the methodics for evaluation of medical information quality on Czech websites. The methodics is divided in two parts: one for non-expert sources in common online environment designed for laymen and one extended version designed for experts, which includes also criteria for evaluation of research papers and reviews.
SHE, Quality, and Ethics in Medical Laboratories - PCLPAlAcademia Tsr
The document discusses various topics related to medical laboratories including quality control, safety, and ethics. It begins by covering types of quality control including internal quality control methods to check precision and external quality assessment schemes to check accuracy. It then discusses types of hazards in medical laboratories including chemical, physical, biological, and safety hazards. Recommendations are provided for safely handling chemical hazards. Finally, the document discusses the importance of ethics in relation to one's profession, laboratory premises, patients, and community.
This document provides guidance on critically analyzing research articles. It begins with background on the rapidly expanding medical literature and challenges of keeping up. It then discusses the different types of studies and offers "cheat sheets" to systematically review articles. For cohort studies, it suggests assessing validity, results and applicability. Key points include checking for objective exposure determination and covariate balance. It provides similar guides for diagnostic tests, prognosis, treatment and meta-analyses. The overall goal is to review articles systematically and focus on methodological validity, clinically meaningful results and applicability to one's practice.
Achieving behaviour change for patient safety, Judith Dyson, Lecturer, Mental Health - University of Hull
Presentation from the Patient Safety Collaborative launch event held in London on 14 October 2014
More information at http://www.nhsiq.nhs.uk/improvement-programmes/patient-safety/patient-safety-collaboratives.aspx
This document provides guidance on how to critically appraise research articles. It explains that critical appraisal is the process of carefully examining research evidence to assess its validity, results, and relevance. The document outlines key aspects of articles to appraise, including study design, potential for bias, statistical analysis, measures used, results, and comparison to other research. It also provides an example of critically appraising a cohort study on harm or risk. The overall message is that critical appraisal of articles is important for evaluating evidence and making informed health decisions.
Exploiting biomedical literature to mine out a large multimodal dataset of rare cancer studies. Presentation of Anjani K. Dhrangadhariya (Institute of Information Systems, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, Sierre) at SPIE Medical Imaging 2020.
Présentation de Prof. Yann Bocchi de l'institut informatique de gestion HES-SO Valais-Wallis à la Conférence TechnoArk 2020 sur le thème de l'industrie connectée.
Studying Public Medical Images from Open Access Literature and Social Networks for Model Training and Knowledge Extraction
Henning Müller, Vincent Andrearczyk, Oscar Jimenez, Anjani Dhrangadhariya
Maria Tootell (Oprisko)
Risques opérationnels et le système de contrôle interne : les limites d’un tel système
Cyrille Reynard et Jean-Jaques Kohler (Oprisko)
Cas pratiques issus de la gestion des risques, applicables aux secteurs public ou privé
eGov Workshop – La plus-value du système de contrôle interne
Creating an optimal travel plan is not an easy task, particularly for people with mobility disabilities, for whom even simple trips, such as eating out in a restaurant, can be extremely difficult. Many of their travel plans need to be made days or even months in advance, including the route and time of day to travel. These plans must take into account ways in which to navigate the area, as well as the most suitable means of transportation. In response to these challenges, this study was designed to develop a solution that used linked data technologies in the domains of tourism services and e-governance to build a smart city application for wheelchair accessibility. This smart phone application provides useful travel information to enable those with mobility disabilities to travel more easily.
Ou quelques réflexions autour des comportements d’un leader stratégique qui semblent être sans valeurs mesurables mais qui sont certainement à haute valeur ajoutée pour l’équipe/entreprise/organisation.
Après une courte introduction qui va présenter une définition de leadership stratégique, cet atelier va se baser, comme fil rouge, sur les 10 principes communément admis du leadership stratégique (suite à une large étude de PWC). Pour chacun de ces principes, nous allons interagir avec les participant-e-s tant des comportements à (haute) valeur ajoutée que ceux plutôt toxiques ; puis débattre autour des indicateurs de mesures possibles (ou déjà expérimentés par les participants)
L’objectif principal est que chaque participant-e s’interroge sur son leadership stratégique et la valeur amenée dans l’entreprise/organisation et qu’il-elle soit parfois défié par le regard d’autres participant-e-s.
We propose a novel imaging biomarker of lung cancer relapse from 3-D texture analysis of CT images. Three-dimensional morphological nodular tissue properties are described in terms of 3-D Riesz-wavelets. The responses of the latter are aggregated within nodular regions by means of feature covariances, which leverage rich intra- and inter-variations of the feature space dimensions. The obtained Riesz-covariance descriptors lie on a manifold governed by Riemannian geometry requiring specific geodesic metrics to locally approximate scalar products. The latter are used to construct a kernel for support vector machines (SVM). The effectiveness of the presented models is evaluated on a dataset of 92 patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and cancer recurrence information. Disease recurrence within a timeframe of 12 months could be predicted with an accuracy above 80, and highlighted the importance of covariance-based texture aggregation. At the end of the talk, computer tools will be presented to easily extract 3D radiomics quantitative features from PET-CT images.
This document discusses challenges in medical imaging and the VISCERAL model. It provides an overview of systematic evaluations of medical image retrieval since the 1960s. It describes the ImageCLEF benchmark which has run medical image retrieval tasks since 2003. It discusses open science initiatives to share data and tools. It introduces the VISCERAL model which brings algorithms to medical image data stored in the cloud to enable large-scale challenges. The document concludes that open science has potential advantages but the medical domain poses complications regarding data protection, and that challenges will be part of the ecosystem for sharing medical image analysis tools.
Dans le cadre des Swiss Mobility Days organisés à Martigny (Suisse) en avril 2016, Yann Bocchi, Prof. à l'institut Informatique de Gestion de la HES-SO Valais-Wallis, présente le projet NOSE (Nomadic, Modular and Scalable IT Ecosystem for Pervasive Sensing).
On March 23, 2016, Prof. Henning Müller (HES-SO Valais-Wallis and Martinos Center) presented Medical image analysis and big data evaluation infrastructures at Stanford medicine.
Presentation by Prof. Dr. Henning Müller.
Overview:
- Medical image retrieval projects
- Image analysis and 3D texture modeling
- Data science evaluation infrastructures (ImageCLEF, VISCERAL, EaaS – Evaluation as a Service)
- What comes next?
At the Knime Berlin summit 2016, Prof. Dr. Dominique Genoud presented a novel way to implement a KNIME workflow that perform machine learning and signal processing on an Android platform. The use case was to detect soft falls (not from a standing position) using an Android watch. This application has a big impact on how we can detect automatically when elderly people fall from their bed of their chair. This work was originally based on the Master Thesis in Business Administration realized by Vincent Cuendet in 2015 at the HES-SO with the help of the FST (Fédération Suisse pour les Téléthèses), an organization that helps disabled and elderly people to keep their autonomy.
Presented by Adrien Depeursinge, PhD, at MICCAI 2015 Tutorial on Biomedical Texture Analysis (BTA), Munich, Oct 5 2015.
Texture-based imaging biomarkers complement focal, invasive biopsy based biomarkers by providing information on tissue structure over broad regions, non-invasively, and repeatedly across multiple time points. Texture has been used to predict patient survival, tissue function, disease subtypes and genomics (imagenomics and radiogenomics). Nevertheless, several challenges remain, such as: the lack of an appropriate framework for multi-scale, multi-spectral analysis in 2D and 3D; localization uncertainty of texture operators; validation; and, translation to routine clinical applications.
Mocodis is a web application facilitating the transfer of skills between senior and junior associates. It can be used in companies, institutions to capitalize on the experience of older employees, or can be used to train employees top down. Mocodis automatically generates dynamic micro-courses combining text, audio and video resources, and uses an algorithm to analyze user satisfaction to produce better courses at the next request.
The GET project aims to analyze learning characteristics of new generations of students in order to develop models based on surveys and prototype applications. This will help evolve teaching methods. The project created Google Glass Enhanced TextBooks to improve course materials by enriching paper resources with video accessed through Google Glass. A trial with students provided mostly positive feedback, liking the multimedia resources and links between text and media, though some found the glasses difficult to use and navigation between resources perturbing. Future work will evaluate the impact of different types of video on learning.
This work presents a data-intensive solution to predict Photovoltaïque energy (PV) production.
PV and other renewable sources have widely spread in recent years. Although those sources provide an environmentally-friendly solution, their integration is a real challenge in terms of power management as it depends on meteorological conditions. The ability to predict those variable sources considering meteorological uncertainty plays a key role in the management of the energy supply needs and reserves.
This paper presents an easy-to-use methodology to predict PV production using time series analyses and sampling algorithms. The aim is to provide a forecasting model to set the day-ahead grid electricity need. This information is useful for power dispatching plans and grid charge control. The main novelties of our approach is to provide an easy implemented and flexible solution that combines classification algorithms to predict the PV plant efficiency considering weather conditions and nonlinear regression to predict weather forecasted errors in order to improve prediction results.
The results are based on the data collected in the Techno-pôle’s microgrid in Sierre (Switzerland) described further in the paper.
The best experimental results have been obtained using hourly historical weather measures (radiation and temperature) and PV production as training inputs and weather forecasted parameters as prediction inputs. Considering a 10 month dataset and despite the presence of 17 missing days, we achieve a Percentage Mean Absolute Deviation (PMAD) of 20% in August and 21% in September. Better results can be obtained with a larger dataset but as more historical data were not available, other months have not been tested.
Mehr von Institute of Information Systems (HES-SO) (20)
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Digital Marketing Trends in 2024 | Guide for Staying AheadWask
https://www.wask.co/ebooks/digital-marketing-trends-in-2024
Feeling lost in the digital marketing whirlwind of 2024? Technology is changing, consumer habits are evolving, and staying ahead of the curve feels like a never-ending pursuit. This e-book is your compass. Dive into actionable insights to handle the complexities of modern marketing. From hyper-personalization to the power of user-generated content, learn how to build long-term relationships with your audience and unlock the secrets to success in the ever-shifting digital landscape.
Have you ever been confused by the myriad of choices offered by AWS for hosting a website or an API?
Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, Lightsail, Amplify, S3 (and more!) can each host websites + APIs. But which one should we choose?
Which one is cheapest? Which one is fastest? Which one will scale to meet our needs?
Join me in this session as we dive into each AWS hosting service to determine which one is best for your scenario and explain why!
Generating privacy-protected synthetic data using Secludy and MilvusZilliz
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Project Management Semester Long Project - Acuityjpupo2018
Acuity is an innovative learning app designed to transform the way you engage with knowledge. Powered by AI technology, Acuity takes complex topics and distills them into concise, interactive summaries that are easy to read & understand. Whether you're exploring the depths of quantum mechanics or seeking insight into historical events, Acuity provides the key information you need without the burden of lengthy texts.
5th LF Energy Power Grid Model Meet-up SlidesDanBrown980551
5th Power Grid Model Meet-up
It is with great pleasure that we extend to you an invitation to the 5th Power Grid Model Meet-up, scheduled for 6th June 2024. This event will adopt a hybrid format, allowing participants to join us either through an online Mircosoft Teams session or in person at TU/e located at Den Dolech 2, Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet-up will be hosted by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), a research university specializing in engineering science & technology.
Power Grid Model
The global energy transition is placing new and unprecedented demands on Distribution System Operators (DSOs). Alongside upgrades to grid capacity, processes such as digitization, capacity optimization, and congestion management are becoming vital for delivering reliable services.
Power Grid Model is an open source project from Linux Foundation Energy and provides a calculation engine that is increasingly essential for DSOs. It offers a standards-based foundation enabling real-time power systems analysis, simulations of electrical power grids, and sophisticated what-if analysis. In addition, it enables in-depth studies and analysis of the electrical power grid’s behavior and performance. This comprehensive model incorporates essential factors such as power generation capacity, electrical losses, voltage levels, power flows, and system stability.
Power Grid Model is currently being applied in a wide variety of use cases, including grid planning, expansion, reliability, and congestion studies. It can also help in analyzing the impact of renewable energy integration, assessing the effects of disturbances or faults, and developing strategies for grid control and optimization.
What to expect
For the upcoming meetup we are organizing, we have an exciting lineup of activities planned:
-Insightful presentations covering two practical applications of the Power Grid Model.
-An update on the latest advancements in Power Grid -Model technology during the first and second quarters of 2024.
-An interactive brainstorming session to discuss and propose new feature requests.
-An opportunity to connect with fellow Power Grid Model enthusiasts and users.
HCL Notes und Domino Lizenzkostenreduzierung in der Welt von DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-und-domino-lizenzkostenreduzierung-in-der-welt-von-dlau/
DLAU und die Lizenzen nach dem CCB- und CCX-Modell sind für viele in der HCL-Community seit letztem Jahr ein heißes Thema. Als Notes- oder Domino-Kunde haben Sie vielleicht mit unerwartet hohen Benutzerzahlen und Lizenzgebühren zu kämpfen. Sie fragen sich vielleicht, wie diese neue Art der Lizenzierung funktioniert und welchen Nutzen sie Ihnen bringt. Vor allem wollen Sie sicherlich Ihr Budget einhalten und Kosten sparen, wo immer möglich. Das verstehen wir und wir möchten Ihnen dabei helfen!
Wir erklären Ihnen, wie Sie häufige Konfigurationsprobleme lösen können, die dazu führen können, dass mehr Benutzer gezählt werden als nötig, und wie Sie überflüssige oder ungenutzte Konten identifizieren und entfernen können, um Geld zu sparen. Es gibt auch einige Ansätze, die zu unnötigen Ausgaben führen können, z. B. wenn ein Personendokument anstelle eines Mail-Ins für geteilte Mailboxen verwendet wird. Wir zeigen Ihnen solche Fälle und deren Lösungen. Und natürlich erklären wir Ihnen das neue Lizenzmodell.
Nehmen Sie an diesem Webinar teil, bei dem HCL-Ambassador Marc Thomas und Gastredner Franz Walder Ihnen diese neue Welt näherbringen. Es vermittelt Ihnen die Tools und das Know-how, um den Überblick zu bewahren. Sie werden in der Lage sein, Ihre Kosten durch eine optimierte Domino-Konfiguration zu reduzieren und auch in Zukunft gering zu halten.
Diese Themen werden behandelt
- Reduzierung der Lizenzkosten durch Auffinden und Beheben von Fehlkonfigurationen und überflüssigen Konten
- Wie funktionieren CCB- und CCX-Lizenzen wirklich?
- Verstehen des DLAU-Tools und wie man es am besten nutzt
- Tipps für häufige Problembereiche, wie z. B. Team-Postfächer, Funktions-/Testbenutzer usw.
- Praxisbeispiele und Best Practices zum sofortigen Umsetzen
Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing.pdfssuserfac0301
Read Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing to gain insights on AI adoption in the manufacturing industry, such as:
1. How quickly AI is being implemented in manufacturing.
2. Which barriers stand in the way of AI adoption.
3. How data quality and governance form the backbone of AI.
4. Organizational processes and structures that may inhibit effective AI adoption.
6. Ideas and approaches to help build your organization's AI strategy.
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
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GraphRAG for Life Science to increase LLM accuracyTomaz Bratanic
GraphRAG for life science domain, where you retriever information from biomedical knowledge graphs using LLMs to increase the accuracy and performance of generated answers
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During Identiverse 2024 and EIC 2024, members of the OpenID AuthZEN WG got together and demoed their authorization endpoints conforming to the AuthZEN API
AI 101: An Introduction to the Basics and Impact of Artificial IntelligenceIndexBug
Imagine a world where machines not only perform tasks but also learn, adapt, and make decisions. This is the promise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a technology that's not just enhancing our lives but revolutionizing entire industries.
For the full video of this presentation, please visit: https://www.edge-ai-vision.com/2024/06/building-and-scaling-ai-applications-with-the-nx-ai-manager-a-presentation-from-network-optix/
Robin van Emden, Senior Director of Data Science at Network Optix, presents the “Building and Scaling AI Applications with the Nx AI Manager,” tutorial at the May 2024 Embedded Vision Summit.
In this presentation, van Emden covers the basics of scaling edge AI solutions using the Nx tool kit. He emphasizes the process of developing AI models and deploying them globally. He also showcases the conversion of AI models and the creation of effective edge AI pipelines, with a focus on pre-processing, model conversion, selecting the appropriate inference engine for the target hardware and post-processing.
van Emden shows how Nx can simplify the developer’s life and facilitate a rapid transition from concept to production-ready applications.He provides valuable insights into developing scalable and efficient edge AI solutions, with a strong focus on practical implementation.
WeTestAthens: Postman's AI & Automation Techniques
MIE20232.pptx
1. First Steps Towards a Risk of Bias Corpus
of Randomized Controlled Trials
Presenter – Anjani Dhrangadhariya
MIE2023 - Göteborg, Sweden, 23.05.23
Authors: Anjani Dhrangadhariya, Roger Hilfiker, Martin Sattelmayer, Katia
Giacomino, Rahel Caliesch, Simone Elsig, Nona Naderi, Henning Müller
2. Randomized Controlled Trial
• In theory, an RCT accurately measures intervention effects on patient
outcomes, but in practice, biases enter
• Design/Planning
• Execution
• Analysis
• Outcomes reporting
• Systematic Reviews
• Utility
• Medical professionals
• Health policies
• Surgeons
3. • The risk of bias specifically pertains to systematic errors in the design,
conduct, or reporting of a study that can potentially lead to a
deviation from the true effect being measured.
• RoB assessment guidelines
Risk of Bias (RoB)
Example RoB assessment guidelines Year
Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) 1999
Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies (RoBANS) 2004
Cochrane Risk of Bias assessment guidelines 2008
Risk of Bias in Non-randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) 2016
Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) 2017
Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) 2018
Revised Cochrane Risk of Bias for RCTs 2.0 tool (RoB 2) 2019
4. RoB information extraction
• Thorough assessment
• Manual assessment
• Time-consuming
• Cognitively demanding
• Two experts for manual assessment
• Third, for conflict resolution
• Automation imperative
5. Related Work
• RoB labelled corpus
• Wang et al. 2022
• Preclinical animal
studies
• Human RCTs
• RobotReviewer
• PDF highlights
• Freely-available
• Closed assess data
• Cochrane RoB v1
• RoB 2.0?
• RoB automation
• Marshall et al. 2015
• Millard et al. 2016
• Cochrane Database
(CDSR)
• Closed access
7. Revised Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool
• Can you use the guidelines to
annotate text corpus?
• Extensive guidelines
• Step-by-step instructions
• Divides RoB into 5 domains
• Each domain is assessed using several
signalling questions
Randomization
process
Deviations from
intended
interventions
Missing
outcomes data
Outcomes
measurement
Selection of
reported result
Sterne, J.A., Savović, J., Page, M.J., Elbers, R.G., Blencowe, N.S., Boutron, I., Cates, C.J., Cheng, H.Y., Corbett, M.S., Eldridge, S.M. and Emberson, J.R., 2019. RoB 2: a
revised tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. bmj, 366.
8. Revised Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool
• Reviewers manually go through the RCT to identify text describing the
answer to a signalling question.
• Based on the answer to the signalling question, select one of the five
response judgements:
Yes Probably Yes Probably No No No Information
9. Revised Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool
• 2.1 - Were the participants aware of their assigned intervention
during the trial?
2.1 No Good
Risk domains Signalling questions
5 22
10. Annotation schema
• Follow the revised Cochrane RoB 2.0
• 110 span Labels
• 1.1 Yes Good
• 1.1 Probably Yes Good
• 1.1 Probably No Bad
• 1.1 No bad
• 1.1 No Information
• 1.2 Yes Good
• 1.2 Probably Yes Good
• 1.2 Probably No Bad
• …
1.1 Yes Good
Risk domain
Signalling question
SQ response
Direction
Good = low risk
Bad = High risk
11. Pilot Annotation
• Ten RCT full-text PDFs
• 2000-2019
• Four annotators
• 2 scientists
• 1 doctoral student
• 1 scientific collaborator
• Two NLP experts
• 1 professor
• 1 doctoral student
• tagtog PDF annotation tool
https://www.tagtog.com/
12. Evaluation
• F1-measure as Inter-annotator agreement
• Disregards out-of-the-span tokens (unannotated tokens)
1. IAASQ
Do the annotator pairs annotate
the same text span to answer a
signalling question (SQ)?
2. IAAresponse
If the annotator pairs annotate
the same text to answer a
signalling question, do they also
select same response
judgment?
13. Results - IAASQ
• Zero or no Annotation
• Domain 2 - 52%
• Domain 3 - 54%
• Domain 4 - 50%
• Domain 5 - 61% (protocol)
• Less subjective questions
• Better IAA
The table details the interpretation of pairwise F1-measure.
14. Results - IAAresponse
• IAA - SQ response judgment
• Averaged over all annotator pairs
• Zero agreement - 52.63%
• No annotation – 22%
~75%
The table details the interpretation of pairwise F1-measure.
15. Error Inspection – 1. Text span disagreement
• Not limiting the annotators to
annotating
• phrases vs full sentences
4.1 Was the method of measuring the outcome
inappropriate?
…The primary outcome measure was a 0–10
NRS pain score, which reflected the average
pain experienced by the patient for ten days
prior to follow-up…
…a 0–10 NRS pain score…
Phrase!
Sentence
16. Error Inspection – 2. Different sections
• Annotators use different regions
(Methods section, Results section,
Table, …) of full text to come to
identical labels.
• Same judgment, different parts of
text evidence
2.6 Was an appropriate analysis used to estimate
the effect of assignment to intervention?
…This study was guided by the HAPA, which
has been widely used to address the gap
between intention to change and a person’s
actual change in behaviour [25-27]…
…intention-to-treat analysis was done with
missing data substituted by the last-
observation-carried-forward procedure…
2.1 Yes Good
17. Error Inspection – 3. Polarity disagreement
… 71 allocated routine services, 67 allocated
intervention service, 69 assessed at 8 weeks,
64 assessed at 8 week...
3.1 Were data for the outcome of interest
available for all, or nearly all, participants
randomized?
• Selecting response judgment
options with different polarities
• Yes vs. No
• Three of the four annotators
responded to 3.1 with Yes, but
one chose Probably no.
• All or nearly all (cut-off?)
18. Error Inspection – 4. Degree disagreement
• Lenient - definitive
• Yes
• No
• Stringent
• Probably yes
• Probably no
1.1 Was a random sequence generation
method used to assign participants to
intervention groups?
…Patients were randomly allocated to either
intervention by a computer-generated
schedule stratified by sex and attendance at
a day hospital…
19. Conclusions
1. RoB 2.0 assessment guidelines cannot be directly used as RoB
corpus annotation guidelines.
2. RoB assessment and RoB text annotation tasks are both highly
subjective, but the annotation guidelines can be refined with an
iterative process to improve both.
21. Dr. Roger Hilfiker
Dr. Martin Sattelmayer
Rahel Caliesch
Katia Giacomino
Dr. Nona Naderi
Annotation team
22. References
1. Wang, Q., Liao, J., Lapata, M., & Macleod, M. (2022). Risk of bias assessment in preclinical literature using natural language processing. Research Synthesis
Methods, 13(3), 368-380.
2. Macleod, M. R., O’Collins, T., Howells, D. W., & Donnan, G. A. (2004). Pooling of animal experimental data reveals influence of study design and publication
bias. Stroke, 35(5), 1203-1208.
3. Deleger L, Li Q, Lingren T, Kaiser M, Molnar K, Stoutenborough L, Kouril M, Marsolo K, Solti I. Building gold standard corpora for medical natural language processing tasks. InAMIA
Annual Symposium Proceedings 2012 (Vol. 2012, p. 144). American Medical Informatics Association.
4. Sterne, J.A., Savović, J., Page, M.J., Elbers, R.G., Blencowe, N.S., Boutron, I., Cates, C.J., Cheng, H.Y., Corbett, M.S., Eldridge, S.M. and Emberson, J.R., 2019.
RoB 2: a revised tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. bmj, 366.
Randomized controlled trials or RCTs, aim to accurately measure treatment effects on patient outcomes.
In theory, they aim to minimize bias, but in practice, biases tend to creep into any of the trial stages.
When RCTs with such questionable biases are used to write systematic reviews, they reduce the validity and utility of the review.
Now, biases cannot be assessed from RCT studies, but the risk of bias can be estimated by identifying the systematic flaws in study design, planning, execution or even outcomes reporting.
There are several risk-of-bias assessment guidelines that help thoroughly assess several bias risks in RCT literature.
The latest published guidelines are the revised Cochrane RoB 2.0 guidelines.
These guidelines help you thoroughly assess biases from RCT full-texts, but the process of manual RoB assessment is extremely time-consuming, resource intensive and cognitively demanding.
Manual bias assessment is challenged by the rapidly rising publication of RCTs, and therefore, automatic RoB information extraction is imperative.
There has been some work in automating RoB information extraction by Marshal and Millard studies, but the dataset used to train machine learning models is closed access.
Later they developed a tool called RobotReviewer which is freely available but develops on closed access data which isn’t available to the community, and they automate using the older risk of bias guidelines.
Recently, a RoB labelled corpus was released by Wang et al, but the corpus is based on preclinical animal studies and not human RCTs.
So currently, we do no have any open access corpus annotated with risk of bias judgments and neither do we have guidelines to build one.
These gaps prompted us to conduct this pilot project.
RoB 2 are these really extensive and instructional guidelines that help you step-by-step assess the overall risk of bias from any RCT study.
So before building our own annotation guidelines, we thought maybe we could use the RoB2 tool to annotate a text corpus as well.
And to understand if we can use RoB 2 for this matter, we need to examine how it structures the bias assessment procedure.
It divides the biases into 5 domains, each domain loosely translating to each of the trial stages.
Each domain is assessed using several signalling questions.
The reviewers manually go through each signalling question as it appears in the guidelines, and they try to identify text to answer this question in the RCT they are assessing.
Once an answer text is found, based on that answer, they use this information to judge a minute chunk of risk corresponding to this signalling question.
And based on the judgment they chose one of the five response options, with Yes mostly corresponding to yes – the answer suggests there’s risk of bias or No – there is no risk of bias for this question. However, it can also correspond to “Yes” – everything is alright and theres no risk of bias for this question.
Take, for example, the signalling question 2.1.
It asks whether the participants were aware of their assigned intervention during the trial.
The reviewers identify the answer to this question in the text and let’s say they found that the participants were properly blinded to the intervention and were unaware of the assigned intervention meaning the bias is low and all is good for this signalling question.
The reviewers needed to do it for 22 signalling questions in the RoB 2 tool so the exact procedure shown manually could be translated into the process of annotation.
We need an annotation schema before starting to annotate the corpus
We keep our annotation scheme very similar to how the assessment is structured in the RoB2 guidelines.
Each of our span labels contains information about the domain the text is labelled for, the signalling question and also the response judgment.
As the overall task of RoB assessment and annotation is very complex, we wanted to ensure the way labels are designed makes it easier for them to annotate.
We then proceeded to annotate 10 full-text RCTs by four experts with varied RoB assessment expertise.
This signalling question asks whether the outcomes data were available for all, or nearly all, participants randomized but does not clarify the exact cut-off for how many participant dropouts increase the risk?
Therefore, the annotators make subjective response judgments depending upon what exact percentage of participant dropout is considered valid in their experience.