|
Iranian Cochrane Informal Network (ICInet)
Science and medicine have a long and rich history in the Middle East and Iran, extending back to the ancient Mesopotamian period (c 3000BC). Throughout this period several of the region’s early medical scholars, especially Avicenna and Razi, have made a significant contribution, and left a lasting legacy, to the body of present day medical knowledge.
The advancement of medical science is considered to be one of the most important core responsibilities of the large number of Medical Universities, Specialist Research Centers and similar academic institutions which are located around Iran. And many of these institutions have now recognised the importance of teaching and practicing Evidence-based medicine and the specific contribution of the Cochrane Collaboration in producing the best single source of reliable evidence about the effects of health care, The Cochrane Library.
An increasing number of Iranian healthcare professionals have expressed an interest in coming together to establish a more formal arrangement with the UK Cochrane Centre, which is the reference Centre for Iran, and the ICI net has been established to satisfy this need. Its principal aims are; to expand the involvement of Iranian contributors within the Cochrane Collaboration and to work towards establishing an Iranian branch of the UK Cochrane Centre in the future.
The Cochrane Collaboration and The Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit and independent organization, dedicated to ensuring the availability of up-to-date and accurate information about the effects of healthcare. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.
For more information on the Cochrane Collaboration, Go to http://www.cochrane.org/
The reference center for Iran is the UK Cochrane Center, Go to
http://www.cochrane.co.uk/en/index.htm
The nearest Cochrane Collaboration contact point is the Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane Center , Go to http://bahrain.cochrane.org/en/index.html
The main publication of the Cochrane Collaboration which includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is the Cochrane Library
(http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/) , which is “the best single source of reliable evidence about the effects of health care”.
Cochrane Reviews are systematic assessments of evidence of the effects of healthcare interventions, intended to help people to make informed decisions about healthcare, their own or someone else's. They explore the effectiveness and appropriateness of health care treatments (medications, surgery, education, etc).
The principal aims and core functions of the ICI Net:
1. To uphold the ten guiding principles of The Cochrane Collaboration.
2. To promote awareness about the Cochrane Collaboration by involving clinicians, consumers and researchers.
3. To provide training and support for new and existing Cochrane authors in Iran
4. To handsearch Iranian healthcare journals and to submit the search results to CENTRAL.
5. To translate relevant resources and documents to and from the Farsi language.
6. To support and promote research to improve the quality of Cochrane systematic reviews.
7. To develop review topics in conjunction with the CDCN, the Health Equity and the Health Promotion & Public Health Fields which are relevant to the health care needs of Iran
ViTaMIN program (Virtual Training and Mentoring International Network)
Virtual communities provide the potential to increase participation in evidence based practice and bringing together a range of cultural perspectives and experience of different healthcare systems. The Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane centre together with the Iranian Cochrane informal Network (ICInet) (http://www.dent.sbmu.ac.ir/icinet.asp) has played an active role since 2006 in recruiting new co-authors and in connecting them with Cochrane authors from different countries around the world and in the process creating and virtually mentoring teams of new and experienced authors to conduct Cochrane systematic reviews. Seventeen Cochrane reviews were published in Issue 2, 2009 of the Cochrane library during this collaboration with 3-6 authors. In only two reviews were all of the authors from one country and totally there were 21 different types of international co-authorships in the matrix. The authors were from different institutes in Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Iran, Jamaica, Singapore, Switzerland, UK, United Arab Emirates and US. In four reviews, authors from four countries were involved and in seven review, individuals from three countries. The remaining four reviews had authors from two different countries. The virtual training and mentorship program provides an opportunity to increase the number of Cochrane reviews published in the library along with increasing international collaboration and co-authorship. It also provides the opportunity that authors from countries with limited resources would be able to get training and mentoring to conduct Cochrane reviews.
A presentation in the WONCA Congress in Istanbul, Turkey on the Cochrane Activities in Middle East, Sep 2008 (http://www.slideshare.net/monalisa1n/introduction-to-the-cochrane-collaboration-in-middle-east-wonca)
Meet with us in the Cochrane Colloquium in Singapore, Oct 2009 (http://www.colloquium09.com/)
Fedorowicz, Z. Middle East: ViTaMIN project. Monday 12 October 2009, 09:00 – 10:30.
Nasser M, Fedorowicz Z, Sequeira P, Newton T, Souza RD, Javaheri H. Evaluating the impact of the ViTaMIN (Virtual Training and Mentoring International Network) project (Poster)
Members:
Akram Idrisi (UK)
Arezoo Ebn Ahmadi
Ahmad Ali Enayati
Alireza Firooz
Alireza Khatami
Asghar Ebadifar
Azin Nahvijou
Avesta Razavi
Behnood Bikdeli
Emad Ahmadi
Elham Ahmadi
Farshad Kasraee
Hoda Javaheri
Hojjat Salmasian
Hossain Jabbari
Farhad Handjani
Farshad Kasraei
Farrokh Habibzadeh
Farzam Gorouhi
Hadi Beihaghi
Hamid Baradaran
Hora Soltani (UK)
Kobra Yassiny
Ladan Eslamian
Lily Nosraty
Leyli Islami
Mahtab Nouri
Maryam Shahiri
Masoud Majed
Mersedeh Rohanizadegan
Mohammad Khoshnevisan
Mojtaba Dorri (UK)
Mona Nasser
Masoud Seifi
Nahid Khodakarami
Narges Khanjani
Nasser ShaksSalim
Nastaran Keshavarz
Nima Rezaei
Parvin Mehdipour
Rasoul Sotoudemanesh
Rasoul Mofid
Reza Yousefi Noorai
Saeed Dastgiri
Sanambar Sadighi
Sakineh Hajebrahimi
Sepideh Haghazali
Seyed Ahmad Hassantash
Seyed Foad Ahmadi
Seyed Jalile Sadr
Shadi Kalantarian
Shahram Ghanaati (Germany)
Siavosh Nasseri-Moghaddam
Shadi Kalantarian
Vahid Ravaghi (UK)
Zaman Noorani
Zohereh Ahangari
We also prepare and send a Newsletter to all of the Iranians who would like to know more about the Cochrane Collaboration. For more information, please contact: Mona Nasser (monalisa1n@gmail.com)
Guiding principles
Further information available: http://www.cochrane.org/docs/tenprinciples.doc
Promoting awareness
Newcomers Guide: http://www.cochrane.org/docs/newcomersguide.htm
Introductory leaflets: http://www.cochrane.org/resources/leaflet.htm
Training and support: http://www.cochrane.org/resources/training.htm
Open learning material: http://www.cochrane-net.org/openlearning/
Getting involved
http://www.cochrane.org/docs/involve.htm#involve
Translation
To improve accessibility this website will be available in English and Farsi, we are currently undertaking the translation of other Cochrane resources and training material. If you are fluent in both languages and would like to contribute, please contact us.
Interested in conducting a Cochrane Systematic Review?
Don’t know how?
Would you like to learn how?
Do you have an interesting/ ‘hot topic’ clinical question?
Contact Mona Nasser (monalisa1n@gmail.com).
Frequently asked questions: http://www.cochrane.org/docs/faq.htm
Glossary http://www.cochrane.org/resources/glossary.htm
Publications by Cochrane authors in Iran:
Nasseri Moghaddam S, Abrishami A, Malekzadeh R. Percutaneous needle aspiration, injection, and reaspiration with or without benzimidazole coverage for uncomplicated hepatic hydatid cysts. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD003623. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003623.pub2.
Nasser M, Fedorowicz Z, Ebadifar A. Management of the fractured edentulous atrophic mandible. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD006087. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006087.pub2.
Baba-Akbari Sari A, Flemming K, Cullum NA, Wollina U. Therapeutic ultrasound for pressure ulcers. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001275. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001275.pub2.
Enayati A, Garner P, Hemingway J. Electronic mosquito repellents for preventing mosquito bites and malaria infection. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD005434. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005434. (Review will be published in Issue 2, 2007)
Yousefi-Nooraie R, Schonstein E, Heidari K, Rashidian A, Akbari-Kamrani M, Irani S, Shakiba B, Mortaz Hejri Sa, Mortaz Hejri So, Jonaidi A. Low level laser therapy for nonspecific low-back pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD005107. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005107.pub2.
Fedorowicz Z, Nasser M, Newton JT, Oliver RJ. Resorbable versus titanium plates for orthognathic surgery. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD006204. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006204.pub2.
Salmasian H, Banihosseini S, Ferrara JLM, Hahn T, McCarthy P, Rabbani Anari M, Rahimi Darabad R, Rohanizadegan M, Shakiba A. Corticosteroids versus other single drugs or drug combinations for treatment of acute and chronic graft versus host disease (GvHD) after allogenic stem cell transplantation. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD005565. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005565.
Mortaz Hejri S, Mostafazadeh Davani B, Sahraian MA. Carotid endarterectomy for carotid stenosis in patients selected for coronary artery bypass graft. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD006074. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006074.
Mortaz-Hejri S, Yousefi-Nooraie R, Akbari Kamrani M. Caffeine for cognition. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD006446. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006446.
Oliver RJ, Drews PJ, Fedorowicz Z, Nasser M, Sharif M, Newton JT. Interventions for the treatment of fractures of the mandibular condyle. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD006538. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006538.
Sequeira P, Fedorowicz Z, Nasser M, Pedrazzi V. Ultrasonic versus hand instrumentation for orthograde root canal treatment of permanent teeth. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD006384. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006384.
NasserM, FedorowiczZ,KhoshnevisanMH, ShahiriTabarestaniM. Acyclovir for treating primary herpetic gingivostomatitis. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD006700. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006700.
NasserM, Fedorowicz Z, Ghanaati SM, Newton JT, NouriM. Interventions for the management of submucous cleft palate. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD006703. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006703.
Nasser M, Fedorowicz Z, Javaheri H, Noorani Z. Carnitine supplementation for treating people with inborn errors of metabolism. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD006659. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006659.
Although no Iranian participated in the first Cochrane Colloquium but there were some Oral and Poster presentations from Iranian Contributors in the 13th Melbourne (2005) and 14th Dublin Colloquium (2006).
|
