Meta-Analyses

The aim of the UK Government’s Pupil Premium is to raise achievement among disadvantaged children. It will provide additional funding for disadvantaged pupils to ensure they benefit from the same educational opportunities as pupils from wealthier families. Although the precise mechanism for allocation and evaluation is still being finalised, the amount per pupil has been announced initially as £430 for 2011/12, then perhaps rising to as much as £1750 by 2014/15. The Pupil Premium has a number of wider aims in terms of increasing social mobility; enabling more pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to get to top Universities and reduce the attainment gap between the highest and lowest achieving pupils nationally. Simply spending more on children from less affluent backgrounds, however, will not necessarily improve their learning or their aspirations. There is no direct link between spending on schools and outcomes for pupils. Extensive research in this area shows that it is a complex issue, indicating that the way the money is spent is crucial. So if the Pupil Premium is to succeed in achieving its ambitious goals, the choices that schools make in allocating the money will be vital so that the funding can help raise pupils’ attainment and aspirations. The aim of this report is therefore to summarise some of the research evidence on improving learning and attainment to help schools to make more informed choices about how to support their pupils who are eligible for the additional funding. In each area we have identified different approaches to improving learning in schools, and identified the strength of the existing research evidence and then made an estimate of the costs of adopting the approaches. The toolkit also provides guidance on whether the approaches are applicable to primary or secondary school settings, and in which core subjects – English, mathematics or science. Applying this knowledge in schools about each approach, to ensure that the impact of any changes benefits pupils’ attainment will still be challenging, as there is no simple solution or guaranteed bet. The aim of the toolkit is to encourage schools and teachers to make their own informed choices and adopt a more ‘evidence based’ approach: they will need to monitor the effect of their chosen approach and evaluate the investment to ensure it is having the desired effect.

Detailed technical appendices set out the assumptions behind the toolkit and the data from meta-analysis and other quantitative studies on which the synthesis is based. The primary aim is to provide schools with evidence from education research which will help them to make informed decisions about spending the Pupil Premium to support the learning of disadvantaged pupils. Our emphasis is on identifying comparative messages from existing research. In summarising each particular field a number of judgements have had to be made about the applicability of the research evidence to the challenge of supporting learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. The appendices set out the rationale and sources of evidence for these decisions.

The 'Toolkit' has been adopted by the UK's Education Endowment Foundation and is now regularly updated. It is available here: http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/about-the-toolkit/

This study is a meta-analysis of the effects of out-of-school time (after school, summer camps, enrichment programs, etc.) on the student interest in STEM. This study was guided by the following research questions: (1) How effective is OST as a means to foster student interest in STEM? (2) How does the effectiveness of OST differ by program and study characteristics? A total of 19 independents effect sizes were extracted from 15 studies investigating the effect of out-of-school time (OST) on STEM interest. Included studies were representative of K-12 settings in the United States from 2009-2015. Specifically studies were included if they directly assessed the effects of OST on STEM interest, and provided sufficient data to calculate an effect size. The status of publication was not a constraint on this investigation, thus grey literature was included along with journal articles to provide a more representative sample of studies. The results suggest that out-of-school time has a positive effect on student interest in STEM. Furthermore, the variation in these effects is moderated by program focus, grade level, and the quality of the research design. The effects of out-of-school time on STEM interest are synthesized, and implications for teaching and practice are provided.

Cet article propose une revue de travaux de recherche mettant en relief des aspects liés à la diversité des publics dans les programmes d’éducation bilingue. Une cinquantaine de références ont été compilées et analysées autour de trois axes : diversité des profils scolaires, diversité sociolinguistique et diversité sociale. Les résultats de nombreuses études tendent à indiquer que les élèves rencontrant des difficultés d’apprentissage ne sont pas nécessairement plus à risque dans un programme bilingue que dans un programme classique. Sur le plan de la diversité sociolinguistique, les études disponibles indiquent des compétences comparables entre les élèves du groupe linguistique majoritaire et les élèves qui ont une autre L1, notamment en contexte migratoire, mais ces études demandent à être vérifiées sur des effectifs plus importants. Quant à la question de la diversité sociale, un grand nombre d’études convergent pour montrer que, si les programmes bilingues ne sont pas inégalitaires par nature, la structuration de leur offre contribue à renforcer les inégalités socio-culturelles entre les élèves.

Letter to the Editor:

Dear Editor,
The article “Meta-analyses on COVID-19: scoping review and quality analysis”,(1) published in this journal, shows its relevance when planning meta-analysis and carrying out pertinent discussion about the role of this type of methodology in the current pandemic.
An essential instrument of evidence-based medicine, meta-analysis represents the top of the scale of level of evidence and grade of recommendation.(2) However, the emergency pandemic situation caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), identified in January 2020, brought several implications related to how we conduct, read and analyze systematic reviews and meta-analyses, since there were no original studies on the novel disease.


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A variety of dietary supplements are presently available as slimming aids, but their efficacy has not been proven. One such slimming aid is the bean extract, Phaseolusvulgaris. The aim of the present systematic review is to evaluate the evidence for or against the efficacy of P. vulgaris. Electronic and non-electronic searches were conducted to identify relevant human randomised clinical trials (RCT). Hand searches of bibliographies were also conducted. No age, time or language restrictions were imposed. The eligibility of studies was determined by two reviewers independently, and the methodological quality of the included studies was assessed. We identified eleven eligible trials, and six were included. All the included RCT had serious methodological flaws. A meta-analysis revealed a statistically non-significant difference in weight loss between P. vulgaris and placebo groups (mean difference (MD) − 1·77 kg, 95 % CI − 3·33, 0·33). A further meta-analysis revealed a statistically s...

To synthesize the direct clinical evidence relating waiting times (WTs) for radiotherapy (RT) to the outcomes of RT. We did a systematic review of the literature between 1975 and 2005 to identify clinical studies describing the relationship between WTs and outcomes of RT. Only high quality (HQ) studies that had adequately controlled for confounding factors were included in the primary analysis. WTs that had originally been reported as a categorical variable were converted to a continuous variable based on the distribution of WTs in each category. Meta-analyses were done using a fixed-effect model. The systematic review identified 44 relevant studies. Meta-analyses of 20 HQ studies of local control demonstrated a significant increase in the risk of local failure with increasing WT, RRlocal recurrence/month =1.14, 95% Confidence Intervals (CI): 1.09-1.21. For post-operative RT for breast cancer; RRlocal recurrence/month =1.11, 95%CI: 1.04-1.19. For post-operative RT for head and neck ...

The paper reviews methodological difficulties that arise when using observational studies to evaluate the effect of prenatal screening and treatment. The principle of each difficulty is described and then illustrated by a clinical example of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy and its consequences. Methods to deal with these difficulties are described. Given the limitations of existing observational studies and lack of randomised controlled trials, a systematic review of cohort studies offers the best approach for exploring potential biases.

Introduction: Bevacizumab, a humanized antibody against VEGF, is effective within the treatment of patients with several cancers. However, like several therapeutic agents, important side effects such as arterial thromboembolism, venous thromboembolism, hypertension, neutropenia, proteinuria, and hemorrhage are related to bevacizumab. Thromboembolism is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. Considerations have arisen relating to the chance of venous and arterial thromboembolism with the novel antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab: a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody to a vascular endothelial growth factor which is wide employed in cancer treatment.

In this chapter, we review and synthesize meta-analytic studies about deception detection. We examine the scope, methodology, and findings of meta-analyses on the following topics: deception detection accuracy, moderators of accuracy, perceived verbal and nonverbal cues to deception, actual verbal and nonverbal cues to deception, physiologically based techniques for detecting deception (including polygraphs and brain-imaging tools), cognitive/interrogative techniques for detecting deception, and the effectiveness of training to detect deception. This chapter discusses meta-analytic findings about deception detection techniques commonly used by law enforcement as well as techniques used by laypeople in their interpersonal interactions. We also briefly discuss useful topics for future meta-analyses about deception-related topics, as well as methodological strengths and limitations of meta-analyses about deception detection.

Background: Previous studies have suggested that sub-clinical thyroid states may have detrimental effects on the coronary heart disease (CHD). Whether subclinical thyroid dysfunction is a risk factor for the above is controversial. Methods: A systemic search of the literature using ...

Background and purpose Negative psychological outcomes occur frequently after stroke; however, there is uncertainty regarding the occurrence of anxiety disorders and anxiety symptoms after stroke. A systematic review of observational studies was conducted that assessed the frequency of anxiety in stroke patients using a diagnostic or screening tool. Summary of review Databases were searched up to March 2011. A random effects model was used to summarize the pooled estimate. Statistical heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic. Forty-four published studies comprising 5760 stroke patients were included. The overall pooled estimate of anxiety disorders assessed by clinical interview was 18% (95%confidence interval 8–29%, I2 = 97%) and was 25% (95% confidence interval 21–28%, I2 = 90%) for anxiety assessed by rating scale. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety subscale ‘probable’ and ‘possible’ cutoff scores were the most widely used assessment criteria. The combined...

Aim.  This paper reports a systematic review whose objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of graduated compression stockings as prophylaxis for flight-related venous thrombosis, including deep vein thrombosis and superficial venous thrombosis, after air travel in the general population.Background.  Despite the extended history of the use of graduated compression stockings, their application to prevent flight-related thrombosis was not explored until flight-related thrombosis was perceived as a preventable illness. Even now, their effectiveness in preventing flight-related thrombosis remains unresolved.Methods.  Generic terms including stocking/s, sock/s, or hosiery/hosieries were used to search a variety of electronic databases. Based on the selection criteria, decisions regarding inclusion and exclusion of primary studies were made. Using a meta-analysis software program, relative risk for the incidence of deep vein thrombosis, superficial venous thrombosis, and intention-to-treat analysis was calculated.Results.  A total of nine randomized controlled trials were included. In the treatment group, two of 1237 participants developed deep vein thrombosis in comparison with 46 of 1245 in the control group. The weighted relative risk for deep vein thrombosis was 0·08, with fixed 95% confidence interval 0·03–0·23. In the treatment group, four of 826 participants developed superficial venous thrombosis in comparison with seven of 823 in the control group. The weighted relative risk for superficial venous thrombosis was 0·67. with fixed 95% confidence interval 0·24–1·87 (non-significant difference). Using intention-to-treat analysis, the risk for participants in the treatment group was 0·53 times as great as that for those in the control group.Conclusions.  This review demonstrates the effectiveness of medium compression pressure, below-knee graduated compression stockings in preventing flight-related deep vein thrombosis but not superficial venous thrombosis in low-medium- or high-risk participants.