If you haven't already completed part I of this tutorial, click here to go to part I.
If you've finished part I, you've already created:
You're now ready to test your keyword search in PubMed.
Now that you've constructed your keyword search you need to return to PubMed.
If you used truncation with a trunk shorter than 4 letters, you will be told that you need to lengthen the word trunk.
If single-word or hyphenated terms are not found in any PubMed record, a message to that effect will appear (see arrow in figure).
Check the terms listed for mis-spelled search terms. Correct any mis-spellings in your search statement.
Do not remove single-word or hyphenated terms from your search just because they're "not found." You may need to update your search in the future, and these terms may be present in a record added to PubMed tomorrow.
PubMed will say that the [all] was ignored, but it stops autocorrection none-the-less. Do not remove it.
A message about "quoted phrases" that were "not found" is not produced by the tutorial search, but may be present when you work on your project searches.
This does not mean that there were no records in PubMed containing the listed quoted phrases. It means that the listed quoted phrases were not in the list of phrases that the powers-that-be have decided PubMed should search as phrases.
If a space-containing drug name is in the list of "not found" "quoted phrases," remove the drug name from your search and keep a record of the removed term/s. The way PubMed handles "not found" phrases causes problems when the "not found" phrase is a drug name.
If a disease name or other non-drug concept that contains a space is not found, it's usually safe to leave the phrase in your search.
Sometimes a "Did you mean" message is present. Pubmed often offers you an errant, autocorrected version of your search. DO NOT click on this altered version of your search.
Even if you see no warnings, it's a good idea to look at the "Search Details."
The "translations" of terms in this search are all true to the intended meaning of the entered keywords. There is no reason to make any alterations in the search strategy because of these translations.
This tutorial will give you a chance to practice producing these three types of keyword searches using the "eculizumab treatment of PNH" search.
What is retrieved?
The first required variant of the keyword search is a search for indexed and unindexed:
Why?
Authors of new systematic reviews are expected to be aware of the recommendations made in these previous publications. Drs. Yee and Cochran like to ask how group findings compare to recent practice guidelines.
How?
"systematic rev.+ meta-analyses + guidelines" filter
-- under the keyword search strategy (with any other filters applied) in the section of the search strategy template devoted to systematic reviews.
Both are actually search strategies that are AND'd (invisibly) to your search. They include OR'd together keywords, journal titles, publication type tags and MeSH headings that are characteristically found in records for the publication types of interest. Because keywords and journal titles are included in the filters, they can retrieve unindexed and indexed records.
If your search is retrieving no results:
If your search is retrieving far more irrelevant than relevant results:
As of 8/2021, the "paroxysmal hemoglobinuria and eculizumab," systematic review search retrieves only 15 results (14 English-language results). Two of these, a 2021 J Pediatr Hematol Oncol article and a 2014 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews article would be very useful to a student writing his or her own systematic review on this topic.
The second version of your keyword search that must be run retrieves unindexed records. Including:
Why? The most up-to-date articles on your topic may be represented by records that haven't been indexed yet. These records can't be retrieved by a MeSH search. You wouldn't want to miss the most up-to-date evidence.
NOT MEDLINE[sb] -- to your search statement (as shown below).
(Publication date limits can be used when searching for unindexed records, but there are few good reasons to use publication date limits. Think twice before applying a pub date limit.)
100 results before addition of the -- AND random*.
4 results after addition of the -- AND random*
How:
Click on the filters one at a time. Each time wait for the page to refresh and limited results to appear before clicking on the next filter.
As of 8/2021, the keyword search for RCTs focused on eculizumab use in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria retrieves the 13 results. 1 more record than was retrieved by the MeSH search.
It's a good idea to compare the results of the MeSH and keyword search by looking at:
keyword results not retrieved by the MeSH search
and
MeSH search results not retrieved by the keyword search.
Click on the "Advanced" link under the PubMed search box to see the search history table.
If you were working on your group project, you would need to save the search strategies for the three, keyword search variants in the "search strategy figure" template that already contains your MeSH search strategy.
Click here to see the keyword search history how the specific searches are added to the "search strategy figure" template.
In the past, Drs. Cochran and Yee have asked that students in past classes include a record retrieval and review flow chart in their written projects and oral presentations. They will probably ask that you the same. Click here to see an example of what the flow chart might look like for this search.
The general outline for the flow chart is available for download at http://www.prisma-statement.org/documents/PRISMA_2020_flow_diagram_new_SRs_v1.docx.
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