Requesting Access to Databases Compiled by Collins, Greenhouse et al.
Peter Zimmerman, Case Western Reserve University
14 January 2007
The review by Collins, Greenhouse et al. on the application of molecular markers to discrimiate between recrudescent and new infections in clinical antimalarial efficacy trials [1] provides a helpful review of a fragmented aspect of the literature on malaria epidemiology. As the World Health Organization recommends that post-treatment follow-up timepoints should be monitored by molecular techniques (PCR
genotyping) when available [2], an increase in the development and application of molecular diagnostics approaches is anticipated. Consolidating information on studies that have performed these analyses in clinical antimalarial efficacy trials is a first step toward communicating how molecular diagnosis is being performed in these studies.
The summary data provided by Collins, Greenhouse et al. was based upon a systematic approach to identify studies that fulfilled defined selection criteria, and an EndNote Library (Thomson ResearchSoft), and Microsoft Access databases have been established to catelogue the corresponding manuscripts. This effort is consistent with another recent publication in the Malaria Journal by Sibley and Ringwald encouraging the development of an open-access database focused on antimalarial drug resistance [3]. With growing interest in joining efforts to combat the persistant problem of antimalarial drug resistance it is very likely that many investigators would be interested in obtaining access to the data compiled by Collins, Greenhouse et al. Evaluating further the details of the studies reviewed by these authors will assist others to become familiar with the range of molecular diagnostic strategies that have been used, encourage development and validation of new and more efficient molecular diagnostic approaches, and assist others planning clinical antimalarial efficacy trials in developing protocols to enable comparisons between trials. Would the authors and the Malaria Journal make the databases from this manuscript available through this open-access site?
1. WJ Collins, B Greenhouse, PJ Rosenthal, G Dorsey: The use of genotyping in antimalarial clinical trials: a systematic review of published studies from 1995-2005. Malar J 2006, 5:122.
2. Guidelines for the treatment of malaria. http://www.who.int/malaria/docs/TreatmentGuidelines2006.pdf
3. CH Sibley, P Ringwald: A database of antimalarial drug resistance. Malar J 2006, 5:48.
Competing interests
None declared
Databases now available online
Bryan Greenhouse, University of California, San Francisco
24 January 2007
In response to Dr. Zimmerman's request, we are more than happy to make the databases used in this study available. It is not currently possible to post the data on the Malaria Journal website, however these data are now available on the Makerere Univeristy - University of California San Francisco (MU-UCSF) website: http://www.muucsf.org/protocols/data_GenotypingSystematicReview.asp
Two excel spreadsheets are present, one with each trial in a separate row, one with each treatment arm in a separate row. Both spreadsheets contain all clinical trials included in the study. These spreadsheets link via the "idnumb" field to the record numbers of the references for the trials, found in the endnote library.
Requesting Access to Databases Compiled by Collins, Greenhouse et al.
14 January 2007
The review by Collins, Greenhouse et al. on the application of molecular markers to discrimiate between recrudescent and new infections in clinical antimalarial efficacy trials [1] provides a helpful review of a fragmented aspect of the literature on malaria epidemiology. As the World Health Organization recommends that post-treatment follow-up timepoints should be monitored by molecular techniques (PCR
genotyping) when available [2], an increase in the development and application of molecular diagnostics approaches is anticipated. Consolidating information on studies that have performed these analyses in clinical antimalarial efficacy trials is a first step toward communicating how molecular diagnosis is being performed in these studies.
The summary data provided by Collins, Greenhouse et al. was based upon a systematic approach to identify studies that fulfilled defined selection criteria, and an EndNote Library (Thomson ResearchSoft), and Microsoft Access databases have been established to catelogue the corresponding manuscripts. This effort is consistent with another recent publication in the Malaria Journal by Sibley and Ringwald encouraging the development of an open-access database focused on antimalarial drug resistance [3]. With growing interest in joining efforts to combat the persistant problem of antimalarial drug resistance it is very likely that many investigators would be interested in obtaining access to the data compiled by Collins, Greenhouse et al. Evaluating further the details of the studies reviewed by these authors will assist others to become familiar with the range of molecular diagnostic strategies that have been used, encourage development and validation of new and more efficient molecular diagnostic approaches, and assist others planning clinical antimalarial efficacy trials in developing protocols to enable comparisons between trials. Would the authors and the Malaria Journal make the databases from this manuscript available through this open-access site?
1. WJ Collins, B Greenhouse, PJ Rosenthal, G Dorsey: The use of genotyping in antimalarial clinical trials: a systematic review of published studies from 1995-2005. Malar J 2006, 5:122.
2. Guidelines for the treatment of malaria. http://www.who.int/malaria/docs/TreatmentGuidelines2006.pdf
3. CH Sibley, P Ringwald: A database of antimalarial drug resistance. Malar J 2006, 5:48.
Competing interests
None declared
Databases now available online
24 January 2007
In response to Dr. Zimmerman's request, we are more than happy to make the databases used in this study available. It is not currently possible to post the data on the Malaria Journal website, however these data are now available on the Makerere Univeristy - University of California San Francisco (MU-UCSF) website: http://www.muucsf.org/protocols/data_GenotypingSystematicReview.asp
Two excel spreadsheets are present, one with each trial in a separate row, one with each treatment arm in a separate row. Both spreadsheets contain all clinical trials included in the study. These spreadsheets link via the "idnumb" field to the record numbers of the references for the trials, found in the endnote library.
We hope that others find these data useful.
Competing interests
None declared