Objective This article systematically reviews current literature on the efficacy and efficiency of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the treatment of patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), with a particular focus on behavior and cognitive functions. Methods A search was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines using CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library databases. Eleven randomized controlled trials and open-label studies looking at the effects of SSRIs on FTLD patients were included. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed, consisting of 3 randomized and controlled studies that used the neuropsychiatric inventory to assess SSRI intervention. Results The meta-analysis shows a combined mean reduction of 10.17 points (95% confidence interval, 18.14–2.19; P = 0.01) on the neuropsychiatric inventory with SSRI treatment in FTLD patients. The I 2 calculated for this study was 62% (P = 0.07), which represents moderate heterogeneity among the studies. The Egger regression test (P = 0.526) did not show a publication bias. Sensitivity analysis showed no significant change. Conclusions The current meta-analysis supports SSRIs as an intervention for management of behavioral symptoms of FTLD. Marked improvements were seen in disinhibition, irritability, aggression, and aberrant motor activity across studies. However, apathy/loss of empathy did not show similarly promising results. A deteriorative effect on cognition was seen associated with SSRI use.

The increasing number of scholarly journals have made it difficult for authors to select the most suitable journal that publishes their research. Existing search systems that recommend journals for manuscript submission are either based on author's profile, bibliographic data or the copublication network. These approaches are not useful for beginner researchers who have no publication records or for those who are interested in new research domains. The present work proposes a hybrid approach that combines clustering and document similarity for the recommendation of scholarly venues. The proposal was evaluated both objectively and subjectively using domain experts. The results of mean average precision (0.84) and normalized discounted cumulative gain (0.89) shows positive recommendations made by the proposed approach.

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