We followed a systematic approach based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to identify existing clinical natural language processing (NLP) systems that generate structured information from unstructured free text. Seven literature databases were searched with a query combining the concepts of natural language processing and structured data capture. Two reviewers screened all records for relevance during two screening phases, and information about clinical NLP systems was collected from the final set of papers. A total of 7149 records (after removing duplicates) were retrieved and screened, and 86 were determined to fit the review criteria. These papers contained information about 71 different clinical NLP systems, which were then analyzed. The NLP systems address a wide variety of important clinical and research tasks. Certain tasks are well addressed by the existing systems, while others remain as open challenges that only a small number of systems attempt, such as extraction of temporal information or normalization of concepts to standard terminologies. This review has identified many NLP systems capable of processing clinical free text and generating structured output, and the information collected and evaluated here will be important for prioritizing development of new approaches for clinical NLP.

The quantitative meta-analysis and qualitative review found that the association between SB consumption and BMI was near zero, based on the current body of scientific evidence.

Background The low influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) observed during the A(H3N2)-dominated 2017–2018 season may be due to vaccine virus adaptation to growth in eggs. We compared the effectiveness of cell-cultured and egg-based vaccines among Medicare beneficiaries. Methods Retrospective cohort study on Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 years who received an influenza vaccine (cell-cultured, egg-based quadrivalent; egg-based high-dose, adjuvanted, or standard-dose trivalent) during the 2017–2018 season. We used Poisson regression to evaluate relative VE (RVE) in preventing influenza-related hospital encounters. Results Of >13 million beneficiaries, RVE for cell-cultured vaccines relative to egg-based quadrivalent vaccines was 10% (95% confidence interval [CI], 7%–13%). In a midseason interim analysis, this estimate was 16.5% (95% CI, 10.3%–22.2%). In a 5-way comparison, cell-cultured (RVE, 11%; 95% CI, 8%–14%) and egg-based high-dose (RVE, 9%; 95% CI, 7%–11%) vaccines were more effective than egg-based quadrivalent vaccines. Conclusions The modest VE difference between cell-cultured and egg-based vaccines only partially explains the low overall VE reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggesting that egg adaptation was not the main contributor to the low VE found among individuals aged ≥65 years. The midseason interim analysis we performed demonstrates that our methods can be used to evaluate VE actively during the influenza season.

Patterns of beverage consumption among children and adolescents are related to age, race, and gender. The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and beverage consumption is unclear. In this paper, the total amount and the types of beverages consumed were analyzed according to age, race, and gender. Multivariate regression models were estimated for consumption of milk, juices, fruit drinks/ades, and carbonated soft drinks. Descriptive and multivariate regression analysis of children aged 6-19 from the US Department of Agriculture's Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals 1994-96, 98 was performed. It was found that age, race, and gender play a significant role in the total amount, types, and relative proportions of beverages consumed by children and adolescents. Individuals in the first decile drink approximately 212.9 g beverages per day, whereas individuals in the tenth decile drink 2036.2 g. Boys drink more of most beverages than girls do. Older teens tend to drink more carbonated beverages, fruit drinks/ades, and citrus juice, but less fluid milk and non-citrus juice. White adolescent boys are heavy consumers of most beverages, including carbonated soft drinks, milk, and fruit drinks/ades. BMI is positively associated with consumption of diet carbonated beverages and negatively associated with consumption of citrus juice. BMI was not associated with consumption of milk, regular carbonated beverages, regular or diet fruit drinks/ades, or non-citrus juices. In conclusion, total beverage consumption and beverage choices are strongly related to age, race, and gender. BMI was only related to consumption of diet carbonated beverages and milk, and those relationships were weak.