Submitted by Biblioteca da Faculdade de Farmácia (bff@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-03-21T18:41:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrade, Thays Santos de [Dissertação, 2014].pdf: 467886 bytes, checksum: 9f9c6acd0d2516bb655fb10868b2db29 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-21T18:41:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrade, Thays Santos de [Dissertação, 2014].pdf: 467886 bytes, checksum: 9f9c6acd0d2516bb655fb10868b2db29 (MD5) / O câncer de mama é o tipo que mais acomete as mulheres em todo o mundo. Aproximadamente 30-50% dos pacientes diagnosticados nos estágios iniciais desenvolverão doença metastática, considerada incurável. Nesta fase da doença, as terapias objetivam prolongar a sobrevida e proporcionar controle paliativo dos sintomas. O trastuzumabe, um anticorpo monoclonal dirigido contra o receptor do fator de crescimento epidérmico humano (HER2), vem aumentando as taxas de respostas, sobrevida livre de progressão e/ou sobrevida global no câncer de mama, tendo sido recentemente incorporado pelo Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) para tratamento de câncer de mama inicial e localmente avançado. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar uma revisão sistemática de avaliações de custo-efetividade do trastuzumabe em pacientes com câncer de mama metastático com superexpressão de HER2. Foram realizadas buscas, entre o período de 1998 a 2013, em seis bases de dados eletrônicas, duas ferramentas de busca na internet, além de pesquisa manual de referências. Foram considerados artigos em inglês, espanhol e português, sendo excluídos comentários, editoriais, cartas, estudos de caso, artigos de revisão, revisões sistemáticas e metanálises. As etapas de seleção dos estudos e extração dos dados foram realizadas por dois revisores independentes, e dúvidas foram resolvidas por um terceiro revisor. Os estudos foram avaliados em relação à qualidade seguindo abordagens empregadas por Teerawattananon et al. (2007). A análise dos dados foi realizada a partir da conversão dos custos e de observações das razões incrementais de custo-efetividade do trastuzumabe. Foram identificados 521 estudos, todos em inglês. Destes, descartou-se 455 (294 por não atenderem os critérios da revisão e 161 duplicatas). Sessenta e seis estudos foram incluídos para leitura dos resumos, resultando em 24 para leitura completa do texto. No total, 13 estudos compuseram esta revisão. Os esquemas terapêuticos adotados nas análises de custo-efetividade foram variados. Oito estudos compararam o tratamento do trastuzumabe como 1ª linha para doença metastática e cinco estudos como 2ª linha, sendo que três destes utilizaram o trastuzumabe como comparador na avaliação econômica e não como intervenção. Todos os estudos que utilizaram o trastuzumabe como 2ª linha de tratamento, não consideraram a intervenção custo-efetiva. Em relação à qualidade dos estudos incluídos, estes apresentaram uma boa qualidade, visto que a maioria cumpriu as diretrizes metodológicas de avaliação de custo-efetividade e utilizaram boas evidências na estimativa dos parâmetros. Finalmente, as análises utilizaram diferentes limiares para determinar se o tratamento com o trastuzumabe foi custo-efetivo, bem como diferenças na modelagem dos custos, desfechos e padrões de tratamento. O uso de trastuzumabe, associado ou não, foi custo-efetivo como tratamento de 1ª linha, diferentemente de quando usado como 2ª linha. Foram encontradas diferenças quanto à qualidade dos estudos incluídos. É necessária a realização de novas avaliações de custo-efetividade do trastuzumabe no câncer de mama metastático que, aliadas a fatores administrativos, sociais e políticos, embasem os gestores na tomada de decisão quanto à sua incorporação / Breast cancer is the type that affects more women worldwide. Approximately 30-50 % of patients diagnosed in the early stages will develop metastatic disease, which is considered incurable. At this stage of the disease, therapies aimed prolong survival and provide palliative symptom control. Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody targeted to the receptor of the human epidermal growth factor (HER2), has increased response rates, progression-free survival and/or overall survival in breast cancer and has recently been incorporated by the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) for treatment of early and locally advanced breast cancer. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the cost-effectiveness analyses of trastuzumab in patients with metastatic breast cancer overexpressing HER2. Searches were conducted between the period 1998-2013, on six electronic databases, two generic searches on the Internet, as well as manual search of references. We considered articles in English, Spanish and Portuguese, being excluded reviews, editorials, letters, case studies, review articles, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The stages of study selection and data extraction were performed by two independent reviewers, and doubts were resolved by one third reviewer. Studies were assessed for quality according to approaches employed by Teerawattananon et al (2007). Data analysis was performed from the conversion of the costs and comments of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of trastuzumab were made. A quantity of 521 studies, all in English, was identified. Of these, we discarded 455 (294 did not meet the criteria for review and 161 duplicates). Sixty-six studies were included for reading the abstracts, resulting in 24 to read the full text. In total, 13 studies composed this review. The treatment regimens adopted on cost-effectiveness evaluations were varied. Eight studies compared the treatment of trastuzumab as 1st line for metastatic disease and five studies as 2nd line, which three of these used trastuzumab as comparator in the economic evaluation and not as an intervention. All studies using trastuzumab as 2nd line treatment did not consider it as a cost-effective intervention. Regarding the quality of the included studies, they showed a good quality, since most fulfilled the methodological guidelines for assessing costeffectiveness and used good evidence in the estimation of parameters. Finally, the evaluations used different thresholds to determine whether treatment with trastuzumab was cost-effective as well as differences in modeling costs, outcomes and treatment regimens. The use of trastuzumab, alone or associated, was cost-effective as treatment of 1st line, unlike when used as 2nd line. Differences were found in the quality of the included studies. Conducting new cost-effectiveness analyses of trastuzumab in metastatic breast cancer, allied to political, social and administrative factors, which helps decision makers about its incorporation, is required

Submitted by Biblioteca da Faculdade de Farmácia (bff@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-03-28T17:15:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrade, Thays Santos de [Dissertação, 2014].pdf: 467886 bytes, checksum: 9f9c6acd0d2516bb655fb10868b2db29 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-28T17:15:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrade, Thays Santos de [Dissertação, 2014].pdf: 467886 bytes, checksum: 9f9c6acd0d2516bb655fb10868b2db29 (MD5) / O câncer de mama é o tipo que mais acomete as mulheres em todo o mundo. Aproximadamente 30-50% dos pacientes diagnosticados nos estágios iniciais desenvolverão doença metastática, considerada incurável. Nesta fase da doença, as terapias objetivam prolongar a sobrevida e proporcionar controle paliativo dos sintomas. O trastuzumabe, um anticorpo monoclonal dirigido contra o receptor do fator de crescimento epidérmico humano (HER2), vem aumentando as taxas de respostas, sobrevida livre de progressão e/ou sobrevida global no câncer de mama, tendo sido recentemente incorporado pelo Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) para tratamento de câncer de mama inicial e localmente avançado. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar uma revisão sistemática de avaliações de custo-efetividade do trastuzumabe em pacientes com câncer de mama metastático com superexpressão de HER2. Foram realizadas buscas, entre o período de 1998 a 2013, em seis bases de dados eletrônicas, duas ferramentas de busca na internet, além de pesquisa manual de referências. Foram considerados artigos em inglês, espanhol e português, sendo excluídos comentários, editoriais, cartas, estudos de caso, artigos de revisão, revisões sistemáticas e metanálises. As etapas de seleção dos estudos e extração dos dados foram realizadas por dois revisores independentes, e dúvidas foram resolvidas por um terceiro revisor. Os estudos foram avaliados em relação à qualidade seguindo abordagens empregadas por Teerawattananon et al. (2007). A análise dos dados foi realizada a partir da conversão dos custos e de observações das razões incrementais de custo-efetividade do trastuzumabe. Foram identificados 521 estudos, todos em inglês. Destes, descartou-se 455 (294 por não atenderem os critérios da revisão e 161 duplicatas). Sessenta e seis estudos foram incluídos para leitura dos resumos, resultando em 24 para leitura completa do texto. No total, 13 estudos compuseram esta revisão. Os esquemas terapêuticos adotados nas análises de custo-efetividade foram variados. Oito estudos compararam o tratamento do trastuzumabe como 1ª linha para doença metastática e cinco estudos como 2ª linha, sendo que três destes utilizaram o trastuzumabe como comparador na avaliação econômica e não como intervenção. Todos os estudos que utilizaram o trastuzumabe como 2ª linha de tratamento, não consideraram a intervenção custo-efetiva. Em relação à qualidade dos estudos incluídos, estes apresentaram uma boa qualidade, visto que a maioria cumpriu as diretrizes metodológicas de avaliação de custo-efetividade e utilizaram boas evidências na estimativa dos parâmetros. Finalmente, as análises utilizaram diferentes limiares para determinar se o tratamento com o trastuzumabe foi custo-efetivo, bem como diferenças na modelagem dos custos, desfechos e padrões de tratamento. O uso de trastuzumabe, associado ou não, foi custo-efetivo como tratamento de 1ª linha, diferentemente de quando usado como 2ª linha. Foram encontradas diferenças quanto à qualidade dos estudos incluídos. É necessária a realização de novas avaliações de custo-efetividade do trastuzumabe no câncer de mama metastático que, aliadas a fatores administrativos, sociais e políticos, embasem os gestores na tomada de decisão quanto à sua incorporação / Breast cancer is the type that affects more women worldwide. Approximately 30-50 % of patients diagnosed in the early stages will develop metastatic disease, which is considered incurable. At this stage of the disease, therapies aimed prolong survival and provide palliative symptom control. Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody targeted to the receptor of the human epidermal growth factor (HER2), has increased response rates, progression-free survival and/or overall survival in breast cancer and has recently been incorporated by the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) for treatment of early and locally advanced breast cancer. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the cost-effectiveness analyses of trastuzumab in patients with metastatic breast cancer overexpressing HER2. Searches were conducted between the period 1998-2013, on six electronic databases, two generic searches on the Internet, as well as manual search of references. We considered articles in English, Spanish and Portuguese, being excluded reviews, editorials, letters, case studies, review articles, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The stages of study selection and data extraction were performed by two independent reviewers, and doubts were resolved by one third reviewer. Studies were assessed for quality according to approaches employed by Teerawattananon et al (2007). Data analysis was performed from the conversion of the costs and comments of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of trastuzumab were made. A quantity of 521 studies, all in English, was identified. Of these, we discarded 455 (294 did not meet the criteria for review and 161 duplicates). Sixty-six studies were included for reading the abstracts, resulting in 24 to read the full text. In total, 13 studies composed this review. The treatment regimens adopted on cost-effectiveness evaluations were varied. Eight studies compared the treatment of trastuzumab as 1st line for metastatic disease and five studies as 2nd line, which three of these used trastuzumab as comparator in the economic evaluation and not as an intervention. All studies using trastuzumab as 2nd line treatment did not consider it as a cost-effective intervention. Regarding the quality of the included studies, they showed a good quality, since most fulfilled the methodological guidelines for assessing costeffectiveness and used good evidence in the estimation of parameters. Finally, the evaluations used different thresholds to determine whether treatment with trastuzumab was cost-effective as well as differences in modeling costs, outcomes and treatment regimens. The use of trastuzumab, alone or associated, was cost-effective as treatment of 1st line, unlike when used as 2nd line. Differences were found in the quality of the included studies. Conducting new cost-effectiveness analyses of trastuzumab in metastatic breast cancer, allied to political, social and administrative factors, which helps decision makers about its incorporation, is required

Orientador: Valdemiro Carlos Sgarbieri / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos e Agricola / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-14T17:39:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Durigan_JoseFernando_D.pdf: 16475647 bytes, checksum: c980f665748b2b60279bd66b8c55ae06 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1985 / Resumo: Este trabalho descreve a toxicidade e o valor protéico relativos a doze cultivares de feijão (Phaseolus vulgaris, L.), produzidos pelo Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, ou seja: Aroana, Cara Suja, Jalo, Goiano Precoce, Carioca, Piratã-l, Iguaçú, Rico-23, Aeté-l, Aeté-3, Rosinha G2 e Roxinho. Estabelecida a composição centesimal dos grãos de todos os cultivares, seguiu-se o estudo da toxidez verifi-cando-se que ratos Wistar alimentados com farinha integral de grãos crus, como única fonte protéica, sucumbiam no período de 3,8 ('Goiano precocel) a 8,4 dias ('Aroan~'). Quando esta farinha integral foi misturada com caseína, evidenciaram-se prejuízos no aproveitamento da ração e no desenvolvimento dos animais, expressos pelas diminuições de peso, de digestibilidade, de valor biológico e de utilização líquida das proteinas (NPU). Estabeleceu-se um correlacionamento positivo e significativo entre a toxicidade, expressa em perda de peso proteína inger! -da, e a atividade hemaglutinante total, enquanto que a atividade antitríptica e o conteúdo de taninos não mostraram correlação com o efeito tóxico.O efeito prejudicial das lectinas manifestou-se pela interação das mesmas com as vilosidades intestinais, causando-lhes graves danos e levando os animais a um aproveitamento inadequado dos nutrientes da ração. Estes efeitos, quando intensos e prolongados, podem levar os ratos ã morte,apesar da capacidade de adaptação e/ou recuperação, demonstrada pelos mesmos. As análises de aminoácidos, por cromatografia gasosa ou de troca iônica, revelaram-se equivalentes e comprova ram que as proteínas dos grãos dos cultivares estudados são deficientes em aminoácidos sulfurados e relativamente ricos em lisina, leucina,' isoleucina, fenilalanina + tirosina e treonina. Não se detectou correlacionamento entre o conteúdo de enxofre total e os teores de aminoácidos sul furados. Contudo, foram encontradas correlações positivas e significativas entre o conteúdo deste elemento e os valores de NPR, ganho de peso, ganho de peso/consumo de proteina, determinados com grãos autoclavados. O conteúdo de metionina potencialmente disponível, da proteína dos grãos, determinado através da reação com BrCN e avaliação por cromatografia gasosa, apresenta correlação significativa com o de metionina biologicamente disponível. O tratamento térmico foi bastante efetivo na eliminação da toxidez natural dos grãos, tornando suas proteínas capazes de promover o desenvolvimento dos ratos. A baixa digestibilidade destas proteínas, também foi atribuída ã eliminação fecal de elevado teor glicoprotéico decorrente da exaustão e degradação, das células caliciformes, causada pela passagem do feijão através do trato intestinal dos animais. Apesar das diferenças. significativas na toxicidade de grãos crus dos cultivares estudados, o valor protéico foi equivalente para todos, quando estes foram tratados térmicamente / Abstract: In the present work, the relative toxicity and protein value of seeds of twelve cultivars of common beans(Phaseolusvulgaris~ L.) were studied. Seeds of the cultivars Aroana, Cara Suja, Jalo, Goiano Precoce, Carioca,Piratã-l,Iguaçú, Rico-23, Aeté-l, Aeté-3, Rosinha G2 and Roxinho, were obtained from the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, SP. The percent composition of the seeds of all cultivars was ascertained. Toxicity studies showed that Wistar rats died within 3,8 ('Goiano Precoce') to 8,4 days ('Aroana')when fed whole seed flour, as the only protein source. When whole seed flour was mixed with casein, strong impairment to ration utilization and animal deveIopment, were observed, and they were expressed as loss of weight, decreased protein digetibility, biological value and net protein utiIization. positive and significant correlation between toxici ty and hemaggIutinin activity was stabIished. On the other hand, antitriptic activity and tannin content did not show any correlation with -the toxic effect. The detrimental effect of lectins was evident by their interaction with the intestinal villi, which resulted in strong structure damage and, thus causing inadequate utilization of ration nutrients. These effects when strong and prolongated can cause the rat' s death, in spite of their adaptive and recovering capacity. Amino acid determination by gas or ion exchange chromatography, showed equivalent results: the seed proteins of alI cultivars studied were deficient in sulfur amino acids, but relatively rich in lysine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine + tyrosine and threonine. No correlation was detected between the total sulfur content and the content of sulfur amino acids in the protein. However, a positive and significant correlation was obtained between the sulfur content and NPR, weight gain/ protein consumption, determined in autoclaved seeds. The content of biologically available methionine of seed proteins, was correlated with the content of chemical ly available methionine as determined by the reaction withBrCN and gas chromatography. "Heat treatment was effective for removing the natural toxicity of common beans, enabling the seed proteins to serve as growth promoters for the rato The low digestibili ty of these proteins was believed to be due to the fecal elimination of high.quantities of nitrogen, mainly glycoprotein as a consequenGe of the exahustion and degradation of goblet cellsi a direct result of the passage of raw bean components throught the intestinal tract of the animaIs. In spite of high difference in toxicity among the cultivars, the protein value was about the same for all cultivars studied. / Doutorado / Doutor em Ciência de Alimentos

Class of 2012 Abstract / Specific Aims: To evaluate the effect on the incidence and nature of pharmacists’ drug utilization review (DUR) interventions of including patient diagnosis on electronic prescription (e-prescription) orders. Methods: This prospective pre-post evaluation was conducted in the outpatient pharmacy of a federally funded community health center over two consecutive four-week periods. During the pre-phase, a clinical pharmacist in the clinic’s onsite pharmacy prospectively reviewed the e-prescriptions received from the clinic’s primary care providers using a standard prospective DUR process and recorded all therapy-related interventions. In the post-phase, providers added a diagnosis on each e-prescription. Interventions were documented using a standard intervention form that has been used in previous research. Chi square and t-tests were used to assess the nominal and interval data, respectively (α=0.05). The Institutional Review Boards of the two collaborating universities approved the study. Main Results: Pharmacist intervention rates on problematic e-prescription orders significantly decreased (4% pre vs. 1% post, p<0.001). Drug-drug interactions (17.5% pre vs. 20% post) and missing information (15% pre vs. 20% post) were the most frequently cited problems that prompted the need for the pharmacist’s intervention. The medication classes most frequently involved in interventions were antibiotics (53% pre vs. 50% post) and central nervous system agents (17% pre vs. 10% post). After receiving clarification, the pharmacist most often dispensed the prescription (33.3% pre vs. 38.4% post) and educated the patient regarding their treatments (18.8% pre vs. 7.7% post). Conclusions: In this small pilot project, including the patient’s diagnosis on e-prescription orders significantly reduced the incidence of pharmacists’ DUR-related interventions. If duplicated in larger studies, our results suggest that providing pharmacists with additional targeted clinical information could reduce confusion and uncertainty thereby decreasing the number of unnecessary pharmacist contacts with prescribers and improving workflow and efficiency for both.

A review of the species groups of the Neotropical myrmecophilous genus Homopterus Westwood is presented based on the first molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus and morphological study of 260 specimens. Two new species groups, the H. subcordatus group and the H. filiko group are erected based on the results of the molecular phylogenetic analysis and morphological analysis. The genus consists of one species known only from Dominican amber, H. hispanolienses Nagel, and thirteen extant species, one of which is described as new: Homopterus filiko n.sp. from Peru. An illustrated dichotomous identification key to species, diagnoses of the species groups and updated distribution maps are provided. The potential of several of the species groups to harbor additional cryptic diversity is discussed.

Context. Agile methods address the challenges of an unpredictable world by relying on “people and their creativity rather than on processes”, accelerate delivery of software and considered as a reaction to plan-based or traditional methods. Distributed software development helps to access a pool of skilled personnel, completion of tasks around the clock and more. Incorporating of agile methods in distributed software development could help to solve some problems of distributed software development such as lack of communication and its dependencies, close collaboration and so on. Objectives. In this study we investigate the proposed benefits of pair programming, an XP development technique used by agile, and its effects on performance and social practices in distributed software development. Methods. Systematic literature review and an experiment are utilized to fulfill the objectives of this study. In the systematic review a sub-set of the research articles are selected relevant to the subject of this study from the electronic sources including, ACM Digital Library, IEEE, Xplore, EiVillage (Compendx, Inspec), Science Direct and ISI Web of Science. Experiment is conducted to investigate the pair programming effects on performance and social practices. Results. Many proposed benefits of pair programming in existing literature are identified and reported in both collocated and distributed settings. Pair programming is reported as an effective software development technique as well as a pedagogical tool. Experimental results showed that pair programming also effects performance in distributed software development, and positively impacts the social practices (human or social factors). Conclusions. There are many benefits of pair programming reported in collocated settings and less in distributed software development. Pair programming impacts the performance and social practices positively. However, we also conclude that the effective use of pair programming in distributed software development will yield the concrete results as well as the programmers’ pairs should be trained, experienced and well motivated for an effective use of pair programming and to overcome the challenges of distributed software development.

No description available.

The Verification and Validation provides support to improve the quality of the software. Verification and Validation ensures that the product is stable and developed according to the requirements of the end user. This thesis presents a systematic review of dynamic programming languages and verification &amp; validation practices used for dynamic languages. This thesis presents results found in dynamic programming languages and verification &amp; validation over the period of 1985 – 2008. The study is aimed to start from identification of dynamic aspects along with the differences between static and dynamic languages. Furthermore, this thesis is also intends to give overview of the verification and validation practices for dynamic languages. Moreover to validate the verification and validation results, a survey consisting of (i) interviews and (ii) online survey is conducted. After the analysis of systematic review, it has been found that dynamic languages are making progress in some of the areas like integration of common development framework, language enhancement, dynamic aspects etc. The Dynamic languages are lacking in providing a better performance than static languages. There are also some factors found in this study that can raise the popularity of dynamic languages in the industry. Based on the analysis of systematic review, interviews and online survey, it is concluded that there is no difference between the methodologies available for Verification and Validation. It is also revealed that dynamic languages provide support to maintain software quality with their characteristics and dynamic features. Moreover, they also support to test softwares developed with static language. It is concluded that test driven development should be adopted while working with the dynamic languages. Test driven development is supposed to be a mandatory part of dynamic languages. / Farrakh Saeed +46765597558

Requirements traceability provides support for many software engineering activities like impact analysis, requirements validation and regression testing. In addition requirements traceability is the recognized component of many software process improvement initiatives. Requirements traceability also helps to control and manage evolution of a software system. This thesis presents a systematic review and a framework for requirements traceability. The systematic review is aimed at presenting fair evaluation of research concerning requirements traceability over the period 1997 – 2007. The systematic review aims at identifying probable gaps in research about requirements traceability and opens new horizons to explore. Moreover, two companies have been interviewed to understand the practice of requirements traceability in industry. After the analysis of industrial interviews these companies have been classified into two categories of traceability users. These categories are high-end traceability users and low-end traceability users. Based on the analysis of systematic review results and industrial interviews, this thesis presents a framework for requirements traceability called ‘Three Level Framework for Requirements Traceability (TLFRT)’. This framework is composed of three levels. The level 0 of this framework focuses on pre-RS traceability where as level 1 and level 2 focuses on post-RS traceability. The level 1 provide traceability for the functional requirements, where as level 2 provide traceability for non-functional requirements. TLFRT provides guidelines to a process that can be tailored to fit the needs of the high-end traceability users and low-end traceability users as well. This framework has been statically validated in two companies. The validation of TLFRT in industry resulted in compilation of lessons learned, which ensures that this theoretical framework could also be used in real industrial environment. The results of the research presented in this thesis are aimed at supporting requirements traceability by taking its current issues/challenges into account. / 0046(0)707381947

Objectives: The thesis comprises two parts. Firstly, a systematic review (SR) systematically examined meta-analytic studies assessing the prevalence of sexual abuse in childhood. A meta-analysis sought to systematically identify and synthesise data from studies providing prevalence estimates of contact and non-contact child sexual abuse (CSA) as self-reported by adolescents within the past 10 years. Methods: Consistent with Cochrane Collaboration guidelines, the systemic review adopted a comprehensive search of electronic databases and additional sources, including communication with authors working in the field, and the use of ancestry and descendency approaches between February 2013 and March 2014. The meta-analysis also adopted an equally systematic search conducted from March 2013 to June 2014. Assessment of quality and risk of bias were conducted on the included studies using PRISMA criteria and STROBE guidelines. Results: The systematic review identified six meta-analytic studies for review. The quality of studies and the range of definitional and methodological factors studied varied; results sections were well covered, whereas, quality and risk of bias within studies were generally poorly addressed. Prevalence estimates varied considerably and high heterogeneity was consistent across all analyses. Nine population studies measuring prevalence of contact and non-contact CSA were included in the meta-analysis. Meta-analyses were conducted overall and across male and female populations. Prevalence estimates varied considerably across studies, with contact CSA ranging from 2% to 39.8% and overall non-contact CSA, estimates ranged from 1% to 24.6%. Substantial heterogeneity was present across all analyses and therefore findings should be interpreted with caution. Nevertheless, the findings were thought-provoking and most likely due to differences in definitions of CSA and inconsistent use of validated instruments. Conclusions: Child sexual abuse is an international problem which is highly pervasive across all societies and populations studied. Females consistently report higher rates of CSA than males, and some Asian countries, namely China, produce relatively lower CSA estimates, even controlling for a wide range of methodological factors and study characteristics. The considerable heterogeneity was apparent both between and within studies and it appears likely based on the current findings, and in the context of previous research, that there are a wide range of methodological and socio-demographic factors which moderate CSA prevalence estimates. More specifically, the lack of a universally recognised definition of CSA proves especially problematic for researchers. The issue is further complicated by use of non-standardised instruments and inconsistent reporting and dissemination of findings. There is a need for future epidemiological studies to adhere to universal guidelines using standard definitions, standardisation of instruments and standardisation of reporting and dissemination to facilitate development of health policies, resource allocation and prevention initiatives for clinical and social services.