Probiotics were better than placebo in reducing the number of participants experiencing episodes of acute URTI, the mean duration of an episode of acute URTI, antibiotic use and cold-related school absence. This indicates that probiotics may be more beneficial than placebo for preventing acute URTIs. However, the quality of the evidence was low or very low.

Probiotics were better than placebo in reducing the number of participants experiencing episodes of acute URTIs, the rate ratio of episodes of acute URTI and reducing antibiotic use. This indicates that probiotics may be more beneficial than placebo for preventing acute URTIs. However, the results have some limitations and there were no data for older people.

There is currently insufficient evidence of the effects of Huperzine A for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Huperzine A is derived from Chinese club moss Huperzia serrata, and is described as having several properties which may be beneficial for AD. This review looked for randomized trials comparing Huperzine A with control in patients with AD. Six trials were identified but most trials were of low methodological quality. Although Huperzine A seemed to have some beneficial effects on improvement of general cognitive function, global clinical status, behavioral disturbance and functional performance for patients with AD, the small trials with limited numbers of patients and the low methodological quality resulted in cautious assessment of the results. More large, high-quality randomized trials are needed.

We cannot conclude whether thrombolytic therapy is better than heparin for pulmonary embolism based on the limited evidence found. More double-blind RCTs, with subgroup analysis of patients presenting with haemodynamically stable acute pulmonary embolism compared to those patients with a haemodynamic unstable condition, are required.

Education programmes appear to have beneficial effects on improving patients' knowledge of diabetes and some self-management behavioural changes for patients with diabetes on dialysis or with microalbuminuria. Educational programmes appear to have beneficial effects on improving patients' self-efficacy and result in some beliefs changes for patients with diabetes and microalbuminuria. However, only two studies with small sample sizes and inadequate quality were included in this review. There is, therefore, inadequate evidence to support the beneficial effects of education programmes for people with DKD.

Substantial variation exists in the CHAI according to sociodemographic characteristics and geographic regions. The CHAI could identify Chinese elderly adults with low risk of adverse outcomes and provide incremental value for risk prediction beyond clinically diagnosed comorbidities.

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Analysis 2.1. Comparison 2 Thrombolytic therapy versus heparin: primary outcome measures (sensitivity analysis according to study quality), Outcome