'Systematic reviews and meta-analyses, such as those published by the Cochrane Library, are routinely used to assess clinical treatment trials but are currently underutilized in assessment of preclinical studies, despite urgent need for such assessment given limited understanding of how therapeutic testing in animals can be projected to humans. Standardization of methods for conducting and reporting

experimental preclinical trials would facilitate formal statistical analysis of the data and an understanding of the significance of the results, in addition to informing the

process of prediction between experimental models and from models to patients.'

Trevitt CR. Collinge J, A systematic review of prion therapeutics in experimental models. Brain. 2006 Sep;129(Pt 9):2241-65