Placebo Controls: Scientific and Ethical Issues

Placebo controls: scientific and ethical issues.

Scientific vs. Cookbook Econometrics An emphasis on the Ethical Issues

During the 1960’s, many as was firmly supported by the historical founders of econometrics, had hoped that econometrics would provide a sound scientific foundation for econometrics in which each element of specification would be determined primarily on the basis of economic theory. However, due to misusing of econometrics and also wide usage of the so called cookbook econometrics, many research...

Scientific and ethical issues in equivalence trials.

ANY TESTING OF MEDICAL TREATMENTS IS AN EXERcise in comparison. In a typical clinical trial, 2 treatments are compared to determine which is better or if both are the same. Trials designed to address whether one treatment is better than the other may be called superiority trials, whereas those designed to show that 2 treatments are the same are called equivalence trials. However, the design of ...

Electroshock : scientific , ethical , and political issues ∗

Electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) is increasingly used in North America and there are attempts to promote its further use world-wide. However, most controlled studies of efficacy in depression indicate that the treatment is no better than placebo with no positive effect on the rate of suicide. ECT is closed-head electrical injury, typically producing a delirium with global mental dysfunction (a...

Randomized Controlled Trials: Ethical and Scientific Issues in the Choice of Placebo or Active Control

The use of control group in clinical trials has been universally acclaimed by researchers to effectively help discriminate between the actual effects of an intervention and those arising from other factors. However, the choice of the control that provided both scientific and ethical acceptability among researchers has been a source of intense debate. We conducted a literature search on the use ...