BACKGROUND Population-based cancer registries provide epidemiological cancer information, but the indicators are often too complex to be interpreted by local authorities and communities, due to numeracy and literacy limitations. The aim of this paper is to compare the commonly used visual formats to funnel plots to enable local public health authorities and communities to access valid and under...

The main problems of indication, operating techniques and results are recalled after 39 cases of pectus excavatum (P.E.) operated on 74 followed up children. Analysis revealed frequent family trend, respiratory past records of Marfan's morphological type and intrathoracic spur. Sternochondroplasty had varied stabilizing ways : first Garnier's technique, then Judet's costal clips, today the medi...

Transcription factors (TFs) are able to associate to their binding sites on DNA faster than the physical limit posed by diffusion. Such high association rates can be achieved by alternating between three-dimensional diffusion and one-dimensional sliding along the DNA chain, a mechanism-dubbed facilitated diffusion. By studying a collection of TF binding sites of Escherichia coli from the Regulo...

We analyse the propagation of particles in the narrow funnel of a thick accretion disk. It is assumed that: (1) the funnel walls emit black body radiation with temperature decreasing outwards; (2) the magnetic and electric elds are longitudinal in the funnel. Such a scenario is consistent with models in which a large potential drop is induced by a rotating massive black hole threaded by a magne...

Objective Publication bias undermines the integrity of published research. The aim of this paper is to present a synopsis of methods for exploring and accounting for publication bias. Methods We discussed the main features of the following methods to assess publication bias: funnel plot analysis; trim-and-fill methods; regression techniques and selection models. We applied these methods to a we...

BACKGROUND Despite efforts to assure high methodological standards, systematic reviews may be affected by publication bias. The objective of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of publication bias in a collection of high quality systematic reviews on reproductive health. METHODS Systematic reviews included in the Reproductive Health Library (RHL), issue No 9, were assessed. Funnel plot ...