This piece introduces the JME symposium 'The benefit/risk ratio challenge in clinical research, and the case of HIV cure.'

ions ( other country GW  ) were downscaled to grid level ( other cell GW  ) based on proportion of each cell water use in other sector ( MAgPIE Other WU  ) to country total water use in other sectors (( MAgPIE Other WU  )Country) as obtained from the MAgPIE model results. In the final step, downscaled grid level groundwater abstractions for agriculture and other sectors were addded to get t...

The most common rationale given for the preoperative embolization of an intracranial meningioma is the reduction of surgical blood loss (1 ). According to some surgeons, large or critically placed meningiomas may be easier to remove after embolization. However, objective data to validate these impressions are not readily available. The degree of surgical blood loss may be as or more dependent u...

In evaluating the cost/effectiveness of therapeutic interventions (e.g. those based on innovative drugs or on Class-III medical devices), two main pharmacoeconomic parameters have been used over the past decades: the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER [1–3]) and the net monetary benefit (NMB [4–6]). The ICER and the NMB share some common features because they both require a pre-defined ...

Chronic treatment of pain with opiate drugs can lead to analgesic tolerance and drug dependence. Although all opiate drugs can promote tolerance and dependence in practice, the severity of those unwanted side effects differs depending on the drug used. Although each opiate drug has its own unique set of pharmacological profiles, methadone is the only clinically used opioid drug that produces su...

Tremendous growth in medical imaging has prompted a re-focusing on the appropriateness of testing and the rationale for exposure to ionizing radiation for large segments of the adult population at intermediate to high likelihood for coronary artery disease (CAD). Part I of this series addressed the technical or methodological approaches to measuring radiation exposure and laboratory approaches ...

INTRODUCTION Rational selection of a second-generation H1-antihistamine requires efficacy and safety considerations, particularly regarding central nervous system (CNS) effects (cognitive and psychomotor function), potential for driving impairment, minimal sedative effects and a lack of interactions. This review evaluates the key safety features of the non-sedating antihistamine, bilastine, dur...

The standard treatment for node-positive cervical cancer after radical hysterectomy is pelvic radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy. Given the potential toxicity of postoperative radiotherapy, we used the lymph node ratio (LNR) to assess the benefit of postoperative radiotherapy in lymph node-positive cervical cancer patients. Data from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database ...

Received: 20 May 2014 Accepted: 14 June 2014 Dear Editor, Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has gained a significant interest in the recent years, especially in cardiovascular research area. NLR is an easy to use parameter with not requiring an extreme effort to obtain. It can be obtained easily from the complete blood count (CBC) test, which is the most performed test in hospitals. NLR is used...

The patient empowerment movement, spurred by AIDS activism in the 1980s, quickly evolved to encompass how study participants are considered and treated in clinical research. Initially, people fearing death of AIDS sought early access to experimental medications that had not undergone rigorous testing in hopes of extending their lives. Thirty years on, scientists are asking a different set of et...