BACKGROUND Uncertainty exists regarding the effects of iron supplementation on neurodevelopmental outcomes in the absence of anemia. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to evaluate the effects of iron supplementation in nonanemic pregnant women and in nonanemic healthy children aged <3 y on the mental performance and psychomotor development of children. DESIGN In this systematic review, MEDLINE, EM...

Azithromycin is an effective treatment for uncomplicated infections with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and serovar Paratyphi A (enteric fever), but there are no clinically validated MIC and disk zone size interpretative guidelines. We studied individual patient data from three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of antimicrobial treatment in enteric fever in Vietnam, with azithromycin used ...

A recent discussion in this journal illustrates some recurrent misunderstandings about the role of covariates in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). This letter aims at clarifying this role and at pointing out a pitfall in SPSS repeated measures ANOVA. We hope that our commentary will contribute to a further improvement in the use of advanced statistics in neuropsychology. Anstey et al. (2006)...

We identified 16 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of methods for weaning patients from mechanical ventilation, 8 of which were trials of discontinuation assessment strategies, 5 of which were trials of stepwise reduction in mechanical ventilatory support, and 3 of which were trials comparing alternative ventilation modes for weaning periods lasting < 48 h. We found that different thresholds ...

To make informed, evidence-based decisions regarding whether a given intervention is necessary, information about its benefits as well as harms is needed. Systematic reviews are always at the top of the evidence hierarchy. In general, the methodology for conducting systematic reviews of benefits and safety/harms overlaps. While systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are suffi...

Viral bronchiolitis is the most common reason for infants to be admitted to hospital,1,2 yet we seem powerless to do much about it. Physicians who have been in practice for 30 years or more have ridden the rollercoaster of optimism following the publication of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on bronchiolitis showing the efficacy of bronchodilators, steroids, hypertonic saline and so on, onl...

BACKGROUND Clinical studies have suggested an association between bisphosphonate use and the onset of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, data on the risk of developing AF, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality with the use of bisphosphonate are conflicting. The objective of this study was to evaluate the risk of serious AF (events that required hospital admission), stroke, and cardiovascular mor...

OBJECTIVE To assess the therapeutic effect of acupuncture on depression. METHODS A systematic evaluation of all relevant randomized controlled trials (RCT) about acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of depression was carried out by the study methods of evidence-based medicine. The data were statistically analyzed with a special analysis software RevMan 4.2. RESULTS Fourteen papers of RCT m...

Molodtsov introduced the concept of soft set theory, which can be seen and used as a new mathematical tool for dealing with uncertainly. In this paper we introduce and initiate the study of soft m-ary semihypergroups by using the soft set theory. The notions of soft m-ary semihypergroups, soft m-ary subsemihypergroups, soft j-hyperideals, soft hyperideals, soft quasi-hyperideals and soft bi-hyp...

OBJECTIVE To assess if commercially sponsored trials are associated with higher success rates than publicly-sponsored trials. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTINGS We undertook a systematic review of all consecutive, published and unpublished phase III cancer randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the NCIC Clinical Trials Group (CTG). We included all phase III cancer R...