Home  About us  Contact
 

Rigorous Evidence (rigorous + evidence)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Annotation: The use of psychotropic medications in children: an American view

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 2 2003
Mark L. Wolraich
Background: Psychotropic medications have become an integral component in the treatment of children with mental illnesses. Methods: Selective reviews of the empirical evidence for the efficacy of psychotropic medications and studies of their use patterns were reviewed. Results: Very strong efficacy for at least the short-term benefits and safety of stimulant medications was found and some good efficacy and safety evidence for the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders with seratonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) was also found. Efficacy for tricyclic antidepressants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was found but the presence of significant side effects makes them less the drugs of choice. Other medications are presented but with less rigorous evidence. Studies of use found that stimulant medications are extensively prescribed in the US by both psychiatrists and primary care physicians. SSRI are also prescribed extensively but not to the extent of stimulants and are more frequently prescribed by psychiatrists. Conclusions: There is now good evidence for the efficacy of some psychotropic agents and their use is an integral component in the management of childhood mental illnesses. [source]

The impact of trained assistance on error rates in anaesthesia: a simulation-based randomised controlled trial,

ANAESTHESIA, Issue 2 2009
J. M. Weller
Summary Trained assistance for the anaesthetist appears likely to improve safety in anaesthesia. However, there are few objective data to support this assumption, and the requirement for a trained assistant is not universally enforced. We applied a simulation-based model developed in previous work to test the hypothesis that the presence of a trained assistant reduces error in anaesthesia. Ten randomly selected anaesthetists, five trained anaesthetic technicians and five theatre nurses without training in anaesthesia participated in two simulated emergencies, with anaesthetists working alternately with a technician or a nurse. The mean (SD) error rate per scenario was 4.75 (2.9). There were significantly fewer errors in the technician group than the nurse group (33 vs 62, p = 0.01) and this difference remained significant when errors were weighted for severity. This provides objective evidence supporting the requirement for trained assistance to the anaesthetist, and furthermore, demonstrates that a simulation-based model can provide rigorous evidence on safety interventions in anaesthesia. [source]

Do Small Farmers Borrow Less When the Lending Rate Increases?

ASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009
Interest Rate Elasticity of Rice Farmers in the Philippines
O160; O180; Q140 The new generation of credit programs directed at small borrowers emphasizes financial sustainability. Based on anecdotal information, proponents of cost recovery claim that raising formal lending rates would have a minimal impact on borrowing. However, rigorous evidence for this conjecture is sparse. The present study conducts an econometric test of this conjecture using data from a survey of small rice farmers from the Philippines. Alternative regression techniques tend to reject the conjecture; in particular, a regression that controls for selection effects shows a unitary elastic response of formal borrowing to the lending rate. [source]

Alcohol, Wine, and Cardiovascular Health

CLINICAL CARDIOLOGY, Issue 8 2008
Matthew L. Lindberg MD
Abstract Studies evaluating the health benefits of alcohol and wine have demonstrated that moderate consumption is associated with a decrease in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Various populations and alcoholic beverages exhibit this effect to different degrees. Alcoholic beverages exhibit multiple mechanisms that may favorably influence cardiac risk potential actions on platelets, antioxidants, fibrinolysis, and lipids. However, other data suggest that the perceived benefit of alcoholic beverages in general, and wine in particular, are the result of socioeconomic confounders. In the absence of more rigorous evidence, it is not currently possible to define the role of wine in human health. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]