Objective.—To determine whether the conclusions of review articles on the health effects of
passive smoking are associated with article quality, the affiliations of their authors, or other …

There is increasing pressure on healthcare professionals to ensure that their practice is
based on evidence from good quality research, such as randomised controlled trials or …

One of the most powerful arguments used by the supporters of systematic reviews is that
they overcome most of the limitations of narrative reviews by being the product of a scientific …

England Journal of Medicine has twice recently been heavily criticised for failing to declare
authors' conflicts of interest—despite its declared policy of doing so. 1 2 Last week the BBC …

Conclusions When dealing with chronic illness, doctors should be able to tolerate distress
and negativism and still offer support, control of symptoms, and effective treatment. This may …

The status of the axillary lymph nodes in a woman with breast cancer is the single most
important prognostic factor, and important clinical decisions are based on it. In the absence …

Until recently, medicine was fairly straightforward. The doctor had limited therapeutic
options, patients did as they were told, and mortality was an unequivocal outcome. Now …

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder affecting about 1% of the elderly population.
1 Symptoms include delusions and hallucinations as well as apathy, blunting or incongruity …

Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland has done what most people hoped she would. On her
inauguration as director general of the World Health Organisation, she has swept away the …

Houghton Mifflin/Sofkey International; 1994) notes that the phrase “free gift” ought to be
considered redundant. But its increasing usage is a sign of how advertisers have …