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Many randomised controlled trials compare treatments that will produce only moderate differences in outcome, but these differences can be clinically important. However, they are difficult to assess reliably and require [...]

This is the last in a series of four books deriving from a National Institute of Justice programme grant, the others being K. Mann's Defending White Collar Crime, S. Shapiro's [...]

One of the earliest randomised trials of a treatment for cancer was of ovarian ablation for breast cancer. Apart from surgical removal of the tumour, this is the oldest treatment [...]

Early and 1-year outcomes are presented for fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (FEVAR) of complex aortic aneurysmal disease with the custom-made Anaconda fenestrated stent graft in 101 patients.

In 1994 the European Union BIOMED programme awarded, 330 000 £ to a project, coordinated by the UK Cochrane Centre, to identify reports of randomised controlled trials in general health [...]

AbstractThe Second Evidence Aid Conference took place in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2012, jointly organized by Evidence Aid and the Belgian Red Cross–Flanders. It provided an opportunity to build on the discussions from the 2011 First Evidence Aid Conference in Oxford, England, and prioritize the future work of Evidence Aid. Within the plenary presentations, discussions, and small work groups, the more than 80 international participants addressed issues regarding the need, use, and prioritization of evidence. Three parallel workshops focused on the prioritization of research, systematic reviews, and data to be collected during disasters, leading to a suggested prioritization framework and a commitment to identify key areas for evidence in disasters. Working with a wide variety of people and organizations from the disaster and humanitarian sectors, Evidence Aid will take this framework and develop a list of top priority questions in need of research and systematic reviews. Although Evidence Aid will not be able to address all of the research questions that will be identified in this process, it will collect them for sharing with relevant agencies. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:593-596)

Estimates of the net equilibrium binding constants for [(H2O)(NH3)5RuII]2+, [Cl(NH3)5RuIII]2+, cis-[(H2O)2(NH3)4RuII]2+and cis-[Cl2(NH3)4RuIII]+with apotransferrin (Tf) and holotransferrin (Fe2Tf) suggests that RuIII, but not RuIIcomplexes bind with a higher affinity to the iron binding sites. Several other presumably histidyl imidazole sites bind with approximately the same affinity (Keff=102to 103M−1) to both RuIIand RuIII. Compared to HeLa cells, an order of magnitude higher level of nuclear DNA binding ([Ru]DNA/[P]DNA) was required to achieve the same level of toxicity in Jurkat Tagcells, which probably relates to the substantially higher levels of cis-[Cl2(NH3)4Ru]+needed to inhibit 50% of the cell growth in the Jurkat Tagcell line. Against Jurkat Tagcells, the toxicity of the pentaammineruthenium(III) group is enhanced by approximately two orders of magnitude upon binding primarily to the Fe-sites in apotransferrin, whereas the toxicity of the tetraammineruthenium(III) moiety is only marginally increased. Binding to Fe2Tf does not increase the toxicity of either group. Significant dissociation over 24 h of the ammineruthenium(III) ions from apotransferrin requires reduction to RuII.

The goal of this study is to establish the nature of pentammineruthenium(III) binding to DNA in intact mouse liver nuclei. Also, we wish to determine whether the nucleosomal organization of mouse chromatin has a substantial effect on the relative Ru(III) binding levels of internucleosomal and nucleosomal core DNA. These questions are important because ammineruthenium compounds share chemical and biological properties with the cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) or cisplatin chemotherapeutic agent. Therefore, they represent a potential class of new chemotherapeutic agents. We find that in intact nuclei the predominant DNA binding site for pentammineruthenium(II), followed by air oxidation to pentammineruthenium(III), is N-7 guanine, as is the case with cisplatin. Also, the Ru(III) distribution between internucleosomal and nucleosomal core DNA was found to be nearly identical as probed with three non-specific deoxyribonucleases.

Systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials often provide the most reliable information on which to base treatment policy. However, to be reliable, such reviews need to contain a high proportion of all the relevant randomized evidence. This relates both to the need to find all trials and the need to analyse data on all participants. One way to achieve this is through a collaboration in which those responsible for the trials supply data on each randomized patient for an individual patient data meta‐analysis. However, such projects require more time and resources than more conventional reviews and are still rare. This paper illustrates how they can help to achieve the aim of using complete data in a systematic review.

Mycotic aneurysms are a relatively uncommon phenomenon that can pose a distinct treatment dilemma for the treating surgeon. It is rare to find Haemophilus influenzaeas the causative organism, and it is even more rare to find multiple aneurysms in the same patient. We present the first case to our knowledge to be described in the literature of multiple mycotic aneurysms caused by H. influenzae. The treatment presented—using high-dose antibiotics and cryopreserved homografts—has worked well in this instance. This approach is supported in the literature.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

To the Editor.—As Dr Sperry1 shows, the phenomenon of cocaine suicide is an uncommon aspect of modern cocaine addiction. However, the cases reported in recent years are not the first examples of this.In the British medical press, at least two cases of suspected suicide by hypodermic injection of cocaine were reported in the early part of the 20th century.2,3 In one of these the deceased, a medical practitioner, was said to be "in the habit of injecting cocaine solution."2 In addition, the mortality statistics of England and Wales show 28 suicides by cocaine prior to 1950.4 Although the proportion of these that involved cocaine addicts or the intravenous use of the drug cannot be discerned, we would expect that they do represent some such deaths.