Editorial: Large Database Studies—What They Can Do, What They Cannot Do, and Which Ones We Will Publish

Descriptive studies: what they can and cannot do.

Descriptive studies often represent the first scientific toe in the water in new areas of inquiry. A fundamental element of descriptive reporting is a clear, specific, and measurable definition of the disease or condition in question. Like newspapers, good descriptive reporting answers the five basic W questions: who, what, why, when, where. and a sixth: so what? Case reports, case-series repor...

Meta-analyses: what they can and cannot do.

Meta-analyses overcome the limitation of small sample sizes or rare outcomes by pooling results from a number of individual studies to generate a single best estimate. As long as a meta-analysis is not limited by poor quality of included trials, unexplainable heterogeneity and/or reporting bias of individual trials, meta-analyses can be instrumental in reliably demonstrating benefit or harm of ...

Universal Grammar and Chaos/Complexity Theory: Where Do They Meet And Where Do They Cross?

  Abstract The present study begins by sketching "Chaos/Complexity Theory" (C/CT) and its applica-tion to the nature of language and language acquisition. Then, the theory of "Universal Grammar" (UG) is explicated with an eye to C/CT. Firstly, it is revealed that CCT may or may not be allied with a theory of language acquisition that takes UG as the initial state of language acquisition for ...

Awards and Competitions. What They Can Do and How They Can Do It

Bone allografts: What they can offer and what they cannot.

Bone allografts can be used in any kind of surgery involving bone from minor defects to major bone loss after tumour resection. This review describes the various types of bone grafts and the current knowledge on bone allografts, from procurement and preparation to implantation. The surgical conditions for optimising the incorporation of bone are outlined, and surgeon expectations from a bone al...