Observational Studies May Be More Important Than Randomized Clinical Trials

Observational studies may be more important than randomized clinical trials: weaknesses in US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation on blood pressure screening in youth.

Randomized clinical trials and observational studies are more often alike than unlike.

46. O’Keefe JH Jr, Kim SC, Hall RR, Cochran VC, Lawhorn SL, McCallister BD. Estrogen replacement therapy after coronary angioplasty in women. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1997;29(1):1-5. 47. Hulley S, Grady D, Bush T, et al; Heart and Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study (HERS) Research Group. Randomized trial of estrogen plus progestin for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease in postmenopausal...

Thinking may be more than computing.

The uncomputable parts of thinking (if there are any) can be studied in much the same spirit that Turing (1950) suggested for the study of its computable parts. We can develop precise accounts of cognitive processes that, although they involve more than computing, can still be modelled on the machines we call ‘computers’. In this paper, I want to suggest some ways that this might be done, using...

Hypnotic devices may be more than placebo.

The study attempted to assess the effectiveness of two devices in facilitating the induction of hypnosis in subjects preselected as low in hypnotizability. Undergraduates were exposed to no treatment (control) or one of four combinations of devices during the induction phase of being administered the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form B of Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard (1959). Analyses re...

Clinical research in anaesthesia; randomized controlled trials or observational studies?

The new millennium has seen a consolidation of the difficulties in pursuing clinical research in anaesthesia. Anaesthesia is rarely seen as a specialty with a high academic profile [1]. Universities have been encouraged to concentrate their research effort on basic sciences, and research in clinical medicine has concentrated on those areas with a large impact on public health. In the UK cancer,...