T HE RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL IS THE GOLD standard for evaluating a therapy, providing the highest evidence for the practice of evidence-based medicine. However, not all randomized clinical trials are informative and the success of the trial in demonstrating a valid treatment or diagnostic effect will depend on the elements of the study design. The purpose of this report is to highlight the es...

Background: There is challenge to find an effective treatment for tinnitus. Few studies were done on the effects of acupuncture on tinnitus. This study evaluated the effect of acupuncture on chronic non-pulsatile tinnitus. Methods: This randomized double-blind clinical trial was conducted from December 2014 to September 2015. Patients suffering from chronic non-pulsatile tinnitus were randomly...

Background: Administration of albumin for burn patients and its effects on mortality and morbidity has been debated for along time. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of albumin administration on wound healing, length of hospital stay, weight change, and mortality of burn patients. Methods: Two matched groups of patients from Shiraz Burn Care Center were randomly selected. The pa...

Zinc deficiency during pregnancy has been related to adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, the results of zinc-supplementation trials have not been consistent in improvement of pregnancies outcomes. This study was undertaken to investigate whether zinc supplementation was associated with pregnancy complications in Iranian women during the last 2 trimesters. It also assessed the anthropometric me...

Comparing the Effect of In-Person and Virtual Lymphedema Self-management Education on Quality Life Women with Breast Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial

This article describes a data management system (DMS) developed to support a large-scale randomized study of an innovative web-course that was designed to improve substance abuse counselors' knowledge and skills in applying a substance abuse treatment method (i.e., cognitive behavioral therapy; CBT). The randomized trial compared the performance of web-course-trained participants (intervention ...

Finasteride in hospitalized adult males with COVID-19: A risk factor for severity of the disease or an adjunct treatment: randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND Hepatic resection is still associated with significant morbidity. Although the period of parenchymal transection presents a crucial step during the operation, uncertainty persists regarding the optimal technique of transection. It was the aim of the present randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of hepatic resection using the technique of stapler hepatectomy ...

In the Ticlid or Plavix Post-Stents (TOPPS) trial, 1016 patients undergoing successful coronary stent placement were randomized to receive aspirin and either ticlopidine or clopidogrel. In this trial, the dosages and regimens of ticlopidine and clopidogrel resembled more closely those used in most catheterization laboratories than did the two previous randomized trials comparing ticlopidine and...