OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of conservative therapy in carpal tunnel syndrome. DATA SOURCES A computer-aided search of MEDLINE and the Cochrane Collaboration was conducted for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from January 1985 to May 2006. REVIEW METHODS RCTs were included if: (1) the patients, with clinically and electrophysiologically confirmed carpal tunnel syndrome, had not...

We examine the role of borrower concerns about future credit availability in mitigating the effects of adverse selection and income misrepresentation in the mortgage market. We show that the majority of additional risk associated with “low-doc” mortgages originated prior to the Great Recession was due to adverse selection on the part of borrowers who could verify income, but chose not to. We pr...

Introduction RE<C was a Google initiative to drive innovation in renewable energy, with the goal of making renewable energy cheap enough to compete head-to-head with coal-fired power plants. Hence the name RE<C “renewable energy cheaper than coal.” As part of this initiative, Google formed an engineering team to develop promising technologies in the field of solar energy power generation. After...

Low level laser therapy (LLLT) has been used in Eastern Europe and Asia for the treatment of a wide range of conditions for many years. Its continued acceptance in these populations reflects the efficacy with which it is regarded both by clinicians and their patients. Although there have been a substantial number of reports on its clinical benefit and some practitioners have used the technique ...

OBJECTIVE Low vision rehabilitation is an emerging practice area for the field of occupational therapy. As a result there is a need to develop tools and training for fieldwork educators in this practice area. PARTICIPANTS Occupational therapists with no experience in low vision rehabilitation participated in the pilot of the tools and training developed. METHOD A literature review was compl...

Placebo controls are commonly used in clinical trials of investigational treatments because they have important advantages. In recent years, some have criticized the use of placebo-controlled trials when effective alternative therapy exists, regardless of the expected effect of the therapy. In part 1 of this paper, ethical arguments are addressed and the interpretive problems inherent in the us...