This commentary explores the utility of hope as a therapeutic tool for intervention in the case of a patient with a mental illness that is refractory to treatment over time, who expresses her intention to commit suicide. It begins with a short discussion differentiating a deliberative consideration of suicide from an impulsive act. Then the commentary defines hope, how it might be used as a the...

This commentary presents the case against housing rats and mice in laboratory cages; the commentary bases its case on their sentience, natural history, and the varied detriments of laboratory conditions. The commentary gives 5 arguments to support this position: (a) rats and mice have a high degree of sentience and can suffer, (b) laboratory environments cause suffering, (c) rats and mice in th...

statistical errors are common in scientific literature and about 50% of the published articles have at least one error. the assumption of normality needs to be checked for many statistical procedures, namely parametric tests, because their validity depends on it. the aim of this commentary is to overview checking for normality in statistical analysis using spss.

the topic of how cost-effectiveness information informs priority setting in healthcare remains important to both policy and practice. this commentary considers the study carried out by eckard and colleagues in sweden. in it we distinguish between the conditions at national and local levels and put forward some recommendations for research into local priority setting in particular.

This article describes the background behind development of a novel evaluation approach an Aotearoa New Zealand rural health service using equity-focused, strengths-based to complement traditional audit process. avoids deficit-based, gap-analysis shortcomings in favour model through which services can draw on identified assets planning future initiatives. The discussed aims identify and mobilis...

Estimating the independent effect of ‘‘place’’ on health outcomes has proven quite difficult. In this issue of the Journal, Auchincloss and Diez Roux contribute a lucid introduction to agent-based simulation models and argue that they may be a fruitful alternative to current approaches to the problem. Insofar as conceptual understanding must precede empirical investigation, this author agrees. ...

An association between air pollution and hospital admission for heart failure was first noted in the literature in 1995 (1). The association was confirmed in subsequent studies (2, 3), along with many studies showing an association with a more general increase in cardiovascular admissions (4–6). The most consistent associations have been with carbon monoxide and particulate matter, and both Poi...

Positivity, or the experimental treatment assignment assumption, requires that there be both exposed and unexposed participants at every combination of the values of the observed confounders in the population under study. Positivity is essential for inference but is often overlooked in practice by epidemiologists. This issue of the Journal includes 2 articles featuring discussions related to po...