Composite endpoints are often used in clinical trials, especially in the cardiovascular area. Decreases in sample size requirements, ability to assess the net effect of an intervention and to avoid bias in presence of competing risk are the most cited advantages for their use. However, there is a risk of misinterpretation when heterogeneity among components with respect to either importance, nu...

Background—Although most clinical trials of coronary stents have measured nominally identical safety and effectiveness end points, differences in definitions and timing of assessment have created confusion in interpretation. Methods and Results—The Academic Research Consortium is an informal collaboration between academic research organizations in the United States and Europe. Two meetings, in ...

Background: Aim of this study was to compare the clinical and radiological long-term outcomes following operativetreatment of comminuted radial head fractures using 1) primary radial head resection arthroplasty, 2) acute radial headresection, or 3) necessary secondary prosthetic removal. Additionally, we evaluated complex radial head fracturescombined with elbow dislocation and verified the hyp...

In acupuncture therapy, diagnosis, acupoints, and stimulation for patients with the same illness are often inconsistent among between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners. This is in part due to the paucity of evidence-based diagnostic methods in TCM. To solve this problem, establishment of validated diagnostic tool is inevitable. We first applied the Item Response Theory (IRT) mode...

BACKGROUND Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has frequently been used to treat tinnitus, and acupuncture is a particularly popular option. The objective of this review was to assess the evidence concerning the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for tinnitus. METHODS Fourteen databases were searched from the dates of their creation to July 4th, 2012. Randomized clinical tri...