OBJECTIVE To quantify the consumption of chocolates in a hospital ward environment. DESIGN Multicentre, prospective, covert observational study. SETTING Four wards at three hospitals (where the authors worked) within the United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS Boxes of Quality Street (Nestlé) and Roses (Cadbury) on the ward and anyone eating these chocolates. INTERVENTION Observers covertly placed...

Abstract In order to detect phytoncide or aroma in a natural environment using an odor sensor of quartz crystal resonator (QCR), the authors investigated the most suitable drying agent to eliminate moisture influences. The odor sensor used is a system of QCRs coated with organic sensory films. It was experimentally found that calcium chloride is the most suitable desiccant for odor sensing to e...

Reliable synthesis of the various rapidly expanding bodies of evidence is vital for the process of evidence-informed decision-making in environmental policy, practice and research. With the rise of evidence-base medicine and increasing numbers of published systematic reviews, criteria for assessing the quality of reporting have been developed. First QUOROM (Lancet 354:1896–1900, 1999) and then ...