Objective: The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of early versus delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in acute cholecystitis with more than 72 hours of symptoms. Background: LC is the treatment of acute cholecystitis, with consensus recommendation that patients should be operated within 72 hours of evolution. Data however remain weak with no prospective study focusing on p...

From the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (Roberto, Bragg, Schwartz, Musicus, Novak, Brownell), Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; and the School of Public Health (Seamans), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Address correspondence to: Christina A. Roberto, PhD, The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University, PO Box 208369, New Haven CT 06511. E...

FABRY DISEASE IS A RARE X-LINKED recessive glycosphingolipid storage disorder that is caused by a deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme a-gal A (a-galactosidase A). Its incidence has been estimated to be 1:117 000 births. Globotriaosylceramide (Gb3), the glycosphingolipid substrate of this enzyme, accumulates within vulnerable cells, tissues, and organs of affected patients. Affected cell types in...

People with chronic musculoskeletal pain often experience pain-related fear of movement and avoidance behavior. The FearAvoidance model proposes a possible mechanism at least partly explaining the development and maintenance of chronic pain. People who interpret pain during movement as being potentially harmful to the organism may initiate a vicious behavioral cycle by generating pain-related f...

BACKGROUND A criticism of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) in primary care is that they lack external validity, participants being unrepresentative of the wider population. Our aim was to determine whether published primary care-based RCTs report information about how the study sample is assembled, and whether this is associated with RCT characteristics. METHODS We reviewed RCTs published ...

Advances in information technology and near ubiquity of the Internet have spawned novel modes of communication and unprecedented insights into human behavior via the digital footprint. Health behavior randomized controlled trials (RCTs), especially technology-based, can leverage these advances to improve the overall clinical trials management process and benefit from improvements at every stage...

BACKGROUND Only four out of 31 completed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of HIV prevention strategies against sexual transmission have shown significant efficacy. Poor adherence may have contributed to the lack of effect in some of these trials. In this paper we explore the impact of various levels of adherence on measured efficacy within an RCT. ANALYSIS We used simple quantitative metho...

DEPRESSION IS A LEADING cause of disability in both developed and developing regions of the world, including Africa. In 2000, we conducted a community-based survey in an impoverished part of southwest Uganda that has been severely affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic. Using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) major depression cri...

OSTEOPOROSIS IS A MAJOR cause of disability and excess mortality in older women. Estrogen therapy has been used for treatment and prevention of osteoporosis; however, many older women are reluctant to use it because of adverse effects. Recent data from the Women’s Health Initiative demonstrated that postmenopausal women who took hormone therapy for approximately 7 years had decreased hip fractu...