introduction: using physiologic scoring systems for identifying high-risk patients for mortality has been considered recently. this study was designed to evaluate the values of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation ii (apache ii) and simplified acute physiologic score (saps ii) models in prediction of 1-month mortality of critically ill patients. methods: the present prospective cross ...

Albert Ellis's rational-emotive therapy (RET) is scrutinized on several conceptual and empirical grounds, including its reliance on constructive assessment and its ethical stance. Its professional impact thus far exceeds its scientific status. Opinion varies on how even to define irrational beliefs; 1 consequence is problems in assessing them. Meta-analytic reviews provide support for the gener...

A recently published meta-analysis of the impact of strategic planning on financial performance omitted a major study of corporate planning practice in Fortune 500 manufacturing firms. This article briefiy reviews that study in light of the results of the meta-analysis. Additional analysis examines performance and firm survival over a longer time period than in the original work. The overall co...

To conserve space for the publication of original contributions to scholarship, the comments in this section must be limited to brief critiques. They are expected to address specific errors or flaws in articles and reviews published in the AJS. Comments on articles are not to exceed 1,500 words, those on reviews 750 words. Longer or less narrowly focused critiques should be submitted as article...

This paper examines eight published reviews each reporting results from several related trials. Each review pools the results from the relevant trials in order to evaluate the efficacy of a certain treatment for a specified medical condition. These reviews lack consistent assessment of homogeneity of treatment effect before pooling. We discuss a random effects approach to combining evidence fro...

A major problem in reviewing the published results of different epidemiologic studies of the relation between a quantitative variable and the risk of disease is that the results are presented in many different ways. The purpose of this paper is to exemplify methods by which results expressed either as risks (or rates) according to quantlle groups of the quantitative variable or as results deriv...

Any approach that adds speed and efficiency to the underwriting process provides a competitive edge in today's fast changing financial services industry. The acquisition of data for medical underwriting has always been a challenge; with the traditional attending physician statement process adding time, real costs, and opportunity costs to manufacturing life products. Is there any potential for ...

The mission and aim of Clinical Case Reports “. . .is to use clinical case reports to disseminate best clinical practice, to examine important common as well as uncommon clinical scenarios, and to illustrate and inform the use of important clinical guidelines and systematic reviews” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2050-0904/homepage/ForAuthors.html. From this statement, it ...

Mathematical modelling is an established tool for planning and monitoring vaccination programmes. However, the matrices describing contact rates are based on subjective choices, which have a large impact on results. This paper reviews published models and obtains prior model probabilities based on publication frequency and expert opinion. Using serological survey data on rubella and mumps, Baye...

Recent reviews published in the IJBNPA provide more definitive ranges of ambulatory activity usually found in four general age groups, and how step data relates to public health guidelines. Of note in these reviews was the lack of data from Developing Countries. Apart from the lack of published data, available data was not presented in a format conducive to inclusion in the reviews. Consequentl...