JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Does masking author identity improve peer review quality? A randomized controlled trial. PEER Investigators.
All authors may not be equal in the eyes of reviewers. Specifically, well-known authors may receive less objective (poorer quality) reviews. One study at a single journal found a small improvement in review quality when reviewers were masked to author identity. ⋯ Masking reviewers to author identity as commonly practiced does not improve quality of reviews. Since manuscripts of well-known authors are more difficult to mask, and those manuscripts may be more likely to benefit from masking, the inability to mask reviewers to the identity of well-known authors may have contributed to the lack of effect.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Effect on the quality of peer review of blinding reviewers and asking them to sign their reports: a randomized controlled trial.
Anxiety about bias, lack of accountability, and poor quality of peer review has led to questions about the imbalance in anonymity between reviewers and authors. ⋯ Neither blinding reviewers to the authors and origin of the paper nor requiring them to sign their reports had any effect on rate of detection of errors. Such measures are unlikely to improve the quality of peer review reports.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Effect of prolonged methylprednisolone therapy in unresolving acute respiratory distress syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.
No pharmacological therapeutic protocol has been found effective in modifying the clinical course of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and mortality remains greater than 50%. ⋯ In this study, prolonged administration of methylprednisolone in patients with unresolving ARDS was associated with improvement in lung injury and MODS scores and reduced mortality.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Effect of excessive weight gain with intensive therapy of type 1 diabetes on lipid levels and blood pressure: results from the DCCT. Diabetes Control and Complications Trial.
Intensive treatment of type 1 diabetes results in greater weight gain than conventional treatment. ⋯ The changes in lipid levels and blood pressure that occur with excessive weight gain with intensive therapy are similar to those seen in the insulin resistance syndrome and may increase the risk of coronary artery disease in this subset of subjects with time.