The New England journal of medicine
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Comparative Study
Effects of restrictive licensing of handguns on homicide and suicide in the District of Columbia.
Whether restricting access to handguns will reduce firearm-related homicides and suicides is currently a matter of intense debate. In 1976 the District of Columbia adopted a law that banned the purchase, sale, transfer, or possession of handguns by civilians. We evaluated the effect of implementing this law on the frequency of homicides and suicides. ⋯ Restrictive licensing of handguns was associated with a prompt decline in homicides and suicides by firearms in the District of Columbia. No such decline was observed for homicides or suicides in which guns were not used, and no decline was seen in adjacent metropolitan areas where restrictive licensing did not apply. Our data suggest that restrictions on access to guns in the District of Columbia prevented an average of 47 deaths each year after the law was implemented.
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Retraction Of Publication
Retraction. Target platelet antigen in homosexual men with immune thrombocytopenia.
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The majority of attempts to resuscitate victims of prehospital cardiopulmonary arrest are unsuccessful, and patients are frequently transported to the emergency department for further resuscitation efforts. We evaluated the efficacy and costs of continued hospital resuscitation for patients in whom resuscitation efforts outside the hospital have failed. ⋯ In general, continued resuscitation efforts in the emergency department for victims of cardiopulmonary arrest in whom prehospital resuscitation has failed are not worthwhile, and they consume precious institutional and economic resources without gain.