The American journal of medicine
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Comparative Study
The fate of manuscripts rejected by a general medical journal.
The fate of research manuscripts that have been rejected by medical journals is of interest to authors, editors, and peer reviewers, but previous studies were conducted before the widespread availability of computerized literature searches. We update the previous investigations of the fate of rejected research manuscripts by using an electronic literature search and a larger sample, a longer follow-up, and more descriptive journal indexes. ⋯ The majority of the manuscripts that were rejected from a large general medical journal were eventually published after an average of 18 months. Most were published in specialty journals with lower impact factor and immediacy index ratings.
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The numbers of deaths attributed to adverse drug reactions by death certificates and by the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) spontaneous postmarketing surveillance system (MedWatch) were compared in order to characterize national mortality statistics. ⋯ The numbers of deaths reported in these data sets varied 34-fold and were up to several 100-fold less than values based on extrapolations of surveillance programs. These differences indicate that better and more comprehensive data are needed to develop appropriate health care policies to improve drug safety.
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Editorial Comment
Pericardial effusion: a continuing drain on our diagnostic acumen.
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Neutrophils and other phagocytes manufacture O(2)(-) (superoxide) by the one-electron reduction of oxygen at the expense of NADPH. Most of the O(2)(-) reacts with itself to form H(2)O(2) (hydrogen peroxide). ⋯ These reactive oxidants are manufactured for the purpose of killing invading microorganisms, but they also inflict damage on nearby tissues, and are thought to be of pathogenic significance in a large number of diseases. Included among these are emphysema, acute respiratory distress syndrome, atherosclerosis, reperfusion injury, malignancy and rheumatoid arthritis.