BMJ : British medical journal
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Treatment of acute mountain sickness by simulated descent: a randomised controlled trial.
To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of a portable hyperbaric chamber for treatment of acute mountain sickness. ⋯ One hour of treatment with 193 mbar in a portable hyperbaric chamber, corresponding to a descent of 2250 m, leads to a short term improvement in symptoms of acute mountain sickness but has no beneficial long term effects attributable to pressurisation.
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There is increasing evidence of fraud in clinical research, and one aspect concerns trading in pharmaceutical company shares by people who may have confidential information about the results of clinical trials. Plainly this has implications for honest investigators, who may find themselves exposed to such allegations. In this paper Dr D S Freestone and Mr H Mitchell, QC, identify three interlinked issues which they think underlie the potential for these allegations. ⋯ Dr Freestone and Mr Mitchell warn that academic clinical investigators who have access to unpublished price sensitive information about pharmaceutical companies whose shares they trade in will almost certainly be in breach of the Company Securities (Insider Dealing) Act 1985. Furthermore, disclosing such information to third parties, they say, exposes those people also to potential criminal liability. Freestone and Mitchell advise that when potential for allegations of conflict of interest exists clinical investigators should consider declaring their position to ethics committees and any sponsoring organisations.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Serevent nationwide surveillance study: comparison of salmeterol with salbutamol in asthmatic patients who require regular bronchodilator treatment.
To compare safety of salmeterol and salbutamol in treating asthma. ⋯ Treatment over 16 weeks with either salmeterol or salbutamol was not associated with an incidence of deaths related to asthma in excess of that predicted. Overall control of asthma was better in patients allocated to salmeterol. Serious adverse events occurred in patients most at risk on entry and were probably due to the disease rather than treatment.