São Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina
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Clinical trial registration is a prerequisite for publication in respected scientific journals. Recent Brazilian regulations also require registration of some clinical trials in the Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ReBEC) but there is little information available about practical issues involved in the registration process. This article discusses the importance of clinical trial registration and the practical issues involved in this process. ⋯ Clinical trial registration is important and various mechanisms to enforce its implementation now exist. Researchers should take into account national regulations and publication requirements when choosing the platform on which they will register their trial.
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Extensive evidence shows that well over 50% of people prefer to be cared for and to die at home provided circumstances allow choice. Despite best efforts and policies, one-third or less of all deaths take place at home in many countries of the world. ⋯ The results provide clear and reliable evidence that home palliative care increases the chance of dying at home and reduces symptom burden in particular for patients with cancer, without impacting on caregiver grief. This justifies providing home palliative care for patients who wish to die at home. More work is needed to study cost-effectiveness especially for people with non-malignant conditions, assessing place of death and appropriate outcomes that are sensitive to change and valid in these populations, and to compare different models of home palliative care, in powered studies.
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Increased frequency of retractions has recently been observed, and retractions are important events that deserve scientific investigation. This study aimed to characterize cases of retraction within general and internal medicine in a high-profile database, with interest in the country of origin of the article and the impact factor (IF) of the journal in which the retraction was made. ⋯ The study identified greater incidence of plagiarism/duplication among retractions from countries with lower scientific impact.
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Lifestyle includes the personal attitudes or behavioral patterns that result in risks or benefits to the individual's own health or that of others. Children's health is particularly determined by their mother's lifestyle. The objective here was to develop and evaluate the reliability of a questionnaire capable of describing the lifestyles of preschoolers' mothers in terms of their activities, interests, opinions and values. ⋯ The questionnaire described five lifestyle domains, with good reliability, and can be used in combination with preschoolers' health and nutritional outcomes.
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Accelerometry provides objective measurement of physical activity levels, but is unfeasible in clinical practice. Thus, we aimed to identify physical fitness tests capable of predicting physical inactivity among adults. ⋯ The six-minute walk test should be included in epidemiological studies as a simple and cheap tool for screening for physical inactivity.