Swiss medical weekly
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Swiss medical weekly · Apr 2008
Publication and non-publication of clinical trials: longitudinal study of applications submitted to a research ethics committee.
Not all clinical trials are published, which may distort the evidence that is available in the literature. We studied the publication rate of a cohort of clinical trials and identified factors associated with publication and nonpublication of results. ⋯ In this cohort of applications to an ethics committee in Switzerland, only about half of clinical drug trials were published. Large multi-centre trials with non-commercial funding were more likely to be published than other trials, but most trials were funded by industry.
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Severe alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is the best characterised genetic risk factor for the development of emphysema. AAT has a wide spectrum of antiprotease activity and its primary function is inhibition of neutrophil elastase in the lung. ⋯ Intravenous administration of human AAT is well tolerated and has been shown to increase the levels of AAT in the alveolar lining fluid of individuals with this deficiency. In contrast to the proof of the biochemical effectiveness of augmentation treatment, the favourable clinical effect of AAT on pulmonary function, emphysema progression, morbidity and survival has not been persuasively demonstrated by prospective controlled clinical trials and remains controversial.