Analysing randomised controlled trials with missing data : Choice of approach affects conclusions

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. PMID: 22265924 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Peer reviewedPostprin

The perversion of scientific evidence for policy advocacy: A perspective on Avery 2010

The claims of scientific misconduct surrounding the pandemic influenza event in 2009 and the furor surrounding purported scientific manipulation at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit were used as grounds in Avery's 2010 paper to ostensibly criticize how science is corrupted by the need to support particular political or ethical perspectives and, implicitly, that such perspectives are either lacking in evidence, or that such evidence is distorted or suppressed to maintain the politically correct interpretation. However, this rejoinder to Avery's paper demonstrates unambiguously that both unbalanced interpretation and one-sided presentation of opinion as evidence in support of these claims is in fact a thinly disguised attack on two issues that are contentious to certain vested interests. Having written the original paper on which Avery 2010 is based for a think tank well known for its opposition on ideological grounds to both environmental legislation and anthropogenic global warming, and for which some funding was received, Avery undermines his own arguments by appearing to embody the very problem he seeks to reveal. This rejoinder details why that seems to be the case. © 2011 Policy Studies Organization.published_or_final_versio

Discrepancies between patient and nurse perceptions of post-operative pain: shortcomings in pain control

In this study of 60 patients and 30 nurses the objectives were to identify the degree of concordance between patient and nurse ratings of post-operative pain, and to assess the use of pain control methods used by nursing staff In the control of post-operative pain. Discrepancies existed between nurse and patient perceptions of post-operative pain experienced by patients 7.2 hours post-operatively with nurses significantly under-rating pain levels compared to patients. Unless patients complained of pain, nurses made no formal assessment of the patient's need for analgesia. There were often significant delays between requests for pro re nata (prn) analgesia and drug administration. Nurses tended to set higher priorities for institutional tasks, relying on analgesics for pain control rather than utilizing preparatory or non-pharmacological methods of pain control. This failure to use effective preparation plus non-pharmacological means of pain control in the management of post-operative pain has significant cost implications in terms of greater drug utilization and longer in-patient stays. This is in addition to the discomfort for patients from inadequate control of post-operative pain. These results indicate strong grounds for improving post operative pain control.published_or_final_versio

Reporting and dealing with missing quality of life data in RCTs : has the picture changed in the last decade?

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The Guru

This is a review of The Guru (2002)

Daredevil

This is a review of Daredevil (2003)

Reassessing The Matrix/Reloaded

Much has been written about Larry and Andy Wachowski\u27s film The Matrix and on practically every angle: from philosophical precedents to the realities of artificial intelligence. Religious scholars, too, have thrown their hats into the academic ring, expounding on the Gnostic, Buddhist and Christian aspects found therein. But as many have discovered, the Wachowski brothers are syncretists, pulling bits from here and there and then mixing it all together in a science fiction-martial arts stew. They do this so thoroughly that when one tries to impose a singular religious paradigm on top of the film(s), slotting in the characters one-by-one, it seems to work only until put back within the context of the film(s). It is then when everything begins to unravel. Even though scholars have done it time and time again employing one religious worldview to understand The Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded simply does not work. It\u27s almost too simplistic a method for a film this complex. And this paper will demonstrate why

Pelvic Floor Relaxation

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145349/1/cpmia2003.pd

The Machinist

This is a review of The Machinist (2004)

Native American Religion and Film: Interviews with Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie

For decades Hollywood films have cast the American Indian as the savage, the medicine man and the noble warrior, stereotypes that either demonize or romanticize a people. Ritual and religion rarely receive much better treatment. One of the reasons for this poor representation is that filmmakers are coming from a white perspective. Director Chris Eyre and writer-director Sherman Alexie, both American Indians, have emerged in the last decade to rectify the situation, jointly creating the film Smoke Signals, a buddy road picture that forces the protagonists to rethink Indian identity and the bonds that tie them. Eyre and Alexie examine how their films deal with religion