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Table of Contents

April 2012

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Disclosure of financial conflicts of interest may worsen medical bias

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This month in PLoS Medicine the Editors argue that competing interests disclosure may exacerbate bias rather than ameliorate it. Although disclosures make explicit and transparent the details that are important to the interpretation, credibility, and value of the information presented, overemphasis and reliance on disclosure policies leaves the real problem of the conflict of interest unaddressed. Furthermore, it may actually make the situation worse, according to studies in social science, which the Editors discuss. “Journals, professional associations, clinical guideline developers, and others need to worry not just that disclosure provides a band-aid to the real problem of the [conflict of interest] itself, but that any attempt to stem the trouble through disclosure policies may actually be worsening the problem,” say the Editors. The editorial also discusses the response to a PLoS Medicine paper by Lisa Cosgrove and Sheldon Krimsky that examined the financial conflicts of interest of members of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) responsible for updating the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the so-called “bible” of psychiatry.

Image Credit: National Archives and Records Administration (US National Archives @ flickr)

Editorial

Does Conflict of Interest Disclosure Worsen Bias?

The PLoS Medicine Editors

PLOS Medicine: published April 24, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001210

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Essay

Where There Is No Health Research: What Can Be Done to Fill the Global Gaps in Health Research?

Martin McKee, David Stuckler, Sanjay Basu

PLOS Medicine: published April 24, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001209

Perspective

Open Clinical Trial Data for All? A View from Regulators

Hans-Georg Eichler, Eric Abadie, Alasdair Breckenridge, Hubert Leufkens, Guido Rasi

PLOS Medicine: published April 10, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001202

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Policy Forums

The Imperative to Share Clinical Study Reports: Recommendations from the Tamiflu Experience

Peter Doshi, Tom Jefferson, Chris Del Mar

PLOS Medicine: published April 10, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001201

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New Methodology for Estimating the Burden of Infectious Diseases in Europe

Mirjam Kretzschmar, Marie-Josée J. Mangen, Paulo Pinheiro, Beate Jahn, Eric M. Fèvre, Silvia Longhi, Taavi Lai, Arie H. Havelaar, Claudia Stein, Alessandro Cassini, Piotr Kramarz, for the BCoDE consortium

PLOS Medicine: published April 17, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001205

The Role of Public Health Institutions in Global Health System Strengthening Efforts: The US CDC's Perspective

Peter Bloland, Patricia Simone, Brent Burkholder, Laurence Slutsker, Kevin M. De Cock

PLOS Medicine: published April 3, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001199

Research Articles

Ovarian Cancer and Body Size: Individual Participant Meta-Analysis Including 25,157 Women with Ovarian Cancer from 47 Epidemiological Studies

Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer

PLOS Medicine: published April 3, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001200

Medical Evidence of Human Rights Violations against Non-Arabic-Speaking Civilians in Darfur: A Cross-Sectional Study

Alexander C. Tsai, Mohammed A. Eisa, Sondra S. Crosby, Susannah Sirkin, Michele Heisler, Jennifer Leaning, Vincent Iacopino

PLOS Medicine: published April 3, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001198

Prioritizing CD4 Count Monitoring in Response to ART in Resource-Constrained Settings: A Retrospective Application of Prediction-Based Classification

Livio Azzoni, Andrea S. Foulkes, Yan Liu, Xiaohong Li, Margaret Johnson, Collette Smith, Adeeba bte Kamarulzaman, Julio Montaner, Karam Mounzer, Michael Saag, Pedro Cahn, Carina Cesar, Alejandro Krolewiecki, Ian Sanne, Luis J. Montaner

PLOS Medicine: published April 17, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001207

Reappraisal of Metformin Efficacy in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials

Rémy Boussageon, Irène Supper, Theodora Bejan-Angoulvant, Nadir Kellou, Michel Cucherat, Jean-Pierre Boissel, Behrouz Kassai, Alain Moreau, François Gueyffier, Catherine Cornu

PLOS Medicine: published April 10, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001204

Is Food Insecurity Associated with HIV Risk? Cross-Sectional Evidence from Sexually Active Women in Brazil

Alexander C. Tsai, Kristin J. Hung, Sheri D. Weiser

PLOS Medicine: published April 10, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001203

Long-Term Exposure to Silica Dust and Risk of Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Chinese Workers: A Cohort Study

Weihong Chen, Yuewei Liu, Haijiao Wang, Eva Hnizdo, Yi Sun, Liangping Su, Xiaokang Zhang, Shaofan Weng, Frank Bochmann, Frank J. Hearl, Jingqiong Chen, Tangchun Wu

PLOS Medicine: published April 17, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001206

Induction of Labor versus Expectant Management in Women with Preterm Prelabor Rupture of Membranes between 34 and 37 Weeks: A Randomized Controlled Trial

David P. van der Ham, Sylvia M. C. Vijgen, Jan G. Nijhuis, Johannes J. van Beek, Brent C. Opmeer, Antonius L. M. Mulder, Rob Moonen, Mariët Groenewout, Mariëlle G. van Pampus, Gerald D. Mantel, Kitty W. M. Bloemenkamp, Wim J. van Wijngaarden, Marko Sikkema, Monique C. Haak, Paula J. M. Pernet, Martina Porath, Jan F. M. Molkenboer, Simone Kuppens, Anneke Kwee, Michael E. Kars, Mallory Woiski, Martin J. N. Weinans, Hajo I. J. Wildschut, Bettina M. C. Akerboom, Ben W. J. Mol, Christine Willekes, on behalf of the PPROMEXIL trial group

PLOS Medicine: published April 24, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001208