Characterizing Chemical Terrorism Incidents Collected by the Global Terrorism Database, 1970-2015.

Background: The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an open-source database on terrorist incidents around the world since 1970, and it is maintained by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START; College Park, Maryland USA), a US Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. The consortium reviews media reports to determine if an event meets eligibility to be categorized as a terrorism incident for entry into the database.

Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize chemical terrorism incidents reported to the GTD and understand more about the kinds of chemical agents used, the associated morbidity and mortality, the geography of incidents, and the intended targets.

Patients' attitudes and perceptions regarding research and their rights: a pilot survey study from the Middle East.

Ethical and regulatory oversight of research may be suboptimal in low- and middle-income countries. To determine patients' attitudes and perceptions toward research participation and perceptions of their rights, we recruited 202 participants from hospitals in Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sudan and asked them to complete a questionnaire assessing attitudes and perceptions. Around 20% believed that doctors sometimes perform research on patients without their knowledge and 35% believed that if participants withdrew from the research they would not receive good medical care.