Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands.

Human footprints at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA, reportedly date to between ~23,000 and 21,000 years ago according to radiocarbon dating of seeds from the aquatic plant . These ages remain controversial because of potential old carbon reservoir effects that could compromise their accuracy. We present new calibrated C ages of terrestrial pollen collected from the same stratigraphic horizons as those of the seeds, along with optically stimulated luminescence ages of sediments from within the human footprint-bearing sequence, to evaluate the veracity of the seed ages.

Luminescence sediment tracing reveals the complex dynamics of colluvial wedge formation.

Paleoearthquake studies that inform seismic hazard rely on assumptions of sediment transport that remain largely untested. Here, we test a widespread conceptual model and a new numerical model on the formation of colluvial wedges, a key deposit used to constrain the timing of paleoearthquakes. We perform this test by applying luminescence, a sunlight-sensitive sediment tracer, at a field site displaying classic colluvial wedge morphostratigraphy.

Financial conflicts of interest during meetings of the cardiovascular and renal drugs advisory committee.

Context: The Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee (CRDAC) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviews safety and efficacy data for cardiovascular and renal drugs, ultimately making recommendations to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs for approval. The Open Public Hearing segment of these meetings allows for patients, advocates, healthcare professionals, clinical trialists, and members of the public to provide testimony, which often results in expressing their preference for, or against, drug approval. Prior to providing testimony, the public speakers are highly encouraged to disclose any financial conflicts of interest (FCOIs) with the sponsor or other groups.

Clinical Trial Registry Use in Orthopaedic Surgery Systematic Reviews.

Background: Results from systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which have the highest level of evidence (Level I), often drive clinical decision-making and health policy. Often, unpublished trial data are omitted from systematic reviews, raising concerns about the extent of the reliability and validity of results that have been drawn from systematic reviews. We aimed to determine the extent to which systematic review authors include searches of clinical trial registries for unpublished data when conducting systematic reviews in orthopaedic surgery.

An Evaluation of Reporting Guidelines and Clinical Trial Registry Requirements Among Addiction Medicine Journals.

Context: Robust methodology and ethical reporting are paramount for quality scientific research, but recently, that quality in addiction research has been questioned. Avenues to improve such research quality include adherence to reporting guidelines and proper usage of clinical trial registries. Reporting guidelines and clinical trial registries have been shown to lead researchers to more ethical and transparent methodology.

An Evaluation of the Presence of Spin in the Abstracts of Tonsillectomy Systematic Reviews.

Objectives/hypothesis: Spin-the practice of adding or omitting information intentionally or unintentionally to make the results of a study more favorable-may influence clinical decision making, especially when present in study abstracts. Here, we quantify and characterize the presence of spin in the abstracts of systematic reviews regarding tonsillectomy.

Methods: This study is an analysis of systematic review abstracts.

Depth-dependent soil mixing persists across climate zones.

Soil mixing over long (>10 y) timescales enhances nutrient fluxes that support soil ecology, contributes to dispersion of sediment and contaminated material, and modulates fluxes of carbon through Earth's largest terrestrial carbon reservoir. Despite its foundational importance, we lack robust understanding of the rates and patterns of soil mixing, largely due to a lack of long-timescale data. Here we demonstrate that luminescence, a light-sensitive property of minerals used for geologic dating, can be used as a long-timescale sediment tracer in soils to reveal the structure of soil mixing.

The use of systematic reviews to justify orthopaedic trauma randomized controlled trials: A cross-sectional analysis.

Objective: Orthopaedic trauma is one of the largest surgical fields in medicine, and as such, requires the latest evidence to ensure the best standard of care. Systematic reviews are an invaluable resource that compiles an exhaustive summary of the most current evidence on a given clinical question. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the use of systematic reviews as justification in conducting randomized controlled trials published in high impact orthopaedic trauma journals.

Trial Registry Use in Surgery Systematic Reviews: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: To determine the extent to which systematic reviews published in surgery journals reported a clinical trial registry search as part of their search strategy and whether systematic reviews that omitted such searches would have located additional trials for inclusion.

Background: Systematic reviews are used by clinicians to guide clinical decision making. When conducting systematic reviews, the comprehensive search strategy is particularly critical to identify all studies-whether published or not-for producing an overall summary effect.

Using the CONSORT statement to evaluate the completeness of reporting of addiction randomised trials: a cross-sectional review.

Objectives: Evaluate the completeness of reporting of addiction randomised controlled trials (RCTs) using the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement.

Setting: Not applicable.

Participants: RCTs identified using a PubMed search of 15 addiction journals and a 5-year cross-section.

Evaluation of spin in the abstracts of otolaryngology randomized controlled trials.

Objective: Spin, the misrepresentation and distortion of research findings, has been shown to affect clinical decision making. Spin has been found in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in various fields of medicine, but no study has tested for the presence of spin in otolaryngology RCTs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the abstracts of RCTs found in the otolaryngology literature for spin.

Assessment of Publication Bias and Systematic Review Findings in Top-Ranked Otolaryngology Journals.

This study analyzes whether 324 systematic reviews that contain at least 1 meta-analysis with 10 or more primary studies published in top otolaryngology journals that do not evaluate for publication bias show evidence of such bias.

An analysis of the literature addressing tonsillectomy knowledge gaps.

Importance: The ability of clinical practice guidelines to improve patient outcomes depends on the quality of evidence that they are built upon. Research into tonsillectomy in children is lacking, and the gaps in evidence were identified by guideline authors.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the extent that new research is addressing the gaps identified in the AAO-HNS Tonsillectomy in Children Guideline.

Insulin selectively reduces mitochondrial uncoupling in brown adipose tissue in mice.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of prolonged hyperinsulinemia on mitochondrial respiration and uncoupling in distinct adipose tissue depots. Sixteen-week-old male mice were injected daily with placebo or insulin to induce an artificial hyperinsulinemia for 28 days. Following the treatment period, mitochondrial respiration and degree of uncoupling were determined in permeabilized perirenal, inguinal, and interscapular adipose tissue.