Medical aspects of capital punishment executions.

Between 1976 and the middle of 2001, approximately 718 human executions occurred in the U.S. (a small segment of worldwide executions).

An application of the revised CONSORT standards to FDA summary reports of recently approved antidepressants and antipsychotics.

Background: Recent years have seen the introduction of many antidepressants and antipsychotics. Typically, efficacy of these agents is based on published positive clinical trials; however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compiles summary reports of all pivotal randomized clinical trials, which are available for public review under the Freedom of Information Act. They are rarely accessed but may have public health utility.

Severity of depression and response to antidepressants and placebo: an analysis of the Food and Drug Administration database.

Some studies suggest that more severely ill patients with depression respond well to antidepressants and poorly to placebo, whereas those who are mildly ill respond equally well to antidepressants and placebo. This notion has implications for the design of clinical trials. To further assess and substantiate these putative predictors of antidepressant and placebo response, we assessed the Food and Drug Administration database of 45 phase II and III antidepressant clinical trials.