Secondhand smoke as a potential cause of chronic rhinosinusitis: a case-control study.

Objective: To assess the role of secondhand smoke (SHS) in the etiology of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS).

Design: Matched case-control study. Associations between SHS and CRS were evaluated by conditional logistic regression odds ratios.

Inaugural address of the 162nd president of the American Medical Association.

On June 26, 2007, Ronald M. Davis, MD, was inaugurated as the 162nd president of the American Medical Association at an ornate ceremony in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago Hotel. He is the first AMA president to be board-certified in preventive medicine.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Tobacco Control: a global assessment of harms, remedies, and controversies.

One in three adults worldwide (>1.1 billion people) smokes; 80% live in low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco use causes five million deaths each year and, if current smoking patterns continue, will kill 10 million persons annually by 2020.

Epidemiology of the third wave of tobacco litigation in the United States, 1994-2005.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of litigation against the tobacco industry in the United States during the years 1994-2005 (described as the "third wave" of tobacco litigation). "Epidemiology" refers to the study of the distribution and determinants of disease in populations. We apply the term "epidemiology" to the litigation context for purposes of characterising qualitatively and, to the extent possible, quantitatively the variety of cases litigated against tobacco manufacturers and allied tobacco interests during the third wave and their impact on the tobacco industry.

The role of tobacco advertising and promotion: themes employed in litigation by tobacco industry witnesses.

Objectives: To identify key themes related to tobacco advertising and promotion in testimony provided by tobacco industry-affiliated witnesses in tobacco litigation, and to present countervailing evidence and arguments.

Methods: Themes in industry testimony were identified by review of transcripts of testimony in the Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (http://tobaccodocuments.org/datta) from a sample of defence witnesses, including three academic expert witnesses, six senior executives of tobacco companies, and one industry advertising consultant.

The Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) project: origins, aims, and methods.

Research on previously secret tobacco industry documents has grown substantially during the past decade, since these documents first became available as the result of private and governmental litigation and investigations by the US Congress and the US Food and Drug Administration. Complementary research on tobacco litigation testimony is now being conducted through the Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) project. We obtained transcripts of depositions and trial testimony, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, and other litigation documents from law firms, court reporter firms, individual lawyers and witnesses, tobacco company websites, and other sources.

Tobacco manufacturers' defence against plaintiffs' claims of cancer causation: throwing mud at the wall and hoping some of it will stick.

Background: In the late 1990s and the early part of this decade, the major US cigarette manufacturers admitted, to varying degrees, that smoking causes cancer and other diseases.

Objective: To examine how tobacco manufacturers have defended themselves against charges that their products caused cancer in plaintiffs in 34 personal injury lawsuits, all but one of which were litigated between the years 1986 and 2003.

Methods: Defence opening and closing statements, trial testimony, and depositions for these cases were obtained from the Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (http://tobaccodocuments.

Preventing 3 million premature deaths and helping 5 million smokers quit: a national action plan for tobacco cessation.

In August 2002, the Subcommittee on Cessation of the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health (ICSH) was charged with developing recommendations to substantially increase rates of tobacco cessation in the United States. The subcommittee's report, A National Action Plan for Tobacco Cessation, outlines 10 recommendations for reducing premature morbidity and mortality by helping millions of Americans stop using tobacco. The plan includes both evidence-based, population-wide strategies designed to promote cessation (e.

Medical journals' conflicts of interest in the publication of book reviews.

The purpose of the study was to assess medical journals' conflicts of interest in the publication of book reviews. We examined book reviews published in 1999, 2000, and 2001 (N = 1,876) in five leading medical journals: Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal (BMJ), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Lancet, and New England Journal of Medicine. The main outcome measure was journal publication of reviews of books that had been published by the journal's own publisher, that had been edited or authored by a lead editor of the journal, or that posed another conflict of interest.

Editorial independence at medical journals owned by professional associations: a survey of editors.

The purpose of this study was to assess the degree of editorial independence at a sample of medical journals and the relationship between the journals and their owners. We surveyed the editors of 33 medical journals owned by not-for-profit organizations ("associations"), including 10 journals represented on the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (nine of which are general medical journals) and a random sample of 23 specialist journals with high impact factors that are indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information. The main outcome measures were the authority to hire, fire, and oversee the work of the editor; the editor's tenure and financial compensation; control of the journal's budget; publication of material about the association; and the editor's perceptions about editorial independence and pressure over editorial content.

Visiting multiple sites for immunization and vaccine coverage levels of preschool children in 3 urban clinics: potential indicator of record scatter?

Record scatter is a clinic-level impediment to accurately reporting immunization coverage levels but may be attributed to certain patient characteristics. We determine the association between visiting multiple sites for immunization and underimmunization among urban clinic patients. After collecting immunization histories for patients aged 3-35 months, caregivers were surveyed by telephone.