For all measures, two trials will be performed and the mean reading used in analysis.
Unreported secondary outcomes were either not measured (two trials), measured but not analysed (12 trials), or measured and analysed but not reported (eight trials).
11 We therefore decided to measure two trials without intervention (no orthosis) first, after which subjects completed the two orthosis trials in random order.
Eight trials used ECG improvement as the primary outcome measure, two trials used TCM syndrome improvement, and seven used changes in cytokine levels such as endostatin ET-1 or C-reactive protein (CRP).
Outcome measures of five trials for each limb and condition (barefoot and shod) are extracted and averaged with a customized Matlab routine (Mathworks Inc., Natick, Massachusetts, USA).
Physical functioning was measured across five trials by six different measures of physical functioning, varying from the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist, physical symptom distress subscale (De Haes et al, 1996) to a visual analogue scale measuring distress due to breathlessness (Corner et al, 1996; Bredin et al, 1999).
Mobility using the Timed up-and-go test (TUG) was measured in five trials [ 13, 31, 34, 36, 37].
Symptoms of Verticillium wilt in potato were estimated (repeated measures) in two trials using Canopeo and a traditional visual assessment method.
This is a simple card-sorting task that measures over four trials the extent to which participants increase their speed of performance when reinforced via small financial rewards compared with non-reinforcement trials (see Table 1 for further details).
The peak force with which mice pulled the bar horizontally was measured in four trials with a rest period of 5 minutes between each trial.
