Explaining heterogeneity via the pre-specification of trial subgroups, graphical diagnostic tools and sensitivity analyses produced a more desirable outcome than an automatic application of the random effects model.
Therefore, while we acknowledge this is not a complete dataset, we believe selection bias in this study is minimised by the strict pre-specification of trial eligibility criteria including those related to trial size, quality, randomisation process, outcome definition, treatment comparison, and analysis as specified the published study protocol.
In China, the Ministry of Health launched The Job Specification of Preconception Care (Trial) in 2007, which elucidated the content of preconception care and introduced how to implement this service [ 13].
Of the 586 trials that reported use of interim analysis, with or without specification of a DMC, 444 trials (76%; 444/586) continued as planned, 75 trials (13%; 75/586) stopped early because of benefit or harm to study participants, 26 (4%; 26/586) stopped early for other reasons and 28 (5%; 28/586) were stopped for futility (Table 2).
Because the most consistent attentional control-related characterization of the core CO regions pertains to their involvement in sustained, task set-maintenance (and this event-related study design did not measure the task-related sustained signal), the exact specification of the role of the trial-by-trial BOLD signals observed here entails some amount of speculation.
We discuss the problem of properly defining treatment superiority through the specification of hypotheses in clinical trials.
Detailed quality assessment criteria would include modelling details such as allowance for multi-arm trials, specification of variance structures, and assessment of consistency of indirect evidence using different common interventions (that is, different loops of evidence in a treatment network).
It was total mortality in seven trials, some form of cardiovascular mortality in 17 trials, death with no further specification in seven trials, and sudden death in one trial.
The CONTRAST (CONventional vs.Tumor Recurrence Adapted Specification of Target dose) phase I trial tested the safety of FDG PET guided dose redistribution in patients receiving accelerated chemo-radiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
The fact that optimal methotrexate dosing was decided by the investigator and that the trials differ in specification of minimal methotrexate dose may result in differences across the trials.
Of fundamental concern is the absence of adequate specification of intervention components in published trials to allow reliable inclusion in systematic reviews and to facilitate effective clinical appraisal of the intervention.
