Table of contents

Therapeutics

• Randomised controlled trial: Topical antibiotic therapy is superior to systemic antibiotics for acute tympanostomy tube otorrhoea, but may not be necessary for all children (28 April, 2014)

  Richard M Rosenfeld
• Randomised controlled trial: Electronic cigarettes are at least as effective as nicotine patches for smoking cessation (14 February, 2014)

  Lion Shahab, Maciej Goniewicz
• Systematic review and meta-analysis: Cytisine is effective for smoking cessation: should clinicians use it? (18 February, 2014)

  Jonathan M Samet
• Systematic review and meta-analysis: Omalizumab decreases exacerbations and allows a step down in daily inhaled corticosteroid dose in adults and children with moderate-to-severe asthma (13 March, 2014)

  Neil C Thomson
• Randomised controlled trial: Interspinous process device versus standard conventional surgical decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis results in increased reoperation rates and costs without improving patient outcomes (11 February, 2014)

  Zachary A Smith
• Systematic review and meta-analysis: Dual antiplatelet therapy in recurrent stroke prevention: do the benefits outweigh the risks? (11 February, 2014)

  Muhammad U Farooq, Philip B Gorelick
• Systematic review and meta-analysis: Bariatric surgery produces greater weight loss and improvements in medical conditions than non-surgical treatment of obesity (11 March, 2014)

  Kristoffel Dumon, Goda Savulionyte
• Systematic review and meta-analysis: Insufficient evidence exists to evaluate effects of blood transfusions and iron therapy for treatment of anaemia in patients with heart disease—erythropoietin agonists do not improve outcomes (11 March, 2014)

  Rohan Samson, Thierry Le Jemtel
• Randomised controlled trial: The value of vitamin E as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease remains unproven despite functional improvement, due to a lack of established effect on cognition or other outcomes from RCTs (17 March, 2014)

  Anne Corbett, Clive Ballard
• Randomised controlled trial: Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy provides no benefit over sham surgery in the setting of isolated degenerative medial meniscal tears without osteoarthritis (25 March, 2014)

  Stephen Lyman, Christopher Dy
• Randomised controlled trial: An ‘all-human’ diet decreases days of parenteral nutrition compared with formula in premature infants (3 March, 2014)

  Mark A Underwood
• Randomised controlled trial: Tight glycaemic control does not improve mortality or morbidity in critically ill children (3 March, 2014)

  Sarah B Kandil, Edward Vincent S Faustino