The American journal of emergency medicine
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Peer review is the assessment by experts of material submitted for publication. The peer reviewer serves the editor by substantiating the quality of the manuscript, and serves the author by giving constructive criticism. This system has benefits and drawbacks, including the tendency to select against novel work. ⋯ Blinding authors to reviewers may protect the reviewer. Manuscripts rejected by one journal because of peer review are usually published in another. Since peer review serves to validate the quality of the biomedical literature, the process should be valid itself.
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Review Case Reports
Diagnostic difficulties of foreign body aspiration in children.
A case of a 4-year-old child who aspirated a 22-caliber bullet is presented to illustrate the variability of signs and symptoms of foreign body aspiration. Despite the large size of the bullet, cough, dyspnea, and wheezing were absent on presentation. ⋯ A retrospective review of 42 additional children with foreign body aspiration showed 8 (19%) were unwitnessed, 24 (57%) were asymptomatic at presentation, 8 (19%) had normal physical examinations, and 10 (24%) had normal inspiratory/expiratory chest roentgenograms. This demonstrates the importance of considering bronchoscopy for any child who presents with a history of possible foreign body aspiration, but is asymptomatic and has normal roentgenographic findings.