Revista médica de Chile
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Revista médica de Chile · Sep 2004
Editorial Comment[Prediction rules in community acquired pneumonia].
The determination of site of care is an essential decision in the management of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Patients with mild to moderate CAP may be safely treated at home. Instead, those patients with severe pneumonia must be hospitalized to assure an effective treatment. ⋯ However, this rule requires to be validated in the ambulatory setting before its wide spread use is suggested. Prediction rules are objective and relatively accurate models to assess prognosis that may aid clinicians to evaluate patient's risks and to improve hospitalization decisions. Nevertheless, although the prediction rules may guide the initial management of patients with CAP, they are not intended to replace the clinical judgment, which remains as the "art of medicine."
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Revista médica de Chile · Apr 2003
Editorial Historical Article[The University of Chile School of medicine : 170 years serving the country].
The first course on Medical Sciences in Chile was inaugurated in 1833, being its director William C Blest, MD, an Irish physician graduated in Edinburgh University. Therefore, Dr. Blest can be considered the founder of Chilean formal medical education. ⋯ The academic promotion of its faculty members is based in a strict evaluation. During its existence, the Faculty has graduated a large number of physicians and other health care professionals. Our country should be grateful to the University of Chile Faculty of Medicine, in its 170th birthday, for its outstanding contribution to the development, welfare and happiness of Chilean society.
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Revista médica de Chile · Jan 2003
Editorial Comment[The relevance of declaring a conflict of interest in medical journals].
Medical journals are often at risk of difusing research articles, reviews, position articles, editorials or letters whose message has been influenced by a conflict of interest. The readers may then be induced to accept conclusions and recommendations based on biased protocols or an unwarranted interpretation of the results. ⋯ Even when a potential conflict of interest exists, it may not necessarily have influenced the manuscript or its review but in order to defend the transparency of the editorial process, from submission to publication, authors, reviewers and editors should declare any conflict of interest they may have and allow others to decide whether the action has been biased or not. In the present issue of Revista Médica de Chile, an updated text of the Instructions to Authors establishes that all authors should sign a statement of having or not a conflict of interest, clarifying which aspects of the work might have been affected by it.
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Revista médica de Chile · Oct 2002
Editorial[Update of authorship criteria in biomedical articles].
In the year 2000, a previous Editorial in this journal reviewed the criteria for authorship as defined by experienced authors and editors, discussed in selected references from the biomedical literature. An emphasis was given to the definition of authorship stated in the available 1997 version of the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals". ⋯ These and other changes should be disused to prospective authors, particularly in multicentric studies usually leading to multi-authorship. This new Editorial and a translation into Spanish of the authorship criteria contained in an-updated (2001) version of the "Uniform Requirements" are included in this issue of Revista Médica de Chile with the purpose of stimulating authors and readers to think in their implications.
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Revista médica de Chile · Apr 2001
Editorial[The references in articles published in biomedical journals].
Bibliographic citations or "references" are an important component of all scientific manuscripts. The authors are responsible for their accuracy and they should follow the format and style requested by the journal where they are submitting their paper. Revista Médica de Chile adheres to the "Uniform Requirements" established by the Vancouver Group of Medical Editors. ⋯ The number of citations usually vary according to the specific character of the study: research article, or case reports, review article, etc. Common mistakes are due to an excessive number of repetitive or irrelevant citations, or the omission of important articles sometimes not found in bibliographic indexes, or an erroneous claim of priority in reporting an observation. Finally, in developing countries the authors should include previous reports appeared in their own local journals, therefore improving their opportunities of achieving international visibility.