quizzes

Welcome the 11th Edition of the AMA Manual of Style!

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We are pleased to announce the 11th edition of the AMA Manual of Style, now live at https://www.amamanualofstyle.com/ and shipping in hardcover in a few days.

The manual has been thoroughly updated, including comprehensive guidance on reference citations (including how to cite journal articles, books, reports, websites, databases, social media, and more), an expanded chapter on data display (for the first time in full color), a completely up-to-date chapter on ethical and legal issues (covering everything from authorship and open access to corrections and intellectual property), and updated guidance on usage (from patient-first language and terms to avoid to preferred spelling and standards for sociodemographic descriptors).

The section on nomenclature has undergone thorough review and updating, covering many topics from genetics and organisms to drugs and radiology.

The statistics and study design chapter has been extensively expanded, with more examples of usage and terms that link to a related glossary.

Chapters on grammar, punctuation, abbreviations, capitalization, manuscript preparation, and editing feature refreshed examples and new entries (such as allowance of the “singular they”).

The nearly 1200-page book is enriched by a variety of online features. For example, regular updates to address changes in style or policies will be featured in the Updates section. Any corrections will be made online so that you are always looking at the latest guidelines as you use the manual.

New quizzes will be posted to help new or continuing users learn to master the finer points of AMA style, and the units of measure calculator offers easy conversions between the SI system and conventional units, as well as the metric system.

We welcome questions and comments on the manual: write to stylemanual@jamanetwork.org or find us on Twitter (@AMAManual). We look forward to engaging with you. –Stacy Christiansen, for the AMA Manual of Style Committee

Quiz Yourself

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Number needed to treat (NNT) is the number of patients who must be treated with an intervention for a specific period to prevent 1 bad outcome or result in 1 good outcome. What is the reciprocal of the NNT? Use your mouse to highlight the answer:

Absolute risk reduction, which is the proportion in the control group experiencing an event minus the proportion in the intervention group experiencing an event, is the reciprocal of the NNT.

See §20.9 for a Glossary of Statistical Terms.—Laura King, MA, MFA, ELS

Quiz Yourself

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There are 5 instances of jargon in the following sentence. Can you identify them all?

The patient’s physical exam findings were unremarkable and her labs were in the normal range, so she was released from the emergency room and prepped for surgery.

Highlight below for the answer:

The patient’s physical examination findings were unremarkable and her laboratory test results were in the reference range, so she was released from the emergency department and prepared for surgery.

Words and phrases that can be understood in conversation but are vague, confusing, or depersonalizing are generally inappropriate in formal scientific writing. See §11.4 of the AMA Manual of Style for a list of jargon.—Laura King, ELS

Quiz Yourself

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A scientist develops data while working at Harvard University. She then moves to Stanford University, where she publishes an article using the original data in JAMA. Who owns the data?

a. Harvard University
b. Stanford University
c. Scientist
d. JAMA

Use your mouse to highlight the answer:   Harvard University

In scientific research, 3 primary arenas exist for ownership of data: the government, the commercial sector, and academic or private institutions or foundations. Although an infrequent occurrence, when data are developed by a scientist without a relationship to a government agency, a commercial entity, or an academic institution, the data are owned by that scientist. Any information produced by an office or employee of a government agency in the course of his or her employment is owned by the government. Data produced by employees in the commercial sector (eg, a pharmaceutical, device, or biotechnology company, health insurance company, or for-profit hospital or managed care organization) are most often governed by the legal relationship between the employee and the commercial employer, granting all rights of data ownership and control to the employer. According to guidelines established by Harvard University in 1988 and subsequently adopted by other US academic institutions, data developed by employees of academic institutions are owned by the institutions (§5.6.1, Ownership and Control of Data, pp 179-183 in print).—Laura King, ELS

Quiz Yourself

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Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated?

We conducted a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

OR

We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

ANSWER:

We conducted a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

When fewer than 3 modifiers are used, avoid adding a comma if the modifiers and the noun are read as one entity, such as randomized placebo-controlled trial.—Laura King, ELS

Quiz Yourself

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Do you know the difference between the terms multivariable and multivariate? One term refers to multiple predictors (independent variables) for a single outcome (dependent variable), and the other term refers to 1 or more independent variables for multiple outcomes? Which is which?

ANSWER:

Multivariable refers to multiple predictors (independent variables) for a single outcome (dependent variable). Multivariate refers to 1 or more independent variables for multiple outcomes. Therefore, analyses can be described as multivariable, to indicate the number of predictors, or as multivariate, to indicate the type of outcome.—Laura King, ELS

Quiz Yourself

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Edit the following sentence for correct usage of anatomy terms:

 

The investigators examined catheter-induced lesions of the right heart.

 

Highlight for the answer:
The investigators examined catheter-induced lesions of the right side of the heart.

Editor’s Note: Authors often err in referring to anatomical regions or structures as the “right heart,” “left chest,” “left neck,” and “right brain.” Generally these terms can be corrected by inserting a phrase such as “part of the” or “side of the” (§11.6, Anatomy, p 410 in print).—Laura King, ELS

Quiz Yourself

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Edit the following sentence to eliminate jargon:

A 78-year-old woman with a congenital heart and a history of high blood pressure and heart attack was admitted to the hospital and prepped for surgery.

Highlight for the answer:

A 78-year-old woman with congenital heart disease and a history of high blood pressure and myocardial infarction was admitted to the hospital and prepared for surgery.

Editor’s Note: A heart is not congenital; the preferred terminology is congenital heart disease or congenital cardiac anomaly. Myocardial infarction, not heart attack, is the preferred term. Patients are prepared, not prepped, for surgery (§11.4, Jargon, pp 408-410 in print). Some of these terms may be acceptable for certain types of writing; peer-reviewed medical journals generally avoid them.—Laura King, ELS

Quiz Yourself

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Correct the grammar error in the following sentence:

We performed a quantitative overview of randomized trials which tested β-blockers in myocardial infarction, heart failure, and hypertension.

Highlight for the answer:

We performed a quantitative overview of randomized trials that tested β-blockers in myocardial infarction, heart failure, and hypertension.

Incorrect use of relative pronoun (which vs that) (§7.2.2, Relative Pronouns, pp 317-319 in print). That introduces a phrase that is essential to the meaning of the sentence, and which introduces a phrase that adds more information but is not essential to the meaning. Which should always be preceded by a comma. Another example: “He visited the new hospital, which had been built last year” is correct. However, if there were 2 hospitals and only 1 had been built last year, the sentence would read, “He visited the new hospital that had been built last year.”—Laura King, ELS

Quiz Bowl: Ophthalmology Terms

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Do you know the difference between disk and disc? What about vision and visual acuity? Or conjunctival hyperemia and conjunctival injection? That’s right, this month we’re talking about ophthalmology!

The AMA Manual of Style has an informative section on ophthalmology terms (§15.13). The section defines terms commonly used in radiology literature and offers instruction on how to use these terms correctly. Some of the terms addressed in the section are fovea, macula, lid, and orbit, as well as several acuity terms.

See if you can identify the problem(s) in the following sentence from this month’s quiz:

At initial presentation, her best-corrected visual acuity was 20/30 in each eye. Five weeks later, while taking 40 mg of prednisone, she reported no improvement in her vision, and her best-corrected visual acuity remained at 20/30 OU.

Highlight for the answer:

At initial presentation, her best-corrected visual acuity was 20/30 OU. Five weeks later, while taking 40 mg of prednisone, she reported no improvement in her vision, and her best-corrected visual acuity remained at 20/30 OU.

The abbreviations OD (right eye), OS (left eye), and OU (each eye) may be used without expansion only with numbers, eg, 20/25 OU, or descriptive assessments of acuity. Note that OU does not mean both eyes, although it is often used incorrectly to imply a vision measurement (eg, visual acuity or visual field) with both eyes at the same time (§15.13, Ophthalmology Terms, pp 736-739 in print).

That’s just a glimpse of what we have to offer in this month’s quiz on ophthalmology terms. If you’re a subscriber, check out the complete quiz at www.amamanualofstyle.com.—Laura King, MA, ELS