NIH Consensus Statements are prepared by a
nonadvocate, non-Federal panel of experts, based on
(1) presentations by investigators working in areas
relevant to the consensus questions during a 2-day
public session; (2) questions and statements from
conference attendees during open discussion periods
that are part of the public session; and (3) closed
deliberations by the panel during the remainder of
the second day and morning of the third. This
statement is an independent report of the panel and
is not a policy statement of the NIH or the Federal
Government.
The statement reflects the panelís
assessment of medical knowledge available at the
time the statement was written. Thus, it provides a
"snapshot in time" of the state of knowledge on the
conference topic. When reading the statement, keep
in mind that new knowledge is inevitably
accumulating through medical research.
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