The following paragraph appeared in USA Today (August 6, 2009): Cement doesn’t hold up to scrutiny A common treatment that uses medical cement to fix cracks in the spinal bones of elderly people worked no better than sham treatment, the first rigorous studies of a popular procedure reveal. Pain and disability were virtually the same up to six months later, whether patients had a real treatment or a fake one, shows the research in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. Tens of thousands of Americans each year are treated with bone cement, especially older women with osteoporosis. The researchers said it is yet another example of a procedure coming into wide use before proven safe and effective. Medicare pays $1500 to $2100 for the outpatient procedure. 

The paper referenced in this paragraph is “A Randomized Trial of Vertebroplasty for Painful Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures” (New England Journal of Medicine [2009]: 557–568). Obtain a copy of this paper through your university library or your instructor. Read the following sections of the paper: the abstract on page 557; the study design section on page 558; the participant's section on pages 558–559; the outcome assessment section on pages 559–560; and the discussion section that begins on page 564. The summary of this study that appeared in USA Today consisted of just one paragraph. If the newspaper had allowed four paragraphs, other important aspects of the study could have been included. Write a four-paragraph summary that the paper could have used. Remember—you are writing for the USA Today audience, not for the readers of The New England Journal of Medicine!