[word=systems | lemma=□]
[word=systems | lemma=the]
State District Judge Ben Hardin allowed both sides to question Araneta privately on Tuesday , and scheduled a hearing later Thursday to address whether she will testify.If the judge rules Araneta can testify , Lanier will decide whether to put her on the stand or have jurors watch her videotaped deposition.Testimony Thursday came from Dr. David Egilman , a physician and professor at Brown University , who said Merck 's multiple Vioxx studies conducted before the drug was approved in 1999 were unreliable because they were too short and involved too few patients to produce solid data . " There was no smoking gun , and the evidence was sketchy at best , " Blackwell said.According to the 49-year-old panelist , most jurors put some stock in the defense portrayal of Waterman as just a normal teenager whose " venting " about her parents was exploited by an older ex-lover desperate for sex . Gaziano , an expert in cardiology and epidemiology hired by Merck , contradicted statements of experts who testified on Humeston 's behalf that Vioxx caused his heart attack.He also contradicted the findings of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration , which last April concluded that Cox-2 inhibitors are associated with increased risk of heart attack , stroke and death with long-term use.Merck blames the heart attack on Humeston , saying elevated blood pressure , excess weight and on-the-job stress triggered the attack , which he survived.His case is one of more than 7,000 suits filed against Merck over Vioxx , and plaintiff lawyers say thousands more suits will be filed in the future.In the first Vioxx trial , a Texas jury in August found Merck liable in a Vioxx user 's death , awarding his widow $ 253 million . The low illumination on the blind at his elbow grew dimmer ( the time had been when Oleron would have concluded that the lamplight going his rounds had turned low the flame of the lamp ) .