Systematic bias in the assessment of UK doctors |  |
- Systematic bias in the assessment of UK doctors
- Scientists prove regular aspirin intake halves cancer risk
- Global warming target to stay below 2 degrees requires more action this decade
- RV Polarstern launches 28th Antarctic season
- NYU College of Nursing receives 450 thousand dollar NIH grant to research post-breast cancer lymphedema
- New book proposes solutions to social and ecological challenges posed by climate change
- Natural killer cells could be key to anthrax defense
- Dr. Jennifer L. Howse elected to Institute of Medicine
- Environmental toxin Bisphenol A can affect newborn brain
| Systematic bias in the assessment of UK doctors Posted: 28 Oct 2011 09:00 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Official assessments of a doctor's professionalism should be considered carefully before being accepted due to the tendency for some doctors to receive lower scores than others, and the tendency of some groups of patient or colleague assessors to provide lower scores, claims new research published on bmj.com today. Researchers from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Exeter investigated whether there were any potential patient, colleague and doctor-related sources of bias evident in the assessment of doctors' professionalism. Doctors' regulator the General Medical Council (GMC) is working on a new system of revalidation for all UK doctors that could be introduced next year as a way of ensuring doctors are fit to continue to practise. This is likely to involve the use of multi-source feedback from patients, peers and supervisors as part of the evidence used to judge a clinician's performance. The researchers used data from two questionnaires completed by patients and colleagues. A group of 1,065 doctors from 11 different settings, including mostly NHS sites and one independent sector organisation, took part in the study. They were asked to nominate up to 20 medical and non-medically trained colleagues to take part in an online secure survey about their professionalism, as well as passing on a post-consultation questionnaire to 45 patients each. Collectively, the doctors returned completed questionnaires from 17,031 colleagues and 30,333 patients. Analysis of the results that allowed for characteristics of the doctor and the patient to be taken into account, showed that doctors were less likely to receive favourable patient feedback if their primary medical degree was from any non-European country. Several other factors also tended to mean doctors got less positive feedback from patients, such as that they practised as a psychiatrist, the responding patient was not white, and the responding patient reported that... http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| Scientists prove regular aspirin intake halves cancer risk Posted: 28 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Scientists including those from Queen's University have discovered that taking regular aspirin halves the risk of developing hereditary cancers. Hereditary cancers are those which develop as a result of a gene fault inherited from a parent. Bowel and womb cancers are the most common forms of hereditary cancers. Fifty thousand people in the UK are diagnosed with bowel and womb cancers every year; 10 per cent of these cancers are thought to be hereditary. The decade-long study, which involved scientists and clinicians from 43 centres in 16 countries and was funded by Cancer Research UK, followed nearly 1,000 patients, in some cases for over 10 years. The study found that those who had been taking a regular dose of aspirin had 50 per cent fewer incidences of hereditary cancer compared with those who were not taking aspirin. The research focused on people with Lynch syndrome which is an inherited genetic disorder that causes cancer by affecting genes responsible for detecting and repairing damage in the DNA. Around 50 per cent of those with Lynch syndrome develop cancer, mainly in the bowel and womb. The study looked at all cancers related to the syndrome, and found that almost 30 per cent of the patients not taking aspirin had developed a cancer compared to around 15 per cent of those taking the aspirin. Those who had taken aspirin still developed the same number of polyps, which are thought to be precursors of cancer, as those who did not take aspirin but they did not go on to develop cancer. It suggests that aspirin could possibly be causing these cells to destruct before they turn cancerous. Over 1,000 people were diagnosed with bowel cancer in Northern Ireland last year; 400 of these died from the disease. Ten per cent of bowel cancer cases are hereditary and by taking aspirin regularly the number of those dying from the hereditary form of the disease could be halved. Professor Patrick Morrison from Queen's University... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Global warming target to stay below 2 degrees requires more action this decade Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Climate scientists say the world's target to stay below a global warming of 2 degrees, made at the United Nations conference in Copenhagen in 2009 and Cancun 2010 will require decisive action this decade. A comprehensive review of 193 emission scenarios from scientific literature to date has been published in Nature Climate Change by University of Melbourne and international scientists. This study found the target of 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (GtCO2eq) by 2020 is a feasible milestone and an economically optimal approach for countries to meet the internationally agreed 2 degree target. Dr Malte Meinshausen from the University of Melbourne's School of Earth Sciences and a senior author on the study said the world is currently at 48 GtCO2eq and as this research suggests, to reverse the growing emission trend this decade is vital. The study analysed feasible emissions scenarios, which included a mix of mitigation actions ranging from energy efficiency to carbon free technologies such as solar photovoltaic, wind and biomass. Our study revealed there are many emissions scenarios that are economically and technologically feasible pathways to a 2 degree target, but that for countries to get closer to this target they need to honour the higher end of their pledges, he said. Using a risk-based climate model developed by Dr Meinshausen, an international team of scientists led by Joeri Rogelj from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, analyzed how global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 can be managed with a long-term 2 degree target. By analysing the emissions scenarios in the climate model, researchers were able to generate a probabilistic projection of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and global temperature for the next hundred years. And to determine in particular, which scenarios provided the best possible chance of reaching the global target of 2 degrees and moving to a zero carbon economy in the latter half... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| RV Polarstern launches 28th Antarctic season Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Bremerhaven -- On Friday, Oct. 28 2011 the research icebreaker Polarstern sets off on its 28th Antarctic expedition. Over 200 scientists and technicians from research institutions in 14 countries will take part in the five expedition legs. They will examine a wide variety of topics: oceanography and marine chemistry, atmospheric research and the biology of bacteria, tiny algae and animals all the way to crustaceans, fish and whales. Moreover, the Polarstern will supply Neumayer Station III in Antarctica with material, provisions and personnel. The first leg of the expedition will take the vessel from Bremerhaven to Cape Town. On the way from the temperate latitudes through the subtropics and tropics researchers will investigate the material flows between ocean and atmosphere in the various climate zones. They want to find out more about how, for example, varying air humidity, cloud cover and temperature influence one another and how much radiation energy reaches the Earth's and the ocean surface. The incident radiation energy is the driving force for most physical processes in the Earth's climate system. On this leg, furthermore, technical scientific equipment (hydroacoustic, IT and communication systems, etc.) will be tried out, calibrated and tested. This is a major prerequisite for meeting the high demands placed on the measured data gained in this way. Whales are a subject of study for the Oceanic Acoustics team at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association. Last year researchers for the first time put out a recorder that records whale songs around 700 kilometres off the coast of Namibia. Since visual observations of whales in the enormous oceans are rare, the bioacoustics experts wish to collect information on which species occur when in areas only presumed to be the mating grounds of blue and fin whales up to now. Since the behaviour-specific calls, such as during mating, are... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) received a two-year, $452,218.00 grant from the national Institutes of Health (NIH) to research Proinflammatory Biomarkers and Post-Breast Cancer Lymphedema. Post-breast cancer lymphedema (LE), a syndrome of abnormal swelling and multiple distressing symptoms, is caused by injuries to the lymphatic system from cancer treatment. As advances in cancer treatment lengthen survival, LE has emerged as a high-impact long-term morbidity that profoundly impairs survivors' quality of life. According to Fu, the purpose of this exploratory project is to prospectively examine levels and patterns of proinflammatory biomarkers and genetic variations in relation to limb volume change measured with the infra-red perometer-350S over a 12-month period in breast cancer survivors who are at risk for lymphedema. Among the 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S. more than 40% of them have developed lymphedema, said NYUCN Assistant Professor Mei Fu, PhD, RN, APRN-BC. All women undergoing breast cancer treatment are at lifetime risk for lymphedema. While removal of lymph nodes, surgery, and radiation are the major causal factors for lymphedema, cancer treatment is necessary for life-saving. Recent research has revealed that inflammation-infection and higher body mass index (BMI) are the main predictors of lymphedema besides treatment-related risk. Unfortunately, these studies did not evaluate biomarkers known for inflammation, and thus the role of inflammation-infection in limb volume change and lymphedema development could not be ascertained. Elevated levels of proinflammatory biomarkers have been speculated to be associated with inflammation in patients with lymphedema. Moreover, genetic variations may be one of the important factors that influence breast cancer survivors' responses to inflammatory processes and vulnerability to lymphedema, including survivors' responses to treatment-related... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| New book proposes solutions to social and ecological challenges posed by climate change Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The impacts of climate change on the world's land and sea will become more pronounced in the years to come. According to the authors of a new book, the impacts of this change will fall hardest on poor communities that are highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods, but much can be done to protect the environment and maintain human well-being in the face of climate change. The book -- titled Adapting to a Changing Environment: Confronting the Consequences of Climate Change -- outlines how societies dependant on natural resources can confront the challenges posed by climate change. The book was officially launched at the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association's Scientific Symposium in Mombasa, Kenya (Monday, October 24 -- Friday, Oct. 28). Published by Oxford University Press, the book is now available through the publisher's website. Written by Dr. Tim McClanahan, a coral reef fisheries expert at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Dr. Joshua Cinner, a human geographer at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, the multi-disciplinary book uses the lens of coral reef fisheries of the western Indian Ocean to examine the consequences of climate change for ecosystems and society. Critically, the book develops a conceptual framework for how societies dependant on natural resources can confront climate change and provides an associated tool box of adaptation options. The coastal communities of Africa and the islands of the western Indian Ocean are particularly vulnerable to climate change and an effective plan of action is needed to avert human suffering, said Dr. McClanahan, lead author and head of WCS's coral reef conservation program. The book fills a need by providing context-specific options for resource managers in building the adaptive capacity of societies and maintaining productive natural resources. Climate change may fundamentally alter the sea as we know it, added Dr.... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Natural killer cells could be key to anthrax defense Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) GALVESTON, Texas -- One of the things that makes inhalational anthrax so worrisome for biodefense experts is how quickly a relatively small number of inhaled anthrax spores can turn into a lethal infection. By the time an anthrax victim realizes he or she has something worse than the flu and seeks treatment, it's often too late; even the most powerful antibiotics may be no help against the spreading bacteria and the potent toxins they generate. Now, though, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have found new allies for the fight against anthrax. Known as natural killer cells, they're a part of the immune system normally associated with eliminating tumor cells and cells infected by viruses. But natural killer cells also attack bacteria -- including anthrax, according to the UTMB group. People become ill so suddenly from inhalational anthrax that there isn't time for a T cell response, the more traditional cellular immune response, said UTMB assistant professor Janice Endsley, lead author of a paper now online in the journal Infection and Immunity. NK cells can do a lot of the same things, and they can do them immediately. In test-tube experiments, a collaborative team led by Endsley and Professor Johnny Peterson profiled the NK cell response to anthrax, documenting how NK cells successfully detected and killed cells that had been infected by anthrax, destroying the bacteria inside the cells along with them. Surprisingly, they found that NK cells were also able to detect and kill anthrax bacteria outside of human cells. Somehow these NK cells were able to recognize that there was something hostile there, and they actually caused the death of these bacteria, Endsley said. In further experiments, the group compared the anthrax infection responses of normal mice and mice that were given a treatment to remove NK cells from the body. All the mice died with equal rapidity when given a large dose of anthrax... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Dr. Jennifer L. Howse elected to Institute of Medicine Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) WHITE PLAINS, NY, OCTOBER, 2011 -- Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, President of the March of Dimes Foundation, has been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine, the nation's premier advisory group on improving health. Being named to the Institute of Medicine is a great honor, and it acknowledges the achievements of Dr. Howse's career, as well as the important contributions of the March of Dimes to improving maternal, infant and child health, said Richard B. Johnston, Jr., M.D., Associate Dean for Research Development and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and a member of the IOM. The Institute of Medicine is a unique not-for-profit, non-governmental organization established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1970 to provide independent, unbiased, evidence-based information and advice on issues in the medical sciences, health care, and public health. Its members are scientists and other experts who work together under a rigorous, formal peer-review system. The New York Times recently said of the IOM, Its reports can transform medical thinking around the world. I am deeply honored to be selected to join the IOM, which includes many of the most transformational thinkers in science and medicine, said Dr. Howse. I hope that my experience in leading nationwide public health campaigns in the areas of newborn screening, folic acid awareness, and preventing premature birth can contribute in a meaningful way to the dialogue. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. New members are elected by current active members through a highly selective process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. A diversity of talent among IOM's... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Environmental toxin Bisphenol A can affect newborn brain Posted: 26 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Newborn mice that are exposed to Bisphenol A develop changes in their spontaneous behavior and evince poorer adaptation to new environments, as well hyperactivity as young adults. This has been shown by researchers at Uppsala University. Their study also revealed that one of the brain's most important signal systems, the cholinergic signal system, is affected by Bisphenol A and that the effect persisted into adulthood. Our environment contains a number of pollutants, including Bisphenol A, which is used in plastics in a number of different applications. When plastic products are used, Bisphenol A can leak out, which is especially problematic as it is used in baby bottles, tin cans, plastic containers, plastic mugs, which are used by people of all ages. Both in Sweden and globally, Bisphenol A is widely used, and the substance has been found in human placentas, fetuses, and breast milk. In recent years measurable amounts of Bisphenol have been found in dust from regular homes, but opinion differs regarding any negative effects of Bisphenol A, and risk assessments from various parts of the world present contradictory recommendations, even though the information used comes from the same research reports. Here in Sweden the Swedish Chemicals Agency and the Medical Products Agency are working on a ban for Bisphenol A in baby bottles and certain other plastic products. In humans and mammals, the brain develops intensively during a limited period of time. In human babies, this brain development period runs from the seventh month of gestation through the first two years of life. The corresponding period for mice takes place during the 3-4 first weeks after birth. Uppsala researchers have shown in previous research studies that various toxic compounds can induce permanent damage to brain function when they are administered to newborn mice during this developmental period. Examples of such compounds are so-called brominated... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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