Faculty Bibliography

International experts who reviewed more than 10,000 scientific articles published in the last 15 years found little scientifically rigorous evidence to justify most existing therapies. They also found that most are prescribed by doctors who are poorly trained in caring for whiplash patients. Standard therapies are often ineffective, and sometimes may even be harmful, the study's authors said. Moreover, there is no generally accepted uniform approach for the management of whiplash, the authors said in a scathing report published in the journal Spine and discussed Monday at a press conference in Montreal. The authors said they believed it was the most comprehensive study of whiplash ever done. Whiplash often results when the impact of an accident suddenly thrusts the victim's head backward and then forward, injuring the muscles and soft tissue in the neck and upper spine to produce neck pain and limit motion of the neck. Whiplash may result from rear-end or side-impact motor vehicle collisions, but it can also occur during diving and other mishaps

Whiplash is a little understood neck injury and often ineffectively treated, a Quebec study has found. An international team of experts who reviewed more than 10,000 scientific articles found little scientifically rigorous evidence to justify most existing therapies and said most are prescribed by doctors poorly trained in caring for whiplash patients. Standard therapies are often ineffective and sometimes may even be harmful, the authors of the study said. Even the few therapies tested in a scientific manner, such as soft collars, muscle relaxants and other drugs, seem to be ineffective

Whiplash, a common neck injury that affects 120,000 Americans a year, usually after automobile accidents, is little understood and often ineffectively treated, a new study has found. An international team of experts who reviewed more than 10,000 scientific articles published in the past 15 years found little scientifically rigorous evidence to justify most existing therapies, and also found that most are prescribed by doctors poorly trained in caring for whiplash patients. Whiplash often results when the impact of an accident suddenly thrusts the victim's head backward and then forward, injuring the muscles and soft tissue in the neck and upper spine to produce neck pain and limit motion of the neck. Whiplash may result from rear-end or side-impact motor vehicle collisions, but it also can occur during diving and other mishaps

The current tuberculosis epidemic in the United States is marked, in many areas, by high rates of noncompliance with antituberculous regimens. In response to this, a comprehensive program of medical, nursing, social services, and supervised therapy was developed at Bellevue Hospital. Most patients were referred to the on-site directly observed therapy program (DOT) located in the hospital. Patients on DOT received daily or twice weekly therapy, and were given incentives to enhance compliance. Outreach was used to track patients who missed appointments. From November 1992 through July 1993, 113 patients were referred. HIV infection, homelessness, illicit drug use, and alcoholism were common. Follow-up revealed that 11 patients were noncompliant and completely lost to follow-up; of the remaining 102, 99% achieved bacteriologic cure. Of the 102 patients who received therapy, 74 attended the Bellevue DOT clinic, 16 attended other DOT programs in the city or received medication at home, and three died of HIV-related, nontuberculous illness. Nine patients were self-medicated and judged treatment successes. We conclude that a comprehensive hospital-based tuberculosis control program is capable of achieving a high degree of success, even in a population at high risk for noncompliance

The standard approach to treating obesity, which affects 20-30% of all Americans, does not work, and physicians need to develop new ways to help obese people. Treatment beyond behavior modification is needed as there appears to be a very real physiological basis for obesity

Dr. Francis B. Trudeau, founding president of the Trudeau Institute, a research organization in Saranac Lake, N.Y., that specializes in determining how the body's immune system is damaged by disease, died on Tuesday at the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake. He was 75 and lived in Saranac Lake. Dr. Trudeau came from a long line of doctors. His grandfather, Edward Livingston Trudeau, who suffered from tuberculosis, pioneered in treating tuberculosis patients with fresh air and rest. He established the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium and created the first research laboratory for tuberculosis in the United States. The sanitarium later was named the Trudeau Sanitarium in his honor. In addition to his son, Dr. Trudeau is survived by his second wife, Ursula Wyatt Trudeau, and two daughters, Jeanne Fenn, a photographer, and Michelle Trudeau, a correspondent for National Public Radio, and five grandchildren. His marriage to Jean Moore Amory of Vero Beach, Fla., ended in divorce in 1960.

A team led by Steven A. Goldman at Cornell University Medical College has discoverd that the adult human brain has the capacity to grow new brain cells at any point throughout life. Overturning long-held scientific dogma that the brain's cellular composition is fixed and nonplastic and that new neurons cannot be generated in the adult nervous system, the find opens new avenues into research to repair damaged human brain cells

BIRD BRAIN: Sixty-year-old scam helps researchers debunk dogma that brain can't grow new cells. The scam occurred in the 1930s. Now, 60 years later, it has led to the discovery that the adult human brain has the capacity to grow new brain cells at any point in life. Taking off from the knowledge gained in the canary scam that testosterone can enlarge the area of the brain where song originates, a team led by Dr. Steven A. Goldman at Cornell University Medical College in New York City has discovered that the brain harbors precursor nerve cells

In an unusual disciplinary action, a Harvard teaching hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where two patients received large overdoses of an anti-cancer drug, has been put on probation by the country's leading agency for certifying hospital quality. The action has no immediate effect on the cancer center's care. But if the unspecified problems that led to the action are not corrected within six months, the institute could lose accreditation and risk losing payments from the Federal Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs. The action was based on findings from a surprise inspection made at the Dana-Farber Institute on April 4 by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. It is a private organization in Chicago, generally known as the Joint Commission, which is made up of representatives of the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and other leading health care organizations. Relatively few of the 5,300 hospitals certified by the Joint Commission are put on such probation. And the action is all the more striking because it involves the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the country's most prestigious cancer centers and a Harvard teaching hospital. Gina Vild, a spokeswoman for Dana-Farber, said Saturday she did not know whether her hospital or any other Harvard-affiliated hospital had ever previously been put on probation by the commission. She referred such questions to the joint commission. But its officials did not return repeated telephone calls Sunday

In an unusual disciplinary action, a Harvard teaching hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where two patients received large overdoses of an anti-cancer drug, has been put on probation by the country's leading agency for certifying hospital quality. The action was based on findings from a surprise inspection made at the Dana-Farber Institute on April 4 by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. It is a private organization in Chicago, generally known as the Joint Commission, which is made up of representatives of the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and other leading health-care organizations. Relatively few of the 5,300 hospitals certified by the Joint Commission are put on such probation. And the action is all the more striking because it involves the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the country's most prestigious cancer centers and a Harvard teaching hospital