Faculty Bibliography

'When I saw her then, she'd been getting three to four hours of sleep a night for weeks,' said Jeffrey P. Koplan, a former director of the C.D.C. 'They did what they needed to do.' 'With any new disease, it's difficult to understand the full picture,' she said. 'One has to be modest to understand that we are competing against an enemy, the virus. And trying to understand it and reduce the anxiety of the world and reduce the suffering of people, that's not easy.' 'The world's response in a 10-day period was remarkable,' said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, 'and W.H.O. deserves credit for being a big part of it.'

'When I saw her then, she'd been getting three to four hours of sleep a night for weeks,' said Jeffrey P. Koplan, a former director of the C.D.C. 'They did what they needed to do.' 'With any new disease, it's difficult to understand the full picture,' she said. 'One has to be modest to understand that we are competing against an enemy, the virus. And trying to understand it and reduce the anxiety of the world and reduce the suffering of people, that's not easy.' 'The world's response in a 10-day period was remarkable,' said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, 'and W.H.O. deserves credit for being a big part of it.'

'The W.H.O. needs a mechanism to dial down the anxiety levels while educating us about the extent of the transmission,' said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the preventive medicine department at Vanderbilt University. All of this authority is packed into a diminutive woman with large glasses who does not drive, type or cook, is fond of sharp suits and silver pins, and may be among the most qualified people in the world to lead the global response to the threat of a pandemic flu

'She is superbly qualified to deal with emergencies like the one we have been living through,' said Dr. Julio Frenk, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health who was [Margaret Chan]'s chief rival when she won the top WHO post in 2006. { SB 'She is the first director-general who has been able to wield these new powers,' said Dr. David L. Heymann, who recently left the organization to become chairman of the Health Protection Agency in Britain. In her announcement on April 29, Chan made it clear that she alone had decided to raise the pandemic alert. 'With any new disease, it's difficult to understand the full picture,' she said. 'One has to be modest to understand that we are competing against an enemy, the virus. And trying to understand it and reduce the anxiety of the world and reduce the suffering of people, that's not easy.'

'[...] it really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic,' Chan said to the world's gathered news media. Since her announcement, worry over the swine flu outbreak has eased.

In 2005 and 2006, when bird flu fears were making news, doomsayers pointed out the similar structure between the strain that was killing millions of birds and the 1918 virus, without bothering to mention that human pandemics in recent history have always involved H1, H2 and H3 proteins on the surface of the flu virus, not the H5 of that bird flu

BACKGROUND: It has been demonstrated recently that carotid stenting can be performed safely in patients > or =80 years of age. However, it is uncertain whether these patients will derive benefit because longevity after revascularization is an important consideration. This study was conducted to determine survival and predictors of mortality of selected elderly patients after stenting. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred forty-two consecutive elderly patients who were non-high risk for stenting underwent 153 procedures. Patients had either symptomatic stenosis > or =50% or asymptomatic stenosis > or =70%. Demographics and in-hospital outcomes were entered into a database; subsequent outcomes and mortality data were obtained retrospectively. Mean+/-SD age was 83.3+/-3.1 years. Symptomatic patients accounted for 28%. Overall survival at 3 years was 76% (85% at 2 years). At 1 year, 1 fatal stroke had occurred, with 97% of survivors (n=114) free of neurological events (neurological status was undetermined in the remaining 3%). Predictors of mortality were remote (> or =6 months) transient ischemic attack or cerebrovascular accident, smoking history, and creatinine clearance (hemoglobin level showed a strong trend toward achieving significance); for the asymptomatic subgroup, predictors of mortality were smoking history, previous carotid endarterectomy, hemoglobin level, and increasing age. In particular, symptom status and sex were not independent predictors of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that in selected elderly patients, a high proportion (85%) survived 2 years and >75% survived 3 years after stenting. Carotid stenting may be considered a revascularization option in such patients. Better selection of patients using the predictors of mortality may help to reduce unwarranted procedures and to optimize survival likelihood

Scrubs [Television Program] -- [...] patients who are physicians should be treated like any other patient and would not generally be permitted to self-administer medications

Emerging techniques and instrumentation have allowed orthopaedic surgeons to achieve rotator cuff repair through an all-arthroscopic technique. The most critical steps in rotator cuff repair consist of proper identification of the cuff tear pattern and anatomic restoration of the torn tendon footprint. With anatomic reduction of the rotator cuff tendons, a sound fixation construct can help restore rotator cuff contact pressure and kinematics, allowing for decreased repair tension and optimal healing potential. We provide surgical methods to recognize tear patterns and present a repair construct that will restore the anatomic footprint of the torn rotator cuff tendon. The key, initial maneuver to restore the anatomic footprint of the cuff includes placement of a suture anchor at the anterolateral corner for L-shaped tears and at the posterolateral corner for reverse L-shaped and U-shaped tears. After insertion of the medial-row anchors, the tendon stitches should be planned by use of a grasper to hold the tendon in a reduced position and guide location of the stitch. The lateral row with suture bridge can be visualized, and the final repair construct should produce an anatomic restoration of the rotator cuff footprint.

African Americans with high blood pressure (BP) can benefit greatly from therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) such as diet modification, physical activity, and weight management. However, they and their health care providers face many barriers in modifying health behaviors. A multidisciplinary panel synthesized the scientific data on TLC in African Americans for efficacy in improving BP control, barriers to behavioral change, and strategies to overcome those barriers. Therapeutic lifestyle change interventions should emphasize patient self-management, supported by providers, family, and the community. Interventions should be tailored to an individual's cultural heritage, beliefs, and behavioral norms. Simultaneously targeting multiple factors that impede BP control will maximize the likelihood of success. The panel cited limited progress with integrating the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan into the African American diet as an example of the need for more strategically developed interventions. Culturally sensitive instruments to assess impact will help guide improved provision of TLC in special populations. The challenge of improving BP control in African Americans and delivery of hypertension care requires changes at the health system and public policy levels. At the patient level, culturally sensitive interventions that apply the strategies described and optimize community involvement will advance TLC in African Americans with high BP