Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of patients' perceptions of providers' communication on medication adherence in hypertensive African Americans. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 439 patients with poorly controlled hypertension followed in community-based healthcare practices in the New York metropolitan area. Patients' rating of their providers' communication was assessed with a perceived communication style questionnaire,while medication adherence was assessed with the Morisky self-report measure. RESULTS: Majority of participants were female, low-income, and had high school level educations, with mean age of 58 years. Fifty-five percent reported being nonadherent with their medications; and 51% rated their provider's communication to be non-collaborative. In multivariate analysis adjusted for patient demographics and covariates (depressive symptoms, provider degree), communication rated as collaborative was associated with better medication adherence (beta=-.11, p=.03). Other significant correlates of medication adherence independent of perceived communication were age (beta=.13, p=.02) and depressive symptoms (beta=-.18, p=.001). CONCLUSION: Provider communication rated as more collaborative was associated with better adherence to antihypertensive medications in a sample of low-income hypertensive African-American patients. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The quality of patient-provider communication is a potentially modifiable element of the medical relationship that may affect health outcomes in this high-risk patient population

Since this new virus contains some parts of old flu viruses, it appears that most of those who are infected are exhibiting some immunity to it. [...] it's encouraging that we're dealing with a swine flu rather than a bird flu.\n

This study examined the effect of two dissection techniques on the quality of human brain specimens. Frozen cerebellar samples were obtained from postmortem brains of 10 subjects free from neurological and psychiatric disease. These tissues were tested for RNA and DNA concentration and quality after being dissected with either an electric dental drill or a small handsaw. RNA and DNA were extracted separately from each sample, and the concentrations and quality of each were measured. We found that dissection technique does not significantly affect RNA or DNA quality/yield. RNA and DNA yields, as well as RNA integrity showed no significant differences between the two dissection techniques. Therefore, these results support the use of a high-speed hand-held electric dental drill as an efficient and anatomically precise means of human brain dissection without compromising tissue quality.

The sudden detection of the new swine influenza virus, A(H1N1), occurred just as scientists were focusing wary eyes on behavioral changes observed in another virus, the A(H5N1) bird flu strain, in Egypt. The W.H.O. and public-health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find themselves in a delicate balance, obliged to provide information about potentially lethal diseases without causing panic.

The sudden detection of the new swine influenza virus, A(H1N1), occurred just as scientists were focusing wary eyes on behavioral changes observed in another virus, the A(H5N1) bird flu strain, in Egypt. The W.H.O. and public-health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find themselves in a delicate balance, obliged to provide information about potentially lethal diseases without causing panic

Fringe [Television Program] -- [...] examination of the child reveals that his intestines lack Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria, which aid in digestion, and that he has low blood levels of vitamin D -- both of which are attributed to his underground existence. Sinai School of Medicine in New York and an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder, has taken care of a patient who as a child famously survived for months in the sewers of Lvov, Poland, during World War II eating rodents and insects

The dropout rate is less at major medical centers such as New York University's Langone Medical Center where I work, or Mount Sinai Medical Center, because larger physician networks have more leverage when choosing health plans

ER [Television Program] -- 'ER' NBC, Thursday, March 26, 10 p.m.; Episode: 'I Feel Good' The premise At a winter reunion of a summer camp for children who've had open heart surgery, camp veteran Vera befriends a first-time camper, Emily, whose parents prefer that she avoid exertion in the wake of several surgeries and finally a heart transplant for an underdeveloped heart

The authors compared effects of macronutrients on self-reported appetite and selected fasting hormone levels. The Optimal Macronutrient Intake Trial to Prevent Heart Disease (OMNI-Heart) (2003-2005) was a randomized, 3-period, crossover feeding trial (n = 164) comparing the effects of 3 diets, each rich in a different macronutrient. Percentages of kilocalories of carbohydrate, fat, and protein were 48, 27, and 25, respectively, for the protein-rich diet; 58, 27, and 15, for the carbohydrate-rich diet; and 48, 37, and 15 for the diet rich in unsaturated fat. Food and drink were provided for each isocaloric 6-week period. Appetite was measured by visual analog scales. Pairwise differences between diets were estimated using generalized estimating equations. Compared with the protein diet, premeal appetite was 14% higher on the carbohydrate (P = 0.01) and unsaturated-fat (P = 0.003) diets. Geometric mean leptin was 8% lower on the protein diet than on the carbohydrate diet (P = 0.003). Obestatin levels were 7% and 6% lower on the protein diet than on the carbohydrate (P = 0.02) and unsaturated-fat (P = 0.004) diets, respectively. There were no between-diet differences for ghrelin. A diet rich in protein from lean meat and vegetables reduces self-reported appetite compared with diets rich in carbohydrate and unsaturated fat and can be recommended in a weight-stable setting. The observed pattern of hormone changes does not explain the inverse association between protein intake and appetite.