Faculty Bibliography

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, said that failed to resolve the issue of leadership. ''Under the president's plan,'' Mrs. Clinton said, ''we still don't know who is accountable within our federal government.'' ''In the Northwest, we have 42,000 travelers going and coming from Asia every week,'' Ms. [Mary Selecky] said. ''We don't want to have to deal in an isolated way with a plane carrying potentially infected people.'' ''They gave us a list of work that they expect us to do,'' Ms. Selecky said, ''but they've only given us a little bit of one-time money. We need a sustained effort.''

The goals include helping make sure that ''people aren't coming and going from a workplace at the same time'' and generally to ''encourage people to stay at home'' if they have any sense they are infected, the official said. ''The main purpose of this implementation plan is to say, 'Department X, you need to be doing the following,' '' he said. The nation's borders would almost certainly not be closed, the draft summary says, because the virus would enter the country anyway, enforcement would be difficult, and such an action would ''present foreign affairs complications and have significant negative social and economic consequences.''

The publication process is complex. Many factors can allow error, even fraud, to slip through. They include economic pressures for journals to avoid investigating suspected errors; the desire to avoid displeasing the authors and the experts who review manuscripts; and the fear that angry scientists will withhold the manuscripts that are the lifeline of the journals, putting them out of business.By promoting the sanctity of peer review and using it to justify a number of their actions in recent years, journals have added to their enormous power. A widespread belief among nonscientists is that journal editors and their reviewers check authors' research firsthand and even repeat the research. In fact, journal editors do not routinely examine authors' scientific notebooks. Instead, they rely on peer reviewers' criticisms, which are based on the information submitted by the authors. The public and many scientists tend to overlook the journals' economic benefits that stem from linking their embargo policies to peer review. Some journals are owned by private for-profit companies, while others are owned by professional societies that rely on income from the journals. The costs of running journals are low because authors and reviewers are generally not paid

Dr. [Jean A. Bernard], a pioneering French hematologist who diagnosed the cancer that the shah of Iran kept secret for many years, and that ultimately sent him to an American hospital in a chain of events that led to the Tehran hostage crisis of 1979-81, died at his home in Paris on April 17. He was 98

Dr. Jean A. Bernard, a pioneering French hematologist who diagnosed the cancer that the shah of Iran kept secret for many years, and that ultimately sent him to an American hospital in a chain of events that led to the Tehran hostage crisis of 1979-81, died at his home in Paris on April 17. He was 98. The shah was deposed in the Iranian revolution of 1978 and fled to exile in Mexico. When his cancer worsened in 1979, President Carter allowed him to enter the United States for treatment at New York Hospital in Manhattan. A few days later, a group of Iranians seized the American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 staff members hostage for more than 14 months, until January 1981

BACKGROUND: We developed computer-based virtual patient (VP) cases to complement an interactive continuing medical education (CME) course that emphasizes skills practice using standardized patients (SP). Virtual patient simulations have the significant advantages of requiring fewer personnel and resources, being accessible at any time, and being highly standardized. Little is known about the educational effectiveness of these new resources. We conducted a randomized trial to assess the educational effectiveness of VPs and SPs in teaching clinical skills. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of VP cases when compared with live SP cases in improving clinical skills and knowledge. DESIGN: Randomized trial. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-five health care providers (registered nurses 45%, physicians 15%, other provider types 40%) who attended a CME program. INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive either 4 live cases (n=32) or 2 live and 2 virtual cases (n=23). Other aspects of the course were identical for both groups. RESULTS: Participants in both groups were equivalent with respect to pre-post workshop improvement in comfort level (P=.66) and preparedness to respond (P=.61), to screen (P=.79), and to care (P=.055) for patients using the skills taught. There was no difference in subjective ratings of effectiveness of the VPs and SPs by participants who experienced both (P=.79). Improvement in diagnostic abilities were equivalent in groups who experienced cases either live or virtually. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements in performance and diagnostic ability were equivalent between the groups and participants rated VP and SP cases equally. Including well-designed VPs has a potentially powerful and efficient place in clinical skills training for practicing health care workers

In 2001, New York City implemented genotyping to its tuberculosis (TB) control activities by using IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and spoligotyping to type isolates from culture-positive TB patients. Results are used to identify previously unknown links among genotypically clustered patients, unidentified sites of transmission, and potential false-positive cultures. From 2001 to 2003, spoligotype and IS6110-based RFLP results were obtained for 90.7% of eligible and 93.7% of submitted isolates. Fifty-nine (2.4%) of 2,437 patient isolates had false-positive culture results, and 205 genotype clusters were identified, with 2-81 cases per cluster. Cluster investigations yielded 57 additional links and 17 additional sites of transmission. Four additional TB cases were identified as a result of case finding initiated through cluster investigations. Length of unnecessary treatment decreased among patients with false-positive cultures

OBJECTIVES: A method for the induction of complete heart block (CHB) by ethanol injection and its success rate in a pig model of acute right ventricular failure is reported. Additionally, a review of the literature for the induction of CHB in laboratory animals is detailed. The literature review was undertaken to both compare our rate of success with other methods and provide insight into our technique and refine its implementation. BACKGROUND: Animal models of CHB have facilitated the understanding of therapeutics for various cardiac pathologies in humans. In our laboratory, CHB in pigs is used for complete control of heart rhythm in studies of biventricular pacing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Experiments carried out on pigs in our laboratory that required the induction of CHB were reviewed retrospectively. In addition, review of the literature for creating CHB in animals was undertaken. Our success rate was compared to that of other groups. RESULTS: Our success rate (93%) is similar to other models of CHB, in general, and to those models that used the injection of caustic substances with thoracotomy. CONCLUSIONS: Review of the literature indicates that our success rate is comparable to other groups and that, although many approaches have been described in both open- and closed-chest models, success is likely dependent on the practice and skill of the experimenter. In addition, review of the literature has afforded us new perspectives on the experimental induction of CHB.

TALKING WITH DOCTORS By David Newman. 199 pp. Hillsdale, NJ., Analytic Press, 2006. $32.50. ISBN 0-88163-446-8