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At least 883 records · Page 49Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

[Geneticists in the service of war? The German Research Foundation, the Reich Research Council, and policy changes in research on heredity].

Historical research has hitherto focused on the specific contribution of human genetics research to National Socialist racial hygiene. During the Third Reich this field had a key position and received very substantial financial support from the government. However, this state sponsorship during the Nazi period was not constant, as documents from the most important public funding organizations for academic research in Germany, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and the Reich Research Council (Reichsforschungsrat) show. Human genetics saw a reduction in sponsorship as the government shifted its spending towards preparations for the war. Accordingly, many human geneticists and racial hygienists were unable to continue their research or were forced to change the focus of their work. It is also important to note that much of the available funds were concentrated on the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics. This essay analyzes the institutional context of science policy as well as the dynamics between the science of human heredity and Nazi politics during the war.

Biomedical Research↗
PubMed1992

Diet and coronary heart disease. The National Heart Foundation of Australia.

Over the last four decades there has been extensive research into the links between diet and coronary heart disease. The most recent literature is reviewed in this position statement. The clinical and public health aspects of the National Heart Foundation's nutrition policy are based on this review. The key points are as follows: 1. Saturated fatty acids A high intake of saturated fatty acids is strongly associated with elevated serum cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels and increased risk of coronary heart disease. 2. The n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids The n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (principally linoleic acid) lower serum cholesterol levels when substituted for saturated fats and probably have an independent cholesterol-lowering effect. 3. The n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (fish oils) The n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce serum triglyceride levels, decrease the tendency to thrombosis and may further reduce coronary risk through other mechanisms. 4. Monounsaturated fatty acids Monounsaturated fatty acids reduce serum cholesterol levels when substituted for saturated fatty acids. It is not clear whether this is an independent effect or simply the result of displacement of saturates. 5. Trans fatty acids Trans fatty acids may increase serum cholesterol levels and can be reckoned to be equivalent to saturated fatty acids. 6. Total fat Total fat intake, independent of fatty acid type, is not strongly associated with coronary heart disease but may contribute to obesity. Associations between total fat intake and coronary heart disease are primarily mediated through the saturated fatty acid component. 7. Dietary cholesterol Dietary cholesterol increases serum cholesterol levels in some people and may increase risk of coronary heart disease. 8. Alcohol A high intake of alcohol increases blood pressure and serum triglyceride levels and increases mortality from cardiovascular disease. Light alcohol consumption reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. 9. Sugar The consumption of sugar is not associated with coronary heart disease. 10. Sodium and potassium High salt intake is related to hypertension especially in the subset of "salt-sensitive" people. Potassium intake may be inversely related to hypertension. 11. Overweight and obesity Abdominal obesity increases the risk of coronary heart disease probably by adversely influencing conventional risk factors. 12. Vegetarianism A high intake of plant foods reduces the risk of coronary heart disease through several mechanisms, including lowering serum cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2005

[Introduction to clinical studies of acupuncture and moxibustion of Britain Foundation of TCM].

In Western countries, more and more people select acupuncture and moxibustion as medical ways, and more and more acupuncture and moxibustion research organizations are set up. Britain TCM foundation is such one center for acupuncture research. This center is aimed at promoting acupuncture research. Since 1991, a series of clinical trials and several big research tasks have been completed. The clinical designs in the center are very careful and scientific, being worth to be learnt. In the paper, clinical studies in the center are introduced for increasing levels of acupuncture and moxibustion research at home.

Acupuncture↗
PubMed2005

Integration and standardization within the Mayo Foundation Laboratories: the centralized laboratory purchasing group.

Integration and standardization of laboratories throughout a medical system can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of laboratory operations. This task is challenging in most health-care systems, as no central governance exists to compel laboratories to standardize and integrate. We describe the initial collaborative efforts to integrate and standardize the laboratories of the Mayo Foundation, which includes more than 60 laboratories of different sizes in diverse locations. The goals and objectives of the group formed to develop this initiative--the Centralized Laboratory Purchasing Group--its origin, and lessons learned are described. Similar initiatives by other academic medical centers and community health-care systems to integrate and standardize their laboratories are discussed. Successful standardization and integration increases the value of the laboratory to the larger health-care system by demonstrating accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness, and can result in considerable cost savings to the entire health-care system.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed2006

[The neurobiological foundations of learning disabilities].

INTRODUCTION: Learning disabilities constitute a heterogeneous group of disorders that involve significant alterations in different cognitive domains (acquisition and use of language, reasoning, mathematical skills, visuospatial abilities, and so forth) that are not accounted for by a low level of intelligence, inadequate sociocultural development or lack of academic opportunities. They result from an alteration in basic psychological processes, developmentally linked to an alteration in the central nervous system. Current functional neuroimaging techniques have made it possible to develop a new type of approach to the neurofunctional foundations underlying these disorders, especially with regard to difficulties in the realm of reading/ writing (developmental dyslexia) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which have their highest incidence among the infantile population of school-age children. DEVELOPMENT: Neuroimaging studies have revealed a pattern of atypical activity in both kinds of disorders. In the case of dyslexia, alterations have been observed in the perisylvian circuits that underlie the mechanisms involved in reading skills. Studies into ADHD suggest a fronto-striatal dysfunction linked to the difficulties encountered to achieve inhibitory control, as well as alterations in the inferior parietal and posterior temporal cortex. CONCLUSIONS: Functional neuroimaging studies have shown that the clinical manifestations of these disorders are not only due to a dysfunction in specific areas of the brain, but also to alterations in the pattern of connectivity.

Child↗
PubMed2006

Use of bivalirudin as the foundation anticoagulant during percutaneous peripheral interventions.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this retrospective chart review was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of using the direct thrombin inhibitor bivalirudin as the procedural anticoagulant in patients undergoing percutaneous peripheral intervention (PPI). BACKGROUND: Patients with peripheral artery disease are in general a high-risk population that requires safe and reliable anticoagulation with complete thrombin inhibition. Bivalirudin, a direct thrombin inhibitor, has been shown to be as effective as heparin, but with fewer bleeding events in PCI trials, and recent data suggest that bivalirudin may provide the same benefits in PPI. METHODS: This was a retrospective chart review of patients who underwent PPI with bivalirudin as the foundation anticoagulant. Bivalirudin was administered as a 0.75 mg per kg bolus, followed by a 1.75 mg per kg per hour infusion for the duration of the procedure. The primary endpoint was procedural success defined as residual stenosis less than or equal to 20%. Ischemic and hemorrhagic events were collected, as well as time-to-sheath removal, ambulation and discharge. RESULTS: Data were collected for 150 patients. Procedural success was achieved in 98.5%. Ischemic events were low: death (2.0%), myocardial infarction (0.0%), urgent revascularization (0.8%). Major and minor hemorrhage occurred in 4.7% and 2.0% of patients, respectively. Time-to-sheath removal, ambulation and discharge were short. CONCLUSION: Bivalirudin provided effective anticoagulation in these generally high-risk patients undergoing PPI. Ischemic and bleeding events were low and comparable to those reported in the literature, suggesting that bivalirudin is safe to use in this population.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Legal foundations for a national public health agency in Canada.

This commentary addresses some of the key legal challenges associated with establishing a national public health agency in Canada. These include issues related to privacy and confidentiality of personal health information in the public health context, constraints on the jurisdiction and powers of a national agency, the need to respect individual rights and freedoms in an outbreak situation, and international cooperation in infectious disease control. The authors are part of a research initiative, comprised of experts in law, public health policy and medicine, that is currently analyzing legal considerations that may influence the mandate of a national public health agency in regard to infectious disease activities. This article discusses critical issues raised at a meeting in August 2004 that brought the research team together with key federal and provincial policy-makers and members of the public health community. The commentary emphasizes that law sets the foundation for public health activities, and the promise of a national public health agency will only be realized if significant legal issues are examined early on to ensure the agency is built on a robust legal and policy framework.

Canada↗
PubMed1998

[The Rockefeller Foundation and the construction of a professional identity in nursing during Brazil's first Republic].

This article deals with the institution of professional nursing in Brazil during the First Republic, based on a study of documents left by the US nursing mission recruited during the 1920s by the Rockefeller Foundation, in association with the National Public Health Department. Certain excerpts from these documents are representative of main events and references within the field and can be considered emblematic of the construction of a professional identity. It is concluded that Brazilian nurses defined their identity around three basic lines: gender, race, and social origin.

Brazil↗
PubMed1998

[Representing and intervening in public health: viruses, mosquitoes and Rockefeller Foundation experts in Brazil].

The attempts by experts from the of the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) to eliminate yellow fever in Brazil were hampered by the pathology's low visibility. Most cases of yellow fever were atypical and easily confused with other fevers. In the 1920s, the RF experts who tried to assess the presence of yellow fever relied mainly on clinical observations. In the 1930s, however, they devised indirect methods of visualizing the presence of the disease agent. Visceroctomy revealed the presence of acute cases of the disease. Mouse protection tests revealed past contacts with the agent. Taken together, these tests enabled the RF specialists to construct maps which indicated zones where the disease was endemic and to target specific anti-yellow fever campaigns based on selective elimination of the yellow fever vector, that is, the mosquito Aedes aegypti. In public health, like in the sciences, representation practices shape intervention.

Brazil↗
PubMed2006

[Opportunistic diseases in HIV-infected patients at the Jeanne Ebori Foundation in Libreville, Gabon].

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequencies of opportunistic diseases among AIDS patients at the Jeanne Ebori Foundation (JEF) in Libreville, Gabon. A total 6313 file of patients treated in the internal medicine unit between 1994 and 1998 were analyzed. Findings showed that the main diseases related to AIDS classified according to seroprevalence were as follows: purigo (100%), cerebral toxoplasmosis (100%), oral candidiaisis (88%), bacteremia (87.8%), shingles (84.6%), minor salmonelosis (72%), and tuberclosis. The main diagnoses unrelated to AIDS at the JEF according to seroprevalene were typhoid (9.4%), common pneumonia (28%), bacterial meningitis (26.3%, hepatitis B (20.0%), and malaria (14%). In addition to these diseases there were nine cases of Kaposi's sarcoma, four cases of isosporosis, two cases of cryptococcosis, two cases of herpes Varicella, one case of cryptosporidiosis, and one case of isosporosis. The incidence of opportunistic disease was high in our study and must be taken in drug procurement.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed2005

Challenges in converting frame-based ontology into OWL: the Foundational Model of Anatomy case-study.

A description logics representation of the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) in the Web Ontology Language (OWL-DL) would allow developers to combine it with other OWL ontologies, and would provide the benefit of being able to access generic reasoning tools. However, the FMA is currently represented in a frame language. The differences between description logics and frames are not only syntactic, but also semantic. We analyze some theoretical and computational limitations of converting the FMA into OWL-DL. Namely, some of the constructs used in the FMA do not have a direct equivalent in description logics, and a complete conversion of the FMA in description logics is too large to support reasoning. Therefore, an OWL-DL representation of the FMA would have to be optimized for each application. We propose a solution based on OWL-Full, a superlanguage of OWL-DL, that meets the expressiveness requirements and remains application-independent. Specific simplified OWL-DL representations can then be generated from the OWL-Full model by applications. We argue that this solution is easier to implement and closer to the application needs than an integral translation, and that the latter approach would only make the FMA maintenance more difficult.

Anatomy↗
PubMed2006

Standard systems: the foundational element of measurement theory.

All measurement involves some system or mechanism for deriving metric information and yet definitions and theories of the process in psychology have not emphasized this element. The theory of standard systems, on the other hand, introduces the system as the foundational element in the measurement process. When combined with a categorization of types of standard systems and other elements of the measurement process, the theory highlights, and provides a meta-theoretical framework for integrating the historically important and heuristic contributions to measurement theory. The early positive contributions that focussed on the development of systems of measurement and models for deriving metric information, were deflected by the requirements outlined in the physical addition theory, and in the limiting theory of scales. Some of these requirements were liberalized by subsequent theoretical thrusts. Future research should bolster the promise of the Rasch solutions with emphasis on the provision of standard systems with empirically anchored magnitude points.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Zagreb "Foundation Hospital" on Ban Jelacić Square 1804-1931 (on the 75th anniversary of its demolishion)].

"Brothers of Charity Hospital" or "Foundation Hospital" in Zagreb was the oldest hospital in continental part of Croatia. It was built in 1804 on Harmica Square (present Ban Jelacić Square). The hospital building was demolished in 1931, and relocated to Sv. Duh Street where it is still located. On the 75th anniversary of the old hospital demolishion the author is showing its history (from 1804 to 1931) referring both to the particular departmens and wards development as well as to the important physicians, many of whom were the progenitors of many specialized medic professions in Croatia.

Croatia↗
PubMed2006

Experience in reasoning with the foundational model of anatomy in OWL DL.

The objective of this study is to compare description logics (DLs) and frames for representing large-scale biomedical ontologies and reasoning with them. The ontology under investigation is the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA). We converted it from its frame-based representation in Protégé into OWL DL. The OWL reasoner Racer helped identify unsatisfiable classes in the FMA. Support for consistency checking is clearly an advantage of using DLs rather than frames. The interest of reclassification was limited, due to the difficulty of defining necessary and sufficient conditions for anatomical entities. The sheer size and complexity of the FMA was also an issue.

Computational Biology↗
PubMed2006

A formal foundation for ICNP.

The International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) has been developed as a 'unifying framework' for comparing and combining disparate nursing data from across the world. In order to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of users of ICNP, substantial revision has been made to the Beta 2 version of ICNP, culminating in the launch of ICNP Version 1 in 2005. In its revision of ICNP, the development team has followed a rigorous development process using current best practice in ontology development. The core of ICNP Version 1 is represented in the Web Ontology Language, the de facto standard ontology representation language. An ontology editor, Protégé, and other software tools have been used to support the process. The result is a robust terminological resource that can accommodate existing and emerging nursing terminologies and allow comparisons to be made between disparate nursing data. The revision has provided ICNP with a sustainable foundation that will a) facilitate further development and maintenance of ICNP and b) extend significantly its functionality.

Internationality↗
PubMed1992

Complications of secondary tracheoesophageal puncture: the Cleveland Clinic Foundation experience.

One hundred forty-six secondary tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP) procedures were performed on 132 patients at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in the past 10 years. The complications of these procedures are reviewed, along with assessment of potential risk factors such as irradiation, esophageal/hypopharyngeal stricture, alcoholism, diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Among the subgroups studied, only stricture dilation was associated with an increased incidence of postsurgical complications. The majority of these, however, were immediate, and were probably related to the esophagoscopy or dilation itself. The incidence of TEP-related complications in all groups of patients may be higher than previously suspected.

Dilatation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Foundation of the Association of Medical Physicists].

The paper is concerned with foundation of the Association of Medical Physicists under the Physical Society of the USSR. The Association is to unite the efforts of physicists, chemists, mathematicians and engineers working at the medical institutions and engaged in physical problems of medicine and in the design of appropriate instruments, devices, equipment and materials in industry, at the Institutes of the Academy of Sciences, and at higher educational establishments. The functions of medical physicists and their roles in consolidation of the relations between medicine and natural sciences and engineering are discussed.

Interprofessional Relations↗