National institutes of health (NIH)—Progress on stem cell research

Human embryonic stem cell research offers the promise to elucidate some of the molecular mechanisms that underlie differentiation into specialized types. This knowledge may someday be used to develop new treatments for cellular degenerative diseases. National Institutes of Health has taken several steps to expedite progress in this new field.     

The Geisinger MyCode community health initiative: an electronic health record–linked biobank for precision medicine research

PurposeGeisinger Health System (GHS) provides an ideal platform for Precision Medicine. Key elements are the integrated health system, stable patient population, and electronic health record (EHR) infrastructure. In 2007, Geisinger launched MyCode, a system-wide biobanking program to link samples and EHR data for broad research use.MethodsPatient-centered input into MyCode was obtained using participant focus groups. Participation in MyCode is based on opt-in informed consent and allows recontact, which facilitates collection of data not in the EHR and, since 2013, the return of clinically actionable results to participants. MyCode leverages Geisinger’s technology and clinical infrastructure for participant tracking and sample collection.ResultsMyCode has a consent rate of >85%, with more than 90,000 participants currently and with ongoing enrollment of ~4,000 per month. MyCode samples have been used to generate molecular data, including high-density genotype and exome sequence data. Genotype and EHR-derived phenotype data replicate previously reported genetic associations.ConclusionThe MyCode project has created resources that enable a new model for translational research that is faster, more flexible, and more cost-effective than traditional clinical research approaches. The new model is scalable and will increase in value as these resources grow and are adopted across multiple research platforms.Genet Med 18 9, 906–913.     

Rolf Niedergerke (1921–2011): a life in muscle research

This obituary provides some detail and background to the life and work of a pioneer of muscle physiology, Rolf Niedergerke, who died in December 2011 aged 90. His name is perhaps most widely known for his role in the discovery of the sliding filament mechanism of muscle contraction in collaboration with Andrew Huxley (which complemented the independent studies of HE Huxley and Jean Hanson). His other major contributions were to the ??calcium story?? of muscle activation, particularly for the heart. In a long career, his intellectual and experimental excellence contributed some keystones of our present understanding of the role of cellular Ca²⁺ in muscle contraction and cardiac excitation?Ccontraction coupling and of the Ca?CNa exchange process.     

Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (1810–1881): Anatomical research to develop surgery

The 19th century Russian surgeon Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov believed passionately in the importance of anatomy for surgeons. His interest in anatomy began as a medical student in Moscow. After graduating in 1828 Pirogov entered the postgraduate German-Baltic University of Dorpat (now Tartu in the Republic of Estonia) where he studied anatomy and surgery. After completing his study, he remained to research the consequences of ligation of the aorta in a series of animal experiments, which formed the core of his doctoral thesis. He wanted to determine the feasibility of aortic ligation as a treatment for patients with an aneurysm of the aorta or iliac artery. He discovered that success was only likely when the aorta was ligated between the two mesenteric arteries and the ligature gradually tightened, an approach surgically difficult in humans. Pirogov then spent 2 years at the Charité Hospital in Berlin before returning to Russia. In 1841, he was appointed Professor of Applied Anatomy and Surgery at the Imperial Medico-Surgical Academy in Saint Petersburg. He instituted the teaching of microscopy and histology to the medical curriculum and in 1846 formed the Institute for Applied Anatomy within the academy, where in addition to teaching medical students future teachers of anatomy in Russia were trained. Pirogov published extensively on anatomy, including several anatomical atlases, the most notable his three-dimensional atlas of topographical anatomy published in four volumes between 1852 and 1859. Today Pirogov's contributions to anatomy are remembered in a number of anatomical structures named after him. Clin. Anat., 33:714–730, 2020. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consent for use of personal information for health research: Do people with potentially stigmatizing health conditions and the general public differ in their opinions?

Background  

Stigma refers to a distinguishing personal trait that is perceived as or actually is physically, socially, or psychologically disadvantageous. Little is known about the opinion of those who have more or less stigmatizing health conditions regarding the need for consent for use of their personal information for health research.     

The place of public inquiries in shaping New Zealand's national mental health policy 1858–1996

Background

This paper discusses the role of public inquiries as an instrument of public policy-making in New Zealand, using mental health as a case study. The main part of the paper analyses the processes and outcomes of five general inquiries into the state of New Zealand's mental health services that were held between 1858 and 1996.

Results

The membership, form, style and processes used by public inquiries have all changed over time in line with constitutional and social trends. So has the extent of public participation. The records of five inquiries provide periodic snapshots of a system bedevilled by long-standing problems such as unacceptable standards, under-resourcing, and poor co-ordination. Demands for an investigation no less than the reports and recommendations of public inquiries have been the catalyst of some important policy changes, if not immediately, then by creating a climate of opinion that supported later change. Inquiries played a significant role in establishing lunatic asylums, in shaping the structure of mental health legislation, establishing and maintaining a national mental health bureaucracy within the machinery of government, and in paving the way for deinstitutionalisation. Ministers and their departmental advisers have mediated this contribution.

Conclusion

Public inquiries have helped shape New Zealand's mental health policy, both directly and indirectly, at different stages of evolution. In both its advisory and investigative forms, the public inquiry remains an important tool of public administration. The inquiry/cause and policy/effect relationship is not necessarily immediate but may facilitate changes in public opinion with corresponding policy outcomes long after any direct causal link could be determined. When considered from that long-term perspective, the five inquiries can be linked to several significant and long-term contributions to mental health policy in New Zealand.

     

A bibliometric overview of infectious diseases research in European countries (2002–2007)

This study analyses the distribution of papers published by authors from the European Union (EU) in 47 international infectious diseases journals from 2002 to 2007. The Web of Science of the Institute for Scientific Information was used to collect medical articles. From 46,149 papers recovered, 24,064 (52.1%) were from the EU. The EU15 countries published 23,239 papers (96.7%). The ten countries that joined the EU in 2004 published only 767 (3.2%) and the two countries that last joined the EU in 2007 contributed only 0.1% of the papers. The United States contributed 41.2% of the documents. The leading EU27 countries in number of publications were the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. After taking the population into account, Denmark, Sweden, and The Netherlands headed the list, and after correcting for gross domestic product the greatest producers were Malta, Estonia, and Sweden. In conclusion, the production of scientific papers on infectious diseases during the last six years was greater in the EU than in the United States. The contribution to the infectious diseases research of the 12 countries that joined the EU in the last few years has yet been limited.     

2014年心身医学学术会议(北京·2014)纪要

<正>中国心理卫生协会心身医学专业委员会、北京医学会心身医学专业委员会、北京医学会精神医学专业委员会、《中国心理卫生杂志》社心身医学学术会议(北京·2014)于2014年11月21日-23日在北京辰茂鸿翔酒店成功举行。来自全国各地的240余名代表参加了会议。自2010年首次举办以来,心身医学学术会议已连续成功举办5届,成为国内规模较大的以心身医学为主题的学术会     

解读WHO(2014)女性生殖器官肿瘤分类(外阴)

正外阴肿瘤在WHO(2014)第4版《女性生殖器官肿瘤分类》[1](简称新版)中位列最后一章;与WHO(2003)第3版《乳腺及女性生殖器官肿瘤病理学和遗传学分类》[2](简称旧版)相比,新版增加了该领域研究的最新进展,简化及重新命名一些疾病,用二分法的鳞状上皮内病变(squamous intraepithelial lesion,SIL),代替旧版的外阴上皮内瘤变(vulvar     

解读WHO(2014)女性生殖器官(阴道)肿瘤分类

正2014年国际癌症研究机构(International Agency for Research on Cancer,IARC)在WHO第4版《女性生殖器官肿瘤分类》~([1])(简称新版)中将阴道肿瘤列为第六章,整体上延续了第五章子宫颈肿瘤的分类特点,用低级别鳞状上皮内病变(low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion,LSIL)和高级别鳞