Nuclear handbook for medical service personnel.

"April 1969."

Thomas Henry Simpson Memorial Institute of Medical Research

Albert Kahn, architect

Studies from the Institute for Medical Research, Federated Malay States

Mode of access: Internet.

Medical research in the Veterans' Administration.

Latest issue consulted: 1973/74.

Annual report of the Institute for Medical Research.

Description based on: 13th (1913).

Anticholinergic medication use and cognitive impairment in the older population:the Medical Research Council cognitive function and ageing study

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the use of medications with possible and definite anticholinergic activity increases the risk of cognitive impairment and mortality in older people and whether risk is cumulative. DESIGN: A 2-year longitudinal study of participants enrolled in the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study between 1991 and 1993. SETTING: Community-dwelling and institutionalized participants. PARTICIPANTS: Thirteen thousand four participants aged 65 and older. MEASUREMENTS: Baseline use of possible or definite anticholinergics determined according to the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden Scale and cognition determined using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The main outcome measure was decline in the MMSE score at 2 years. RESULTS: At baseline, 47% of the population used a medication with possible anticholinergic properties, and 4% used a drug with definite anticholinergic properties. After adjusting for age, sex, educational level, social class, number of nonanticholinergic medications, number of comorbid health conditions, and cognitive performance at baseline, use of medication with definite anticholinergic effects was associated with a 0.33-point greater decline in MMSE score (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.03–0.64, P=.03) than not taking anticholinergics, whereas the use of possible anticholinergics at baseline was not associated with further decline (0.02, 95% CI=-0.14–0.11, P=.79). Two-year mortality was greater for those taking definite (OR=1.68; 95% CI=1.30–2.16; P<.001) and possible (OR=1.56; 95% CI=1.36–1.79; P<.001) anticholinergics. CONCLUSION: The use of medications with anticholinergic activity increases the cumulative risk of cognitive impairment and mortality.

AIDS benefit at Madison Square Garden with Mayor Ed Koch speaking to audience in support of AIDS medical research

General note: Title provided by Bettye Lane.

Patient data sharing for the improvement of healthcare and medical research: towards a moral duty of patients to share health-related data?

The project answers to the following central research question: ‘How would a moral duty of patients to transfer (health) data for the benefit of health care improvement, research, and public health in the eHealth sector sit within the existing confidentiality, privacy, and data protection legislations?’. The improvement of healthcare services, research, and public health relies on patient data, which is why one might raise the question concerning a potential moral responsibility of patients to transfer data concerning health. Such a responsibility logically would have subsequent consequences for care providers concerning the further transferring of health data with other healthcare providers or researchers and other organisations (who also possibly transfer the data further with others and other organisations). Otherwise, the purpose of the patients’ moral duty, i.e. to improve the care system and research, would be undermined. Albeit the arguments that may exist in favour of a moral responsibility of patients to share health-related data, there are also some moral hurdles that come with such a moral responsibility. Furthermore, the existing European and national confidentiality, privacy and data protection legislations appear to hamper such a possible moral duty, and they may need to be reconsidered to unlock the full use of data for healthcare and research.

Program area selection check list.

Mode of access: Internet.

Senior International Fellowship Program /

Mode of access: Internet.

Techniques of radioautography for medical and biological research

Standard techniques for radioautography used in biological and medical research can be classified into three categories, i.e., macroscopic radioautography, light microscopic radioautography and electron microscopic radioautography. The routine techniques used in these three procedures are described. With regard to macroscopic radioautography, whole body radioautography is a standard technique which employs freezing and cryosectioning and can demonstrate organ distributions of both soluble and insoluble compounds. In contrast, in light and electron microscopic radioautography, soluble and insoluble techniques are separated. In order to demonstrate insoluble labeled compounds, conventional chemical fixations such as formalin for light microscopy or buffered glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide for both light and electron microscopy followed by dehydration, embedding and wet-mounting applications of radioautographic emulsions can be used. For the demonstration of soluble labeled compounds, however, cryotechniques such as cryofixation, cryosectioning, freeze-drying, freeze-substitution followed by dry-sectioning and dry-mounting radioautography should be employed both for light and electron microscopy. The outlines of these techniques, which should be utilized in various fields of biological and medical research, are described in detail

ASSESSING THE UNRELIABILITY OF THE MEDICAL LITERATURE: A RESPONSE TO "WHY MOST PUBLISHED RESEARCH FINDINGS ARE FALSE"

A recent article in this journal (Ioannidis JP (2005) Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med 2: e124) argued that more than half of published research findings in the medical literature are false. In this commentary, we examine the structure of that argument, and show that it has three basic components: 1)An assumption that the prior probability of most hypotheses explored in medical research is below 50%. 2)Dichotomization of P-values at the 0.05 level and introduction of a “bias” factor (produced by significance-seeking), the combination of which severely weakens the evidence provided by every design. 3)Use of Bayes theorem to show that, in the face of weak evidence, hypotheses with low prior probabilities cannot have posterior probabilities over 50%. Thus, the claim is based on a priori assumptions that most tested hypotheses are likely to be false, and then the inferential model used makes it impossible for evidence from any study to overcome this handicap. We focus largely on step (2), explaining how the combination of dichotomization and “bias” dilutes experimental evidence, and showing how this dilution leads inevitably to the stated conclusion. We also demonstrate a fallacy in another important component of the argument –that papers in “hot” fields are more likely to produce false findings. We agree with the paper’s conclusions and recommendations that many medical research findings are less definitive than readers suspect, that P-values are widely misinterpreted, that bias of various forms is widespread, that multiple approaches are needed to prevent the literature from being systematically biased and the need for more data on the prevalence of false claims. But calculating the unreliability of the medical research literature, in whole or in part, requires more empirical evidence and different inferential models than were used. The claim that “most research findings are false for most research designs and for most fields” must be considered as yet unproven.

Medical ethics and research.

A symposium held at the 17th annual Medical Research Conference, Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 1966.

Medical mycology and fungal immunology : new research perspectives addressing a major world health challenge

Peer reviewed