Group changes plan for Va. medical school grant

By - Associated Press - Thursday, November 20, 2014

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - The group awarded a $25 million grant to create a medical school in southwest Virginia says a plan to create a virtual health science center with multiple partners is a better option.

The Alliance for Rural Health issued a report to the Virginia tobacco commission last week arguing against creating a new medical school, The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/1zGlgeC)) reported.

As a result of considerable study and dialogue, it became clear to the planners in our tobacco-affected Southwest Virginia region (as defined) that starting a medical school was not the best way to achieve increase in physicians, said the report.

The tobacco commission first awarded a $25 million to the project - then called the King School of Medicine - in 2009. But the project has languished since then. The commission voted to strip the grant of $5 million earlier this year and told the projects leaders to submit a plan detailing how it plans to proceed.

The group said it plans to partner with several organizations - including Emory & Henry College, East Tennessee State University, the Mountain States Health Alliance and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg - to create a virtual, distributed collaborative health science center.

State Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Bedford County and a member of the commission, said he is not impressed with the groups new plan.

There is an admission that a medical school for far Southwest Virginia is not feasible, from the same entity that is repeatedly claiming there is a great need for a medical school, Smith said. He added that the project spent five years trying to put lipstick on a pig.

Now theyre turning that pig around and are going to try the other end, he said.

The groups executive director, Tariq Zaidi, is set to address the tobacco commission in January.

Here is the original post:

Group changes plan for Va. medical school grant

The future of medical innovation: Beyond our wildest dreams? – Video


The future of medical innovation: Beyond our wildest dreams?
As kids, visions of the future were often defined by scenes from science fiction flying cars, phones with video screens, magical curative potions. And while the future predicted for 2014...

By: FasterCures

Read more from the original source:

The future of medical innovation: Beyond our wildest dreams? - Video

Handheld ultrasound technology can help medical students improve their physical diagnosis

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

18-Nov-2014

Contact: Lauren Woods lauren.woods@mountsinai.org 646-634-0869 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine @mountsinainyc

A new study by researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that training medical students to use a handheld ultrasound device can enhance the accuracy of their physical diagnosis. The study was presented November 18 at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014.

The study by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai included a 90-minute, personalized lesson for 64 second-year medical students in how to use handheld echocardiography technology, with a review of a 3D cardiac anatomy model, video images of normal echocardiograms, and the opportunity to test the handheld device on classmates.

The study's goal was to evaluate an entire medical student class and observe if a group of novice medical students given this training could employ the technology successfully to achieve more accurate diagnosis of valvular heart disease than 72 of their classmates who received only traditional instruction in how to review medical histories and analyze heart murmur sounds using a stethoscope.

Valvular heart disease is when one or more of the four valves inside the heart are not functioning properly leading to improper blood flow throughout the heart. The condition can be caused by an infection, heart disease, or a heart attack. Heart valve disease is traditionally first suspected when a doctor hears a heart murmur while listening to a patient's heart using a stethoscope. An echocardiogram machine, or a handheld echocardiography device, is a tool which uses sound waves to create images of the heart for doctors to visually identify any irregular heartbeat or valve abnormalities.

After all 136 students in the Cardiac Pathophysiology course took the identical final examination test, results showed that those with the enhanced training in handheld technology were more likely than the students with standard training to correctly diagnose valvular heart disease, 58 percent versus 40 percent, when the students were additionally provided with video of echocardiograms.

"As the field of medicine grows more complex, our study findings show that the addition of handheld echocardiography as a component of students' diagnostic skill set can substantially enhance the accuracy of physical diagnosis, even when introduced at the earliest stages of the students' training," says the study's lead author David Vorchheimer, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Cardiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "We have shown that even a limited 90-minute training session with the small, portable handheld ultrasound device can give medical students and other healthcare professionals in the hospital or the community the ability to more quickly and more accurately diagnose certain heart conditions," added Dr. Vorchheimer, also the new Director of Clinical Cardiology at the Montefiore Einstein Center for Heart and Vascular Care.

The Vscan device used in the study, made by GE Healthcare, is an echocardiography handheld device that permits rapid assessment of cardiac size, structure, function, and hemodynamics or blood flow. The device can fit in the hand of the physician and its screen is the size of a smart phone.

Follow this link:

Handheld ultrasound technology can help medical students improve their physical diagnosis

Medical Students Can Learn How to Use Handheld Ultrasound Technology to Improve Their Physical Diagnosis

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise A new study by researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that training medical students to use a handheld ultrasound device can enhance the accuracy of their physical diagnosis. The study was presented November 18 at the American Heart Associations Scientific Sessions 2014.

The study by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai included a 90-minute, personalized lesson for 64 second-year medical students in how to use handheld echocardiography technology, with a review of a 3D cardiac anatomy model, video images of normal echocardiograms, and the opportunity to test the handheld device on classmates.

The studys goal was to evaluate an entire medical student class and observe if a group of novice medical students given this training could employ the technology successfully to achieve more accurate diagnosis of valvular heart disease than 72 of their classmates who received only traditional instruction in how to review medical histories and analyze heart murmur sounds using a stethoscope.

Valvular heart disease is when one or more of the four valves inside the heart are not functioning properly leading to improper blood flow throughout the heart. The condition can be caused by an infection, heart disease, or a heart attack. Heart valve disease is traditionally first suspected when a doctor hears a heart murmur while listening to a patients heart using a stethoscope. An echocardiogram machine, or a handheld echocardiography device, is a tool which uses sound waves to create images of the heart for doctors to visually identify any irregular heartbeat or valve abnormalities.

After all 136 students in the Cardiac Pathophysiology course took the identical final examination test, results showed that those with the enhanced training in handheld technology were more likely than the students with standard training to correctly diagnose valvular heart disease, 58 percent versus 40 percent, when the students were additionally provided with video of echocardiograms.

As the field of medicine grows more complex, our study findings show that the addition of handheld echocardiography as a component of students diagnostic skill set can substantially enhance the accuracy of physical diagnosis, even when introduced at the earliest stages of the students training, says the studys lead author David Vorchheimer, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Cardiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. We have shown that even a limited 90-minute training session with the small, portable handheld ultrasound device can give medical students and other healthcare professionals in the hospital or the community the ability to more quickly and more accurately diagnose certain heart conditions, added Dr. Vorchheimer, also the new Director of Clinical Cardiology at the Montefiore Einstein Center for Heart and Vascular Care.

The Vscan device used in the study, made by GE Healthcare, is an echocardiography handheld device that permits rapid assessment of cardiac size, structure, function, and hemodynamics or blood flow. The device can fit in the hand of the physician and its screen is the size of a smart phone.

Imaging is going to become an essential component of medical education. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinais education project Seeing is Believing, is currently evaluating the role of this strategy, says the studys principal investigator Jagat Narula, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Philip J. and Harriet L. Goodhart Chair in Cardiology, and the Director of Cardiovascular Imaging Program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is at the forefront of equipping future doctors with the most advanced tools possible to help them in their learning today, and with the patient care of tomorrow.

More here:

Medical Students Can Learn How to Use Handheld Ultrasound Technology to Improve Their Physical Diagnosis

Law Professor Discusses Medical Tourism

When most people hear the word tourism, they immediately think of flocking to the sandy beaches of the Caribbean or exploring museums in a European city. For Harvard Law School graduate I. Glenn Cohen, the word has a different implication: travelling to another country for medical treatment.

The now-Law School professor discussed this phenomenon, called medical tourism, and his new book, Patients with Passports: Medical Tourism, Law, and Ethics, on Wednesday afternoon. Cohen was joined by three other panelistsKennedy School of Government professor Amitabh Chandra, School of Public Health professor Alicia Ely Yamin, and Medical School professor Nir Eyalfor a discussion of medical tourism and its implications.

Cohen started the conversation by defining medical tourism as the process of people travelling from less developed countries to more developed countries like the United States in pursuit of higher-level medical treatment.

According to Cohen, another reason why a patient might travel to a country for medical purposes, besides seeking higher quality care, may deal with issues of legalitya phenomenon sometimes called circumvention tourism. Procedures that are illegal in certain countries include abortion, assisted suicide, reproductive technologies, and stem cell therapies.

According to Chandra, because the majority of patients seeking medical procedures abroad seek the lowest costs possible, medical tourism might force medical institutions and countries to better evaluate their cost structures, which would lead to increased price competition. He mentioned, however, that although medical tourism can be used to measure cost, the travel of patients will not translate into quality of care.

Yamin commented on ethical and legal implications of medical tourism, especially as they relate to the concept of the right to health.

To define [health] as a right implies one, that it is of special moral importance; and two, that it is subject to social influence, said Yamin, quoting from Cohens book.

Eyal noted that costs affiliated with medical tourism may negatively impact destination countries and mentioned that locals would have to compete with tourists for the same services they currently receive.

Cohens book is divided into discussion of legal scenarios and illegal scenarios. It considers client questions of where one would travel, instances of suing for malpractice and other liabilities, how medical tourism would affect the destination countrys healthcare, and policy regulation.

The rest is here:

Law Professor Discusses Medical Tourism

Social Media in Medicine – Neurosurgical.Tv – First Show, November 15th – Video


Social Media in Medicine - Neurosurgical.Tv - First Show, November 15th
Neurosurgical TV: Host John Bennett MD Guests: 1- Simon Downes PhD Tokio, Japan. Telemedical Services 2- John Minarcik MD, Pathologist. Illinois, USA. Creator of the world #39;s first free...

By: Julio Pereira

See original here:

Social Media in Medicine - Neurosurgical.Tv - First Show, November 15th - Video

U Mass Medical School receives $9.5 million for Fragile X research center

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Nov-2014

Contact: Jim Fessenden james.fessenden@umassmed.edu 508-856-2000 University of Massachusetts Medical School @UMassMedNow

WORCESTER, MA -The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $9.5 million grant to investigators at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to establish a Center for Collaborative Research in Fragile X, one of three centers designated by the NIH. Scientists at the centers will seek to better understand the Fragile X syndrome and its associated disorders in an effort to work toward developing effective treatments for the inherited illness. In total, the NIH awarded $35 million to the centers.

Professor of Molecular Medicine Joel D. Richter, PhD, is principal investigator on the 5-year grant that includes his colleagues Gary J. Bassell, PhD, professor of cell biology at Emory University, and Eric Klann, PhD, professor of neural science at New York University. Together, the trio will explore the underlying molecular basis of the Fragile X disorder, focusing on messenger RNA (mRNA) translational control.

"Fragile X syndrome arises when a single gene is inactivated," said Dr. Richter. "That indirectly causes protein synthesis in the brain to be elevated, which likely causes the disease. What we want to investigate is how that protein synthesis comes about and how rebalancing it can rescue or reverse the illness in mice so the animals no longer have the Fragile X syndrome."

Fragile X is the most common form of inherited intellectual and developmental disability. It can affect 1 in about 4,000 males or 1 in about 6,000 females. People with Fragile X suffer from intellectual disability as well as behavioral and learning challenges ranging from mild to severe. As many as 30 to 50 percent of people with the Fragile X syndrome also have disease features that are found on the autism spectrum.

An expansion of a CGG trinucleotide repeat in the DNA of the FMR1 gene causes the Fragile X syndrome. The Fragile X protein made from this gene is most commonly found in the brain and helps create and maintain plasticity. It is also needed for normal neurological development. The longer this CGG repeats the more severe the disabilities.

While the Fragile X protein has several functions in the brain, its primary role is to slow down the molecular machinery that translates mRNAs into mature proteins. Without the Fragile X protein, these machines run out of control. The result is excessive amounts of perhaps 1,000 or more different proteins in the brain of a Fragile X patient.

It is thought that this inability to repress mRNA translation, which in turn leads to an increase in neural proteins in the brains of Fragile X patients, somehow hampers normal synaptic function. But because the Fragile X protein interacts with so many mRNAs, and some proteins become more elevated than others, parsing which mRNA or combination of mRNAs is responsible for Fragile X is a daunting task.

View original post here:

U Mass Medical School receives $9.5 million for Fragile X research center

New program donates dead bodies to medical students

By: Erika Castillo EL PASO, Texas -- Texas University Health Sciences Center in El Paso in now embarking on the next step in becoming a world-class medical school.

It is rolling out its Willed Body Program, which provides medical students with deceased bodies on which to learn how to become physicians.

Previously, El Paso's new medical school was teaching students in its anatomy classes, using willed bodies that had been donated in other parts of Texas and filtered through the Texas Tech program in Lubbock, then transferred to El Paso.

That will no longer be necessary as the pool of willed bodies for the El Paso campus will now come from the Borderland itself.

Putting together this report was a little unusual for me as a journalist. Rarely, do we have the opportunity to interject parts of our personal lives into a report. However in this case, I felt compelled to do so because my own mother is one of the first people to do the paperwork to become a participant of the willed body program.

Her doing so provides a unique opportunity not only to report on something new and beneficial to our community, but frankly, for me to have a chance to wrap my head around the fact my mother wants to one day donate her body to medical science.

Apparently, this is something she has thought about for a long time. About a year ago, she had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and who had to confront the possibilities of death at that time. The friend signed up for national willed body database, and my mother talked to me about it at the time.

At the time, my mother knew a lot more about the process than I did. She seemed very convinced, but still had spiritual-related questions to consider. By the time Texas Tech rolled out the program this week, my mother was ready to make a commitment. And I was ready to learn more and share it.

My mother is nowhere near ready to leave this Earth. She is healthy and active in every way. She's a tough, smart lady and I personally think she'll live to be 100 at least. I hope she does because I love her. And it's tough stuff to think about.

I hope the story is helpful and informational. If nothing else, the fact this program is embarking on the border, is an indication of the commitment being made in El Paso to develop a world-class generation of medical experts and improving medical services in our area.

Read more here:

New program donates dead bodies to medical students

Dick Krugman says goodbye to University of Colorado Medical School as he steps down as dean, after25 – Video


Dick Krugman says goodbye to University of Colorado Medical School as he steps down as dean, after25
Dick Krugman says goodbye to University of Colorado Medical School as he steps down as dean, after25 years. By: Joanne Davidson - I am The Denver Post #39;s society editor, covering everything...

By: DenverPost

More:

Dick Krugman says goodbye to University of Colorado Medical School as he steps down as dean, after25 - Video

At medical school, faculty unconvinced of task forces value

Almost two weeks after its first meeting on Nov. 3 the Yale School of Medicines Gender Equity Task Force is remaining silent about its plans moving forward.

The task force, chaired by Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Diversity Linda Bockenstedt, was launched in July following discussions among the medical school administration about gender issues before sexual harassment allegations against former cardiology chief Michael Simons MED 84. But the lack of communication coming from the task force has made several medical school faculty members concerned about its objectivity, necessity and potential efficacy.

What we dont need is another faculty committee thats just going to waste a lot of peoples time doing yet another report thats going to get buried, said professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry Joan Steitz.

A medical school faculty member, who asked to remain anonymous because she was afraid of the administration responding negatively, agreed with Steitz, noting that the school does not need another committee but rather a leader who is willing to change the schools climate.

According to School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern, the lateness of the task forces first meeting had nothing to do with a lack of enthusiasm for its mission, but was rather due to the hectic schedules of the individuals involved.

Alpern added that the administration was made aware of the Timess investigation in the week prior to the articles publication. Still, he said it was a total coincidence that the first meeting was the Monday after the article was printed by the Times.

Eleven of 13 faculty members interviewed raised concerns about the task forces objectivity. Though eight committee members are female, all but two of the 12 were appointed to positions including chiefs, associate deans, chairs and directors by the medical school administration.

Our task force seems to feature a lot of the same people the University has already appointed. Is it really objective or are there favorites? said another medical school faculty member, who asked to remain anonymous due to fears of retaliation by the administration.

Despite the lack of confidence in the task force expressed by multiple faculty members, cardiology professor Steven Wolfson said he thinks the task force is making a serious effort to improve the climate for women at the medical school.

Alpern said that one of the criteria for being a task force member is the ability to think independently, but the first anonymous source said that a large number of outspoken faculty who have worked on gender equity in the past were left out. Alpern said he thinks the 12 individuals selected are the best for the job.

See the article here:

At medical school, faculty unconvinced of task forces value

A West Indies chance for vet, med students

A recent partnership between SUNY Cobleskill and Ross University's veterinary and medical schools allows students easier access to continue their postgraduate degrees if they meet required academic standards.

But both Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and Ross University School of Medicine have been criticized for low completion rates and large class sizes, raising questions as to why the West Indies school was the first choice for SUNY's students.

The partnership between the two educational institutions has been a long time coming, said Lisa Lopez, assistant director of the Student Success Center at Cobleskill. In her job of working with students to secure internships and graduate school placements, she's seen many Cobleskill students continue their education at Ross as open seats for veterinary and medical schools dwindle and admission rates become more and more competitive.

"We've had all of our students successfully complete (at Ross)," she said. "There's no student in our experience who has been dismissed or been told 'You're not going to cut it.'"

Unlike most state schools, Ross admits three classes, or cohorts, of students per year, operating on a trimester system, said Chris Railey, senior director of communications for DeVry Medical International. By default, more students then have the opportunity to enter and continue their education at the Caribbean school.

But these qualities of higher admittance rates and larger class sizes are the same reason Ross comes under scrutiny from other universities, as some say the academic institution doesn't meet the rigors and demands of American schools.

Railey said the average MCAT scores for Ross is about 25, which he admitted is lower than most colleges. In 2013, the average score for all 48,000 students who took the MCAT was 28.4, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges and most schools look for a score of 31.2, according to Bloomberg.

There's more to medical and veterinary school applicants than just MCAT scores, though, Railey said, adding that Ross takes into account an applicant's GPA, social maturity and their in-person interview.

"It really speaks to the idea that we can take students who may not have the opportunity and have a great outcome for them," he said. "In a way, this helps us identify some pretty bright, intelligent people, some non-traditional students. For whatever reason or another, our school makes sense for them."

For Dana Elbrecht, one "bad year" left her feeling like she couldn't apply to state schools for veterinary medicine, and with additional high tuition costs for many of these colleges, Ross seemed like the best choice. The hands-on environment offered at both SUNY Cobleskill and Ross also prepared her for the demands of graduating in 2011 and moving directly into her career, she said. She is now a working veterinarian in New Hartford.

Read the original here:

A West Indies chance for vet, med students

"Intimidating at first:" An inside look at a Harvard research department – Video


"Intimidating at first:" An inside look at a Harvard research department
Intimidating? Perhaps. But these researchers and staff members at Harvard Medical School #39;s Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology know how to balance hard work and fun.

By: Harvard Medical School

Read the original:

"Intimidating at first:" An inside look at a Harvard research department - Video