Licensing Telemedicine: The Need for a National System

The expansion of information technology has shattered geographic boundaries, allowing for extraordinarily increased access to health information and expanded opportunities for telemedicine practice across state boundaries. But despite its recent growth, telemedicine technology remains embedded in a state-based licensure system that places severe limits on its expansion. The current system of medical licensure is based primarily on statutes written at the turn of the 20th century. This system is inadequate to address the emerging medical practices and future uses of medical technology in the telecommunications age. To respond to the changes offered by the telecommunications revolution, we need to design a new regulatory structure for the 21st century. The purpose of this article is to propose a policy of national telemedicine licensure. The primary goal here is not to simply develop a policy proposal, but to discuss the rationale for national licensure and place it on the policy agenda. A national licensure system will expand the market for telemedicine, promote both the use and development of new technologies, and simultaneously eliminate many of the legal and regulatory ambiguities that plague and constrain the present system.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63348/1/15305620050503915.pd

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Inhibitory Effect of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on MMP-9 Release from Microglial Cells – Implications for Complementary Multiple Sclerosis Treatment

We investigated whether polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), which might be a useful complementary therapy among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), are able to modulate matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production in microglial cultures. MMPs are myelinotoxic factors. Primary cultures of rat microglia were treated with different doses of omega-3 (x-3) PUFA or purified fish oil, containing a mixture of x-3 and x-6 PUFA, and simultaneously activated by exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Culture supernatants were subjected to zymography and Western blot analysis for the assessment of MMP-2 and MMP-9 levels. Increased amounts of MMP-9, but not of the constitutively expressed MMP-2, were observed in supernatants from LPS-treated microglia in comparison with non-treated control cells. The treatment with both x-3 PUFA and fish oil dose-dependently inhibited the LPSinduced production of MMP-9. Our results suggest that a low fat diet supplemented with x-3 PUFA may become recommended for the well being of MS patients under therap