Freshman Recital:Kori McGartland, Flute

Kemp Redtal Hall Sunday Afternoon February 8, 1998 3:00p.m

If you give your love some chemo ...

Cancer is not pretty, it is a harsh, ugly disease and the treatment is uglier still. There is no cure for cancer, at least not yet. I think the best solution is to be there for the ones you love, and help others by donating to charities that don't give you anything in return but the knowledge that you've helped. It's about the cause, not showing people that you donated

A risk stratification tool to assess commecial influences on continuing medical education

Introduction: Heightened concerns about industry influence on continuing medical education (CME) have prompted tighter controls on the management of commercial funding and conflict of interest. As a result, CME providers must closely monitor their activities and intervene if bias or noncompliance with accreditation standards is likely. Potential for industry influence can be difficult to assess at a stage in the planning process when mitigation strategies can assure balance and content validity. Few tools exist to aid providers in this regard. Methods: A 12-item instrument was designed to assess risk for commercial influence on CME. To determine reliability and validity, a cohort of experienced CME professionals applied the tool to standardized cases representing CME activities in the early stages of planning. Results were compared with the experts\u27 assignment of the same cases to one of four risk categories. A survey of study participants was conducted to ascertain usefulness and potential applications of the tool. Results: Analysis demonstrated strong intraclass correlation across cases (0.90), interrater reliability (94%), and correlation between assessment of risk with and without the tool (Spearman coefficient, 0.93, p \u3c 0.01; weighted kappa, 0.59). Participants found the tool easy to use and of potential benefit to their CME office. Discussion: The Consortium for Academic Continuing Medical Education (CACME) risk stratification tool can help CME providers identify activities that must be closely monitored for potential industry influence, remain aware of factors that place programming at risk for noncompliance with accreditation standards, and substantiate the allocation of resources by the CME office

Fruit and vegetable consumption and bone mineral density; the Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project

BackgroundStudies examining the relation between bone mineral density (BMD) and fruit and vegetable consumption during adolescence are rare.ObjectiveOur objective was to determine whether usual fruit and vegetable intakes reported by adolescents have any influence on BMD.DesignBMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at the nondominant forearm and dominant heel in a random sample of 12-y-old boys (n = 324), 12-y-old girls (n = 378), 15-y-old boys (n = 274), and 15-y-old girls (n = 369). Usual fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed by an interviewer-administered diet history method. Relations between BMD and fruit and vegetable intake were assessed by using regression modeling.ResultsUsing multiple linear regression to adjust for the potential confounding influence of physical and lifestyle factors, we observed that 12-y-old girls consuming high amounts of fruit had significantly higher heel BMD (β = 0.037; 95% CI: 0.017, 0.056) than did the moderate fruit consumers. No other associations were observed.ConclusionHigh intakes of fruit may be important for bone health in girls. It is possible that fruit's alkaline-forming properties mediate the body's acid-base balance. However, intervention studies are required to confirm the findings of this observational study

Brief motivational enhancement intervention to prevent or reduce postpartum alcohol use: a single-blinded, randomized controlled effectiveness trial

AIMS: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of brief motivational enhancement intervention postpartum alcohol use. DESIGN: This study is a single-blinded, randomized controlled effectiveness trial in which pregnant women were assigned to receive usual care or up to 5 face-to-face brief motivational enhancement sessions lasting 10-30 minutes each and occurring at study enrollment, 4 and 8 weeks after enrollment, 32 weeks of gestation, and 6 weeks postpartum. SETTING: The setting is in a large, urban, obstetrics clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were women who were \u3e/= 18 years old,gestation, and consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Of 3438 women screened, 330 eligible women were assigned to usual care (n = 165) or intervention (n=165). Due to missing data, we analyzed 125 in the intervention group and 126 in the usual care group. MEASUREMENTS: The measurements were the proportion of women with any alcohol use and the number of drinks per day, reported via follow-up telephone interviews at 4 and 8 weeks after enrollment, 32 weeks of gestation, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum. FINDINGS: In random effects models adjusted for confounders, the intervention group was less likely to use any alcohol (odds ratio 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23-1.09; P=0.08) and consumed fewer drinks per day (coefficient -0.11; 95% CI -0.23-0.01; P=0.07) than, the usual care group in the postpartum period but these differences were non-significant. Missing data during the prenatal period prevented us from modeling prenatal alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: Brief motivational enhancement intervention delivered in an obstetrical outpatient setting did not conclusively decrease alcohol use during the postpartum period