Arena

Newsletter of the Boston University School of Medicine, Student American Medical Association (SAMA

Arena

Newsletter of the Boston University School of Medicine, Student American Medical Association (SAMA

Liver Procurement for Orthotopic Transplantation: An Analysis of the Pittsburgh Experience

The incidence of prospective organ donors in the United States and the techniques which are to used to guarantee their optimal use after identification are analyzed. Attitudes of the public and health professionals toward organ donation are discussed. The organization of the Pittsburgh Organ Procurement Agency and its relationship to other such agencies is described. Finally, the presently used techniques of liver salvaging and preservation are outlined. Copyright © 1984 American Association for the Study of Liver Disease

Risks of High-Powered Motorcycles Among Younger Adults

Objectives. We assessed whether policies designed to safeguard young motorcyclists would be effective given shifts in ownership toward high-powered motorcycles. Methods. We investigated population-wide motor vehicle driver and motorcyclist casualties (excluding passengers) recorded in Britain between 2002 and 2009. To adjust for exposure and measure individual risk, we used the estimated number of trips of motorcyclists and drivers, which had been collected as part of a national travel survey. Results. Motorcyclists were 76 times more likely to be killed than were drivers for every trip. Older motorcyclist age-strongly linked to experience, skill set, and riding behavior-did not abate the risks of high-powered motorcycles. Older motorcyclists made more trips on high-powered motorcycles. Conclusions: Tighter engine size restrictions would help reduce the use of high-powered motorcycles. Policymakers should introduce health warnings on the risks of high-powered motorcycles and the benefits of safety equipment

Women in contemporary cancer research

Despite recent advances, gender inequality persists in many scientific fields, including medicine. Thus far, no study has extensively analyzed the gender composition of contemporary researchers in the oncology field. We examined 40 oncological journals (Web of Science, ONCOLOGY category) with different impact factors (Q1-Q4) and extracted all the articles and reviews published during 2015 17, in order to identify the gender of their authors. Our data showed that women represent about 38% of all the authorships, both in articles and reviews. In relative terms, women are overrepresented as first authors of articles (43.8%), and clearly underrepresented as last or senior authors (<30%). This double pattern, also observed in other medical fields, suggests that age, or more specifically, seniority, may play some role in the gender composition of cancer researchers. Examining the pattern of collaboration, an interesting finding was observed: the articles signed by a woman in the first or in the last position roughly showed gender parity in the byline. We found also some differences in the content of the articles depending on which gender occupies the first and last positions of the authorships

Teaching the electrical origins of the electrocardiogram: An introductory physics laboratory for life science students

We present the design, pedagogical logic, and assessment of a laboratory and supporting materials that integrate a clinical academic cardiologist\u27s understanding of the origins of the electrocardiogram (ECG) with a physics educator\u27s insights into how to teach the underlying physics at the introductory level to life science students. In this article, we explain the choices made throughout the design process, connect a more advanced treatment of the physics to our approach, and present our assessment of the curriculum. Before the laboratory, students learn the cellular origins of the electric dipole potential produced by the heart on the body\u27s surface, including a simple physical model for the electrical activity of excitable cells, and learn to interpret the measured voltages of an ECG as probing components of the heart\u27s time-varying electric dipole moment. In the laboratory, students measure their own ECGs and analyze the data accordingly; they animate their data to display their own heart\u27s dipole moment for a single heartbeat. Our results from the assessment of student understanding and attitudes indicate that although students find the content challenging, nearly all students find it at least moderately interesting, and for about a quarter of the students in the course, this lab plays a highly meaningful part in connecting physics to medicine

Community-based distributive medical education: Advantaging society

This paper presents a narrative summary of an increasingly important trend in medical education by addressing the merits of community-based distributive medical education (CBDME). This is a relatively new and compelling model for teaching and training physicians in a manner that may better meet societal needs and expectations. Issues and trends regarding the growing shortage and imbalanced distribution of physicians in the USA are addressed, including the role of international medical graduates. A historical overview of costs and funding sources for medical education is presented, as well as initiatives to increase the training and placement of physicians cost-effectively through new and expanded medical schools, two- and four-year regional or branch campuses and CBDME. Our research confirms that although medical schools have responded to Association of American Medical Colleges calls for higher student enrollment and societal concerns about the distribution and placement of physicians, significant opportunities for improvement remain. Finally, the authors recommend further research be conducted to guide policy on incentives for physicians to locate in underserved communities, and determine the cost-effectiveness of the CBDME model in both the near and long terms