Conference In Dallas Research Articles

Forty years in mathematics: Personal perspective (Part I)

Conference like this in Dallas is a perfect occasion to give some reminiscences of my 40 years of work as a mathematician, and to muse a little about my mathematical past. It is a rare occasion to be a little sentimental. In this essay, I summarize and expand my birthday talk given at University of Texas at Dallas conference. There, I mostly covered the early years of my mathematical career ending with a detailed description about the smallest volume hyperbolic 3-manifold and the HOMFLYPT polynomial. Thus I seldom venture to the time after 1984 (for example to mention skein modules constructed in April 1987) and only occasionally after 1995 when I settled to work at George Washington University and have had several successful PhD students.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Building Respiratory Epithelium and Tissue for Health (BREATH) Consortium Workshop Report: Moving Forward in Lung Regeneration.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, together with the Longfonds BREATH consortium, convened a working group to review the field of lung regeneration and suggest avenues for future research. The meeting took place on May 22, 2019, at the American Thoracic Society 2019 conference in Dallas, Texas, United States, and brought together investigators studying lung development, adult stem-cell biology, induced pluripotent stem cells, biomaterials, and respiratory disease. The purpose of the working group was 1) to examine the present status of basic science approaches to tackling lung disease and promoting lung regeneration in patients and 2) to determine priorities for future research in the field.

Introduction to Special Issue: Trust in Doubt: Consuming in a Post-Truth World

Introduction to Special Issue: Trust in Doubt: Consuming in a Post-Truth World

Travel grant recipients headed to SC18

Five SIGHPC Travel Grants were awarded in early September for the SC18 Conference in Dallas. Two of these students are working on Masters degrees and three on PhDs. The two Masters students are Fabio Banchelli and Benedikt Oehlrich; the three PhD students are Charu Kalra, Ari Rasch, and Shu-Mei Tseng.

Journal Club-Electronic Cigarettes and Vaping as a Harm Reduction Alternative: Really?

Journal Club-Electronic Cigarettes and Vaping as a Harm Reduction Alternative: Really?

Co-editors’ Messages

1. Bradley R. Wolf, MD, FISHRS (forumeditors{at}ishrs.org) 1. Cincinnati, Ohio, USA </br>![][1]</img> The ISHRS celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. To commemorate this silver jubilee, as well as the first ISHRS conference in Dallas (April 30–May 2, 1993), we will be publishing

Seeking Greater Relevance for Athletic Training Education Within American Higher Education and the Health Care Professions

This paper addresses several of the challenges facing today's system of higher education, and discusses the implications of these challenges for the athletic training profession. Among the major challenges are cost, accountability, access, and value of a higher education. The paper next focuses on several issues about which athletic training educators should be thinking. They include the importance of a liberal arts education at the undergraduate level, athletic training's role in interprofessional education and practice, and the importance of diversity and inclusive excellence in helping to diversify the health care workforce and reduce health disparities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the evolution of athletic training from physical education to the health care professions and the transition to the professional master's degree as the entry-level degree in athletic training. The contents of this paper are based largely on the keynote address at the 2015 National Athletic Trainers' Association Athletic Training Educators' Conference in Dallas, Texas, February 27–March 1.

Practical application of the new classification scheme for congenital melanocytic nevi.

A new consensus-based classification of congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN) has recently been proposed. It includes categories for projected adult size (PAS) and location, satellite nevi counts, and morphologic characteristics (color heterogeneity, rugosity, nodularity, and hypertrichosis). The objective of the current study was to test the applicability of the new categorization scheme and to correlate classification outcome with the patient's history of melanoma and neurocutaneous melanocytosis (NCM). Children and adults with CMN attending a patient conference in Dallas, Texas, in 2012 were invited to participate in the study. Anamnestical data were collected using a standardized questionnaire. Two dermatologists performed clinical examinations. Of 45 patients enrolled, 33 had a giant CMN (G1 [>40 cm PAS], n = 13; G2 [>60 cm PAS], n = 20), 12 had an NCM (5 symptomatic, 7 asymptomatic), and 1 had a history of melanoma. CMN size was positively correlated with NCM (p < 0.05). The classification system allowed an easy and detailed phenotypic characterization of each individual CMN. CMN size and morphology were difficult to assess in patients after surgical removal, and the number of satellite nevi at birth or during infancy was not always known. Our report provides practical aids for the application of the newly proposed CMN classification. Prospective evaluation of accurately classified patients in CMN registries will reveal the predictive value of the scheme. The small study sample limits meaningful conclusions regarding the correlation between CMN parameters and the risk of NCM and melanoma.

Sharon Harris: Scholar, Mentor, Friend

As I contemplate the state of higher education these days, I frequently find myself thinking that a news item I read or an event I attend somehow marks the end of an era. On my campus, books are being relocated to make way for a coffee bar at the library. A parking garage replaces an old building. A longtime colleague moves on to another job. Change happens, of course. But I confess: when I learned that Sharon Harris would retire from her position as professor of English and director of the Humanities Institute at the University of Connecticut this year, it was quite clear to me that it is indeed the end of an era. Sherry earned her BA and MA degrees in English from Portland State University and her PhD from the University of Washington in 1988. In the twenty-six years since she earned her degree and took her first faculty position at Temple University, she has become a distinguished scholar in nineteenth-century American literature and culture, women's studies, and literature and medicine. Sherry is one of those academics who has truly made a difference in her field and in the lives of countless colleagues and students. For years, I have regarded her as among the most talented scholars in American literature today. Her wide-ranging work in early and nineteenth-century American women writers has been highly significant and broadly influential. Her recent work in literature and medicine has been groundbreaking. She is well known as an outstanding teacher and mentor to young faculty members and graduate students; I can think of dozens of scholars who have benefited from her personal involvement in their work. At conferences, I have watched her introduce herself to young scholars, put them at ease, and inquire about their work--all with her characteristic genuine interest in people and in scholarship. Sherry has also generously undertaken significant administrative service experience at the national and international levels. She was the founder and first president of the Society for the Study of American Women Writers and president and founding executive coordinator of the Society of Early Americanists. She has served on a number of MLA committees and on the editorial boards of American Literature, Early American Literature, and the University of Nebraska Press. She also has a long record of institutional service at the four universities where she has served as a faculty member: Temple University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Christian University, and the University of Connecticut. I first met Sherry in 1992, when we were both participants from different universities at the MLA/FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education) Curriculum Review Conference in Dallas, Texas. Attended by departmental representatives from about two dozen institutions, this conference was designed to assist departments in undertaking curriculum reviews in primarily undergraduate education. At the time, I was on the faculty at California State University, Los Angeles, and my colleagues and I were asked to work with the group from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where Sherry was then a faculty member. I was struck by her sensible and intelligent comments about undergraduate curricula in English departments and the humanities in general. I knew that she was a person I wanted to know. Later, I introduced myself to her after a session in order to ask her some questions about her department and the structure of their English major. Absorbed by the immediate concerns of the conference, I suddenly realized that I had known and admired her work on Rebecca Harding Davis and early American women writers. I was more than a little taken aback to realize that I had just introduced myself to one of my scholarly role models. From that initial meeting in Dallas, we have enjoyed a warm association and a strong friendship--our relationship has been among the most important of my professional career. Over the years, Sherry has steadily amassed a considerable record of research and publication. …

Pediatric Basic and Advanced Life Support: 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

The 2010 ILCOR Pediatric Task Force experts developed 55 questions related to pediatric resuscitation. Topics were selected based on the 2005 Consensus on Science and Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) document,1,2 emerging science, and newly identified issues. Not every topic reviewed for the 2005 International Consensus on Science was reviewed in the 2010 evidence evaluation process. In general, evidence-based worksheets were assigned to at least 2 authors for each topic. The literature search strategy was first reviewed by a “worksheet expert” for completeness. The expert also approved the final worksheet to ensure that the levels of evidence were correctly assigned according to the established criteria. Worksheet authors were requested to draft CoSTR statements (see Part 3: Evidence Evaluation Process). Each worksheet author or pair of authors presented their topic to the Task Force in person or via a webinar conference, and Task Force members discussed the available science and revised the CoSTR draft accordingly. These draft CoSTR summaries were recirculated to the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Pediatric Task Force for further refinement until consensus was reached. Selected controversial and critical topics were presented at the 2010 ILCOR International Evidence Evaluation conference in Dallas, Texas, for further discussion to obtain additional input and feedback. This document presents the 2010 international consensus on the science, treatment, and knowledge gaps for each pediatric question. The most important changes or points of emphasis in the recommendations for pediatric resuscitation since the publication of the 2005 ILCOR International Consensus on CPR and ECC Science With Treatment Recommendations1,2 are summarized in the following list. The scientific evidence supporting these changes is detailed in this document. Additional evidence shows that healthcare providers do not reliably determine the presence or absence of a pulse in infants or children. New evidence documents the important role of ventilations in CPR for infants and children. However, rescuers who are unable or unwilling to provide ventilations should be encouraged to perform compression-only CPR. To achieve effective chest compressions, rescuers should compress at least one third the anterior-posterior dimension of the chest. This corresponds to approximately 1½ inches (4 cm) in most infants and 2 inches (5 cm) in most children. When shocks are indicated for ventricular fibrillation (VF) or pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT) in infants and children, an initial energy dose of 2 to 4 J/kg is reasonable; doses higher than 4 J/kg, especially if delivered with a biphasic defibrillator, may be safe and effective. More data support the safety and effectiveness of cuffed tracheal tubes in infants and young children, and the formula for selecting the appropriately sized cuffed tube was updated. The safety and value of using cricoid pressure during emergency intubation are not clear. Therefore, the application of cricoid pressure should be modified or discontinued if it impedes ventilation or the speed or ease of intubation. Monitoring capnography/capnometry is recommended to confirm proper endotracheal tube position. Monitoring capnography/capnometry may be helpful during CPR to help assess and optimize quality of chest compressions. On the basis of increasing evidence of potential harm from exposure to high-concentration oxygen after cardiac arrest, once spontaneous circulation is restored, inspired oxygen concentration should be titrated to limit the risk of hyperoxemia. Use of a rapid response system in a pediatric inpatient setting may be beneficial to reduce rates of cardiac and respiratory arrest and inhospital mortality. Use of a bundled approach to management of pediatric septic shock is recommended. The young victim of a sudden, unexpected cardiac arrest should have an unrestricted, complete autopsy, if possible, with special attention to the possibility of an underlying condition that predisposes to a fatal arrhythmia. Appropriate preservation and genetic analysis of tissue should be considered; detailed testing may reveal an inherited “channelopathy” that may also be present in surviving family members.

Part 10: Paediatric basic and advanced life support: 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations

Part 10: Paediatric basic and advanced life support: 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations

When Caring Hurts …

Compassion fatigue is often experienced in health care institutions yet few programs exist to identify and address the needs of employees. This article describes one organization's limited subject size pilot project to support health care providers in achieving a healthy balance in work and life, while offering opportunity for professional and personal maturity. The article acknowledges the need for collaboration between hospital administration and its employees in achieving that balance. The article describes the vital role that chaplains may play in soul care of individuals and institutions when addressing self-care as an ethical and pastoral priority in health care. Lead author Ann Sidney Charlescraft will present a professional development intensive on compassion fatigue and self-care at the Association of Professional Chaplains' 2011 Annual Conference in Dallas, TX.

International Hemodialysis Patient Outcomes Comparisons Revisited

The Dallas conference on ESRD in 1989 was a landmark meeting. Among the many presentations, the one by Philip Held stimulated a great deal of discussion. On the basis of data from three registries, the US Renal Data System (USRDS), the European Dialysis and Transplant Association (EDTA), and the Japanese Society of Dialysis and Transplantation (JSDT), he showed higher mortality in the United States than in the other two regions. Categories of age and reported cause of ESRD (diabetes versus other) were available in the registries, allowing for descriptions of outcomes by strata of age and diabetes, or adjustment for age and diabetes. The main outcome was 5-yr survival for all patients with ESRD (dialysis and transplantation combined). In virtually each age by diabetes group, a lower percentage of patients survived to 5 years in the US registry than in either the EDTA or the JSDT (1). These results, summarized in Figure 1, were widely quoted for many years. In this article, we ( 1 ) explore potential explanations for these international outcomes differences using more recent data, ( 2 ) consider trends in therapy during the past 20 years, and ( 3 ) describe how study of the associations of practice patterns with outcomes has informed regional differences in survival and can be used to identify opportunities to improve outcomes at the present time. Figure 1. Five-year renal replacement therapy survival by age in the United States versus Europe (1982 through 1987) and the United States versus Japan (1983 through 1987). US data from the Health Care Financing Administration, European data from EDTA, Japanese data from JSDT (1984 through 1988). European and Japanese age group rates and total rates are standardized to the United States. The findings of Held et al. (1) were considered controversial by many because of the concern that they might reflect or …

The 1989 Dallas Conference on Morbidity and Mortality in Dialysis

I will attempt to recall, as best as my memory allows, what we learned from the 1989 Dallas Conference on Morbidity and Mortality and Prescription of Dialysis. These thoughts and opinions are my remembrance in the subsequent time period and therefore subject to the limitations of recall. Opinions expressed are my personal beliefs and cannot be verified by hardcore scientific data. Accept the thought process on the basis of recollection and my individual assessment of the issues discussed. It is surprising to me, in retrospect, what has occurred in the past 50 yr. It really is the history of clinical dialysis and kidney transplantation. Many of you may not be familiar with some of the earlier events, so I cover them briefly by decades. It will be difficult for many of us to realize that there were no self-defined nephrologists in the early part of the 1960s but only renal physiologists in some medical schools. The exceptions to this arrangement were led by a few brave pioneers, such as John Merrill in Boston, Belding Scribner in Seattle, and George Schreiner in Washington, DC. These men ignored the scorn of their academic colleagues and actually looked after patients with renal failure. The early effort of these individuals showed that it was possible to have patients recover from acute renal failure or even survive if their condition were chronic. Their results were exciting, capturing the public interests and making the cover of many national magazines, so the Public Health Service, in the mid-1960s, decided to offer 5-yr grants to determine whether chronic dialysis could be applied to the population at large. We obtained one of those grants in 1967 in Dallas. Finally, to close out the decade, a few courageous souls went into private practice as nephrologists, which became a board-certified specialty …

Forth &amp; small systems report

In July 2005 I ran across an ad in Electronic Products [1] for an optical mouse sensor by Agilent Technologies. Like many people, I find using an optical mouse to be superior to the old ball-in-a-cage type mouse (which I first saw demonstrated on the Xerox Star workstation at the National Computer Conference in Dallas, June 1976). Inevitably, I was curious to learn what makes it tick (or "squeak") ... that's my Tinkertoy® mentality at work. I clipped the article, filed it and totally forgot about it until recently.

A View from the Classroom: Film &amp; History Conference

A View from the Classroom:Film & History Conference Jessica Schoenbaechler Scholars and practitioners poked, prodded, dissected and analyzed issues relating to film and history—from recent boy bands to documentary classics—at the fourth Film & History Biennial Conference in Dallas, Texas, which ran from November 8 to 12. Hosted by Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies and sponsored by The Center for the Study of Film and History, the conference drew an international attendance of scholars, students, editors, filmmakers, writers and historians for five days of academic paper presentations, film screenings and question and answer sessions. Noteworthy speakers included Raymond Fielding, Dean Emeritus at Florida State University Film School; filmmakers [End Page 9] Chris Hegedus and DA Pennebaker; and Betsy McLane, former executive director of IDA and co-author, with Jack Ellis, of A New History of Documentary Film. Known for his instruction at UCLA, Temple University, University of Iowa, University of Houston and Florida State University, Professor Fielding has published books on The March of Time and the history of American newsreels, and has served as vice president of Zoetrope Studios, founded by his former student, Francis Ford Coppola. "Despite what poets say, the truth is not necessarily beautiful, nor does it set us free," said Fielding in his introduction to several March of Time newsreels. "Truth tells us who we are, why things fit and why they're not working out the way they're supposed to." According to Fielding, The March of Time, despite being scorned by print journalists, was often the only photographic representation of historic and controversial events from 1936-1951, and had tremendous impact on how people saw the world. The series, which included re-enactments and hidden cameras, was actually banned from Germany, Japan, Russia, Italy and Spain, and was censored in several democratic countries. Fielding highlighted "Inside Nazi Germany" (1935) and segments on Louisiana politician Huey Long; the last public executioner using the guillotine in France; and a humorous piece from 1936 on a Princeton student group, the Veterans of Future Wars, whose mission was to obtain bonus pay upfront for their certain draft into World War II. Pennebacker and Hegedus discussed their 30-year partnership with clips from Dont Look Back (1967), Monterey Pop (1968), The War Room (1993), Startup.com (2001) and Al Franken: God Spoke (2006). Pennebaker fondly recalled the homemade camera rig he first used, which was the size of a small typewriter, held 10 minutes of film, and required constant monitoring for telltale sounds of the end of the roll."We shot 35 hours for The War Room versus 400 hours for Startup.com," said Pennebaker. "You don't have to worry about the roll running out, but then you've got the burden of overabundance. It requires a totally different process of editing." Other screenings included Glen Marcus' The March of the Bonus Army (2006), a documentary about the 1932 march of World War I veterans demanding payment of compensation promised for war service, and Strong Enough to Break (2006), Ashley Greyson's documentary about the band Hanson's three-year struggle with its record label and its decision to start its own label. Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell of Dallas-based Media Projects, Inc. opened the conference with a discussion of the films they have made together over the past 30 years, including Sisters of '77. Also known as The Spirit of Women, the 2004 film received a CINE Golden Eagle and a Telly Award, and aired on PBS' Independent Lens. The filmmakers were introduced by Bart Weiss, director of the Video Association of Dallas. With up to ten different theme-based panel presentations happening at any given time, conference goers often had difficulty deciding which to attend. Topics included individual auteurs, films and film movements; pedagogy, ethics, genres, hybrid forms and the history of film; and issues of the environment, war and minority populations. I attended several of the panel discussions about environmental issues and films, including Hanna Musiol's "Primitive Environments in Robert and Francis Flaherty's Documentaries," in which she pointed out the ways that images of people and the environment are often embedded with the filmmaker...

Issues in ADHD in Adults

Free AccessIssues in ADHD in AdultsJ. Russell Ramsay and Anthony L. RostainJ. Russell RamsayDrs. Ramsay and Rostain are with the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of MedicineAddress correspondence to: J. Russell Ramsay, Ph.D., 3535 Market St., 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA19104–3309, or e-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author and Anthony L. RostainDrs. Ramsay and Rostain are with the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of MedicineSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:December 2006https://doi.org/10.1521/adhd.2006.14.6.5PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations AboutReferencesBarkley R. A., , Cunningham C., , Gordon M., , Faraone S., , Lewandowski L., , & Murphy K. (2006). ADHD symptoms vs. impairment: Revisited. ADHD Report, 14(2), 1–9. Abstract, Google ScholarBarkley R. A., , & Murphy K. R. (2006). Identifying new symptoms for diagnosing ADHD in adulthood. ADHD Report, 14(4), 7–11. Link, Google ScholarBrown, T. E. (1996). Brown attention deficit disorder scales. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation. Google ScholarBrown, T. E. (2005). Attention deficit disorder: The unfocused mind in children and adults. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Google ScholarConners, C. K., Erhardt, D., &Sparrow, E. (1999). Conners' adult ADHD rating scales. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi–Health Systems. Google ScholarFaraone, S. V. (2006, May). ADHD “Not otherwise specified”: Conceptual issues. In T. Wilens (Chair), Understanding and managing the transition of ADHD from adolescence to young adulthood: The maturation of the disorder. Industry–supported symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Toronto, Canada. Google ScholarFaraone, S. V., & Biederman, J. (2005, October). Adolescent predictors of functional outcome in adult ADHD: A population survey. Poster session presented at the 17th CHADD Annual International Conference in Dallas, Texas. Google ScholarGordon M., , Antshel K., , Faraone S., , Barkley R., , Lewandowski L., , Hudziak J. J., et al.. (2005). Symptoms versus impairment: The case for respecting DSM–IV's criterion D. ADHD Report, 13(4), 1–9. Link, Google ScholarMcGough J. J., , & Barkley R. A. (2004). Diagnostic controversies in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 1948–1956. Crossref, Google ScholarMilich R., , Balentine A. C., , & Lynam D. R. (2001). ADHD Combined Type and ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type are distinct and unrelated disorders. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 8, 463–488. Crossref, Google ScholarRamsay J. R., , & Rostain A. L. (2003). A cognitive therapy approach for adult attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 17, 319–334. Crossref, Google ScholarRamsay J. R., , Brodkin E., , Cohen M. R., , Ekman E., , Listerud J., , & Rostain A. L. (2005). “Better strangers”: Using the relationship in psychotherapy for adult patients with Asperger Syndrome. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42, 483–493. Crossref, Google ScholarWender, P. H. (1987). The hyperactive child, adolescent and adult: Attention deficit disorder through the lifespan. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Cited byCited by1. The Relationship Between Cognitive Distortions and Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder After Accounting for Comorbidities and Personality TraitsOnline publication date: 18 May 2020. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar2. Development of the Korean Practice Parameter for Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity DisorderOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar3. Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Its Behavioral, Neurological, and Genetic RootsOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar4. Assessing College-Level Learning Difficulties and “At Riskness” for Learning Disabilities and ADHDOnline publication date: 20 January 2011. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar5. A Critical Review of ADHD Diagnostic Criteria: What to Address in the DSM-VOnline publication date: 23 April 2010. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar6. Adult ADHD ResearchOnline publication date: 10 May 2007. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar Volume 14Issue 6Dec 2006 Information© The Guilford PressPDF download

President's messageThe H.E.A.T. is on...can you feel it?

As I write this message to you, we are heading into the summer…and the heat is on, not only in your own backyards, but at NAPNAP too. Summer is the time when we can often take a break from our hectic lives, spend time with family and friends, and recharge for the next challenge. At NAPNAP, that next challenge is the H.E.A.T. Campaign. All around the country, the news media, research, and our own observations, tell us that a major health challenge we face as a nation is overweight and obesity. The H.E.A.T. Campaign is off to a great start, and it is exciting to see the enthusiasm of our members and their involvement in this campaign at the local and national levels. You are NAPNAP's greatest resource, and together we continue to respond to and shape the health care environment, to achieve our goal of optimal care for children and families. Over this past year, many of us have explained NAPNAP's H.E.A.T. campaign to agencies, industry partners, and any interested individuals with whom we have contact. The National Office staff and the staff at Arent Fox have worked tirelessly to support our organization in furthering the vision, objectives, and goals developed by our members for the H.E.A.T. campaign. As President Elect, I was privileged to attend many meetings on pediatric overweight, and I have listened to the best scientists hotly debate the causes of this epidemic in our children. Whether walking through the shopping mall or seeing patients in the clinic, it is evident that the body mass index of our children is on the rise, and I fear the resultant co-morbidities of hypertension and Type II diabetes. So, during the summer, when the heat is truly on, let's do our part in every way to live up to our HEAT Campaign motto, “Healthy Eating and Activity Together.” In the State of the Science presentation at our recent national conference in Dallas, Texas, many of you shared your creative ideas and successful outcomes with an individual, family, or community intervention to address pediatric overweight. It would challenge and inspire us all to have those successful programs and clinical pearls shared in our newsletter. If you have a success story or a creative intervention approach, please send it to me at info@napnap.org.

Successes and Failures in the Conservation of Wooden Structures

The year 2000 saw the publication of two major works on the conservation of wooden heritage resources. The first, by the British wood conservation expert Brian Ridout, entitled Timber Decay in Buildings focuses on the effects of attacks by fungi and insects and on the science and technology of the development of treatments and preventive measures.1 The second, by Norwegian specialists Knut Einar Larsen and Nils Marstein, entitled Conservation of Historic Timber Structures: An Ecological Approach focuses on the development of truly multi-disciplinary approaches to the holistic conservation of historic timber structures.2 Larsen's studies in Japan have enabled this extremely useful work to focus equally on the different conservation philosophies of East and West.3These two excellent studies prompted the author to develop this paper, which reviews the development of appropriate approaches to the conservation problems of wooden structures and outdoor monuments over the last 40 years. It focuses particularly on the sometimes extreme treatments that were developed in the 1960s to treat attacks by wood-destroying fungi and insects, and the residual problems associated with these treatments. The development of more environmentally-friendly conservation treatments and minimalist approaches are also examined. The paper discusses the development of structural conservation media and methods—particularly focussing on the WER (wood-epoxy-reinforcement) and Beta systems and variations on these themes.The examples examined in the paper are all from the author's practice and 40 years of international experience, and include cases from tropical environments, Russia, Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the USA. The paper has been developed from one given by the author at the American Institute for Conservation Conference in Dallas in April 2001.

Ethical considerations of fetal urology: summary of the Twenty-Second Biannual Meeting of the Society for Fetal Urology

T fundamental driving force in life is to do the right thing. Those who teach children or raise their own children know that children thrive on being told the right way to behave and how to excel in life. They become frustrated and lose attention if not given specific, logical instruction. Physicians, especially surgeons, know that when faced with uncertainty or incomplete information, we use principles of physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, and past experience to find a solution to a problem. But what about the case where there is little experience to guide us? How do we choose a path to follow, especially, in the words of Professor Clare Fekete, when there is only a “least worst” choice? What about our initial decision to act? What principles do we follow to guide patient care when faced with an uncertain outcome? Finally, who decides what constitutes the best outcome? Probably the most dramatic example we face as urologists is a woman carrying a fetus with bilateral hydronephrosis and megacystis and oligohydramnios. When facing that pregnant couple in the consultation room, what is our responsibility as physician to the fetal patient, to the family, to society? Is there is a decision tree to use? How do we guide ourselves and those involved through this decision tree? How do we start to prioritize our decisions? These were the questions posed before a panel of experts at the 22nd biannual meeting of the Society for Fetal Urology, in Dallas, Texas, who discussed the topic of ethics, with particular regard to fetal anomalies. Present were Bill Cromie, Professor of Surgery/Pediatrics at the University of Chicago, Clare Fekete, Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Necker-Enfants Malades in Paris, and Roy Martin, D.Min., Chaplain Emeritus, Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Presentations and discussions centered around practical dilemmas, and most present came to a better understanding of the problems and questions we face in the practice of fetal urology. First, we reviewed a very brief outline of how normative ethics might help to describe solutions. This was based on a number of sources and represents a conceptual line of reasoning concerning fetal ethics. Further ethical understanding and examination is needed to provide physicians with a paradigm for counseling and is beyond the scope of this paper.1 Physicians are familiar with the Hippocratic oath. The core of the oath is, of course, to do what is good for our patients, at least without harm. The ethics of the Hippocratic corpus were written over a period of time by various Greek schools of philosophy and contain obligations of beneficence, nonmaleficence, and confidentiality, as well as some prohibitions against abortion, euthanasia, surgery, and sexual relationships with patients. Throughout the years, these codes were modified with cultural, religious, and theological overtones in the Judeo-Christian society until Perceval attempted to solidify this into a written code in Britain in 1803. In 1847, the American Medical Association released its first written code of ethics. It was based on the Hippocratic method but also included information on etiquette for physicians such as proper dress, gossip, reputation, cleanliness, truth-telling, consultation with other physicians, and the physician’s education. With the 1960s came societal re-examination of traditions, including these Hippocratic principles. This came about because of a better-educated public and the spread of participatory democracy such as civil rights, feminism, and consumer action. The need to re-examine medical ethics also came about This paper was presented at the Society for Fetal Urology Conference in Dallas, Texas, May 1999. From the Division of Pediatric Urology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Reprint requests: Timothy P. Bukowski, M.D., Division of Urology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 427 Burnett-Womack Building, Campus Box 7235, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7235 Submitted: July 2, 1999, accepted (with revisions): August 2, 1999 SOCIETY FOR FETAL UROLOGY UPDATE