Biomedical Research Groups Research Articles

Analysis of 18O enrichment in biological fluids by continuous flow-isotope ratio mass spectrometry.

A novel method is described for the analysis of 18O in urine by continuous flow-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS), after sample equilibration with CO2. The method is shown to be fast, precise and accurate and therefore facilitates studies of total body water and water turnover in the clinical field. The method uses existing CF-IRMS instrumentation with minor hardware modification which does not compromise routine analysis of 13C and 15N. This method emphasizes the versatility of CF-IRMS and thus its economy for the biomedical research group using stable isotope tracers.

Reform of Medical Education: The Effect of Student Unrest

This symposium, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, contains 12 brief, excellent essays by students and educators of diverse nationality, background, and opinion. The subjects include medical educational reform in France, Japan, and Latin America; new medical schools in Germany and New Zealand; the views of medical students of different countries concerning medical reform and their participation in curricular revision; and the relationships of welfare systems and of biomedical research groups to the reorganization of medical schools. The book includes discussions as well as formal papers, and the sharp debates and critical analyses are of particular value. The historical influences upon medical education and practice, often neglected in the United States, are well presented. The problems of Latin America are predominantly those of a feudalistic social and university organization, while the rigid academic and administrative hierarchies of France have Renaissance and Napoleonic origin. Belgium is trapped in the nationalistic,