Local Scientific Societies Research Articles

What is the true normal: comparison of different equations for estimating peak oxygen uptake for outcome prediction in heart failure

Abstract Background and Objectives One of the strongest prognostic parameters obtained during Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in patients with heart failure (HF) is the peak oxygen uptake (pVO2), as a standalone or as a percentage of the predicted peak oxygen uptake (ppVO2) reached. However, traditional standards by which ppVO2 is calculated have limitations, having been derived from small cohorts, lacking portability and poorly represented by women. Thus, we aim to compare the FRIEND Registry equation to previously used methods of calculating ppVO2 as it relates to prognostic value imparted by the percentage of ppVO2 (%ppVO2) reached during CPET and portability to the Portuguese HF population. Methods Single centre retrospective study of patients with HF with LVEF < 50% who underwent CPET between 2015-2021. Patients who did not reach RER≥ 1.05 were excluded from our analysis. All tests were evaluated and ventilatory thresholds determined by 3 independent, experienced operators. ppVO2 was calculated according to 1) the Wasserman equation; 2) the Wasserman equation using ideal body weight; 3) the Neder equation, 4) the SHIP equation and 5) the FRIEND equation. Our primary endpoint was a composite of CV death, urgent transplant or left ventricular assist device implantation and HF hospitalization. Results We included 238 patients (mean age 59 ± 11 years, 83% males). The HF aetiology was mostly ischemic in nature (68%), with LVEF of 34 ± 9% and median NTproBNP of 776 (2566 – 2342) pg/mL. Most patients (67%) were in class NYHA I-II and with high prevalence of GDMT (93% ACEi/ARB; 97% beta-blockers and 64% on MRA). Mean BMI in this group was 27.3 ± 4.7 kg/min. Patients performed CPET on a treadmill with a protocol adjusted to their predicted exercise capacity. Mean pVO2 was 18.1 ± 6.2mL/kg/min, corresponding to a median %ppVO2 that ranges from 51 ± 16% to 71 ± 22%, depending on the equation that is used. Mean VE/VCO2 Slope was 42 ± 13 and 48 % (n = 98) of patients showed exercise oscillatory ventilation (EOV). Mean ppVO2 as per the FRIEND and Wasserman equations was 18.9 ± 6.6 and 21.2 ± 4.5 mL/kg/min, with no statistically significant difference between both. %ppVO2 as calculated through all equations was an independent predictor of prognosis on multivariate analysis adjusted for LVEF, NTproBNP and VE/VCO2 Slope (p < 0.001 for values derived from all equations). However, the FRIEND and Wasserman equations showed a slight advantage over the remaining 2 equations, with higher AUC on ROC curve analysis (see figure). Conclusions In our population of Portuguese patients with HF, both the FRIEND registry and Wasserman equations for predicting pVO2 yielded strong prognostic power. However, these equations provide different absolute predicted VO2 values for the same patients and thus should not be used interchangeably. Standardisation of the type ppVO2 equation used should be recommended by local scientific societies.

Factors associated with producing a scientific publication during medical training: evidence from a cross-sectional study of 40 medical schools in Latin America.

Background: Scientific publication during medical training is key to promoting enduring cutting-edge knowledge. The promotion of science among medical students in Latin America is a multisectoral issue that is hampered by the lack of governmental knowledge to invest in national research, as well as by the lack of support from local universities. This study aims to determine the factors associated with the production of a scientific publication during medical training among Latin American medical students of local scientific societies. Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study conducted in 2016 that assessed the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among medical students from 40 local scientific societies of medical students affiliated with FELSOCEM. Teams from each local scientific society surveyed self-reported scientific publications and explored their association with socioeconomic, academic, and research training conditions. We applied nested models to identify the covariates associated with self-reported scientific publication, obtaining a parsimonious mixed-effects multilevel model grouped by medical scientific society. Results: Of 11,587 participants, the prevalence of scientific publications increased in 36% among medical students affiliated to a Scientific Society of Medical Students [parsimonious prevalence ratio (pPR)=1.36, 95%CI=1.16-1.59], 51% among medical students with advanced English proficiency [pPR=1.51, 95%CI=1.21 - 1.87], 85% among medical students who attended a scientific writing skills course [pPR=1.85, 95%CI=1.59-2.15], 81% among medical students who use Sci-Hub [pPR=1.81, 95%CI=1.50-2.20], and 108% among medical students who have access to a pirated academic account [pPR=2.08, 95%CI=1.83-2.36]. Conclusions: Producing a scientific publication among medical students is associated with being affiliated to a scientific society of medical students, English proficiency, training in scientific writing, use of Sci-Hub, and pirated academic accounts. The results will help clinical educators and medical programs improve resources for training students in high-quality research.

Dental implant imaging: What do South African dentists and dental specialists prefer?

To document the types of imaging modalities that are commonly prescribed during dental implant therapy in South Africa. The radiographic preferences were obtained from practitioners via an electronic survey that was disseminated during local dental conferences, electronic channels (e.g., email lists) of multiple dental schools and local dental scientific societies, and personal interviews. The survey consisted of multiple-choice questions which were designed to investigate the most common radiographic prescriptions during various treatment phases of implant therapy. The responses of one hundred and forty-two participants (General practitioners and dental specialists) practising in different South African provinces were collected and assessed. Principally, panoramic radiographs combined with cone beam computed tomography (PAN + CBCT) followed by CBCT, as a single examination (ASE), were the most preferable modalities during the implant planning phase (39% and 29%, respectively). During and directly after the surgery, periapical radiographs (ASE) were the most preferred (87% and 65%, respectively). The most widely preferred radiographic examination during the planning of implants was panoramic radiographs combined with CBCT. Periapical radiographs (ASE) were favoured during, directly after the treatment, and during the follow-up of asymptomatic patients by the majority of participants. However, CBCT (ASE) was preferred in the follow up of symptomatic patients. Factors related to extra anatomical information and superior dimensional accuracy provided by three-dimensional volumes (e.g., CBCT volumes), were the most indicated influencing factors on the radiographic prescriptions during implant planning.

Theodolites at 20 000 feet: justifying precision measurement during the trigonometrical survey of Kashmir, 1855–1865

This paper reconstructs the history of the trigonometrical surveying of Kashmir from 1855 to 1865. It highlights the strategies through which surveyors had to justify the employment of high-precision instruments and methods in Himalayan terrain. Only by tediously manipulating their institutional environment in India and Britain did the staff of the Kashmir survey manage to complete its operations in light of constant financial and physical hardship. To sustain their measurements, surveyors aligned themselves with various political projects, entertaining and shifting allegiances with local rulers, scientific societies, and colonial institutions. After suffering severe cuts to instruments and assistance staff, the party was entirely stripped of funds by the East India Company in 1857 and relied on the material support of Maharaja Gulab Singh. Subsequently, surveyors adopted an expansionist rhetoric to gather the support of the Royal Geographical Society. In doing so, they framed precision as an essential contribution to imperial expansion, effective colonial rule, and intervention in ‘backward’ Kashmiri society and infrastructure. The Kashmir survey illustrates that rendering precision valuable requires an ongoing performative effort of justification to align epistemic with political and institutional interests.

Factors associated with producing a scientific publication during medical training: evidence from a cross-sectional study of 40 medical schools in Latin America

Background: Scientific publication during medical training is key to promoting enduring cutting-edge knowledge. The promotion of science among medical students in Latin America is a multisectoral issue that is hampered by the lack of governmental knowledge to invest in national research, as well as by the lack of support from local universities. This study aims to determine the factors associated with the production of a scientific publication during medical training among Latin American medical students of local scientific societies. Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study conducted in 2016 that assessed the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among medical students from 40 local scientific societies of medical students affiliated with FELSOCEM. Teams from each local scientific society surveyed self-reported scientific publications and explored their association with socioeconomic, academic, and research training conditions. We applied nested models to identify the covariates associated with self-reported scientific publication, obtaining a parsimonious mixed-effects multilevel model grouped by medical scientific society. Results: Of 11,587 participants, the prevalence of scientific publications increased in 36% among medical students affiliated to a Scientific Society of Medical Students [parsimonious prevalence ratio (pPR)=1.36, 95%CI=1.16–1.59], 51% among medical students with advanced English proficiency [pPR=1.51, 95%CI=1.21 – 1.87], 85% among medical students who attended a scientific writing skills course [pPR=1.85, 95%CI=1.59–2.15], 81% among medical students who use Sci-Hub [pPR=1.81, 95%CI=1.50–2.20], and 108% among medical students who have access to a pirated academic account [pPR=2.08, 95%CI=1.83–2.36]. Conclusions: Producing a scientific publication among medical students is associated with being affiliated to a scientific society of medical students, English proficiency, training in scientific writing, use of Sci-Hub, and pirated academic accounts. The results will help clinical educators and medical programs improve resources for training students in high-quality research

Factors associated with producing a scientific publication during medical training: evidence from a cross-sectional study of 40 medical schools surveyed in Latin America

Background: Scientific publication during medical training is key to promote enduring cutting-edge knowledge. The promotion of science among medical students in Latin America is a multi-sphere issue hampered by the unawareness of governments to invest in national research, as well as a lack of support from local universities. This study aims to determine the factors associated with producing a scientific publication during medical training among Latin American medical students of local scientific societies. Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study initially conducted in 2016 to evaluate the use of information and communications technologies (TICs) among medical students of 40 local scientific societies of medical students affiliated to the Latin American Federation of Medical Students Scientific Societies (FELSOCEM, in Spanish). Teams in each local scientific society surveyed self-reported scientific publications and explored its association with socioeconomic, academic, and research training conditions. We included medical students enrolled in the 2016-I term and excluded medical interns. We implemented nested models to identify covariates associated with self-reported scientific publication until reaching a parsimonious mixed-effect multilevel model clustered by medical scientific society. Results: We surveyed 11,587 medical students. The prevalence of scientific publications increased in 36% among medical students affiliated to a Scientific Society of Medical Students [parsimonious prevalence ratio (PRp)=1.36, 95%CI=1.16-1.59], 51% among medical students with advanced English proficiency [PRp=1.51, 95%CI=1.21 - 1.87], 85% among medical students who attended a scientific writing skills course [PRp=1.85, 95%CI=1.59-2.15], 81% among medical students who use Sci-Hub [PRp=1.81, 95%CI=1.50-2.20], and 108% among medical students who have access to a pirated academic account [PRp=2.08, 95%CI=1.83-2.36]. Conclusions: Producing a scientific publication among medical students is associated with being affiliated to a Scientific Society of Medical Students, English proficiency, training in scientific writing, use of Sci-Hub, and pirated academic accounts.

Large variation in management of talar osteochondral lesions among foot and ankle surgeons: results from an international survey.

Surgeons management of osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLT) may be different to the published guidelines because not all treatment recommendations are feasible in every country. This study aimed to assess how OLT are managed worldwide by foot and ankle surgeons. A web-based survey was distributed to the members of 21 local and international scientific societies focused on foot and ankle or sports medicine surgery. Answers with a prevalence greater than 75% of respondents were considered a "main tendency", whereas where prevalence exceeded 50% of respondents they were considered a "tendency". A total of 1804 surgeons from 79 different countries returned the survey. The responses to 19 of 28 questions (68%) regarding management and treatment of OLT achieved a main tendency (> 75%) or a tendency (> 50%). Symptoms reported to be most suspicious for OLT were pain on weight-bearing (WB) and after activity (83%), deep localization of the pain (62%), and any history of trauma (55%). 89% of surgeons routinely obtain an MRI, 72% routinely get WB radiographs, and 50% perform a CT scan. When treated surgically, OLTs are managed in isolation by only 7% of surgeons, and combined with ligament repair or reconstruction by 79%; 67% report simultaneous excision of soft-tissue or bony impingements (64%). For lesions less than 10-15mm in diameter, bone marrow stimulation (BMS) represents the first choice of treatment for 78% of surgeons (main tendency). No other treatment was recorded as a tendency. For lesions greater than 15mm in diameter no tendencies were recorded. The BMS represented the most preferred treatment being the first choice of treatment for 41% of surgeons. OLT depth had little influence on treatment choice: 71% of surgeons treating small lesions and 69% treating large lesions would choose the same treatment regardless of whether the lesion had a depth lesser or greater than 5mm. The management of OLT by foot and ankle surgeons from around the world remains extremely varied. The main clinical relevance of this study is that it provides updated information with regard to the management of OLT internationally, which could be used by surgeons worldwide in their decision-making and to inform the patient about available surgical options. Level IV.

Revisiting the Role of Traditional, Electronic and Mobile-Based Communication Channels in the Pharmaceutical Industry of Lithuania

The study revisits communication channels currently used to access medical information and investigates perceptions of general practitioners (GPs) about traditional, electronic and mobile-based channels in the context of Lithuania. A total of 254 GPs were surveyed. The findings suggest that the pharmaceutical companies still rely on pharmaceutical sales representatives to disseminate the newest information about prescription drugs. The results indicate that the leading experts in the healthcare industry contribute most to GPs’ drug-prescribing intentions and conferences organised by local and international scientific societies are considered to be the most reliable channels. Further, local websites designed for GPs have the highest perceived value among electronic and mobile-based communication channels. Statistically significant differences among different GPs’ age groups are confirmed regarding channel preferences and their reliability: international scientific conferences and international health journals are more popular and are perceived as more reliable among younger GPs compared to more senior GPs. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.26.5.12510

EL NODO ARGENTINO DEL PROYECTO VARIOMA HUMANO EN LOS PRIMEROS DOS AÑOS DE ACTIVIDAD: PASADO, PRESENTE Y FUTURO

The Human Variome Project (HVP) is an international effort aiming systematically to collect and share information on all human genetic variants. It has been working for years in collaboration with local scientific societies by establishing systems to collect every genetic variant reported in a country and to store these variants within a database repository: LOVD (Argentinian chapter: ar.lovd.org). Formally established in 2017 in the Argentinian Node, up to June 2019 we collected more than 25,000 genetic variants deposited by 17 different laboratories. Nowadays the HVP country nodes represent more than 30 countries. In Latin America there are four country nodes: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela; the first two interacted recently launching the LatinGen database. In the present work we want to share our experience in applying the HVP project focusing on its organization, rules and nomenclature to reach the goal of sharing genetic variants and depositing them in the Leiden Open Variation Database. Contributing laboratories are seeking to share variant data to gain access all over the country. It is one of our goals to stimulate the highest quality by organizing courses, applying current nomenclature rules, sponsoring lectures in national congresses, distributing newsletter to serve the Argentinian genomics community and to stimulate the interaction among Latin America countries. Key words: Data sharing, Argentinian chapter of LOVD, Human Variome Project (HVP)-Argentina

Orenburg Neplyuev Military School: Contribution to Formation of Regional Science

In 2014, 190 years have passed since the establishment of the Orenburg Neplyuev Military School, renamed later in the Cadet Corps. In the middle of the XIX and the beginning of XX century, several military schools worked in Orenburg. Their presence in the city is quite justified, as since the founding of Orenburg it was a significant military and educational center of the region. The purpose of this study was to identify and collect data on the scientific activities of faculty members and staff of one of the oldest educational institutions in the region and evaluating the scientific merit of their work. It is known that members of the Orenburg Neplyuev Cadet Corps not only performed and contributed to the educational process, but some of them also were engaged in research. This work was not mandatory; it was often carried out on own initiative or with the agreement to assume the additional overhead. But at the same time it was not been closed within the boundaries of personal research interests of specific people. During the whole XIX and at the beginning of the XX centuries, even early, the Orenburg Province and adjacent areas remained unexplored territory. Therefore, the work of researchers and enthusiasts had enormous scientific and social value. Since the mid-XIX century, the Orenburg researchers were able to participate in the work of several local scientific societies: the Orenburg Scientific Archive Commission, the Orenburg Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, the Orenburg Department of the Kazan Society of military health knowledge adherents, etc. The article presents the results of a study on the participation and the scientific contribution of employees of the Orenburg Neplyuev Cadet Corps in the formation of Regional Science. On the basis of collected and presented in the article submissions it can be stated that, in speaking about the scientific work in this institution, it should be assessed not so much a collective as a personal contribution.

Impact of clinical and health services research projects on decision-making: a qualitative study

BackgroundThis article reports on the impact assessment experience of a funding program of non-commercial clinical and health services research. The aim was to assess the level of implementation of results from a subgroup of research projects (on respiratory diseases), and to detect barriers (or facilitators) in the translation of new knowledge to informed decision-making.MethodsA qualitative study was performed. The sample consisted of six projects on respiratory diseases funded by the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia between 1996 and 2004. Semi-structured interviews to key informants including researchers and healthcare decision-makers were carried out. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed on an individual (key informant) and group (project) basis. In addition, the differences between achieved and expected impacts were described.ResultsTwenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted. Most participants indicated changes in health services or clinical practice had resulted from research. The channels used to transfer new knowledge were mainly conventional ones, but also in less explicit ways, such as with the involvement of local scientific societies, or via debates and discussions with colleagues and local leaders. The barriers and facilitators identified were mostly organizational (in research management, and clinical and healthcare practice), although there were also some related to the nature of the research as well as personal factors. Both the expected and achieved impacts enabled the identification of the gaps between what is expected and what is truly achieved.ConclusionsIn this study and according to key informants, the impact of these research projects on decision-making can be direct (the application of a finding or innovation) or indirect, contributing to a more complex change in clinical practice and healthcare organization, both having other contextual factors. The channels used to transfer this new knowledge to clinical practice are complex. Local scientific societies and the relationships between researchers and decision-makers can play a very important role. Specifically, the relationships between managers and research teams and the mutual knowledge of their activity have shown to be effective in applying research funding to practice and decision-making. Finally the facilitating factors and barriers identified by the respondents are closely related to the idiosyncrasy of the human relations between the different stakeholders involved.

Caring for Kidneys in the Antipodes: How Australia and New Zealand Have Addressed the Challenge of End-Stage Renal Failure

Clinicians in Australia and New Zealand have developed active programs for the treatment of patients with chronic renal disease, including end-stage renal failure. They became interested in treatment with dialysis and transplantation shortly after the initiation of these treatments elsewhere in the world and have distinguished themselves over the decades by striving to provide comprehensive treatment for all who appeared suitable on purely medical grounds, without patients' personal, financial, or social characteristics entering into consideration, and despite geographic and national economic impediments. They have undertaken all major forms of treatment promptly after the development of these internationally and have conducted significant research locally. Home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis have featured more prominently in their repertoire than has been the case in many other countries, whereas in transplantation, they have traditionally shown a strong interest in the sourcing of grafts from deceased donors. Their participation in the field of end-stage renal failure has benefited from long-standing institutional support not only at the level of the governments and legal systems of their 2 countries, but also through the collegiality generated by their active participation in many local and international scientific societies.

Адаптация бизнеса транснациональных корпораций к российскому контексту: на примере компании "Стора Энсо"

The focus of the paper is on the project model of constant forest use as a business strategy of transnational corporation “Stora Enso”. It was shown how the corporation used the strategic partnership with the Foundation of wild nature in order to build good relations to all the interested parts: local population, state authorities, other companies and scientific society. The paper discloses that the corporation played the role of guide for global rules to the locality: through the certification of forest management and through the spreading its own corporate policy to the branch company. Theoretical analysis is based on the assumptions of institutional isomorphism. The study demonstrates that experience spreading on other companies of this corporation in Russia (mimical isomorphism) faced obstacles sue to the instability of the institutional background of Russian regions during the long term period of economic reforms in Russia.

Les cinquantes premières années des Eclogae geologicae Helvetiae: au service des géologues suisses et de la géologie

The late founding of the Societe geologique Suisse (Swiss Geological Society) in 1882 and then in 1888, the first publication of its bulletin, the Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, are partly related to the federative structure of Switzerland at the time, the vitality of local scientific societies, as well as numerous geological activities that the Societe helvetique des sciences naturelles (Helvetic Society of Natural Sciences, SHSN) maintained within the country. The latter, through the intermediary of its Geological Commission and with the help of a handful of collaborators, edited remarkable regional monographs (Beitrage zur Geologischen Karte der Schweiz / Materiaux pour la Carte Geologique de la Suisse / „Materials“ for the Geological Map of Switzerland). It was the formal organization of the geological excursions within the framework of the SHNS, as well as the desire to involve the whole of the geological community to participate in reviews for an international readership, which finally led to the origin of the Societe geologique Suisse (Swiss Geological Society), open to everyone, and the publication of the Eclogae. In its beginnings, this journal, led by a group of Swiss geologists from the French part of Switzerland, distinguished itself through the will to unite all national organizations active in the discipline, overcoming linguistic differences within the country and local regionalisms. Nevertheless, the important Swiss geological contributions of this period, the comprehensive reviews, and papers that brought forth new ideas, continued to appear in the Materiaux annd in local journals. These latter were particularly active in Geneva and Lausanne (with Schardt and Renevier and to a certain extent A. and E. Favre), in Zurich (with Heim), and in Bale (with Buxtorf). These were the journals that published the noteworthy works of Schardt on the Prealps, and Buxtorf on the decollement zone in the Jura Mountains. It was also these local journals and Materiaux that published the majority of results acquired during the construction of the tunnels in the Jura and the Alps (Simplon). Whereas the Geological Commission and local societies edited the important manuscripts, the Ecolgae (mostly in French) published more minor (but certainly interesting) field excursion proceedings and local geological data. These notes were very often taken from publications by local societies. The Eclogae distinguished itself by the publication of the Revue geologique Suisse (Geological Review of Switzerland), which was remarkable in its analysis of all geological published work related to Switzerland and neighbouring countries. After World War II, important changes affected the Eclogae, these included: Theses changes reinforced the position of the Eclogae within the national geological community as well as for expatriate geologists, who were growing in number. The importance given to structural geology and micropaleontology, two disciplines undergoing rapid development, notably increased the international attention given to the Eclogae, which was reputed for its careful editing and graphics, a quality particularly appreciated by those working in these fields.

Community Voices: Health Care for the Underserved

Community Voices:Health Care for the Underserved Ronald L. Braithwaite (bio), Henrie Treadwell (bio), Marguerite Ro (bio), and Kisha Braithwaite (bio) A little over 20 years ago, Margaret Heckler, Secretary of the Department for Health and Human Services, released the Secretary's Report on the Status of Black and Minority Health.1 This national study brought into center stage the health disparities between Black and other ethnic minorities and their White majority counterparts across age groups and disease entities. This report noted an annual 60,000 "excess deaths" among the nation's Black and ethnic minority group populations. Three years later in 1988, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that the annual number of "excess deaths" among these groups had grown to 75,000.2 While documentation of heath disparities (infant mortality, longevity, and quality of life) between racial/ethnic minorities and Whites pre-dates these reports by 50 years or more, these reports relit the spark that ignited a national flame focusing attention on health disparities. Concomitantly, several foundations launched intervention programs to address the abysmal national disgrace politicized by the gaps in health between racial and ethnic minorities and non-minority groups. The Kellogg Foundation embraced the challenge of working with the uninsured and underinsured as well as those unable to access comprehensive primary health care that included mental health and oral health care and funded the largest single initiative to improve primary health care access and strengthen fragile safety net institutions in this nation's history. More recently, national and local public health associations, federal agencies, and professional and scientific societies, including the Institute of Medicine, have drawn attention to the mounting and daunting health disparities in the most advanced nation in the hemisphere. This special issue of JHCPU highlights efforts aimed at addressing health disparities using education, outreach, interventions, and policy initiatives. The articles present snapshots of the work that is conducted through the Community [End Page v] Voices (CV) Initiative supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. Community Voices was launched in 1998, and now has its national program office headquartered at the Louis W. Sullivan National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine. The mission of the National Center for Primary Care is to promote excellence in community oriented primary health care and optimal health outcomes for all Americans, with a special emphasis on eliminating health disparities and on serving the underserved. The Center opened officially on November 1, 2002, with Dr. David Satcher (16th U.S. Surgeon General) as Director. Articles on tobacco highlight work that was conducted as part of the Legacy/Community Voices Tobacco Initiative funded jointly by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the American Legacy Foundation or were supported though Legacy's HBCU Tobacco Initiative. Community Voices (CV) involves 8 communities (originally 13) across the United States dedicated to improving access to health services for underserved populations, including low-income groups, racial and ethnic minorities, the under- and uninsured, immigrants, and other vulnerable populations such as ex-offenders, the incarcerated and the homeless. The eight CV sites span the U.S.: in the West (California), in the Rocky Mountain region (Colorado), in the Southwest (New Mexico), in the Midwest (Michigan), in the Southeast (North Carolina, Florida), and in the Northeast (Maryland, New York). These projects work to make sustainable improvements in access to care through policy change and systems change at local, state, and national levels. CV employs community intelligence to identify and address gaps in health services, particularly for those who have been voiceless and overlooked. Using community intelligence as the basis for change, CV sites seek to address service gaps by leveraging community assets and resources in combination with state and federal support. Use of community intelligence is a strategy for recognizing that the methods of delivering and reaching the disenfranchised can be as simple as showing genuine respect and gathering information from the client populations on what approaches work best for them, as it relates to programmatic offerings. The work of Community Voices focuses on identifying gaps in services for those who are not well served by existing health systems; improving the way services are delivered; seeking...

Drei Berner Apotheker des 19. Jahrhunderts: Johann Samuel Friedrich Pagenstecher, Carl Abraham Fueter, Leonhard Christian Muller (review)

Reviewed by: Drei Berner Apotheker des 19. Jahrhunderts: Johann Samuel Friedrich Pagenstecher, Carl Abraham Fueter, Leonhard Christian Müller Marcel H. Bickel Claudia Zerobin. Drei Berner Apotheker des 19. Jahrhunderts: Johann Samuel Friedrich Pagenstecher, Carl Abraham Fueter, Leonhard Christian Müller. Veröffentlichungen der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Pharmazie, no. 13. Bern, Switzerland: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Pharmazie / Société suisse d’histoire de la pharmacie, 1994. 360 pp. Ill. Sw. Fr. 55.00 (paperbound). The modest title “Three Bern Pharmacists of the Nineteenth Century” suggests local history. It is, and it is not. The author starts out with a background sketch of the political and economic situation in the nineteenth century, a time of important transitions. The powerful city-state of Bern, part of the then loose Swiss confederation, became the capital of the new federal state. Science proliferated, and pharmacy, a traditional art and trade, became scientific. After this introduction and a short history of pharmacy in Bern, Zerobin begins her narrative of the lives of the three pharmacists. Much as she cares for human detail and individual characterization, the three biographees have so much in common that the overall result is a large picture of the professional life of city-pharmacists. The German background of two of them reflects the fact that many liberal Germans emigrated and found a haven in the Swiss republic. The education of pharmacists was basically an apprenticeship, which was optionally complemented by short periods at an academic institution. Thus, Pagenstecher studied at Trommsdorff’s pharmaceutical institute in Erfurt, Fueter with Lavoisier and Gay-Lussac in Paris, and Müller with Liebig in Giessen. All of them were not just salespersons but used their chemical knowledge and their laboratories for scientific activities, such as analyses of drinking water, mineral waters, milk, and wine. With toxicological analyses, pharmacists even assumed forensic duties. They read papers at local scientific societies and published in journals. Being still dependent on foreign pharmacopoeias they tried to write their own. They defended the pharmacists’ realm and rights against the intrusion of physicians on the one hand and druggists, grocers, and peddlers on the other. However, they were accepted as members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Bern. They were also active in public health and in the service of the city government where they succeeded, for example, in creating a science museum and a botanical garden. In dealing with all these aspects and many more the author clearly transcends local history. Her work is well researched and documented in every detail. Her many sources are not only listed but often reproduced in facsimile. Unfortunately, these reproductions and the layout are somewhat poor, and an index is missing. Otherwise Zerobin’s work can be recommended as one that sheds light on many aspects of nineteenth-century medical and general civilization. Marcel H. Bickel University of Bern Copyright © 1996 The Johns Hopkins University Press

Lichens as Monitors of Pollutant Elements at Permanent Sites in Maryland and Virginia

Concentrations of sulfur, nitrogen, and seven metal elements are reported for the lichen Flavoparmelia baltimorensis from three monitoring stations in Maryland and Virginia. At Plummers Island, Maryland, 15 km from the center of Washington, D.C., lichens have been collected for nearly 100 years. The other two stations, Bear Island, Maryland (21 km) and Stony Man Mountain, Virginia (120 km), were established in the 1970's by Mason Hale to help document changes in ambient air quality in the Washington, D.C. area. Concentrations of cadmium, chromium, nickel, zinc, and lead were consistently highest at Plummers Island and lowest at Stony Man Mountain; concentrations of the other four elements (nitrogen, sulfur, aluminum, and copper) were also consistently higher at Plummers Island than at Stony Man Mountain. Recent collections, in 1988 and 1992, revealed marked reductions in the concentration of all nine elements except aluminum at all three stations, providing limited, but encouraging, signs of improved air quality in the region. Known primarily for his research on lichen systematics, Mason Hale has nevertheless made a number of important contributions to the study of lichens as environmental indicators. From 1977 until shortly before his death in 1990, Mason and I participated in a number of environmental studies in the Washington, D.C. area designed to monitor changes in regional air quality. One of our principal sites was Plummers Island, Maryland, a small Potomac River island located just 15 km from the heart of Washington, D.C. The studies we carried out there were an extension of Mason's work begun in the late 1950's, and all have been supported by the Washington Biologists' Field Club, a local scientific society that promotes research on Plummers Island and the Potomac River Basin. In initiating his work on Plummers Island, Mason believed it was important to establish permanent study sites for monitoring lichen growth, element accumulation, and floristic composition as the regional environment changed. Mason's early work on the island was involved mainly with the longterm assessment of lichen growth rates (Hale 1970, 1972, 1973; Lawrey & Hale 1977); after 1965, it was expanded to include elemental analysis for pollutant elements, especially lead (Pb). This shift in emphasis was intended to document changes on the island caused by the construction of a bridge (The American Legion Memorial Bridge) supporting a major interstate highway (Interstate 495) over the island. The initial analyses of lichens from Plummers Island during the 1970's (Lawrey & Hale 1979) revealed extraordinarily high Pb values, which were indicative of the high Pb concentrations in automobile exhaust fallout reaching the island. It was at this time that another study site was established on Bear Island, Maryland, 6 km upstream from Plumm rs Island. Bear Island lichens have consistently contained lower concentrations of Pb and other pollut nt elements than Plummers Island lichens (Lawrey 1980; Lawrey & Hale 1981). Floristic analysis of the two islands (much of it unpublished) has also shown that the lichen communities on Plummers Isla d are far less diverse than those found on Bear Island, and that the growth rate of thalli of the dominant lichen species on both islands, Flavoparmelia baltimorensis, is significantly lower in Plummers Island communities. In 1980, we established another long-term study TABLE 1. Lead concentrations in thalli of Flavoparmelia baltimorensis collected from Plummers Island and Bear Island, Maryland and Stony Man Mountain, Virginia at various times. All values are mean concentrations (.tg/g dry weight ? S.E. of the mean). Sample size is two for historical samples and 10 for recent samples. Year Plummers Island Bear Island Stony Man Mt. 1907 82.3 (8.2) 1938 127.8 (14.8) 1958 327.9 (12.6) 197

William Sawney Bisat, 1886-1973

William Sawney Bisat, who died at his home in Collingham, near Leeds, on 14 May 1973, was an ‘amateur (part-time)’ geologist and, like the ‘father of historical geology’ William Smith, he was a professional surveyor and civil engineer. His geological distinction was assured when he revealed the true succession of the Carboniferous rocks of Yorkshire and Lancashire by the description of the different goniatite faunas contained in some of the component strata. This knowledge made correlation of rock-sequences in Britain and western Europe more accurate and thus helped in the understanding of the palaeogeography and environmental conditions in Carboniferous times. He also contributed substantially to the unravelling of the complex nature of the deposits left by the Pleistocene ice in northern England. Unique features of Bisat’s work were that much of it was engendered by the shared efforts of fellow members of local scientific societies and that his results generally received their first publication in the records of those local societies.

Local Scientific Societies

Local Scientific Societies

Local Scientific Societies

AS in many other fields, there is a tendency to take stock, and there has been a suggestion, both expressed and implied, that the day of the local society is past. The Council of the British Association has had the matter under consideration and has circularized its corresponding and affiliated societies asking for detailed information on certain points and for suggestions. The replies have been collated, and the president of the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies, Dr. J. Ramsbottom, made them the basis of his address with the intention of promoting discussion.