National Academy Of Sciences Committee Research Articles

Ten Years After the National Academy of Sciences’ Landmark Report on Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward – Where are We?

We are still struggling with the inability of courts to assess the efficacy of forensic evidence. When a forensic expert testifies about a method that has not been found to be valid and reliable, the expert does not know what he does not know and cannot explain the limits of the evidence. This is unacceptable. Judges and juries must understand the levels of uncertainty that are associated with forensic evidence so that they can determine whether the prosecution has met its burden of proving that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We still need a national, independent agency to oversee forensic research and practices. This was the most important recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community. We also need more top scientists engaged in serious research to determine the validity and reliability of forensic methods. And we need these individuals to appear in court to explain the limits of the evidence.

Addressing Fragmentation in the Forensic Document Examination Community: Applying the NAS Report's Call for Standardization to the Current State of the Field

ABSTRACTThe National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released their report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward in 2009. The NAS Committee...

CDC's efforts to improve traumatic brain injury surveillance

IntroductionYouth sports concussion has become a prominent public health issue due to growing concern about the risk of long-term health effects. MethodA broad spectrum of stakeholders has convened to propose solutions, including a committee of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) who systematically examined the issue and, in a 2014 report, made a series of recommendations to better address this public health problem. ResultsAmong these recommendations, the NAS committee called for CDC to develop a plan for a comprehensive surveillance system to better quantify the incidence and outcomes of youth sports concussion among children 5 to 21years of age. Since the release of the NAS report, CDC has taken action to address this recommendation and, in the process, develop strategies to improve traumatic brain injury (TBI) surveillance more broadly. The challenges outlined by the NAS committee with respect to producing comprehensive incidence estimates of youth sports concussion are not exclusive to youth sports concussion, but also apply to TBI surveillance overall. In this commentary, we will discuss these challenges, the process CDC has undertaken to address them and describe our plan for improving TBI and youth sports concussion surveillance.

The need for transparency and reproducibility in documenting values for regulatory decision making and evaluating causality: The example of formaldehyde

Reproducibility and transparency in scientific reporting is paramount to advancing science and providing the foundation required for sound regulation. Recent examples demonstrate that pivotal scientific findings cannot be replicated, due to poor documentation or methodological bias, sparking debate across scientific and regulatory communities. However, there is general agreement that improvements in communicating and documenting research and risk assessment methods are needed. In the case of formaldehyde, the peer-review conducted by a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee questioned the approaches used by the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) in developing draft unit risk values. Using the original data from the key study (Beane Freeman et al., 2009) and documentation provided in the draft IRIS profile, we attempted to duplicate the reported inhalation unit risk values and address the NAS Committee's questions regarding application of the appropriate dose-response model. Overall, documentation of the methods lacked sufficient detail to allow for replication of the unit risk estimates, specifically for Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemias, the key systemic endpoints selected by IRIS. The lack of apparent exposure-response relationships for selected endpoints raises the question whether quantitative analyses are appropriate for these endpoints, and if so, how results are to be interpreted.

LEADERSHIP Marcia McNutt is first woman nominated to lead the National Academy of Sciences

Geophysicist Marcia K. McNutt has been nominated to become the 22nd president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). If elected by a NAS committee later this year—a virtual certainty as NAS selects only one nominee—she will become the first woman president of the interdisciplinary science organization since its founding in 1863. “Marcia McNutt’s nomination is a historic first for the NAS,” says Glenn S. Ruskin, director of the American Chemical Society’s Office of Public Affairs. “She is a highly accomplished scientist who will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the NAS.” McNutt is editor-in-chief of the Science research journals, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was previously director of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute as well as a geophysics professor at Stanford University. NAS consists of elected members who are charged with giving the government independent ...

U.S. initiatives to strengthen forensic science & international standards in forensic DNA

A number of initiatives are underway in the United States in response to the 2009 critique of forensic science by a National Academy of Sciences committee. This article provides a broad review of activities including efforts of the White House National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Forensic Science and a partnership between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create the National Commission on Forensic Science and the Organization of Scientific Area Committees. These initiatives are seeking to improve policies and practices of forensic science. Efforts to fund research activities and aid technology transition and training in forensic science are also covered.The second portion of the article reviews standards in place or in development around the world for forensic DNA. Documentary standards are used to help define written procedures to perform testing. Physical standards serve as reference materials for calibration and traceability purposes when testing is performed. Both documentary and physical standards enable reliable data comparison, and standard data formats and common markers or testing regions are crucial for effective data sharing. Core DNA markers provide a common framework and currency for constructing DNA databases with compatible data. Recent developments in expanding core DNA markers in Europe and the United States are discussed.

A Model for Designing a Geriatric Physical Therapy Course Grounded in Educational Principles and Active Learning Strategies

INTRODUCTIONThe goal of physical therapist education programs is to prepare practitioners to evaluate and treat movement dysfunction for individuals across the lifespan.1 The US Census Bureau projects that by 2050 the number of over age 65 in the United States is expected to reach 88.5 million-nearly double the 40.2 million over that age in 2010. 2 In 2008, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies published recommendations for preparing and growing the health care workforce in preparation for a graying America. This report emphasized the need to improve the geriatric-specific competence of health care workers, increase the number of geriatric specialists in all health professions, and develop new models for geriatric care delivery.3As the older segment of the population grows, so too does the proportion of older adults comprising the caseload of the typical physical therapist. The 2006 Practice Profile Survey from the American Physical Therapy Association tracked the mean percentage of patient care time spent with individuals by age group.4 persons (age 65 and over) comprised a majority of patient care time per week by practice setting, including: approximately 82% in skilled nursing facilities, 60% in home care, 54% in sub-acute rehabilitation hospitals, 52% in acute care hospitals, 31% in hospital-based outpatient clinics, and 27% in private practice. Specialized training is essential in both the academic and clinical environments to prepare physical therapist graduates to meet the needs of the older adult population across health care settings.John Rowe, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Future Healthcare Workforce for Older Americans, emphasized the need for all health care workers to demonstrate basic competence in geriatric care. This competence necessitates significant enhancements in educational curricula and training programs3(p xii) available to health care providers.3 A number of curriculum development models for physical therapist professional education have been described in the literature.59 These models discuss the development of curriculum on a larger program-level scale, considering factors that extend across academic courses of a given program. Shepard and Jensen discuss a general framework for stand-alone course design through their preactive teaching grid.7 The grid helps instructors to consider 10 different dimensions of instructional design, such as teaching methods, assessments, student preferences, and learning environment, in preparation for a course or single learning event. Models for content-specific course design in physical therapy, including geriatric physical therapy, are limited.10'13The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate a model for the design, development, and implementation of a dedicated course in a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program on the management of the aging adult. Educational theory that promotes student engagement, reflective practice, clinical decision making, and problem solving will be presented, followed by how these educational principles were incorporated into the course design. Grounded in educational principles, this model optimizes learning and preparedness for geriatric physical therapist clinical practice. The following describes the theoretical framework as the basis for this course design model, application of the design process to a course on the management of the older adult, and evaluation of the course outcomes to determine the efficacy of this model. We apply the model to a geriatrics course, but the model may be used to design or redesign courses related to a broad array of didactic content areas.Theoretical FrameworkCourse development is an iterative process requiring continuous assessment and alignment of objectives, instructional methods, and learner outcomes, incorporation of learner feedback, and integration of current evidence and trends in clinical practice (Figure 1). …

The Laboratory Report Project

ABSTRACTThe National Academy of Sciences Committee on Forensic Science issued a report in 2009 that contained thirteen recommendations for improving forensic science. The second recommendation stated that forensic science laboratory reports should be uniform, comprehensive, and scientific in nature. In order to implement this recommendation, it was decided to survey U.S. public forensic science laboratories to obtain redacted laboratory reports in selected areas of forensic science and then analyze them for their content. A total of 421 laboratory reports were obtained from 38 forensic science laboratories. A set of 11 sections of possible content sections of a hypothetical scientific laboratory report were chosen and each of the reports received were categorized to see which sections were present. The results showed that the length, breadth, and depth of laboratory reports were somewhat influenced by the type of evidence being analyzed and the jurisdiction of the laboratory (federal, regional, state, loc...

THE NAS/NRC REPORT ON FORENSIC SCIENCE: A PATH FORWARD FRAUGHT WITH PITFALLS

American forensic science as an organized field is less than a hundred years old. On balance this relatively young field has almost certainly had a positive impact on the accurate determination of factual guilt and factual innocence in the criminal justice system. However, in the flush of youth, it is not uncommon for claims to outrun capabilities. For several decades now many from the academy and some from forensic science itself have pointed to weaknesses both in various forensic fields, and in the structure of forensic science practice itself - weaknesses which raised the specter of a forensic science that sometimes made unwarranted claims, and that could in practice sometimes aid in the conviction of the innocent. These criticisms were generally dismissed without much examination by the bulk of the forensic science establishment, and the proponents of those claims dismissed as well. However, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee Report has now made it untenable to treat criticisms as simply the cavils of uninformed academics with nothing better to do. For that report identifies and documents many of the weaknesses that had been pointed out by critics over the years, and it calls for the strengthening of forensic science through a process designed to address those weaknesses. As a well-documented catalogue of the problems of forensic science by a highly credentialed body, this report is hugely important. But as a blueprint for change, it is subject to some serious reservations. The official title of the report is STRENGTHENING FORENSIC SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES: A PATH FORWARD. This paper will address the general route envisioned by the NAS Committee in its report, and some of the more serious roadblocks and pitfalls that one may expect to encounter on that proposed path forward.

A Roundtable Discussion … Increased Focus on Human Factors Drives Device Safety Improvements

<i>A Roundtable Discussion</i> … Increased Focus on Human Factors Drives Device Safety Improvements

PROTOCOL: The effects of K‐12 school enrollment interventions in developing nations

PROTOCOL: The effects of K‐12 school enrollment interventions in developing nations

Victor H. Denenberg (1925-2008).

A preeminent researcher in the field of early experience and brain development, Victor H. Denenberg contributed hundreds of articles and chapters, and several texts, to the field of behavioral neuroscience during his lifetime. Denenberg was born April 3, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois. He attended college on the GI Bill and graduated from Bucknell University in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He went on to receive a doctorate in 1953 in experimental psychology at Purdue University, with minors in statistics, industrial psychology, and physiology. In 1954, Denenberg was appointed assistant professor of psychology at Purdue University, where he was tenured and remained for 15 years. Over the course of his career, Denenberg published nearly 400 scholarly papers and chapters, including a dozen articles in Science or Nature. Denenberg received many honors during his lifetime, including a Carnegie Fellowship and appointment to the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Brain Sciences. He was also appointed to numerous executive committees of the American Psychological Association (APA) and served as a Board member for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Fellowship Committee. Victor H. Denenberg died July 19, 2008. He will be remembered as an outstanding mentor and scientific influence by numerous former students, who carry on his work and influences through their independent research careers.

David Baltimore

Interview in three sessions, October-November 2009, with David Baltimore, Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology and president emeritus of Caltech (1997-2006). He recalls his childhood and early education in Great Neck, NY, his aptitude for science, and a summer at the Jackson Laboratory in Maine (1955), which confirmed his vocation. He discusses interest in molecular biology at Swarthmore (B.A. 1960); 1959 summer at Cold Spring Harbor with G. Streisinger; meeting S. Luria and C. Levinthal; graduate work at MIT and Rockefeller (PhD 1964); 1961 summer at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; postdoc at MIT with J. Darnell and Einstein with J. Hurwitz. Recalls his discovery of polio polymerase and demonstration that RNA chains initiate with a triphosphate. In 1965 he is invited to join Salk Institute by R. Dulbecco; returns to MIT as associate professor in 1968. Recalls his 1970 discovery of reverse transcriptase and copublication with H. Temin; 1975 Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA; 1975 Nobel Prize with Temin and Dulbecco; founding of Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research; National Academy of Sciences committee on national strategy for AIDS. Comments briefly on investigation of T. Imanishi-Kari for fraud and his return to MIT from Rockefeller University in 1994. He discusses vetting process for Caltech presidency, his 1998 inauguration, and highlights of his presidency, including purchase of St. Luke's Medical Center, $1.4 billion capital campaign, and building Broad Center for the Biological Sciences. Comments on Caltech architecture, including Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics; receiving National Medal of Science in 2000; L. Van Parijs dismissal from MIT and prior work in Baltimore's lab; and the prospects for human enhancement and understanding of consciousness.

Dr. Joseph Edward (“Ed”) Rall 1920–2008

Dr. Joseph Edward (“Ed”) Rall 1920–2008

The NAS Perchlorate Review: Second-Guessing the Experts

The Committee to Assess the Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion [National Academy of Sciences (NAS)] released its final report [National Research Council (NRC) 2005] in January 2005, recommending a reference dose (RfD) for perchlorate of 0.0007 mg/kg-day. In a commentary published online on 25 May 2005, Ginsberg and Rice (2005) criticized the adequacy of the NAS committee’s scientific deliberations, mischaracterizing the studies reviewed by the committee and second-guessing its conclusions. Ginsberg and Rice (2005) implied that the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency’s (EPA’s) previous draft RfD of 0.00003 mg/kg-day (U. S. EPA 2002)—and by inference the Massachusetts perchlorate risk assessment [Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP) 2004] that mirrored the U.S. EPA’s approach and which Ginsberg and Rice peer reviewed—is more scientifically defensible. The NAS committee was composed of 15 leading physicians and scientists with combined range of expertise to evaluate every scientific aspect of the perchlorate database and of the U.S. EPA’s assessment of that database. The makeup of this committee and its credentials are available on the NAS website (NAS 2004). The NAS committee studied and deliberated for more than 15 months before issuing its report. Those deliberations included three public meetings during which it accepted verbal and/or written comments from the U.S. EPA, other government agencies, industry, states, environmental groups, and attorneys. After careful study and consideration of the scientific studies that formed the basis for the U.S. EPA’s 2002 draft RfD as well as the 2004 Massachusetts risk assessment (Mass DEP 2004), the NAS committee considered several of the animal studies … to be flawed in their design and execution. Conclusions based on those studies, particularly the neurodevelopmental studies, were not supported by the results of the studies. Although Ginsberg and Rice (2005) implied that the NAS committee should have considered the threshold for measurable iodine uptake inhibition “adverse” and that the NAS inadvertently left out the “A” in NOAEL (no observed adverse effect level), the committee decisively stated that “inhibition of iodide uptake by the thyroid clearly is not an adverse effect.” The committee carefully considered the issue of a NOEL (no observed effect level) and a NOAEL. Based on a clinical study of patients receiving perchlorate long term, the NAS established the NOAEL as 0.4 mg/kg-day (57 times higher than its identified NOEL). Ginsberg and Rice (2005) further expressed concerns regarding perchlorate in breast milk and the subsequent possibility of decreased breast milk iodine, citing Kirk et al. (2005) and Gibbs (2004). Kirk et al. (2005) reported perchlorate and iodide levels in breast milk samples and noted that “if we take all the available data, there is no meaningful correlation between the perchlorate and iodide levels in breast milk.” The study from Chile that Ginsberg and Rice refer to as Gibbs (2004) is now published as Tellez et al. (2005). The study found that iodine nutrition of pregnant women in Chile is very similar to that in the United States. Tellez et al. (2005) found no maternal or neonatal perchlorate-related thyroid effects or decreases in breast milk iodine with perchlorate doses spanning the 0.0007–0.007 mg/kg-day range. Ginsberg and Rice (2005) argued that perchlorate database deficiencies require an additional uncertainty factor of 3–10 because of key data gaps, citing breast milk concerns and the extrapolation from a 14-day exposure study to chronic exposure. The NAS committee (NRC 2005) considered this and concluded that if inhibition of iodide uptake by the thyroid is duration-dependent, the effect should decrease rather than increase with time, because compensation would increase the activity of the sodium-iodide symporter and therefore increase iodide transport into the thyroid. Evidence has subsequently shown this to be the case (Braverman et al. 2005). The California EPA perchlorate risk assessment (California EPA 2004) relied on the same studies as the NRC report (NRC 2005). The “point of departure” was based on iodine uptake inhibition by Greer et al. (2002), and a total uncertainty factor of 10 was applied to account for interindividual variability. After reviewing the NRC report (NRC 2005), the California EPA elected not to change its risk assessment or public health goal (California EPA 2005). In summary, the concerns presented by Ginsberg and Rice (2005) have already been addressed thoroughly by experts on perchlorate and thyroid toxicology and were found to be unsubstantiated. The NAS committee and other experts came to this conclusion based on a comprehensive review of the science in the field, not based entirely on an individual study, which has been mischaracterized by Ginsberg and Rice.

The Reporter's environmental handbook

This work offers journalists a guide to the environmental beat, with a summary of the technical aspects of selected environmental topics...The authors, almost all from government, academia, and consulting groups in New Jersey, have produced a valuable tool.-Choice Reporter's Environmental Handbook is an excellent quick reference book for reporters and editors under deadline pressure. It contains a short background chapter on every imaginable kind of risk situation. It is a very useful guide for journalists reporting on environmental issues.-Teya Ryan, executive vice president and general manager of CNN, U.S. [An] indispensable book for any journalist, student, or informed lay person who needs to understand and communicate environmental risks.-Bernard D. Goldstein, M.D., dean, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health A valuable tool for print and broadcast journalists reporting on the major environmental hazards of this new century. Every news organization ought to have this book in easy reach for their reporters and editors. -Jerome Aumente, distinguished professor emeritus and founding director, Journalism Resources Institute, Rutgers University When an environmental news story breaks, the first place to turn for background on the issue is The Reporter's Environmental Handbook, now available in an updated and expanded third edition. Here, journalists can find the fast facts they need to accurately cover complex and controversial environmental stories ranging from indoor and outdoor air quality to sprawl and bioterrorism. Bernadette M. West is an assistant professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health (UMDNJ-SPH). M. Jane Lewis is an assistant professor at UMDNJ-SPH and a member of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute. Michael R. Greenberg is a professor and associate dean of the faculty of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. He recently served on a National Academy of Sciences committee that oversees the destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile. David B. Sachsman is the George R. West, Jr. Chair of Excellence in Communication and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Renee M. Rogers is an environmental consultant specializing in human health risk assessment.

A Bayesian hierarchical model for risk assessment of methylmercury

This article uses a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify the adverse health effects associated with in-utero exposure to methylmercury. By allowing for study-to-studyas well as outcome-to-outcome variability, the approach provides a useful meta-analytic tool for multi-outcome, multi-study environmental risk assessments. The analysis presented here expands on the findings of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee, charged with advising the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on an appropriate approach to conducting a risk assessment for methylmercury. The NAS committee, for which the senior author (Ryan) was a committee member, reviewed the findings from several conflicting studies and reported the results from a Bayesian hierarchical model that synthesized information across several studies and for several outcomes. Although the NAS committee did not suggest that the hierarchical model be used as the actual basis for a methylmercury risk assessment, the results from the model were used to justify and support the final recommendation that the risk analysis be based on data from a study conducted in the Faroe Islands, which had found a positive association between in-utero exposure to methylmercury and impaired neurological development. We considera variety of statistical issues, but particularly sensitivity to model specification.

Risk Assessment in the Courtroom

The concepts of risk assessment and the methodologies of quantitative risk assessment have appeared in the courtroom. They are increasingly introduced in asbestos property and personal injury, and benzene personal injury litigation. This development is further evidence of the ubiquitous nature of risk considerations in everyday life. Risk assessment is utilized by U.S. regulatory agencies as an accompaniment to proposals and promulgations of new regulations. Usually, the statements and arguments in the courtroom pertain directly to the language and assumptions incorporated into regulations or documents to support regulations: Whether or not the nature of risk assessment, as presented by plaintiff's and defense experts, greatly influencesjury or presidingjudge decisions is undoubtedly case dependent, and cannot be addressed here on any factual basis. However, the risk-related issues raised in litigation, and the often utilized distortion of the science and art of risk assessment will be briefly discussed. The extension of risk assessment to the courtroom, if foreseen by members of the National Academy of Sciences Committee, was not addressed during the deliberations leading to the “Red Book.”

Musings

Musings

Whole grains health claims in the USA and other efforts to increase whole-grain consumption.

In response to the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, the Food and Drug Administration approved seven health claims that addressed the relationship between broad food categories and risk of certain chronic diseases. These claims are based on scientific consensus that includes epidemiological, animal and clinical research. The Food and Drug Administration also established a process to petition for new health claims that address substance-disease relationships supported by adequate scientific and specific regulatory requirements. The whole grain-cancer and heart disease authoritative statement health claim approved in July 1999 followed a completely different process mandated by the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997. It is based on an authoritative statement made by a government body that represents scientific consensus and is supported by other scientific agencies and organizations. The scientific basis for the claim published in Diet and Health reflects a comprehensive and deliberative review of epidemiological, animal and human studies by the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Diet and Health. Health claims used on whole grain products can attract the attention of health-conscious consumers and are important tools in communicating health messages. However, the US public consumes substantially fewer whole-grain servings than recommended by US dietary guidance. Reasons given by consumers for not purchasing wholegrain foods include colour, price, softness, texture, moisture content and taste. Developing tastier value-added wholegrain foods along with simple coordinated messages from industry, the scientific community, public health experts and government will help consumers identify, purchase and consume more wholegrain products.