Roundtable Participants Research Articles

Treasure in Labyrinths

This special edition on the poetry of Geoffrey Hill has its origins in a 2009 Modern Language Association (MLA) roundtable that was part of Christianity and Literature's honoring of Hill with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Since that award, Hill has continued to achieve, winning election to the position of Oxford Professor of Poetry, and publishing additional poems. Most recently Clutag Press has released Oraclau/Oracles, and four new collections are promised, as well as a Collected Poems 1952-2012, to be published by Oxford University Press in 2013. Addressing the collocation of and the MLA roundtable participants and the writers in this issue discussed how Hill wrestles creatively with apparent irreconcilables in the realm of and language. As Kenneth Haynes says in his opening piece, which valuably surveys Hill's use of the terms and fable, Hill dramatizes how, whether, to combine Athens and Jerusalem, Christianity and style and Analyzing such dramatizations is challenging partly because the way one reads in Hill's poems is likely to be influenced by one's own religious (or non-'or anti-religious) orientation. The poetry provides a Rorschach test revealing the reader's own beliefs. Through the critic's self-tinted spectacles, the prevailing direction of Hill's poetry is variously considered to be orthodox Christian, atheist, agnostic, even subtextually Buddhist. In addition, dealing with such a topic under the auspices of the journal Christianity and Literature already tempers the prevailing sound of the discussion to a particular key. While many academics object to taking an overtly religious stance when discussing religion, there are also scholars for whom Christian ideas provide the determining foundation for any interpretation. The primary audience for this particular journal (although not necessarily any of its individual writers or readers) inclines toward the latter. Without delving any deeper into the theoretical challenges of the inter-disciplinary field religion and literature, I would like to thank wholeheartedly all the participants in the roundtable and, especially, the contributors to this special edition, who took on the critical task of addressing the interactions between religious belief, religious doubt, and the imagination in the poetry of Geoffrey Hill with circumspection and acuity. In addition to Kenneth Haynes' introduction on and which pinpoints challenging cruces throughout Hill's poetic oeuvre, David Mahan provides an essay that analyzes two early poems in order to address the vexed question of whether Hill's poetry points modern Christians toward the possibility of an authentic faith. Jennifer Kilgore-Caradec and Alex Shakespeare both focus their attention on Hill's book-length 1985 poem The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Peguy. In their discussions of Peguy as a representative figure for Hill, they reveal much about the religious implications of the poetry, particularly regarding the relationship between Christianity in Europe and the passage of historical time. Kilgore-Caradec mines along the deep vein of a theology of history while Shakespeare works at the rich seam of memory and faith. conclude this discussion, I consider and in Hill's later (but by no means last) work, The Orchards of Syon (2002). The poem's opening section (partially quoted by Haynes above), includes the narrator's magician-style instruction: Watch my hands / their shadowed rhetoric (I). According to the OED, confabulate cognate to fable has a specialist psychiatric definition: To fabricate imaginary experiences as compensation for loss of memory. In the context of questions of religious faith and history, such an activity, especially rendered even more uncertain by implications of magic and shadow-puppets, indicates an inescapable irony in the narrator's attitude--a dubiousness about the trustworthiness of the results of his creative enterprise. …

White paper on expanding the role of pharmacists in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: American Pharmacists Association Foundation

To (1) generate discussion about the role of the pharmacist in supporting patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), (2) provide practical recommendations on how pharmacists can work with employers and other health care providers to improve patient outcomes, and (3) develop a pharmacist-based service offering for patients with COPD.Literature review and survey information provided by a group of national stakeholders who participated in a roundtable discussion.COPD is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and incidence rates have been increasing. COPD is estimated to affect 24 million American adults, with almost one-half remaining undiagnosed. If current trends continue, COPD is predicted to become the third leading cause of death and fifth leading cause of morbidity in the United States by 2020. This will cause a dramatic increase in use of health care resources, which is projected to reach annual total costs of $49.9 billion in 2010. Roundtable participants uniformly agreed that based on current and projected statistics, COPD is a major health concern. To address this growing concern, emphasis should be placed on the collaborative efforts of the health care community to become active in the detection, assessment, treatment, and management of patients with COPD and that pharmacists can contribute to each of these areas considerably.Access in the community (often 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) combined with extensive clinical knowledge makes pharmacists uniquely capable of helping those with chronic disease, especially patients with COPD who require monitoring and encouragement throughout their lifelong treatment.

Obesity, Cancer and Epigenetics

Obesity, Cancer and Epigenetics

Roundtable participants find near-consensus on free access to results of publicly funded research

Publishers and subscribers urge agencies to freely distribute scientific journal articles based on federally sponsored research.

Expansion of Liability under Public Nuisance

1 * Executive Director, Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth, Northwestern University. Phone: (312) 503-0290; Email: hbutler@law.northwestern .edu. ** Foundation Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law. 3301 N. Fairfax Dr. Arlington, VA 22201Phone: 703-993-9484; Fax: 703-993-8088; Email: Tzywick2@gmu .edu; Web: http:// mason.gmu .edu/ ~tzywick2/ . Searle Center Public Nuisance Roundtable

Twenty Years of Postcommunism: In Search of A New Model

Twenty Years of PostcommunismIn Search of A New Model Jacques Rupnik (bio) The twentieth anniversary of the fall of communism, the founding moment for democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, comes at a time when the term "democratic revolution" evokes less a frisson of excitement than a slight twinge of embarrassment in the countries concerned. In Poland and Hungary, one could attribute this to their experience of transition as a peaceful, negotiated affair. Not the celebration of revolution, but rather the complete rejection of all revolutionary logic seems to many a Pole and Hungarian to be 1989's best and truest legacy. Not Paris in 1789, but the "Spanish model" of the 1970s was foremost in the minds of the Polish and Hungarian roundtable participants who secured their respective countries' unexpectedly smooth exits from totalitarian thralldom. But the consensus ends there. In Poland, the twentieth anniversary of the (nearly) free elections of 4 June 1989 was marked by three separate ceremonies held in three different cities. One featured President Lech Kaczyński, one was overseen by Premier Donald Tusk, and the third was held at parliament in Warsaw. In Hungary, the twentieth anniversary of the May 1989 opening of the border with Austria passed with a notable lack of public fervor and the conspicuous absence from any observance of the main opposition leader, Viktor Orbán. In late June, with the global economic downturn pinching badly, a poll was released suggesting that almost half of all young Hungarians thought life under what used to be called "goulash communism" was better than life today.1 Even in Berlin, where the fall of the Wall on 9 November 1989 gave the communist collapse its iconic moment, the atmosphere was muted in the wake of revelations that Mikhail Gorbachev had played a larger [End Page 105] role in bringing the Wall down than had previously been realized.2 More seriously, an astonishing poll released in March 2009 found that a majority in what had once been East Germany thought that life had been better under the old German Democratic Republic (GDR).3 "Ostalgia" seems to have spread to a new generation that remembers the GDR and its one-party communist dictatorship only vaguely, if at all. The democratization of East Germany through its 1990 reunification with the West—the least painful of all the Eastern bloc transitions—is now seen as a mixed blessing by its greatest beneficiaries. Looking south to the Czech Republic, we see that the globally resonant "velvet revolution" is now spoken of by Czechs with caution and even diffidence. Former dissident and deputy Senate chairman Petr Pithart prefers the term "takeover";4 the actor and Charter 77 signatory Pavel Landovský suggests the "abolition of serfdom"; and the media refer modestly to "the events of November 1989" or simply "November." Interestingly, nobody in Prague claims to own the "copyright" on the term "velvet revolution" or can identify its author. Václav Havel, that revolution's most prominent figure, attributes the name to a Western journalist. The term, like so much of what followed, seems to have originated in the West. "Ostalgia" notwithstanding, there is no actual desire in Central and Eastern Europe to return to dictatorship. But there is, unmistakably, a "crisis of expectations," and even a sense of "the revolution betrayed" that expresses itself as disenchantment with democracy after two decades of experience with it. No one pines for communism to come back, but it is clear that democracy can no longer derive its legitimacy from 1989 and the overwhelming rejection of the old regime which that year witnessed. Even a cursory overview of recent developments unlikely to make it into Western newspapers reveals reasons for the absence of "1989 triumphalism" in the old Warsaw Pact countries. The Baltic real-estate bubble has burst, and Latvia in particular is facing social unrest for the first time. Hungary and Slovakia (which has a Magyar minority) are involved in a simmering war of words and nerves. In Prague, an unelected caretaker government run by an ex-communist statistician holds office while fresh elections are delayed due to an intense political controversy over a Constitutional Court ruling.5 Anyone who thinks...

Istitutions for Social Well-Being: alcune risposte

- Answering the round table participants, the author illustrates the project of this book and its main findings. While the book implies a focus on social policy, the contributors have brought to it their expertise not only in welfare economics but also in macroeconomic and monetary policy. This article outlines how social policy relates to these economic issues, and adopts an international political economy approach both in explaining hierarchies among countries, and in calling into question the "efficiency/equality trade off" as a useful instrument in comparing the economic performance of Europe and the US. Finally, the article discusses the issue of a possible convergence between the social models of Europe towards those of the best performing countries.EconLit Classification: D600, E120, F300, F400, F500Keywords: Welfare Economic, Growth, Globalization, Open Economy Macroeconomics, European Monetary UnionParole chiave: Welfare state, Crescita, Globalizzazione, Macroeconomia delle economie aperte, Unione monetaria europea

Editorial Independence for EHP

Over the years, Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) has emerged as one of the leading journals in the environmental health sciences. It can be argued that one reason for EHP’s standing in the field of environmental health is its credibility as an unbiased source of news and research. With the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)—the journal’s parent agency—under new direction, we felt it was important to assure our readership that we greatly value the journal’s trustworthy reputation and that we are committed to maintaining its credibility as a high-quality, independent, peer-reviewed publication. The mission of EHP is to serve as a forum for the discussion of the interrelationships between the environment and human health by publishing in a balanced and objective manner the best peer-reviewed research and the most current and credible news in the field. EHP does this by maintaining a strict separation from advocacy and nonprofit groups, industry, and government agencies, including the NIEHS. In reference to the ability of the journal to report scientific findings independent of influence from some segments of the industrial sector, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich remarked in a congressional hearing (House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy 2007) that “EHP alone is a pillar of truth.” In June 2007, a roundtable meeting (Listening Session and Roundtable Discussion on Environmental Health Perspectives) was held in Bethesda, Maryland, to consider the future of the journal. Participants included representatives from the environmental health sciences, journal subscribers, academics, and publishers. As part of the discussion, the participants were asked to identify threats that could weaken the journal in the future. One of these threats was the potential for the director of the NIEHS to influence, or be perceived to influence, the journal content. Because EHP receives considerable support for personnel and publication costs from the institute and because the journal and its staff are subject to the same organizational rules and regulations as other federal employees, it is logical to be concerned that the NIEHS director might exercise control over journal operations and publication decisions. The roundtable participants further noted that the potential problem for EHP is not so much that of biased editorializing, but of editorial self-censorship—that is, trying not to offend the powers that be, especially among staff who have been long-term government employees. In the minds of the participants, editors working within a government context may be less likely to act and write provocatively, even though it is the role of editorials, news, and research papers to provoke thought and stimulate discussion. In fact, the NIEHS director makes no attempt to sway editors or writers, or to influence the peer-review process. In our view, editorial independence is an absolute necessity for producing a successful scientific journal. An EHP editorial published in January 2008 noted that the content, scope, and direction of the journal would not be influenced by NIEHS leadership and that the editor-in-chief would be given full responsibility for directing and managing all aspects of the publication process (Tilson 2008). Accordingly, editorial decisions about which papers are accepted or rejected, the layout of the publication, and content of the news and editorials would not be subject to approval by NIEHS management. This policy still stands. We acknowledge and believe it is in the best interest of the NIEHS to support a prominent journal dedicated to stimulating new ideas and publishing research that sustains and develops themes relevant to the mission of the institute but that is not influenced by the institute. It is in the best interest of the institute to ensure that the message of the journal is viewed as fair and balanced to all sides of a question and that the journal is dedicated to publishing the best peer-review work in the discipline of environmental health sciences. At issue are the credibility and scientific integrity of both EHP and the NIEHS. A high degree of credibility and scientific integrity is necessary to maintain the trust of Congress and the public, which are the ultimate consumers and supporters of environmental health science research.

Biomed Roundup

The president of the Colorado Association of Biomedical Equipment Technicians (CABMET) provided an inside look at his association's successful certification study group program and offered tips for others interested in forming study groups of their own during the second annual Biomed Society Roundtable. The roundtable, sponsored by AAMI's Technology Management Council (TMC) was held in Baltimore, MD, during AAMI's Annual Conference.CABMET President David Scott, CBET, singled out several important points to consider when organizing a study group:Scott provided the following example of a November CABMET study group schedule:Scott told roundtable participants that he also encourages people in the study group to form smaller groups to study outside of the formal study group sessions. These groups might be made up of co-workers or other neighboring hospital biomedical equipment technicians.More than 30 years ago, the North Carolina Biomedical Association (NCBA) began holding a small, half-day annual meeting for its members. That initial meeting has since blossomed into a three-day annual symposium that is one of the most well-attended biomed society meetings in the country.How has NCBA been so successful at attracting participation among its members? At the Biomed Society Roundtable, held in Baltimore during AAMI's Annual Conference, Glenn Scales, CBET, shared some ideas.Scales, a founding member and two-time past president of NCBA, told the group that “You have to understand who your customers are and what their needs are. Your members are customers, and they have needs.”Scales noted that NCBA implements a “track” program for its annual symposium, with educational sessions on information technology (IT), imaging, specialized technologies, and entry-level topics.Scales also pointed out that NCBA has worked hard to nurture its younger members over the years to prime them for leadership positions. “There will be burnout if the same people do everything all the time. You have to develop your younger talent.“Biomeds don't often have a chance to develop leadership skills. Biomed societies give them the chance to do so. Leadership doesn't only have to come from the top—anyone can demonstrate leadership.”The meetings held by the California Medical Instrumentation Association (CMIA) and its chapters have been known for delivering quality content to CMIA members for years. At the Biomed Society Roundtable hosted by AAMI's Technology Management Council (TMC), CMIA past chair Paul Kelley, CBET, shared some thoughts on how to ensure that society meeting programming is top-notch.Kelley noted that it's critical to secure speakers who provide useful information with minimal sales pitches. “At work I get paid to listen to sales pitches. Give me something I can take back to my workplace.”CMIA has established written vendor policies, so it's clear to the vendors what the boundaries are when they give presentations at CMIA meetings.Other tips Kelley offered during the roundtable include:

SEC holds round‐table on fair value accounting and auditing standards

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to summarize and analyze the SEC's July 9, 2008 roundtable discussion regarding fair value accounting and auditing standards.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discusses investor, auditor/accountant/actuary, and corporation views concerning the usefulness of fair value accounting, potential market behavior effects from fair value accounting, challenges in applying fair value standards, possible improvement to the current standards, and working with auditors who provide assurance for fair value accounting.FindingsSome investor panelists said fair value provides investors with the most current and relevant information of any accounting method and some believe fair valuation is important for market integrity and trust because it is a transparent measure for valuation. Auditors are especially challenged in determining fair values in illiquid or frozen markets. Roundtable participants viewed disclosure as critical for implementation of fair valuation, particularly regarding key inputs and assumptions. Auditors and corporations would like more guidance on applying fair value accounting from the SEC and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.Originality/valueThe paper provides expert guidance by experienced securities lawyers.

Advances in ESL Design

This is the second of two roundtables on electronic system-level (ESL) design, which recently has been seen as an advance in the EDA community--the latest attempt to improve designer productivity, shorten design time and cost, and improve design quality. Of course, "ESL" means different things to different people, and the notion varies even geographically--for example, between the US and Europe. The goal of this roundtable is to identify expectations and any meaningful advances associated with the notion of ESL design. What are the promising developments in the area? Which problems are relevant, and which are not? IEEE Design & Test thanks the roundtable participants: moderator Rajesh Gupta (University of California, San Diego), Arvind (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Gerard Berry (Esterel Technologies), and Forrest Brewer (University of California, Santa Barbara). D&T gratefully acknowledges the help of Roundtables Editor Bill Joyner (Semiconductor Research Corp.), who organized the event.

The State of ESL Design [Roundtable

This is the first of two roundtables on electronic system-level design in this issue of IEEE Design & Test. ESL design and tools have been present in the design landscape for many years. Significant ESL innovations are now part of most advanced design methodologies, spanning the domains of modeling, simulation, and synthesis. Techniques such as transaction-level modeling, automatic interconnection generation, behavioral synthesis, automatic instruction-set customization, retargetable compilers, and many others are currently used in the design of multimillion-gate chips. Yet, ESL design still seems to struggle to live up to the promise of providing increased productivity and design quality. This roundtable examines these issues and attempts to provide a definite picture of where ESL design is today and where it might be in the next five to 10 years. The participants in this roundtable include well-known experts in ESL design from the user side, universities, and tool providers. IEEE Design & Test thanks the roundtable participants: moderator Reinaldo Bergamaschi (CadComponents), Luca Benini (University of Bologna), Krisztian Flautner (ARM UK), Wido Kruijtzer (NXP Semiconductors), Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli (University of California, Berkeley), and Kazutoshi Wakabayashi (NEC Japan). D&T gratefully acknowledges the help of Roundtables Editor Bill Joyner (Semiconductor Research Corp.), who organized the event.

Summary of roundtable discussion on vitamin D research needs

We summarize the discussions of a roundtable following the conference “Vitamin D and Health in the 21st Century: an Update.” The roundtable participants offered additional information on vitamin D research needs from a critical, impartial, and interdisciplinary perspective. Although the group recognized the progress to date, they found that the available evidence on the relation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, dietary intake, status, functional health, and adverse outcomes has significant limitations because most studies have been short term, have failed to consider important confounders such as baseline vitamin D status and body mass index, and did not study key populations. To meet these data gaps, the roundtable identified several overarching research needs: 1) long-term, high-quality dose-response studies with relevant outcomes, including bone health, other functional outcomes (such as immune function, autoimmune disorders, and chronic disease prevention), and adverse outcomes (such as hypercalcemia and hypercalcuria), especially in understudied population groups such as dark-skinned individuals, infants, adolescents, reproductive-aged women, and pregnant and lactating women; 2) further research to understand the relation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D threshold values to relevant functional outcomes in each life stage and in racial and ethnic groups; 3) further research to understand the metabolic partitioning, fate, and mobilization of key vitamin D metabolites at recommended and greater than recommended intakes to assess the availability of stored vitamin D, relative contributions of endogenously produced and dietary vitamin D, and impact of important confounders (such as body mass index) on vitamin D status; and 4) further research to define the maximal, long-term vitamin D intake to ensure safety for all humans.

Introduction: Role of the hospitalist in secondary stroke prevention care

Stroke is a prevalent and often devastating condition that is likely to affect a growing proportion of the United States population in the coming decades. Individuals who have experienced a stroke or transient ischemic attack are at elevated risk for recurrent events, which are frequently more severe. Therefore, secondary prevention has become the focus of much clinical research and widespread initiatives to deliver evidence-based care. Hospitalists are in a unique position to contribute substantially to these efforts. The 4 articles in this supplement are a call to action for hospital-based physicians. They are based on the conclusions of a panel of hospitalists, neurohospitalists, vascular neurologists, and neurointensivists who met for a roundtable discussion in March 2007. This, the first of the 4 articles, discusses the opportunity for hospitalists to take a leadership role in creating stroke systems of care that integrate secondary stroke prevention with inpatient treatment of acute stroke. The articles that follow will summarize the consensus of roundtable participants on stroke care best practices and their implementation. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2008;3(4 Suppl):S1–S5. © 2008 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Roundtable Sessions of a Children's Hospital Child Protection Team

Roundtable Sessions of a Children's Hospital Child Protection Team

How Potential Employers Approach Disability: A Survey of Law Students in Georgia

When I set out to discover how potential employers of law students approach issues of disability in their interviews, I did not expect to find a great deal of published information on the topic. The result was even more sparse than I expected. I only found one somewhat relevant article, a transcript of a roundtable discussion on lawyers with disabilities. The roundtable participants, most of whom had a disability, recounted their own experiences. One attorney told of being asked in a job interview about “how I would get around my disability in the courtroom.” He went on to say, “I did not know that that was not an appropriate question. I think lawyers interviewing an attorney today would not ask a question like that.” Two other attorneys were flatly told that they would not be able to try cases in the courtroom because their disabilities would make them ineffective. One began litigating in his first full-time job and was very successful. The other was sequestered in the banking law division of his law firm because “they didn’t see me as a lawyerin the courtroom, even though I was good at those kinds of things.” He left the firm to work in the attorney general’s office and has argued more than forty cases in the appellate courts in the past ten years. He said he likes doing something that other lawyers thought he would not be able to do.

Non-interventional Research and Usual Care: Definition, Regulatory Aspects, Difficulties and Recommendations

Non-interventional research is an essential approach to gathering data in different situations and it often complements other research methodologies, such as biomedical research and research aimed at evaluating usual care. Yet the legislative framework for this type of research is nonexistent, and this void poses a number of problems for non-interventional researchers, including an absence of any guarantee of quality and therefore of reliability, a limited recognition of the research beyond our borders, cumbersome administrative procedures, and a lack of visibility. In light of the growing demand for data, particularly in post marketing authorisation for drugs, which largely relies on non-interventional methods, the Round Table participants have issued a set of proposals for a future legislative framework for this type of research.

Roundtable: VH1's (White) Rapper Show: Intrusions, Sightlines, and Authority

Journal of Popular Music StudiesVolume 20, Issue 1 p. 44-78 Roundtable: VH1's (White) Rapper Show: Intrusions, Sightlines, and Authority Kyra Gaunt, Kyra Gaunt University of MichiganSearch for more papers by this authorCheryl L. Keyes, Cheryl L. Keyes University of CaliforniaSearch for more papers by this authorTimothy R. Mangin, Timothy R. Mangin University of ColumbiaSearch for more papers by this authorWayne Marshall, Wayne Marshall Brandeis UniversitySearch for more papers by this authorJoe Schloss, Joe Schloss New York UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Kyra Gaunt, Kyra Gaunt University of MichiganSearch for more papers by this authorCheryl L. Keyes, Cheryl L. Keyes University of CaliforniaSearch for more papers by this authorTimothy R. Mangin, Timothy R. Mangin University of ColumbiaSearch for more papers by this authorWayne Marshall, Wayne Marshall Brandeis UniversitySearch for more papers by this authorJoe Schloss, Joe Schloss New York UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 23 March 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-1598.2008.00144.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Volume20, Issue1March 2008Pages 44-78 RelatedInformation

Using a Cross-Institutional Collaborative Model to Deliver a National Roundtable Conference on Assessment: A Case Study

This paper describes the organisation, preparation and delivery of a major project, namely, a national roundtable conference on assessment, in the context of a wider project involving the development and application of a model of collaboration between tertiary institutions based on a distributive leadership framework. It analyses feedback received from round table participants and comments on both the utility and the limitations of the adopted model for the purpose of the round table project.

Brussels 2007 Roundtable on Metabolism in Sepsis and Multiple Organ Failure

At the 2007 International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM) in Brussels, a roundtable conference on "Metabolic Support in Sepsis and Multiple Organ Failure" was held. The roundtable was endorsed by the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, and the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Metabolic support in intensive care has become an exciting topic in recent years, with improved understanding of the effects of compromised mitochondrial function, studies demonstrating outcome benefits of tight glucose control, new insights into the mechanisms behind insulin resistance, recognition of glutamine and antioxidants as key nutrients, and emerging knowledge concerning the interactions between metabolism and endocrinology. Together, these aspects have generated an increased interest in the importance of metabolism in intensive care medicine, reflected in the programs and abstracts at international congresses of the past few years. This roundtable's participants each gave a presentation within their specific area of expertise, and each was followed by general discussion. Discussions became heated as new concepts and ideas were debated. New data will be discussed in this summary which reveals metabolic and nutrition interventions that could lead to major improvements in clinically relevant outcomes.