African Surgeons-Online Health Information

[Guest guest]

African Surgeons-Online Health Information: Cancer In Minority

Groups: HIV Prevention Trials

13 Jul 2006

The Ptolemy Project: Giving African Surgeons Online Health

Information

" It is African doctors and researchers who know the right questions

to ask in order to discover practicable solutions to the health

problems of their regions, " say Milliard Derbew (Addis Ababa

University and University of Toronto) and colleagues. And giving

African doctors and researchers better access to health information,

they say, is a fundamental component in building a healthy African

research culture.

Derbew and colleagues discuss an initiative called the Ptolemy

Project, an electronic health information access tool designed to be

effective and easy to use, and to satisfy the health information

needs of surgeons in the developing world. " Research is unthinkable

without access to scientific literature, " they say, and electronic

access to projects such as Ptolemy will help surgeons to deal with

regional health problems.

Citation: Derbew M, Beveridge M, A, Byrne N (2006) Building

surgical research capacity in Africa: The Ptolemy Project. PLoS Med 3

(7): e305.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030305

Contact:

Miliard Derbew

Addis Ababa University

Pediatrics General Surgeon

Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia

milliard.derbew@...

Racial and Ethnic Minorities Face Barriers to Cancer Care and

Information

Although minority groups in the US face a number of barriers to

receiving cancer care and information, a team of researchers says

that these barriers could be tackled by using " patient navigators " --

people trained to help patients " navigate " through the complex

health care system.

The research team, from the University of Texas and the National

Cancer Institute, describe how the first patient navigator program

at Harlem Hospital, New York, helped under-served patients to

overcome barriers to obtaining prompt diagnostic and treatment

services following abnormal or suspicious cancer screening tests.

In June 2005, the Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Act

of 2005 was enacted into public law in the United States,

authorizing the Health Resources and Services Administration to

administer a US$25 million program to provide patient navigator

services with the goal of reducing barriers and improving health-

care outcomes. Patient navigators will be recruited, trained, and

employed to provide services to under-served populations.

Citation: Fowler T, Steakley C, AR, Kwok J, LM (2006)

Reducing disparities in the burden of cancer: The role of patient

navigators. PLoS Med 3(7): e193.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030193

Contact:

L.

Center for Cancer Research

Associate Director for Science

NCI, NIH, DHHS, Building 31 Room 3A11,

31 Center Drive

Bethesda, MD 20892-2440 United States of America

lmbennett@...

Researchers' Obligations to Patients Who Enroll in HIV Prevention

Trials

Researchers around the world are currently working to develop

microbicides, products that are applied topically (e.g. as a vaginal

gel or cream) to try to prevent HIV infection. But what if a patient

becomes infected with HIV during a microbicide trial? Do the

researchers have an ethical duty to provide the patient with HIV

drugs (antiretroviral therapy), which can be expensive and can add

great costs to the trial?

Medical ethicists are divided on this question. Some argue that

providing antiretroviral therapy is ethically obligatory. Others

believe that such provision does not qualify as a mandatory ethical

obligation but that it is " morally praiseworthy. "

In an article in PLoS Medicine, Forbes of the Global Campaign

for Microbicides, an international coalition that works to

accelerate microbicide development, outlines the campaign's

consensus statement on providing antiretroviral therapy to patients

who become infected during a microbicide trial. The campaign's

position is that: " People who seroconvert [become HIV positive]

during the course of a microbicide trial should be assured access to

high quality HIV care, including antiretroviral treatment (ART) when

it is needed. "

Citation: Forbes A (2006) Moving toward assured access to treatment

in microbicide trials. PLoS Med 3(7): e153.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030153

Contact:

Forbes

Global Campaign for Microbicides

Global North Programs Coordinator

1800 K Street, NW

Suite 800

Washington, DC 20006 United States of America

asforbes@...

Reducing the Influence of Drug Companies on Prescribing Patterns

" Over the last few years, one scandal after another has shown how

drug company marketing can distort prescribing patterns, " says Julio

Sotelo (General Director, National Institute of Neurology and

Neurosurgery of Mexico) in an essay in PLoS Medicine. Sotelo

outlines a novel proposal to reduce the influence of the

pharmaceutical industry on prescribing decisions.

" My proposal to realign the relationship between clinicians and drug

companies is simple and is based on a single premise, " he says. " I

propose that a third party, appointed by academic institutions, must

be compulsorily placed between clinical researchers and drug

companies so that all dialogue (scientific and monetary) must be

made through this third party. " Sotelo calls this third party a

Collegiate Research Council (CRC)--and proposes that it would be a

committee jointly appointed by 10†" 12 leading academic

institutions.

Citation: Sotelo J (2006) Regulation of clinical research sponsored

by pharmaceutical companies: A proposal. PLoS Med 3(7): e306.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030306

Contact:

Julio Sotelo

National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery of Mexico

General Director

Insurgentes Sur 3877

Mexico City, 14269 Mexico

jsotelo@...

Caption: " A third party--the CRC--should be placed between drug

companies and clinical researchers (Illustration by Rusty Howson,

sososo design) "

###

About PLoS Medicine

PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international

medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our

understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary

and analysis of important global health issues. For more

information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org/

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of

scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific

and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more

information, visit http://www.plos.org/

Please mention the open-access journal plos medicine

(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-

07/www.plosmedicine.org) as the source for these articles and

provide a link to the freely-available text. thank you.

All works published in PLoS Medicine are open access. Everything is

immediately available without cost to anyone, anywhere--to read,

download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use--

subject only to the condition that the original authorship is

properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The

Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution

License.

Press Release from PLoS Medicine

Contact: Hyde

Public Library of Science

[Guest guest]

African Surgeons-Online Health Information: Cancer In Minority

Groups: HIV Prevention Trials

13 Jul 2006

The Ptolemy Project: Giving African Surgeons Online Health

Information

" It is African doctors and researchers who know the right questions

to ask in order to discover practicable solutions to the health

problems of their regions, " say Milliard Derbew (Addis Ababa

University and University of Toronto) and colleagues. And giving

African doctors and researchers better access to health information,

they say, is a fundamental component in building a healthy African

research culture.

Derbew and colleagues discuss an initiative called the Ptolemy

Project, an electronic health information access tool designed to be

effective and easy to use, and to satisfy the health information

needs of surgeons in the developing world. " Research is unthinkable

without access to scientific literature, " they say, and electronic

access to projects such as Ptolemy will help surgeons to deal with

regional health problems.

Citation: Derbew M, Beveridge M, A, Byrne N (2006) Building

surgical research capacity in Africa: The Ptolemy Project. PLoS Med 3

(7): e305.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030305

Contact:

Miliard Derbew

Addis Ababa University

Pediatrics General Surgeon

Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia

milliard.derbew@...

Racial and Ethnic Minorities Face Barriers to Cancer Care and

Information

Although minority groups in the US face a number of barriers to

receiving cancer care and information, a team of researchers says

that these barriers could be tackled by using " patient navigators " --

people trained to help patients " navigate " through the complex

health care system.

The research team, from the University of Texas and the National

Cancer Institute, describe how the first patient navigator program

at Harlem Hospital, New York, helped under-served patients to

overcome barriers to obtaining prompt diagnostic and treatment

services following abnormal or suspicious cancer screening tests.

In June 2005, the Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Act

of 2005 was enacted into public law in the United States,

authorizing the Health Resources and Services Administration to

administer a US$25 million program to provide patient navigator

services with the goal of reducing barriers and improving health-

care outcomes. Patient navigators will be recruited, trained, and

employed to provide services to under-served populations.

Citation: Fowler T, Steakley C, AR, Kwok J, LM (2006)

Reducing disparities in the burden of cancer: The role of patient

navigators. PLoS Med 3(7): e193.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030193

Contact:

L.

Center for Cancer Research

Associate Director for Science

NCI, NIH, DHHS, Building 31 Room 3A11,

31 Center Drive

Bethesda, MD 20892-2440 United States of America

lmbennett@...

Researchers' Obligations to Patients Who Enroll in HIV Prevention

Trials

Researchers around the world are currently working to develop

microbicides, products that are applied topically (e.g. as a vaginal

gel or cream) to try to prevent HIV infection. But what if a patient

becomes infected with HIV during a microbicide trial? Do the

researchers have an ethical duty to provide the patient with HIV

drugs (antiretroviral therapy), which can be expensive and can add

great costs to the trial?

Medical ethicists are divided on this question. Some argue that

providing antiretroviral therapy is ethically obligatory. Others

believe that such provision does not qualify as a mandatory ethical

obligation but that it is " morally praiseworthy. "

In an article in PLoS Medicine, Forbes of the Global Campaign

for Microbicides, an international coalition that works to

accelerate microbicide development, outlines the campaign's

consensus statement on providing antiretroviral therapy to patients

who become infected during a microbicide trial. The campaign's

position is that: " People who seroconvert [become HIV positive]

during the course of a microbicide trial should be assured access to

high quality HIV care, including antiretroviral treatment (ART) when

it is needed. "

Citation: Forbes A (2006) Moving toward assured access to treatment

in microbicide trials. PLoS Med 3(7): e153.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030153

Contact:

Forbes

Global Campaign for Microbicides

Global North Programs Coordinator

1800 K Street, NW

Suite 800

Washington, DC 20006 United States of America

asforbes@...

Reducing the Influence of Drug Companies on Prescribing Patterns

" Over the last few years, one scandal after another has shown how

drug company marketing can distort prescribing patterns, " says Julio

Sotelo (General Director, National Institute of Neurology and

Neurosurgery of Mexico) in an essay in PLoS Medicine. Sotelo

outlines a novel proposal to reduce the influence of the

pharmaceutical industry on prescribing decisions.

" My proposal to realign the relationship between clinicians and drug

companies is simple and is based on a single premise, " he says. " I

propose that a third party, appointed by academic institutions, must

be compulsorily placed between clinical researchers and drug

companies so that all dialogue (scientific and monetary) must be

made through this third party. " Sotelo calls this third party a

Collegiate Research Council (CRC)--and proposes that it would be a

committee jointly appointed by 10†" 12 leading academic

institutions.

Citation: Sotelo J (2006) Regulation of clinical research sponsored

by pharmaceutical companies: A proposal. PLoS Med 3(7): e306.

Please add the link to the published article in online versions of

your report: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030306

Contact:

Julio Sotelo

National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery of Mexico

General Director

Insurgentes Sur 3877

Mexico City, 14269 Mexico

jsotelo@...

Caption: " A third party--the CRC--should be placed between drug

companies and clinical researchers (Illustration by Rusty Howson,

sososo design) "

###

About PLoS Medicine

PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international

medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our

understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary

and analysis of important global health issues. For more

information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org/

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of

scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific

and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more

information, visit http://www.plos.org/

Please mention the open-access journal plos medicine

(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-

07/www.plosmedicine.org) as the source for these articles and

provide a link to the freely-available text. thank you.

All works published in PLoS Medicine are open access. Everything is

immediately available without cost to anyone, anywhere--to read,

download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use--

subject only to the condition that the original authorship is

properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The

Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution

License.

Press Release from PLoS Medicine

Contact: Hyde

Public Library of Science