This article outlines concepts and skills that will help teachers and students interpret news and controversies generated by medical research. Students need to: (1) understand some basic research concepts; (2) apply critical thinking to health news; and (3) know how to locate additional information sources. (Authors/PP)

A survey of research resources in 24 veterinary colleges in the US and Canada reports information on university-wide research facilities, college-wide research facilities, personnel, and instrumentation resources. Corporate research resource management was compared with university research resource management. The survey form is outlined.…

A seminar series was developed in a family medicine training program to provide residents with some basic skills required to interpret medical studies critically. The sessions were designed to be clinically relevant, dependent on active resident participation, and focused on research methodology and interpretation. (Author/JMD)

Explores to what extent the germ theory, when it was still a relatively new idea, is evident in the bibliographic records in the "Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office of the United States Army" (Index Cat), the largest medical bibliographical tool ever published. Data suggest that scientists are quick to apply the new…

Among six conclusions of a study on computerized literature retrieval by medical students at the University of Missouri were that many students easily became independent users of MEDLINE, that previous computer use was not related to effective MEDLINE use, and that effectively trained students used the MeSH vocabulary as easily as faculty. (DB)

Analyzed support for gerontological education and research (1976-1986) for Administration on Aging, Bureau of Health Professions, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, and Veterans Administration. Determined that total federal allocations varied greatly between social/behavioral and biomedical components of aging field,…

Clinical trials and access to therapeutic drugs pose dilemmas for researchers, physicians, and AIDS patients. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recognizing the need for greater access to drugs by a broader spectrum of the infected population, is establishing the Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS. (Author/MLW)

A study compared outcomes of the Ohio State University predoctoral dental student research program with those of the University of Iowa by examining the career choices, scholarly activity, and attitudes of participants and nonparticipants. Implications for improving research orientation and student participation are examined. (MSE)

This discussion of traditional academic medicine's resistance to changes in practice, technology, and finances looks at three current problems in medical education and two in biomedical research. Solutions are proposed, based on redefinition of the relationship between universities and medical schools and expansion of the conventional narrow focus…

Discusses the Rockefellers' educational philanthropy, specifically, the Rockefeller Foundation, University of Chicago, Rockefeller University, and Spelman College. Rockefeller created the agencies to handle the identification and development of a constituency, the capability to define and redefine missions, the creation of future leadership, and…

Foresight analysis is proposed as an alternative to strategic planning in the scientific community, and its use by individual funding agencies to develop research resource allocation strategies for specific scientific fields is explored through an analysis in the field of cardiovascular research. Methodology is explained, and preliminary results…

Portuguese legislative and policy moves since 1974 and their effects on academic hospitals are chronicled. The changes began with a serious university crisis, through which academic hospitals were abolished, and have resulted in legislation offering the potential for a restructuring of medical training and research. (Author/MSE)

Most of the hospital beds available to the University of Liege (France) for training purposes are in a public teaching hospital with an autonomous legal structure and privileged relationship with the university. Other beds are in other facilities. The financing, supervision, and management structure integrates the institutions and supports medical…

Reports that Harvard University Medical School is considering policy changes that would ease financial restrictions in its conflict-of-interest standards for faculty researchers. Supporters argue that such changes are necessary to attract and retain top researchers, but ethicists warn that as collaborations between industry and academic medicine…

Describes a study that investigated the use of a natural language processing technique called noun phrasing to determine whether it is a viable technique for medical information retrieval. Evaluates four noun phrase generation tools for their ability to isolate noun phrases from medical journal abstracts, focusing on precision and recall.…