TACTICAL RETREAT: Many institutions, fearing lawsuits, will abandon their affirmative action programs, predicts NACME's George Campbell, Jr. Universities are feeling the impact of recently approved anti-affirmative action initiatives that ban the consideration of a student's race in admissions decisions. Medical schools have seen a dramatic decrease in minority enrollment; grad schools also have seen a noticeable decline. In hopes of maintaining diverse student bodies, many institutions-includ

Edited by: Stephen P. Hoffert R.G. Will, J.W. Ironside, M. Zeidler, S.N. Cousens, K. Estibeiro, A. Alperovitch, S. Poser, M. Pocchiari, A. Hofman, P.G. Smith, "A new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the U.K.," Lancet, 347:921-5, 1996. (Cited in more than 230 publications to date) Comments by R.G. Will, National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit, Edinburgh, Scotland On Aug. 1, 1996, an international research team sent scientific, economic, and political shock waves throughout

The odds of writing a successful grant proposal are long these days. The Office of Extramural Research of the National Institutes of Health reports that the number of competing grants applications rose sharply-from 20,406 to 25,510-between 1985 and 1994. But the number of awards actually decreased from 6,752 in 1985 to 6,474 in 1994. Now more than ever, researchers applying for grants face intense competition. Professionals who help researchers write grant proposals say there are several thing

Meta-analysis, which uses systematic methods to search, combine, and evaluate research literature, has been praised for making the review article more scientific and objective. But studies showing that journals are much more likely to publish the results of positive over negative clinical trials have led some to question the validity and objectivity of meta-analyses. Many in the medical community are concerned that this publication bias may skew the results of meta-analyses, which increasingly

Telemedicine, or the use of telecommunications and information technology to deliver clinical health-care services, has become a fixture in some rural hospitals in the United States. Much of this presence is due to heavy government subsidies and grants, which leaves health officials unsure if telemedicine is cost-effective in these clinical settings. Other barriers-legal, financial, and technological-have limited its widespread use, and some critics charge that telemedicine is an unwise investm

Despite proven success in reducing breast cancer mortality, mammography remains one of the most controversial techniques of cancer screening. The recommendation that women aged 50 and older have regular mammograms is universally accepted. But the question over whether women aged 40-49 years should receive regular screenings has sharply divided the medical community. MAMMOGRAPHIC PLOT: Jack Sklansky has developed a method of graphically representing a mammogram, which could improve accuracy. E

The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation honored three medical researchers at an awards luncheon on September 26 in New York. According to a foundation official, the 1997 award winners represent the distinct approaches and scientific perspectives that must combine in the fight against disease. Victor A. McKusick, a professor of genetics at Johns Hopkins University, was given the Special Achievement in Medical Science Award; Mark S. Ptashne, the Ludwig Professor of Molecular Biology at the Mem

Edited by: Stephen P. Hoffert S.A. Kliewer, J.M. Lenhard, T.M. Willson, I. Patel, D.C. Morris, J.M. Lehmann, "A prostaglandin J2 metabolite binds peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma and promotes adipocyte differentiation," Cell, 83:813-9, 1995. (Cited in more than 100 papers through September 1997) Comments by Jüergen M. Lehmann, Glaxo Wellcome Inc. Research and Development, Research Triangle Park, N.C. More than 15 million people in the United States suffer from non-insulin d

Edited by: Stephen P. Hoffert M.R. Knowles, K.W. Hohneker, Z. Zhou, J.C. Olson, T.L. Noah, P. Hu, M.W. Leigh, J.F. Engelhardt, L.J. Edwards, K.R. Jones, M. Grossman, J.M. Wilson, L.G. Johnson, R.C. Boucher, "A controlled study of adenoviral-vector-mediated gene transfer in the nasal epithelium of patients with cystic fibrosis," New England Journal of Medicine, 333:823-31, 1995. (Cited in more than 100 papers through September 1997) Comments by Richard C. Boucher, University of North Carolina Cy

Most Americans say that cancer is one of the most feared diseases, and they fully support research that advances the march to a cure, recent marketing studies by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) show. But the studies also suggest that most people know little about what science has achieved, how research is done, or why certain projects are funded. OUTREACH: NCI director Richard Klausner has won praise for defending the peer-review system to the public and politicians. Concerned about resear

Despite lingering debates, statistical method wins acceptance and exerts influence among researchers. Meta-analysis-a statistical method of quantitatively combining and synthesizing results from individual studies-has begun to exert an influence on science, its practice, and its use in policymaking, despite early opposition and skepticism. One recent example that has attracted considerable media attention concerns the use of "fen-phen" (fenfluramine/phentermine), the popularly prescribed obesi