Citizen expectations of 'academic entrepreneurship' in health research: public science, practical benefit.

Background: Responsiveness to citizens as users of technological innovation helps motivate translational research and commercial engagement among academics. Yet, retaining citizen trust and support for research encourages caution in pursuit of commercial science.

Objectives: We explore citizen expectations of the specifically academic nature of commercial science [i.

Do canadian researchers and the lay public prioritize biomedical research outcomes equally? A choice experiment.

Purpose: To quantify and compare the preferences of researchers and laypeople in Canada regarding the outcomes of basic biomedical research.

Method: In autumn 2010, the authors conducted a cross-sectional, national survey of basic biomedical researchers funded by Canada's national health research agency and a representative sample of Canadian citizens to assess preferences for research outcomes across five attributes using a discrete choice experiment. Attributes included advancing scientific knowledge (assessed by published papers); building research capacity (assessed by trainees); informing decisions in the health products industry (assessed by patents); targeting economic, health, or scientific priorities; and cost.

The helix in the labyrinth: do we need genetic health services and policy research?

In Canada and elsewhere, targeted health services and policy research (HSPR) has been suggested as a means to clarify the health system implications of developments in genetics and genomics. But is such research really needed? We argue that substantial investments in basic genetic and genomic research, coupled with persistent uncertainty about the health system implications of advances in these fields, justify the development of specialized HSPR in genetics and the sustained involvement of the wider HSPR community. Genetic health services and policy research will play a crucial role in informing decision-makers at all levels of the health system about whether and how to integrate developments in genetics, genomics and other complex new technologies.

Lesbian communities across the United States: pockets of resistance and resilience.

Drawing on our interviews and experiences with 112 women in three different kinds of predominantly lesbian communities (communal land, cottages with communal center/guesthouse, and gated residential/retirement), strategies of coping, resistance, and resilience are examined by describing these communities and sharing these women's words. Feminist patterns of resilience in fostering community integrity are emphasized.