Clinical Ethics Fellowship Programs in the United States and Canada: Program Directors' Opinions About Accreditation and Funding.

To succeed, an accreditation process for clinical ethics fellowship programs (CEFPs) would need support from CEFP directors. To assess CEFP directors' opinions, we surveyed all 36 CEFP directors in the United States and Canada, achieving a 100% response rate. We found that support for accreditation is strong, with 30.

Clinical Ethics Fellowship Programs in the U.S. and Canada: A Descriptive Study of Program Characteristics and Practices.

To address the current lack of knowledge about clinical ethics fellowship programs (CEFPs), we surveyed all 36 programs in the U.S. and Canada.

Ethics Consultation in U.S. Hospitals: Adherence to National Practice Standards.

Adherence to widely accepted practice standards is a frequently used measure of healthcare quality. In the U.S.

Ethics Consultation in U.S. Hospitals: New Findings about Consultation Practices.

While previous research has examined various aspects of ethics consultation (EC) in U.S. hospitals, certain EC practices have never been systematically studied.

Ethics Consultation in United States Hospitals: Assessment of Training Needs.

Background: To help inform the development of more accessible, acceptable, and effective ethics consultation (EC) training programs, we conducted an EC training needs assessment, exploring ethics practitioners' opinions on: the relative importance of various EC practitioner competencies; the potential market for EC training (that is, how many individuals would benefit and how much individuals and hospitals would be willing to pay); and the preferred content, format, and characteristics of EC training.

Methods: As part of a multipart study, we surveyed "best informants" who self-identified as the person most actively involved in EC or healthcare ethics in a random sample of 600 U.S.

Health care ethics programs in U.S. Hospitals: results from a National Survey.

Background: As hospitals have grown more complex, the ethical concerns they confront have grown correspondingly complicated. Many hospitals have consequently developed health care ethics programs (HCEPs) that include far more than ethics consultation services alone. Yet systematic research on these programs is lacking.

Ethics Consultation in U.S. Hospitals: Determinants of Consultation Volume.

The annual volume of ethics consultations (ECs) has been a topic of interest in the bioethics literature, in part because of its presumed relationship to quality. To better understand factors associated with EC volume, we used multiple linear regression to model the number of case consultations performed in the last year based on a national survey. We found that hospital bed size, academic affiliation, and urban/rural location were all associated with EC volume, but were the primary drivers.

Ethics Consultation in U.S. Hospitals: Opinions of Ethics Practitioners.

To design effective strategies to improve ethics consultation (EC) practices, it is important to understand the views of ethics practitioners. Previous U.S.

Ethics Consultation in U.S. Hospitals: A National Follow-Up Study.

A 1999-2000 national study of U.S. hospitals raised concerns about ethics consultation (EC) practices and catalyzed improvement efforts.

A secreted schistosome cathepsin B1 cysteine protease and acute schistosome infection induce a transient T helper 17 response.

The natural history of schistosome infection in the mammalian host is determined by CD4+ T helper responses mounted against different parasite life cycle stages. A T helper 2 (TH2) response to schistosome eggs is required for host survival and establishment of chronic infection. However, a TH2 cell-derived cytokine also contributes to an immune milieu that is conducive to schistosome growth and development.

Ethics Consultation Quality Assessment Tool: A Novel Method for Assessing the Quality of Ethics Case Consultations Based on Written Records.

Although ethics consultation is offered as a clinical service in most hospitals in the United States, few valid and practical tools are available to evaluate, ensure, and improve ethics consultation quality. The quality of ethics consultation is important because poor quality ethics consultation can result in ethically inappropriate outcomes for patients, other stakeholders, or the health care system. To promote accountability for the quality of ethics consultation, we developed the Ethics Consultation Quality Assessment Tool (ECQAT).

How Do Healthcare Employees Rate the Ethics of Their Organization? An Analysis Based on VA IntegratedEthics@ Staff Survey Data.

Healthcare organizations with an ethical culture experience higher levels of employee productivity, less staff turnover, better levels of patient safety, resource and cost savings, and higher levels of patient satisfaction. Employees' perceptions of the ethics of their organization are considered a good indicator of the ethics culture. How employees rate the ethics of their organization is not well understood.

Histamine 1 Receptor Blockade Enhances Eosinophil-Mediated Clearance of Adult Filarial Worms.

Filariae are tissue-invasive nematodes that cause diseases such as elephantiasis and river blindness. The goal of this study was to characterize the role of histamine during Litomosoides sigmodontis infection of BALB/c mice, a murine model of filariasis. Time course studies demonstrated that while expression of histidine decarboxylase mRNA increases throughout 12 weeks of infection, serum levels of histamine exhibit two peaks-one 30 minutes after primary infection and one 8 weeks later.

Immunologic characterization of 3 murine regimens of allergen-specific immunotherapy.

Background: Allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) is used to treat the symptoms of immediate type I hypersensitivity. The mechanisms driving establishment of allergen tolerance are not yet fully understood.

Objective: The goal of this study was to develop and immunologically characterize 3 murine models of ASIT to simulate protocols currently used to treat patients with type I hypersensitivities.

Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma: report of two cases with unconventional clinical presentations.

Aims: Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA) is a rare astrocytic neoplasm with a relative circumscribed architecture that typically arises superficially in the cerebral hemispheres of teenagers and young adults. Our aim is to highlight unconventional clinical presentations of this distinct neoplasm.

Materials And Methods: We report two cases of PXA with unconventional clinical features, including clinical, pathologic, and immunohistochemical features.

Basophils help establish protective immunity induced by irradiated larval vaccination for filariasis.

Basophils are increasingly recognized as playing important roles in the immune response toward helminths. In this study, we evaluated the role of basophils in vaccine-mediated protection against filariae, tissue-invasive parasitic nematodes responsible for diseases such as elephantiasis and river blindness. Protective immunity and immunological responses were assessed in BALB/c mice vaccinated with irradiated L3 stage larvae and depleted of basophils with weekly injections of anti-CD200R3 antibody.

Preventive ethics: addressing ethics quality gaps on a systems level.

Background: Preventive ethics (PE) is a key component of IntegratedEthics (IE), an innovative model developed by the Veterans Health Administration (VA)'s National Center for Ethics in Health Care which establishes a comprehensive, systematic, integrated approach to ethics in health care organizations. Since early 2008, IE has been implemented throughout all 153 medical centers and 21 regional networks within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system.

Issues: A STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH TO ETHICS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT: PE employs a systematic, step-by-step process improvement approach called

Issues: Identify an issue, Study the issue, Select a strategy, Undertake a plan, Evaluate and adjust, and Sustain and spread.