Assessing gender equity in a large academic department of pediatrics.

Purpose: To determine the extent of gender inequity in a large academic pediatrics department and to demonstrate an assessment methodology other departments can use.

Method: Using deidentified data, the authors evaluated all promotion track faculty in the University of Colorado School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics in 2009 by five parameters: promotion, tenure, leadership roles, faculty retention, and salary. Outcome metrics included time to promotion and at rank; awards of tenure, time to tenure, and time tenured; departmental leadership positions in 2009; attrition rates from 2000 to 2009; and salary in academic year 2008-2009 compared with national benchmarks.

Evaluation of a rapid and completely automated real-time reverse transcriptase PCR assay for diagnosis of enteroviral meningitis.

Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for enterovirus RNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have emerged as the new gold standard for diagnosis of enteroviral meningitis, and their use can improve the management and decrease the costs for caring for children with enteroviral meningitis. The Xpert EV assay (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA) is a rapid, fully automated real-time PCR test for the detection of enterovirus RNA that was approved by the U.S.

Germ proof your school.

Schools can be made safer from germs by: 1. Reinforcing students' personal health and hygiene practices such as hand washing, proper wound care, timely immunizations, nutritious diet, adequate sleep, reducing long-term stress, regular moderate exercise, and matching wardrobe to the weather; 2. Adherence to health department exclusion/inclusion policies for students who are infected, symptomatic, exposed to infection, or susceptible to infection; 3.

Prospective study of enteroviral infections and development of beta-cell autoimmunity. Diabetes autoimmunity study in the young (DAISY).

Objective: To determine whether there is association between infection with enteroviruses and beta-cell autoimmunity in children at elevated risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

Background: Recent prospective and case-control studies of children who are at high risk of developing type 1 diabetes have suggested that enterovirus (EV) infections are a risk factor for beta-cell autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes.

Methods: A nested matched case-control study of incident cases of beta-cell autoimmunity within two prospective cohorts of genetically high-risk children (cases=26, controls=39).

Treatment of picornavirus infections.

The picornaviruses are a diverse group of viral pathogens that together comprise the most common causes of infections of humans in the developed world. Within the picornavirus family are three well-known groups of human pathogens-the enteroviruses (including polioviruses, coxsackieviruses, and echoviruses), the rhinoviruses, and the hepatoviruses (including hepatitis A). Recently, the parechoviruses (formerly, echoviruses 22 and 23) have been classified as a fourth genus of human picornaviruses.