An Investigation into the Public's Attitude Toward Opting out of Brain Death.

Background: There have been growing sentiments that the Uniform Determination of Death Act needs to be revised. One suggestion is to include a conscience clause, that is, allowing patients to "opt-out" of brain death determination. Understanding public attitudes toward a conscience clause may help inform policymakers and future proposed revisions.

A Simulation to Improve Understanding and Communication of Ethical Dilemmas That Surround Brain Death.

Introduction: Providers across multiple specialties may be called upon to perform brain death assessments at hospitals that lack specialty neurology or critical care services. To address this need, we developed a brain death curriculum involving simulation and group discussion to prepare medical trainees for brain death testing and communication with surrogate decision-makers.

Methods: A 1-hour session was delivered to trainees rotating through the intensive care unit at William Beaumont University Hospital.

Retinoic Acid Signaling Is Required for Dendritic Cell Maturation and the Induction of T Cell Immunity.

Vitamin A and its biologically active metabolites, all-trans and 9-cis retinoic acid (RA), are thought to be important in generating and modulating immune function. However, RA modulates the function of many types of immune cells, and its specific role in dendritic cell (DC) activation, Ag presentation, and T cell effector function has not been fully characterized. Because RA works primarily through RA receptor (RAR)α, we examined mice with a myeloid cell-specific defect in RA signaling.

Education Research: Changes in Medical Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Clinical Death After Teaching the Philosophy of Death.

Background And Objectives: Varied meanings of death within medicine, bioethics, and society at large often produce disagreement and frustration between physicians and surrogate decision makers. We investigated whether teaching medical students about the philosophical aspects of death would change their attitude toward surrogate decision makers who assert nonstandard views of death.

Methods: An 80-minute lecture covering philosophical debates surrounding medico-legal standards of death was given to second-year medical students at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine during a neuroscience course.