China Medical Board

About: China Medical Board is a nonprofit organization based out in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Global health & Public health. The organization has 27 authors who have published 75 publications receiving 44326 citations.

The influence of plasma protein binding on the extra-adrenal metabolism of cortisol in normal, hyperthyroid and hypothyroid subjects.

Abstract: The role of plasma protein binding in the disappearance of cortisol from plasma in vivo has not been previously studied in normal individuals and those with altered thyroid function. Using an ultracentrifugation technic described herein to measure protein binding, the half-disappearance time of the unbound and protein-bound fractions of plasma cortisol was determined. In 6 normal subjects the mean half-disappearance time of total cortisol from plasma was 134 minutes, while that of its unbound fraction was shorter (81 min.) and that of the bound fraction was longer (163 min.). In hyperthyroid subjects these times were only 53, 40 and 71 minutes, respectively, while in hypothyroidism they were all slowed to 288, 160 and 394 minutes. Unbound cortisol always disappeared from plasma more rapidly than bound. The per cent of total plasma cortisol bound to protein was essentially the same at any given concentration of total plasma cortisol throughout the range (7 to 200 μ g . 100 ml . ) studied, irrespective of the metabolic state. This implied that the association constants and binding capacities of corticosteroid-binding proteins were unchanged in hyper- or hypothyroidism. Therefore, differences in the disappearance of cortisol observed between normal, hyperthyroid, and hypothyroid subjects did not appear to be a function of protein binding, but could be explained solely by alterations in the rate of hepatic and peripheral cortisol metabolism.

The WAMI Program: 25 years later.

Abstract: The Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WAMI) Program is a four-state decentralized medical education program initiated at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSM) in 1972 with the goals of: (1) admitting more students to medical school from all states, (2) training more primary care physicians, (3) bringing the UWSM's resources to needy communities, (4) redressing the maldistribution of physicians by placing more MDs in predominantly rural states and (5) avoiding new construction costs. The program consists of a University Phase and a Community Phase, the latter extending to residency/postgraduate medical training. Thirty-three years on, and now renamed WWAMI (with the inclusion of the State of Wyoming), nearly 1200 students have been admitted to the program, with 5947 clerkship experiences and 2282 resident rotations, and the original goals of this experiment in decentralized medical education have been largely met. Almost half of all residents supported by the program return home to practice, and of graduates who underwent a part of their training in Alaska, Montana and Idaho, 64.7% returned home to practice. This paper reports on some lessons learned and speculates whether the WAMI program can keep pace with the rapid changes in medical education.

Overcoming gaps to advance global health equity: a symposium on new directions for research.

Abstract: The 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking report of the Commission on Health Research for Development inspired a Symposium to assess progress made in strengthening essential national health research capacity in developing countries and in global research partnerships. Significant aspects of the health gains achieved in the 20th century can be attributed to the advancement and translation of knowledge, and knowledge continues to occupy center stage amidst growing complexity that characterizes the global health field. The way forward will entail a reinvigoration of research-generated knowledge as a crucial ingredient for global cooperation and global health advances. To do this we will need to overcome daunting gaps, including the divides between domestic and global health, among the disciplines of research (biomedical, clinical, epidemiological, health systems), between clinical and public health approaches, public and private investments, and between knowledge gained and action implemented. Overcoming systematically these obstacles can accelerate progress towards research for equity in health and development.