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Alzheimer's Clinical Studies: Clear Guidance On Recruiting Volunteers
Partnering with local physicians, working with local clinics, and conducting educational seminars and health fairs were found to be the most effective tools in recruiting people for Alzheimer"s clinical studies, according to new research reported at the Alzheimer"s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.
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Chicago Students To Get Lessons On Diagnostic Testing From The "Unsung Heroes" Of The Clinical Lab Profession
Chicago high school students interested in science and health care will get a chance to learn about diagnostic tests and the laboratory professionals who perform them during the American Association for Clinical Chemistry"s 2009 Clinical Lab Expo on July 21 and 22. Drugshop to buy zoloft online and other pills.
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Ohio Comprehensive Sex Education Program Improves Knowledge Of Safer-Sex Practices, Study Finds
Ohio students who participate in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District"s comprehensive sex education program show more knowledge and better attitudes toward safer-sex practices than students who do not participate, according to a study released Tuesday by Philliber Research Associates, the AP/Dayton Daily News reports. The school district uses a graduated sex education program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The program begins with instruction about the human body and inappropriate touching and progresses to discussions about sexually transmitted infections and relationships. The study, which was funded by the AIDS Funding Collaborative in Cleveland, found that more than 75% of parents of children in kindergarten through sixth grade approved of the program.The Collaborative for Comprehensive School Age Health, a coalition of northeast Ohio organizations that opposes abstinence-only sex education, said that the report validates the effectiveness of the city"s program. The study"s release coincides with advocates" efforts against two other sex education-related measures under consideration in the state budget plan. According to the AP/Daily News, the Republican-controlled state Senate wants to require the state Department of Education to apply for federal abstinence-only education funding. The state Senate also wants Ohio to continue to require legislative approval before any changes can be made in health education, although Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and the Democrat-controlled House want to change these requirements, the AP/Daily News reports (AP/Dayton Daily News, 6/23).
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No Adjustment Method Fully Resolves Confounding By Indication, BUSM Researchers Find

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health have found that no adjustment method fully resolves confounding by indication in observational studies, meaning when the validity of a study is threatened by unmeasured confounding, it is not straightforward to determine which method of adjustment, if any, is most effective in obtaining a valid and precise estimate of effect. The study appears online in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. According to researchers, conventional methods to adjust for confounding, such as restriction and multivariable regression, leave residual confounding because of unmeasured factors. Propensity scores (PS) and instrumental variable (IV) methods have become increasingly popular with the intent to address residual confounding by simulating a randomized environment. Using data from the Breast Cancer Effectiveness in Older Women study, a collaboration of investigators from the National Cancer Institute-funded Cancer Research Network, the researchers compared methods used to reduce confounding to estimate incidence rates of breast cancer recurrence in older women who received adjuvant chemotherapy compared with women who did not. The researchers examined women 65 years of age or older diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. For women classified as high risk for recurrence, 20 percent experienced a breast cancer recurrence. In the unrestricted cohort, receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with recurrence. The PS distributions among women who received chemotherapy among those who did not showed no substantial overlap. Using the IV method, recurrence yielded a protective estimate. However, imbalances of measured factors across levels of the IV suggested residual confounding. "With minimal trial-based information available to inform clinical guidelines, which currently offer no guidance for treating older women with cancer, non-randomized studies are vitally important," said lead author Jaclyn Bosco, MPH, project director in the Section of Geriatrics at BUSM. "Non-randomized studies are only reliable when confounding by indication is handled adequately. When treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy among older patients is based on clinical judgment, controlling for prognostic factors alone leaves residual confounding by indication." Researchers further stated that PS and IV analysis methods can be useful under specific situations, but neither method adequately controlled confounding by indication in this study. This study was funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services. These organizations had no role in the design and conduct of the study, the collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data, or the preparation, review and approval of the manuscript. Michelle Roberts Boston University Medical Center


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