Diabetes news.

Ursula Biba, Rhea W. Teng, Martin J. Kurian, Ann M. Carracher, and Kelly L. Close are of Close Concerns (http://www.closeconcerns.com), a healthcare information company focused exclusively on diabetes and obesity care. Close Concerns publishes Closer Look, a periodical that brings together news and insights in these areas. Each month, the Journal of Diabetes includes this News feature, in which Biba, Teng, Kurian, Carracher, and Close review the latest developments relevant to researchers and clinicians.

Practical ways to achieve targets in diabetes care conference.

Ursula Biba, Rhea W. Teng, Martin J. Kurian, and Kelly L. Close are of Close Concerns (http://www.closeconcerns.com), a healthcare information company focused exclusively on diabetes and obesity care. Close Concerns publishes Closer Look, a periodical that brings together news and insights in these areas. Each month, the Journal of Diabetes includes this News feature, in which Biba, Teng, Kurian, and Close review the latest developments relevant to researchers and clinicians.

Childhood Poverty and Its Effect on Health and Well-being: Enhancing Training for Learners Across the Medical Education Continuum.

OBJECTIVE: Childhood poverty is unacceptably common in the US and threatens the health, development, and lifelong well-being of millions of children. Health care providers should be prepared through medical curricula to directly address the health harms of poverty. In this article, authors from The Child Poverty Education Subcommittee (CPES) of the Academic Pediatric Association Task Force on Child Poverty describe the development of the first such child poverty curriculum for teachers and learners across the medical education continuum. METHODS: Educators, physicians, trainees, and public health professionals from 25 institutions across the United States and Canada were convened over a 2-year period and addressed 3 goals: 1) define the core competencies of child poverty education, 2) delineate the scope and aims of a child poverty curriculum, and 3) create a child poverty curriculum ready to implement in undergraduate and graduate medical education settings. RESULTS: The CPES identified 4 core domains for the curriculum including the epidemiology of child poverty, poverty-related social determinants of health, pathophysiology of the health effects of poverty, and leadership and action to reduce and prevent poverty's health effects. Workgroups, focused on each domain, developed learning goals and objectives, built interactive learning modules to meet them, and created evaluation and faculty development materials to supplement the core curriculum. An editorial team with representatives from each workgroup coordinated activities and are preparing the final curriculum for national implementation. CONCLUSIONS: This comprehensive, standardized child poverty curriculum developed by an international group of educators in pediatrics and experts in the health effects of poverty should prepare medical trainees to address child poverty and improve the health of poor children.

A profiling optics and water return system for validation and calibration of ocean color imagery.

We describe a Profiling Optical and Water Return (POWR) system that has been developed and used extensively at sea. The POWR system is a collection of oceanographic instruments used to measure the inherent optical properties (IOPs) of the upper 100m of the ocean while simultaneously collecting up to eight water samples at various depths for chemical and biological analysis. IOPs are local measurements that are directly related to the properties of the water at the depth sampled; hence it is critical that the water samples be taken at the same time and location as the IOPs. Used during three major experiments, the POWR system has proven valuable for relating IOPs to in-water constituents in support of ocean color remote sensing data product validation, optical model validation, and other interdisciplinary programs.

Ocean PHILLS hyperspectral imager: design, characterization, and calibration.

The Ocean Portable Hyperspectral Imager for Low-Light Spectroscopy (Ocean PHILLS) is a hyperspectral imager specifically designed for imaging the coastal ocean. It uses a thinned, backsideilluminated CCD for high sensitivity and an all-reflective spectrograph with a convex grating in an Offner configuration to produce a nearly distortionfree image. The sensor, which was constructed entirely from commercially available components, has been successfully deployed during several oceanographic experiments in 1999-2001. Here we describe the instrument design and present the results of laboratory characterization and calibration. We also present examples of remote-sensing reflectance data obtained from the LEO-15 site in New Jersey that agrees well with ground-truth measurements.

Condyloma acuminata: a fatal disease?

Condyloma acuminata is a virally mediated epithelial overgrowth caused by the human papilloma virus. Its simplest form is the common wart, which may occur almost anywhere on the body surface. Its papillary lesion forms are commonly seen in the genital, perineal, and anal areas, though it also infects the conjunctiva, nose, mouth, larynx, and tracheo-bronchial tree. Malignant degeneration may occur in any of these areas. Diagnosis is established by clinical impression and biopsy. Immunoassay methods exist but are simply indicative of the presence of infection and are not useful in predicting the course of the disease. Many treatment modalities exist and all work well for minor lesions. For large lesions such as the giant condyloma acuminata, also known as the Buschke-Lowenstein lesion, only radical surgical extirpation is considered to be appropriate treatment. This case report, as well as others referenced in this study, documents the extreme complexity of management of many of these lesions and the fatal outcome of this disease process in a significant number of cases.

Adrenal hemorrhage with incomplete rotation of the colon leading to early duodenal obstruction: case report and review of the literature.

We report the simultaneous occurrence of neonatal adrenal hemorrhage and type IIIB incomplete fixation of the hepatic flexure of the colon producing early complete obstruction of the duodenum. An abdominal ultrasound intravenous pyelogram, and barium contrast gastrointestinal studies were essential in establishing the preoperative diagnosis.

Iatrogenic perforation of the esophagus by a nasogastric tube.

An unusual case of esophageal perforation by nasogastric tube placement has been presented. Clinical suspicion plus radiologic confirmation of esophageal perforation resulted in prompt surgical intervention with drainage of the contaminated area. The best prognosticator for the successful outcome in the treatment of esophageal perforation is early recognition of the problem.