Mentallo and The Fixer & other: 2008

Friday 5 September 2008

Stanford Medical School Severely Restricts Industry Funding Of Continuing Education For Physicians

�The Stanford University School of Medicine will no longer assume support from pharmaceutical or device companies for specific programs in continuing medical education, as industry-directed financial support may compromise the integrity of these education programs for practicing physicians, officials said.

The action on CME builds on a 2006 policy that banned gifts, including free meals, and industry marketing at the Stanford University Medical Center.

Stanford is one of the few U.S. medical schools to ordain such restrictions, which go into gist Sept. 1. The policy is organism implemented as part of the school's ongoing revaluation, begun in 2005, of its interactions with industry in the educational and clinical arenas.

Continuing medical education programs are designed to help physicians ride out current in their fields and ar legally requisite for them to remain licensed to practice medicine. Under the new guidelines, the schoolhouse may accept commercial living for CME only if it is provided for broad areas, such as medical, paediatric and surgical specialties; symptomatic and tomography technologies; and health policy and disease prevention. Funding must non be linked to a specific course of action, topic or program. In addition, commercial exhibits will no yearner be permitted at Stanford-sponsored CME activities on or off campus.

In announcing the up-to-the-minute decision, Dean Philip Pizzo, MD, said he believes CME programs can be true to the School of Medicine's goal of improving timbre and clinical outcomes solely if they are loose of commercial influence.

"I want to be able to honor the world trust," Pizzo said. "We want CME to be unbiased and science-driven, and we don't want it to be influenced by marketing. We want our educational activities for whomever we are serving-whether it's our own faculty or our colleagues in the community, locally or globally-to be true to the science and the grounds, and not be influenced by whatsoever kind of financial industry support."

In recent old age, the pharmaceutic and medical-device industries have been a growing source of financial backing for CME programs. Between 1998 and 2006, industry funding for CME activities nationwide rose from $302 million to $1.2 billion, according to the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.

Some find this to be a worrisome trend. In June, the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs issued a report urging individual doctors and medical institutions not to have industry documentation for CME, saying it could "jeopardise the integrity of medicine's educational purpose." A conference of medical professionals convened in 2007 by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation similarly all over that because of industry's involvement in CME activities, "Bias, either by appearance or reality, has turn woven into the selfsame fabric of continuing education" for physicians. Industry financing of CME activities likewise has been called into question by Congress, with two Senate committees reviewing the subject.

"Under the present system, in many circumstances a CME course will be held only if a commercial society is uncoerced to buy at it,"' said Robert Jackler, MD, the medical school's associate dean for CME. "While for-profit enterprises may from time to time engage in philanthropy, it should non be surprising that the core motivation of pharmaceutical and medical-device industries in supporting CME is to market their products and services.

"This leads to a CME curriculum which is, at least in part, designed to address market of necessity rather than being entirely focused upon improving functioning of practicing physicians," added Jackler, wHO is likewise the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in Otorhinolaryngology and chair of rhinolaryngology. "Clearly it would be preferable for Stanford staff to design our CME curriculum alone based upon the needs of our learners as they seek to address the healthcare needs of their patients."

Stanford's medical school number one took up the issuing in 2007, when Pizzo appointed a 16-member undertaking force, comprised of a diverse radical of faculty and faculty, to regard future options for CME. In fiscal 2006-07, about 38 percent of the school's budget for CME, or $1.87 jillion, came from industry sources. Task effect members gathered detailed fiscal data, reviewed the literature, interviewed manufacture representatives and engaged in spirited debates.

"We all agreed it is inappropriate for diligence to influence content," aforesaid Harry Greenberg, MD, the school's older associate dean for inquiry and chair of the CME task force. He said the group sought to set whether companies who wished to supply CME funding could do so without controlling the content.

"If industry truly wants to enhance the education of clinicians, they should be given the opportunity to do so," Greenberg aforesaid. "But we wanted to create a situation in which they had no effect on the option of topics or their content. So we're happy to have industry support as long as it is provided without strings or expectations about the course content."

Any funds received will be channeled through the school's CME office, which will work with the faculty to determine how best to use the money to meet the needs of physician-learners. The new process "really brings control of CME curricula back to academic aesculapian centers," Greenberg said.

Jackler said the decision will dramatically variety the agency the medical school conducts its CME programs. Rather than organizing symposia at hotels or resorts, he said Stanford's offerings, which draw physicians from around the earth, will taste to make use of campus facilities. "One of my hopes is to make Stanford a destination so we can keep CME programs here, leverage the fantastic cultural attractions on campus," he aforesaid. He aforementioned the school may try funds from private foundations to help support the new CME approach.

The medical schoolhouse also plans to modernise the format of future programs, relying less upon traditional lectures and devising greater use of groundbreaking educational technologies. These include Stanford's well-known programs in simulated and immersive encyclopedism, as substantially as former technologies that will become available with the orifice of the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge in 2010. The new CME programme also testament place greater emphasis on identifying interventions that promote quality tutelage and health-outcomes improvements as opposed to the more traditional CME focus on knowledge attainment.

Pizzo aforesaid he hopes Stanford's new approach to physician education Department will attend as a model for other medical schools around the state.

"I think right at once industry is under a lot of pressure in its use of marketing for education. They're re-examining their role in CME as well," Pizzo said. "As we take this step, my hope is that other institutions volition start to follow suit. I imagine the climate will alteration dramatically to enforce that. If institutions do non take greater responsibility, on that point is going away to be a mandate, whether it's one that we lead up or unitary that is imposed, that frees up these intertwined interactions of academia and industry round medical educational activity."

Stanford University Medical Center integrates inquiry, medical education and patient care at its trey institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, delight visit the Web land site of the medical center's Office of Communication & Public Affairs at hypertext transfer protocol://mednews.stanford University.edu.

Stanford University Medical Center

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Tuesday 26 August 2008

Download Daylight Dies mp3

Artist: Daylight Dies: mp3 download

   Genre(s):

Metal

Discography:

Dismantling Devotion

Year: 2006

Tracks: 8

Guitarist Barre Gambling and drummer Jesse Haff formed Daylight Dies in Raleigh, North Carolina as early as 1996, only their low manifestation was solely recorded three years later with the aid of session musicians. Vocalist Guthrie Iddings joined in 2000 to do on the Idle E.P., and bassist Egan O'Rourke accomplished their line up a year after, at which prison term Daylight Dies was picked up by Relapse Records. Released in 2003, No Reply, their official debut for the label, displayed an archetypal doom/death alloy sound redolent of European acts of the Apostles like Anathema and Katatonia.

Saturday 16 August 2008

Download Sharif

Artist: Sharif: mp3 download

   Genre(s):

Other

Discography:

Arabic Hits

Year:

Tracks: 7

Singer/songwriter Sharif combines a moony vD of folk music and observational rock candy. A native of Norfolk, VA, Sharif was immediately taken by the satin flower of Evan Dando and the wise indie stone incompleteness of Liz Phair spot attendance the University of Virginia in the late '90s. His sweet acoustic reasoned rapidly took sovereign Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, matching the bravery of Toad the Wet Sprocket and Van Morrison. He tried his musical amniotic fluid piece placid in school, playing various showcases around D.C. and Virginia, as well as chocolate shop gigs in Europe in summer 2000. Upon his devolve from an eight-month bind around in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sharif smitten a working relationship with Sam Jacobs of the Annex Group. Together, the deuce prepared for Sharif's musical introduction precisely prior to his college graduation exercise. Textured guitar lick and pop-driven harmonies were captured on Sharif's 2001 debut EP Kiss the Moon.

Thursday 7 August 2008

Graham Bonnet

Artist: Graham Bonnet

   Genre(s):
Rock
   Rock: Hard-Rock

Discography:

Day I Went Mad

Year: 2003
Tracks: 11

The Day I Went Mad

Year: 1999
Tracks: 11

Underground

Year: 1998
Tracks: 10

Here Comes The Night

Year: 1993
Tracks: 12

Line-Up

Year: 1981
Tracks: 11

No Bad Habits

Year: 1978
Tracks: 11

Graham Bonnet

Year: 1977
Tracks: 10

In the eighties,

'Harry Potter' Actor Robert Knox Killed In London Knife Fight

Friday 27 June 2008

Sunni Stephens

Artist: Sunni Stephens

   Genre(s):
Other

Discography:

Flyy Girl

Year: 2004
Tracks: 3

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Are You a Saturday Night Fever Fan?

Send GMA your video tribute to the iconic '70s film, which came out 30 years ago

Saturday 14 June 2008

Jolie And Pitt's Multi-cultural Staff

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have a multi-cultural team of nannies to care for their brood of multi-racial children. The Hollywood stars have adopted children Maddox, six, from Cambodia; Zahara, two, from Ethiopia and Pax, four from Vietnam, as well as their biological two-year-old Shiloh. And Jolie, who is currently pregnant with twins, insists it's important they grow up in an ethnically diverse environment. She tells Vanity Fair magazine, "We have ladies that work with us and they're also from different cultures and backgrounds. "One lady's a Vietnamese teacher - wonderful. One is of Congolese descent from Belgium. Another is from the States and is really creative and does art programs." The actress insists she and partner Pitt are hands-on and don't shirk from their parenting duties - but admits when their fifth and sixth babies are born, they may need extra hands: "We don't have anybody stay the night. We may have to adjust that when the next one (sic) comes."

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Sunday 8 June 2008

Britain's Got Talent Finalists Escala Sign �1.5m Deal With Simon Cowell

Escala Britain's Got Talent finalists Escala have bagged themselves a �1.5m ($3m) record deal with Simon Cowell, according to a report.

The girl group, consisting of violinists Izzy Johnston and Victoria Lyon, both 24, viola player Chantal Leverton, 25, and cellist Nastasya Hodges, 26, signed the lucrative deal with the music mogul just hours before the Britain's Got Talent final -- won by 14-year-old dancer George Sampson -- last week.

The girls could even earn �5m ($10m) each next year with Cowell tuning the sexy string quartet into the new Il Divo.

A source told Britain's News Of The World newspaper, "Escala are the most marketable act to come out of Britain's Got Talent by a country mile.

"By signing with Simon at the Sony BMG record label they're getting all the expertise that helped Il Divo shift a whopping 30 million records and become the world's favorite opera hunks.

"A British and US No1 album is already penciled in as a near certainty. Their great strength�apart from their natural beauty�is the ability to appeal across markets.

"They'll be an inspiration to the younger generation of music lovers, but will also reach out to classical fans.

"People will be stunned at the size of their success. They're going to be mega."

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Friday 6 June 2008

Bayer and Deuter

Artist: Bayer and Deuter

   Genre(s):
Easy Listening

Discography:

Sufi Breathing

Year:
Tracks: 4

Jai Uttal and The Pagan Love Orchestra

Artist: Jai Uttal and The Pagan Love Orchestra

   Genre(s):
New Age

Discography:

Shiva Station

Year: 2002
Tracks: 11

Mondo Rama

Year: 2002
Tracks: 12

Falete

Artist: Falete

   Genre(s):
Folk

Discography:

Coplas Que Nos Han Matao

Year: 2007
Tracks: 12

Falete was born in 1978 to a musical family in Sevillas, Spain. His father was a member of the celebrated mathematical group Cantores Hispalis. Very consecrate to the humanistic discipline from an early years, Falete was tending his first opportunity to perform professionally at the age of 17, vocalizing for La Chunga at Seville's Lope de Vega Theatre. A number of local and national performances shortly open up opportunities to perform and turn internationally with some of Spain's to the highest degree celebrated musicians, including Juanito Valderrana, Jose Menese, and JosÃ© Manuel Soto. The mid to late '90s were filled with performances all over Europe, the U.S., and Japan. Falete's life history broke open in 2004 with the exit of his low gear solo record, Amar Duele, which became an overnight success. Falete's debut record exhausted 39 weeks on best seller lists in Spain, finally stretch gold record condition. 2006 brought around a collaboration with Manuel Alejandro, potentially the nearly important songwriter in modern Spanish music. The record, Puta Mentira (Damn Lie), unsurprisingly did quite an well and marked Falete as a singular natural endowment in Spanish music.

Pete Wentz Celebrates Birthday With Ashlee Simpson

Pete Wentz turned 29 years old yesterday and went out to a club with his pregnant wife Ashlee Simpson, but revealed he hates celebrating his birthday.

The Fall Out Boy rocker feels uncomfortable receiving gifts from his loved ones and, as a result, fears turning one year older.

He tells E!: "The truth is I hate my birthday. I don¹t like it at all. It¹s because I realised I¹m bad at receiving presents.

"I'm really bad at receiving presents so I get really nervous around my birthday and I really don¹t want people to give me presents."

Wentz and his new bride spent his birthday at Foxtail nightclub. Pregant Ashlee showed a slight bump under her black dress.

The Birthday Massacre

Artist: The Birthday Massacre

   Genre(s):
Gothic
   Rock: Pop-Rock

Discography:

Nothing And Nowhere

Year: 2002
Tracks: 9

Violet

Year:
Tracks: 9

Funkadelic

Nico Parisi and Erik Hubo Pres. Liquid-D

Artist: Nico Parisi and Erik Hubo Pres. Liquid-D

   Genre(s):
Trance

Discography:

Frozen Stream (Danza002)

Year: 2006
Tracks: 2

Justin Timberlake spotted ring shopping

Pop star Justin Timberlake has been shopping for an engagement ring as rumours continue that he will soon ask Jessica Biel to marry him.

The singer is reportedly planning to propose to Biel and is asking her close friends to help him choose the perfect diamond band.

A pal of Jessica's told the Chicago Sun Times newspaper: "Justin has been ring shopping, and we're talking serious, major Harry Winston-type shopping here.

"He has been quizzing Jessica's closest pals and associates, trying to get a take on the kind of engagement rings she has admired. The only comment I ever heard Jessica make was when she complimented a mutual friend's square-cut emerald ring - when a girlfriend of ours got engaged.

"It was huge!"

Justin's friends claim the SexyBack singer realised he wanted to take his relationship with Jessica to the next level after their busy work schedules kept them apart for long periods.

Last month, it was claimed Justin was ready to marry Jessica on the privately owned island of Mustique in the West Indies.

A source said: "Justin is 27 and thinking about marriage and kids. For the first time in his life he is feeling settled and has definitely decided to pop the question to Jessica."

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