Monthly Archives: June 2010

Eight New Books: Health Care, Mental Health Counseling, and more…

Another Monday brings us another roundup of the new books on the NAP website in the past week. As always, any books that have Free PDFs are labeled as such below.

As a side note, we set up a simple contact form here on Notes From NAP. If you have any suggestions or feedback, we’d love to hear it at notes.nap.edu/contact. Are these lists of the new publications on our site useful to you? Are there other features you’d like to see?  Fill out the form and let us know!

Featured Publication

Accounting for Health and Health Care: Approaches to Measuring the Sources and Costs of Their Improvement (prepublication)

It has become trite to observe that increases in health care costs have become unsustainable. How best for policy to address these increases, however, depends in part on the degree to which they represent increases in the real quantity of medical services as opposed to increased unit prices of existing services. And an even more fundamental question is the degree to which the increased spending actually has purchased improved health.

Accounting for Health and Health Care addresses both these issues. The government agencies responsible for measuring unit prices for medical services have taken steps in recent years that have greatly improved the accuracy of those measures. Nonetheless, this book has several recommendations aimed at further improving the price indices.

All New Publications This Week

Conducting Biosocial Surveys: Collecting, Storing, Accessing, and Protecting Biospecimens and Biodata (prepublication)

Waste Forms Technology and Performance: Interim Report (final)

Provision of Mental Health Counseling Services Under TRICARE (final)

Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies: Final Report (final)

Understanding the Changing Planet: Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences (final)

NOAA’s Education Program: Review and Critique (final)

Evaluation of Biomarkers and Surrogate Endpoints in Chronic Disease (final)

Understanding the Effects of the Gulf Oil Spill

The disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill has heightened the American public’s awareness concerning the effects—both immediate and delayed—of grand-scale pollution. But will this awareness lead to better energy choices for the future? The choice is ours.

More ways to learn about the effects of the Gulf oil spill:

IOM Workshop on Human Health Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Many questions surround the oil spill’s potential effects on the short- and long-term health of individuals in affected regions. In response, the Institute of Medicine has planned a two-day workshop in New Orleans that draws on scientific, medical, and public health experts’ experience and knowledge to examine a range of health issues related to the Gulf of Mexico spill. The discussions will help officials anticipate potential problems and determine how best to proceed in detecting and monitoring health risks and outcomes. Watch the live video webcast from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CDT on Tuesday June 22nd.

TEDxOilSpill – new ideas for our energy future, and how we can mitigate the current crisis in the Gulf

TEDxOilSpill will tackle the tough questions raised by the recent and ongoing environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Topics will include mitigation of the spill and the impending cleanup efforts; energy alternatives; policy and economics; as well as new technology that can help us build a self-reliant culture.

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. TEDx is a new program that enables local communities such as schools, businesses, libraries, neighborhoods or just groups of friends to organize, design and host their own independent, TED-like events.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington, DC
June 28, 2010 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. EDT

Oil and Pollution in the Ocean – Information and Resources from the Oceans Studies Board

The Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council has summarized several past reports on the impact of oil and other pollutants in the ocean in their Ocean Science Series booklet, Pollution in the Ocean. Access the free PDF here.

Further Resources from NAP

Six New Books: Health Care, Science Careers, and more…

There are six new books to the NAP website, all of which are final versions. Frequent readers of Notes From NAP may notice that the titles usually have “(final)” or “(prepublication)” after the title. We often release “prepublication” versions, which are uncorrected proofs of the books in order to get the research to the public more quickly, and then release the final versions. Because many people wait for the final version to purchase the books, we like to give notices of both the prepublication and the final version. So if you’ve been wondering what those qualifiers are, wonder no more!

Featured Publication

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty (final)

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty presents new and surprising findings about career differences between female and male full-time, tenure-track, and tenured faculty in science, engineering, and mathematics at the nation’s top research universities. Much of this congressionally mandated book is based on two unique surveys of faculty and departments at major U.S. research universities in six fields: biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, and physics. A departmental survey collected information on departmental policies, recent tenure and promotion cases, and recent hires in almost 500 departments. A faculty survey gathered information from a stratified, random sample of about 1,800 faculty on demographic characteristics, employment experiences, the allocation of institutional resources such as laboratory space, professional activities, and scholarly productivity.

This book paints a timely picture of the status of female faculty at top universities, clarifies whether male and female faculty have similar opportunities to advance and succeed in academia, challenges some commonly held views, and poses several questions still in need of answers. This book will be of special interest to university administrators and faculty, graduate students, policy makers, professional and academic societies, federal funding agencies, and others concerned with the vitality of the U.S. research base and economy.

All New Publications This Week

Report of the Treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences: For the Year Ended December 31, 2009 (final)

Toxicity Pathway-Based Risk Assessment: Preparing for Paradigm Change: A Symposium Summary (final)

Leadership Commitments to Improve Value in Healthcare: Toward Common Ground: Workshop Summary (final)

Engineering, Social Justice, and Sustainable Community Development: Summary of a Workshop (final)

Review of the WATERS Network Science Plan (final)

Four New Science Books: Food Safety, Energy Efficiency, and more…

Last week brought us four new reports to the NAP site, including our featured publication in the Food and nutrition topic, Enhancing Food Safety, covering an important topic with a snappy book cover.

Featured Publication

Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration (prepublication)

Recent outbreaks of illnesses traced to contaminated sprouts and lettuce illustrate the holes that exist in the system for monitoring problems and preventing foodborne diseases. Although it is not solely responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees monitoring and intervention for 80 percent of the food supply. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s abilities to discover potential threats to food safety and prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness are hampered by impediments to efficient use of its limited resources and a piecemeal approach to gathering and using information on risks. Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration, a new book from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, responds to a congressional request for recommendations on how to close gaps in FDA’s food safety systems.

Enhancing Food Safety begins with a brief review of the Food Protection Plan (FPP), FDA’s food safety philosophy developed in 2007. The lack of sufficient detail and specific strategies in the FPP renders it ineffectual. The book stresses the need for FPP to evolve and be supported by the type of strategic planning described in these pages. It also explores the development and implementation of a stronger, more effective food safety system built on a risk-based approach to food safety management. Conclusions and recommendations include adopting a risk-based decision-making approach to food safety; creating a data surveillance and research infrastructure; integrating federal, state, and local government food safety programs; enhancing efficiency of inspections; and more.

Although food safety is the responsibility of everyone, from producers to consumers, the FDA and other regulatory agencies have an essential role. In many instances, the FDA must carry out this responsibility against a backdrop of multiple stakeholder interests, inadequate resources, and competing priorities. Of interest to the food production industry, consumer advocacy groups, health care professionals, and others, Enhancing Food Safety provides the FDA and Congress with a course of action that will enable the agency to become more efficient and effective in carrying out its food safety mission in a rapidly changing world.

All New Publications This Week

Persistent Forecasting of Disruptive Technologies–Report 2 (forthcoming)

Real Prospects for Energy Efficiency in the United States (final)

The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009-H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic: Global Challenges, Global Solutions: Workshop Summary (final)

Sounds of Science Podcast: Reducing the Sodium Intake in the United States

The Sounds of Science podcastThere’s a new episode available of our podcast, The Sounds of Science. This week’s episode is on sodium intake and is based on our report Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States. You can listen to this episode below, and you can subscribe to the podcast to get all the episodes delivered to you when they’re published.

Reducing the Sodium Intake in the Untied States
[audio:http://feeds.nap.edu/~r/podcasts/soundsofscience/~5/R1ZYoK_5HJc/nax109sodiuminta.mp3]
Reducing the intake of sodium is an important public health goal for Americans. Since the 1970s, an array of public health interventions and national dietary guidelines has sought to reduce sodium intake. However, the U.S. population still consumes more sodium than is recommended, placing individuals at risk for diseases related to elevated blood pressure.

Ten New Science Books: Lab Animals, Vaccines, Cancer Care, and more…

We’ve been a little quiet lately here at Notes From NAP, due largely to some technical tinkering we’ve needed to do as the summer quietly moves in, so our apologies. We’re back with a bang, though: Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals was released last week, and is our featured publication of the week. See more publications in the topic of Lab Animal Research.

Featured Publication

Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (prepublication)

A respected resource for decades, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals has been updated by a committee of experts, taking into consideration input from the scientific and laboratory animal communities and the public at large. The Guide incorporates new scientific information on common laboratory animals, including aquatic species, and includes extensive references. It is organized around major components of animal use:

Key concepts of animal care and use. The Guide sets the framework for the humane care and use of laboratory animals.

Animal care and use program. The Guide discusses the concept of a broad Program of Animal Care and Use, including roles and responsibilities of the Institutional Official, Attending Veterinarian and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Animal environment, husbandry, and management. A chapter on this topic is now divided into sections on terrestrial and aquatic animals and provides recommendations for housing and environment, husbandry, behavioral and population management, and more.

Veterinary care. The Guide discusses veterinary care and the responsibilities of the Attending Veterinarian. It includes recommendations on animal procurement and transportation, preventive medicine (including animal biosecurity), and clinical care and management. The Guide addresses distress and pain recognition and relief, and issues surrounding euthanasia.

Physical plant. The Guide identifies design issues, providing construction guidelines for functional areas; considerations such as drainage, vibration and noise control, and environmental monitoring; and specialized facilities for animal housing and research needs.

The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals provides a framework for the judgments required in the management of animal facilities. This updated and expanded resource of proven value will be important to scientists and researchers, veterinarians, animal care personnel, facilities managers, institutional administrators, policy makers involved in research issues, and animal welfare advocates.

All New Publications This Week

Considerations for Ensuring Safety and Efficacy of Vaccines and Therapeutic Proteins Manufactured by Using Platform Approaches: Summary of a Workshop (forthcoming)

A Foundation for Evidence-Drive Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care: Workshop Summary (prepublication)

Assessment of Technologies for Improving Light Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy (prepublication)

A Summary of the December 2009 Forum on the Future of Nursing: Care in the Community (final)

Residential Energy Consumption Letter Report (final)

Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use (final)

Achieving Effective Acquisition of Information Technology in the Department of Defense (final)

The Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise: Innovative Strategies to Enhance Products from Discovery Through Approval: Workshop Summary (final)

Regionalizing Emergency Care: Workshop Summary (final)