Transdisciplinary Research in Energetics and Cancer (U54)

Transdisciplinary Research in Energetics and Cancer (U54)
(RFA-CA-10-006)
National Cancer Institute
Application Receipt Date(s): February 26, 2010
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-CA-10-006.html

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) solicits applications for the centers for Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (TREC) in nutrition, physical activity, energy balance, obesity, and cancer. The TREC initiative (http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/trec/) is designed to foster collaboration across multiple disciplines and encompasses projects that cover the biology, genomics, and genetics of energy balance to behavioral, socio-cultural, and environmental influences upon nutrition, physical activity, weight, energetics, and cancer risk. This initiative is open to all qualified candidates regardless of whether or not they participated in the previous issuance of the TREC Program. Applicants responding to this FOA should establish transdisciplinary research teams with the appropriate breadth of expertise. TREC has two main goals, which are: (1) to enhance knowledge of the current mechanisms underlying the association between energy balance and carcinogenesis (from cellular, animal or human models to genetics and genomics and across the cancer continuum from causation and prevention); and (2) to explore and integrate the etiology of obesity behavior and relevant health behavior theories, with broad population impact at the social-environmental and policy levels for prevention and control of obesity. Special focus on children, groups at high risk for obesity, and cancer survivors is encouraged. 

Update on the Requirement for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research

The NIH has new guidance for the training of fellows and graduate students on K30 or other programs. Do we meet the requirements?

New NIH forms

It really doesn't get any more confusing than this! From NOT-OD-10-016:

For a period of time between now and early February, applicants must carefully select which version of the FOA and application package (forms and instructions) they should be using. Anyone submitting an application intended for due dates before January 25, 2010 (or before February 7, 2010 for those eligible for continuous submission on AIDS R01, R21, and R34 applications) must use the archived version of the FOA and SF 424 (R&R) ADOBE-FORMS-A application forms and instructions. Anyone eligible for continuous submission who is submitting a non-AIDS application should use the archived version of the FOA and SF 424 (R&R) ADOBE-FORMS-A through January 24, 2010, and use the updated version of the FOA and SF 424 (R&R) ADOBE-FORMS-B application forms and instructions provided with the updated version of the FOA on or after January 25, 2010.

So, pay attention!

What do maple, velveeta and a mug of pizza have in common?

Jean Harvey-Berino, PhD will give the Vogelmann Research Award lecture this Wednesday December 2 at 4 PM. There's a reception starting at 3:30 outside the room (101 Stafford) followed by the lecture form 4-5. 

Highly reccomended!

Goodbye to CRISP; hello, RePORTER

CRISP, the NIH web-based tool for searching funded grants, is no more. The new tool is RePORTER, available now.

Happy searching! 

New Book

Ralistic Evaluation by Ray Pawson and Nick Tilley. Sage, 1997.

This slim volume presents a paradigm for program evaluation with lots of "how-to" and examples.  Available now in the CTS library on S4.

Encyclopedia of Medical Decision Making

It's here!  The CTS library now has our very own copy of

Kattan MW. Encyclopedia of Medical Decision Making. Sage, 2009.

This is a 2-volume, 1200-page, multi-author work with articles on everthing about decisions from Acceptability Curves to Worldviews.  An excellent resource for those new to this field.  You can see it in the flesh in room S455.

Judge refuses to block lawsuit over patenting genetic tests

An interesting summary article at Ars Technica with links to more background information.

Researchers at the University of Utah identified two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, that are mutated in many families that have high incidences of breast and ovarian cancer. The University patented the use of this information for medical testing, and has licensed the patents to Myriad Genetics. The company has since attempted to prevent academic researchers that sequenced these genes in the course of their research from revealing the implications of the results to their patients.

(click on the title of this post to link to the article)

New Public Use Data from AHRQ

Thanks to Uncle Sam, These data are available for investigators to analyze. All you need is a little technical savvy, some statistical know-how, and  plenty of curiosity.

MEPS Data:
MEPS HC-111: 2007 Person Round Plan Public Use file
Release Date: October 2009
This MEPS public use release is one in a series of data releases drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). This release contains the Person Round Plan (PRPL) file for 2007. This file contains records for persons insured through private establishments providing hospital/physician, medigap, dental, vision or prescription medication coverage and includes variables pertaining to managed care and experiences with plans. These are designed to facilitate research on the sometimes complex and dynamic relationships between consumers and their private insurance. Released as an ASCII file with SAS and SPSS programming statements, and in SAS  transport format, the PRPL file is not a person-level file and linking it to a MEPS full year person-level file requires users making analytic decisions based on understanding the complexity of the PRPL file. The data is on the MEPS Web site at:  http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-111

MEPS HC-110D: 2007 Hospital Inpatient Stays File
Release Date: October 2009
This public use file is one in a series of event-level public use files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS format statements and in SAS transport format, the Hospital Inpatient Stays File provides detailed information on hospital inpatient stays. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of inpatient hospital stay utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one, household-reported, inpatient hospital stay reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2 and the 2008 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Hospital Inpatient Stays Public Use Data File is an event-level data file containing characteristics associated with the hospital inpatient stay event such as: the date of the hospital inpatient stay, reason for the stay, types of services received, condition(s) and procedure(s) associated with the hospital inpatient stay, whether or not medicines were prescribed and imputed expenditure data. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110D

MEPS HC-110A: 2007 Prescribed Medicines File
Release Date: October 2009
This file is one in a series of public use event files from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component  (MEPS-HC) and Medical Provider Component (MPC). Released as an ASCII data file and SAS transport file (with SAS and SPSS user statements) this public use file provides detailed information on household-reported prescribed medicines for a nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of prescribed medicine utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one household-reported prescribed medicine that was purchased during calendar year 2007. These data were collected during the 2007 portion of Round 3 and Rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as Rounds 1, 2 and the 2008 portion of Round 3 for Panel 12 of the  MEPS-HC. Each record on this event file represents a unique prescribed medicine event; that is, a prescribed medicine reported as being purchased or otherwise obtained by the household respondent, and includes the following: an identifier for each unique prescribed medicine; detailed characteristics associated with the event (e.g., national drug code (NDC), medicine name, etc.); selected Multum Lexicon variables; conditions, if any, associated with the medicine; the date on which the person first used the medicine; total expenditure and sources of payments; types of pharmacies that filled the household's prescriptions; and a full-year person level weight. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110A

MEPS HC-110G: 2007 Office-Based Medical Provider Visits File
Release Date: September 2009
This public use data file is one in a series of event-level public use data files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS (and SPSS) program statements and in SAS transport format, the Medical Provider Visits File provides detailed information on office-based medical provider visits. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of office-based medical provider utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one household-reported office-based medical provider visit reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2, and the 2007 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Office-Based Provider Public Use Data File contains characteristics associated with the office-based visit, such as, date of the visit, time spent with the provider, types of treatment and services received, types of medicine prescribed, condition codes, expenditures, source of payment associated with the visit and imputed expenditure variables. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110G

MEPS HC-110F: 2007 Outpatient Visits File
Release Date: September 2009
This public use file is one in a series of event-level public use files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS (and SPSS) program statements and in SAS transport format, the Outpatient Visits File provides detailed information on outpatient visits. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of outpatient utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one, household-reported, outpatient visit reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2 and the 2007 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Outpatient Visits Public Use Data File contains characteristics associated with the outpatient visit and imputed expenditure data such as the date of the visit, whether or not a doctor was seen, type of care received, type of services provided, expenditures and sources of payment, and imputed sources of payment. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: 
http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110F

MEPS HC-110E: 2007 Emergency Room Visits File
Release Date: September 2009
This public use file is one in a series of event-level public use files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS (and SPSS) program statements and in SAS transport format, the Emergency Room Visits File provides detailed information on emergency room visits. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of emergency room utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one, household-reported, emergency room visit reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2, and the 2007 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Emergency Room Visits Public Use Data File contains characteristics associated with the emergency room visit, such as, the date of the visit, types of care and services received, types of medicine prescribed during the visit, condition codes, expenditures, and source of payment associated with the visit, and imputed expenditure variables. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110E

Doctor-patient communication survey

Interested in helping doctors and patients communicate better? We need your help.

We are conducting a NIH-sponsored study comparing five different ways to describe the risks associated with medical tests and treatments to patients

Study participation consists of completing a web-based survey. The time required should be less than 30 minutes. All responses will be kept anonymous.

The study in open to everyone 18 years old or older. It has been approved by the University of Rochester Institutional Review Board.

For more information or to request a survey please visit our website: https://sites.google.com/site/urcmdm/

James Dolan

Associate Professor at University of Rochester

 

Recent Publications from CCTS

Jennifer Otten, PhD (post-doctoral fellow at Stanford and recent aluma of Nutrition and CTS) presented her work at major national meeting last week.

Otten J, Jones K, Littenberg B, Harvey-Berino J. Can Reducing TV Viewing Increase Energy Expenditure in Overweight and Obese Adults? A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Obesity Society Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, October 24-28, 2009. Obesity 2009; 17: S272.

Several CTS faculty were involved in this report of an NIH-funded project:

Maclean CD, Gagnon M, Callas P, Littenberg B. The Vermont Diabetes Information System: A Cluster Randomized Trial of a Population Based Decision Support System. Journal of General Internal Medicine Published online October 27, 2009 http://www.springerlink.com/content/j175384173jhx410/

Congratulations!