{"id":57877,"date":"2015-06-14T13:10:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T17:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=57877"},"modified":"2015-06-14T16:42:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T20:42:17","slug":"awe-some","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/14\/awe-some\/","title":{"rendered":"awe\u00b7some!&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<div class=\"small\"><strong><font color=\"#200020\">re&middot;form<\/font><\/strong>&nbsp; [ri-&#8216;f&ocirc;rm]<\/div>\n<div class=\"small\"><em>verb<\/em><\/div>\n<ol><span class=\"small\">              <\/p>\n<li>\n<div align=\"justify\">make changes in something [typically a social, political, or economic institution or practice] in order to improve it.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<p>              <\/span><\/ol>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"small\">In this case, my preferred definition is more literal: <strong><font color=\"#200020\">re&middot;form = to form again<\/font><\/strong>&#8230;<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"big\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/university-of-minnesota-to-bar-scientists-from-taking-fees-from-companies-that-sponsor-their-research\/307139281\/\">University of Minnesota to bar scientists from being paid by companies that sponsor research<\/a><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"middle\"><strong><font color=\"#200020\">U scientists will have to choose: Research or consulting fees.<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"big\"><strong><font color=\"#200020\">Star Tribune<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"middle\">By Maura Lerner<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"small\">June 12, 2015<\/div>\n<p align=\"justify\">For the first time,  University of Minnesota scientists will be barred from accepting  consulting fees from companies that sponsor their research, under a new  ethics plan endorsed Friday by the Board of Regents. President  Eric Kaler says the new rule, which is designed to guard against  conflicts of interest, is one of the strictest in the country among  academic research centers.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The  regents unanimously endorsed the 75-page plan, which recommends a  series of changes to tighten safeguards for patients who volunteer in  university research trials. The  plan was commissioned in the wake of widespread criticism of research  practices at the U&rsquo;s psychiatry department and its handling of a 2004  drug study during which a 27-year-old patient, Dan Markingson, committed  suicide. Dr.  William Tremaine of the Mayo Clinic, who led the task force that  drafted the plan, said that one of the goals is to ensure that  vulnerable patients like Markingson, who had schizophrenia, &ldquo;know what  they&rsquo;re getting into&rdquo; and aren&rsquo;t coerced into studies.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s  been a huge concern at the university over the last 11 years,&rdquo; Tremaine  said Thursday, as he briefed the regents on the proposals. The plan calls for beefing up scrutiny of research involving patients, and paying experts to serve on oversight panels.&nbsp; It  also takes a harder line on potential conflicts of interest. In the  past, U scientists were permitted to do research for drug companies  while serving as their paid consultants at the same time. Under  the new plan, they&rsquo;ll have to choose one or the other, Tremaine said.  &ldquo;That&rsquo;s going to be threatening to some individuals,&rdquo; he noted. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s  your choice. If you want the payments, then don&rsquo;t do the research.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Dr.  Charles Schulz, who stepped down as chairman in April after a series of  scathing reports about his department, was one of the psychiatrists  involved in the Markingson case. He said he thought the changes were  &ldquo;very appropriate.&rdquo; <strong><font color=\"#990000\">Schulz  acknowledged that he had received consulting fees in the past while  conducting industry-sponsored research. At the time, he said, it was  permitted as long as the payments were disclosed; but he said he  understands the university&rsquo;s move to change the rules.<\/font><\/strong> &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not an unreasonable plan for the university,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s going to be a very good plan.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\">Schulz said he will <a href=\"http:\/\/loathingbioethics.blogspot.com\/2015\/06\/schulz-to-retire-from-u-at-years-end.html\" target=\"_blank\">retire<\/a> at the end of the year.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div align=\"justify\" class=\"small\">We can only watch what&#8217;s happening at the University of Minnesota with something akin to <em><font color=\"#200020\">awe<\/font><\/em>. Carl Elliot and his associates have taken the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.insidenova.com\/opinion\/guest-opinion-transparency-is-key-to-good-government\/article_2ca110be-8282-11e4-9d88-ff5dd4d4f285.html\">phrase<\/a>, &quot;<span class=\"paragraph-0\"><em><font color=\"#200020\">Sunlight is said to be  the best of disinfectants<\/font><\/em><\/span>,&quot; to new heights:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div align=\"justify\">Supreme Court  Justice <strong><font color=\"#200020\">Louis Brandeis<\/font><\/strong>&rsquo; article in the December 20, 1913 edition of  Harper&rsquo;s Weekly is often cited for his maxim, &ldquo;<em><font color=\"#200020\">Sunlight is said to be  the best of disinfectants.<\/font><\/em>&rdquo; The article, entitled <em><font color=\"#200020\">What Publicity Can Do<\/font><\/em>,  was one of a series of articles he compiled into a book he published; <em><font color=\"#200020\"> Other People&rsquo;s Money and How the Bankers Use It<\/font><\/em>. Brandeis asserted that <strong><font color=\"#990000\"> transparency was a necessary reform<\/font><\/strong> to check the power of large banks.  His theories served as the foundation for the establishment of the  Federal Trade Commission&#8230;<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div align=\"justify\" class=\"small\">Whether by design or instinct, Carl Elliot et al have followed the playbook of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Louis_Brandeis\" target=\"_blank\">Louis Brandeis<\/a> to the letter. Brandeis was a lawyer who called attention to broader social issues by taking on exemplar individual cases and keeping them in the sunlight, ultimately leading to his quarter century tenure as a Supreme Court Justice. In much the same way, the tragedy of Dan Markingson&#8217;s death has been the specific focus for the bioethicists at the University of Minnesota, but it&#8217;s leading to palpable changes which will be widely influential in the lives of many others to come.<\/div>\n<p>  <\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\" class=\"small\"><em><strong><font color=\"#200020\">Awe&middot;some!<\/font><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>re&middot;form&nbsp; [ri-&#8216;f&ocirc;rm] verb make changes in something [typically a social, political, or economic institution or practice] in order to improve it. In this case, my preferred definition is more literal: re&middot;form = to form again&#8230; University of Minnesota to bar scientists from being paid by companies that sponsor research U scientists will have to choose: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57877"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57886,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57877\/revisions\/57886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}