DMS in the News
July 2004

National/International Media

ABC News, July 14, 2004
Nothing to Cough At
However, "whooping cough is the only vaccine-preventable disease that has not been completely controlled by routine childhood immunization," according to Dr. John Modlin, chair of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School.

The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2004
After Medtronic Lobbying Push, The FDA Had Change of Heart
On June 8, the journal removed the paper. The decision came because of a request from the authors and was made before the editors received the Medtronic lawyer's letter, says Jack Cronenwett, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School who is an editor of the peer-reviewed journal.

The LA Times, July 11, 2004
Researchers tackle motion sickness on land, sea, and air
Dr. Jay Buckey and Donna Alvarenga, researchers at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., studied 18 people susceptible to motion sickness.

Toronto Star, July 9, 2004
Movies influence teen smoking: Study
The study, conducted by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, links children to smoking through two of their major role models: parents who care for them and movie stars they idolize. . . "The results are striking. Parents really can make a difference," said Dr. James Sargent, lead researcher on the study published in the journal Pediatrics.

The New York Times, July 6, 2004
Hazards: See a Movie, Then Light Up?
The lead author, Dr. James D. Sargent of Dartmouth Medical School, said the study took into account differences in overall parental strictness, which did not appear to have a significant effect on experimenting with smoking.

Bloomberg News, July 6, 2004
Fewer Children Smoke When Parents Ban R-Rated Movies in Study
U.S. children are less likely to start smoking when parents put R-rated movies off limits, a Dartmouth Medical School study showed. "The best way to prevent children from becoming addicted smokers is to prevent them from starting," said Beach, a professor of community and family medicine and anesthesiology at Dartmouth. (This topic also featured in USA Today, NPR, and WebMD)

Reuters, July 6, 2004
Parents Fail to Limit Exposure to TV Violence
More than four-fifths of movies, including many specifically meant for young audiences, contain smoking," which exerts a powerful influence on the young, said the researchers from Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2004
Mental Ills Rise Among Soldiers Back From Iraq
The report "forces us to acknowledge the psychiatric cost of sending young men and women to war," Dartmouth College professor of psychiatry Matthew J. Friedman, who heads the Veterans Affairs department's National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, wrote in the journal.

The Washington Post, July 1, 2004
Dangers in Early Detection
You feel well. You're only 60. Your PSA - the blood test for prostate cancer - is normal. Much to your chagrin, you learn of recent research that suggests you still might have prostate cancer.

The writer, H. Gilbert Welch, is a professor of medicine in the Department of Veterans Affairs and Dartmouth Medical School. (This article also ran in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Other Media

The Herald, July 24, 2004
Smoldering on screen
A study released by Dartmouth Medical School in 2001 found that depictions of smoking in movies had been steadily increasing, with nearly 85% of the top 25 highest-grossing movies released from 1988 to 1997 showing tobacco use.

Connecticut Valley Spectator, July 22, 2004
Twins Slated for Death are Alive and Well at DHMC
George A. Little, now a professor of pediatrics and neonatology at Dartmouth Medical School, came to the area in 1972 to start this intensive care nursery when neonatal intensive care units, or NICUs, were "very much in their infancy," he said.

Baltimore Sun, July 21, 2004
Imaging tools may speed detection of Alzheimer's
Andrew J. Saykin of Dartmouth Medical School said he is using another brain scan technology- magnetic resonance imaging- to detect shrinkage in regions affected by Alzheimer's and to see whether regions involved in reasoning and memory are less active. (This article also appeared in The Grand Rapids Press)

The Cincinnati Post, July 20, 2004
The Truth About Water
The report validated research by Dr. Heinz Valtin, a kidney specialist and retired professor at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., who has spent more than 40 years studying water balance in the body and has written two textbooks on the topic.

Houston Chronicle, July 16, 2004
Dr. Baldwin feels the pain
Dr. Baldwin, associate provost and professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire. . . former chairman of the Department of Surgery and holder of the DeBakey-Bard Chair of Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine, has a resume that would choke an alligator, with board memberships ranging from Harvard University to the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial and the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. In his "spare time," he's helping to establish a medical school in Kosovo.

Nashua Telegraph, July 16, 2004
Forum offers Medicaid suggestions
Sanders Burnstein, medical director at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Nashua, said his organization treats about 36 percent of Medicaid patients in the community, and that last year it subsidized $700,000 in Medicaid costs.

Connecticut Valley Spectator, July 15, 2004
Vitamins Can Be Good- or Bad- For You
"There are lethal doses of vitamins and supplements on the shelf," said Dr. Marcia Herrin of Enfield, a nutritionist in private practice as well as an adjunct professor at Dartmouth Medical School.

CIO, July 15, 2004
Don't Stop Thinking About the Value
Peter Johnson, senior vice president and CIO at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, a regional health-care provider and medical school based in Lebanon, N.H., says frontline staff can decide on their own to work on tweaks that take less than a week of work, but longer refinements require sign-off by a department-level manager or approval from both the IT and business sides.

The Valley News, July 9, 2004
VA Doctor: Screening May Be Unnecessary and Even Harmful
Welch is a physician and researcher at the Veterans Affairs hospital in White River Junction and a Dartmouth Medical School faculty member. . . "I worry that medicine is getting increasingly distracted from sick patients, people who are actively sick, and dealing with problems that people are actively having, instead of falling into routines of testing and so forth. . ."

Tulsa World, July 8, 2004
Many women getting needless Pap tests
"I actually was quite surprised because, in this case, women are being screened for cancer in an organ they don't have," said Dr. Brenda Sirovich of the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., and Dartmouth College.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette, July 8, 2004
Stepping up to the platelet ; Worcester biomed firm's test identifies bacterial contamination of blood
Culturing systems represent the best available technology, but they cannot be used until a platelet unit is a day old and bacteria have started to expand, said Dr. James P. AuBuchon, a Verax medical adviser and professor and chairman of pathology at Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

The News and Observer [North Carolina], July 5, 2004
Young Lives Fulfilled by Faith
Late last year, the Commission on Children at Risk was convened by Dartmouth Medical School and the YMCA. After studying years of research on kids, their report concluded that "young people who are religious are better off in significant ways than their peers."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 1, 2004
Stress Found In Returning Soldiers From Iraq, Afghanistan Studied
And that may be an underestimate, because many soldiers suffering emotional trauma feel stigmatized and do not seek treatment for fear that it could harm their careers or cause them to be viewed as weak, according to Dartmouth Medical School professor of psychiatry Matthew Friedman, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. (This story also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

The Miami Herald, July 1, 2004
FIU, UM out to stem future lack of MDs
A Dartmouth study comparing Medicare costs found the number of specialists in an area to be a major factor in determining healthcare expenses.

Natural Health, July 1, 2004
Cool, clear water: you're surrounded by it, and you can't survive without it. But how much H20 do you really need? Should it be tap or bottled? And how clean is your home supply?
The "eight 8-ounce glasses a day" is a generalization that continues to be taken literally, says Heinz Valtin, M.D., a retired Dartmouth Medical School physiology professor and author of two widely used textbooks on water balance and the kidneys. "I was asked to find a scientific basis for that recommendation, and I couldn't," he notes.

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