REAKTHROUGHS IN BASIC BIO-medical sciences, including human genomics, stem cell biology, biomedical engineering, molecular biology, and immunology, over the past 5 decades have provided an unprecedented supply of information for improving human health. This revolutionary progress in basic science would not have happened without the public's long-term investment in and steadfast commitment to basic biomedical research. Translating the information gained through these basic discoveries into knowledge that will affect clinical practice and, ultimately, human health requires clinical research involving human subjects and human populations, as well as devel-opment of improved health services based on that research. This next scientific frontier deserves a correspond-

Antibiotic use plays a major role in the emerging public health crisis of antibiotic resistance. Although the majority of antibiotic use occurs in agricultural settings, relatively little attention has been paid to how antibiotic use in farm animals contributes to the overall problem of antibiotic resistance. The aim of this review is to summarize literature on the role of antibiotics in the development of resistance and its risk to human health. We searched multiple databases to identify major lines of argument supporting the role of agricultural antibiotic use in the development of resistance and to summarize existing regulatory and policy documents. Several lines of reasoning support the conclusion that agricultural antibiotics are associated with resistance, yet most public policy is based on expert opinion and consensus. Finally, we propose strategies to address current gaps in knowledge.

To quantify the effect of hand-hygiene interventions on rates of gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses and to identify interventions that provide the greatest efficacy, we searched 4 electronic databases for hand-hygiene trials published from January 1960 through May 2007 and conducted meta-analyses to generate pooled rate ratios across interventions (N=30 studies). Improvements in hand hygiene resulted in reductions in gastrointestinal illness of 31% (95% confidence intervals [CI]=19%, 42%) and reductions in respiratory illness of 21% (95% CI=5%, 34%). The most beneficial intervention was hand-hygiene education with use of nonantibacterial soap. Use of antibacterial soap showed little added benefit compared with use of nonantibacterial soap. Hand hygiene is clearly effective against gastrointestinal and, to a lesser extent, respiratory infections. Studies examining hygiene practices during respiratory illness and interventions targeting aerosol transmission are needed.

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Background This study reviewed Twitter status updates mentioning “antibiotic(s)” to determine overarching categories and explore evidence of misunderstanding or misuse of antibiotics. Methods One thousand Twitter status updates mentioning antibiotic(s) were randomly selected for content analysis and categorization. To explore cases of potential misunderstanding or misuse, these status updates were mined for co-occurrence of the following terms: “cold + antibiotic(s),” “extra antibiotic(s),” “flu + antibiotic(s),” “leftover antibiotic(s),” and “share antibiotic(s)” and reviewed to confirm evidence of misuse or misunderstanding. Results Of the 1,000 status updates, 971 were categorized into 11 groups: General Use (n=289), Advice/Information (n=157), Side Effects/Negative Reactions (n=113), Diagnosis (n=102), Resistance (n=92), Misunderstanding and/or Misuse (n=55), Positive Reactions (n=48), Animals (n=46), Other (n=42), Wanting/Needing (n=19), and Cost (n=8). Cases of misunderstanding or abuse were identified for the following combinations: “flu + antibiotic(s)” (n=345), “cold + antibiotic(s)” (n=302), “leftover antibiotic(s)” (n=23), “share antibiotic(s)” (n=10), and “extra antibiotic(s)” (n=7). Conclusions Social media sites offer means of health information sharing. Further study is warranted to explore how such networks may provide a venue to identify misuse or misunderstanding of antibiotics, promote positive behavior change, disseminate valid information, and explore how such tools can be used to gather real-time health data.

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Objective. To summarize findings from a systematic exploration of existing literature and views regarding interdisciplinarity, to discuss themes and components of such work, and to propose a theoretically based definition of interdisciplinary research. Data Sources/Study Setting. Two major data sources were used: interviews with researchers from various disciplines, and a systematic review of the education, business, and health care literature from January 1980 through January 2005. Study Design. Systematic review of literature, one-on-one interviews, field test (survey). Data Collection/Extraction Methods. We reviewed 14 definitions of interdisciplinarity, the characteristics of 42 interdisciplinary research publications from multiple fields of study, and 14 researcher interviews to arrive at a preliminary definition of interdisciplinary research. That definition was then field tested by 12 individuals with interdisciplinary research experience, and their responses incorporated into the definition of interdisciplinary research proposed in this paper. Principal Findings. Three key definitional characteristics were identified: the qualitative mode of research (and its theoretical underpinnings), existence of a continuum of synthesis among disciplines, and the desired outcome of the interdisciplinary research. Conclusion. Existing literature from several fields did not provide a definition for interdisciplinary research of sufficient specificity to facilitate activities such as identification of the competencies, structure, and resources needed for health care and health policy research. This analysis led to the proposed definition, which is designed to aid decision makers in funding agencies/program committees and researchers to identify and take full advantage the interdisciplinary approach, and to serve as a basis for competency-based formalized training to provide researchers with interdisciplinary skills.