Daily News

Posted on April 11: Tuberculosis health notice

This notice is to advise the McMaster community that a McMaster student was recently diagnosed with active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). The part-time student is now on medication under a physician's care and is no longer infectious. The student does not live on campus. The City of Hamilton's public health and community services department is notifying those persons who may have had exposure to the individual and advising them to attend the public health TB skin testing clinics that will be held on campus. Details about the clinics will be provided to people who were contacted by the Hamilton public health department. The testing procedure is a precaution as there is a low risk that anyone contracted the disease. TB is not easily spread and those at greater risk must have had close, prolonged exposure to the individual. Any students, staff and faculty who have not been contacted by the Hamilton public health department but are concerned about tuberculosis should consult the Hamilton public health department at 905-546-2063. For further information, contact the Campus Health Centre at 905-525-9140 ext. 27700. For more information on tuberculosis, please go to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care public information Web site at http://www.health.gov.on.ca:80/english/public/pub/disease/tuber.html or the Health Canada public information Web site at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/iyh/diseases/tuberculosis.html.

Posted on April 11: Medical radiation sciences program partnership meets needs of students, Ontarians

McMaster University and Mohawk College are today celebrating a $2.2 million award from Ontario's Strategic Skills Investment Program to launch a new collaborative healthcare program in medical radiation sciences. Beginning in September 2004, the fully integrated Diploma-Degree Program in Medical Radiation Sciences will provide students with the training they need to pursue careers in the field of medical imaging. Students in the collaborative program will study in one of two program options to become either medical radiation technologists (radiography), or diagnostic medical sonographers. The first group of students in September 2004 will graduate in April of 2008 with both a Bachelor of Science degree from McMaster University and a diploma in Health Sciences from Mohawk College. This is the first diploma-degree program offered in Ontario for diagnostic medical sonographers. The start-up costs for the collaborative project are estimated at $5.7 million, with $2,214,000 coming today from the Ontario Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation through the Strategic Skills Investment (SSI) Program. Industry partners are contributing about $1.4 million to the program. McMaster President Peter George said: "This partnership is another example of our focus on students and how best to meet their needs. This innovative program is a model for future successful fully-integrated university-college programs in medical radiation sciences. It will offer students a thorough scientific education through our Faculty of Science combined with experiential learning that will help them excel. In turn, this collaboration will also address the critical and growing need for medical imaging professionals in Ontario."

Posted on April 10: McMaster leads landmark trial in prevention of vascular events in patients with atrial fibrillation

Patient enrolment will soon begin in the ACTIVE trial (Atrial fibrillation Clopidogrel Trial with Irbesartan for the prevention of Vascular Events), the largest randomised trial program ever conducted in atrial fibrillation. "The ACTIVE trial is intended to respond to a largely unmet medical need in the treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), who are at an increased risk of life-threatening vascular events such as stroke, myocardial infarction and death," said Stuart Connolly, professor of medicine at McMaster, and principal investigator of the ACTIVE trial. "Current treatment with oral anticoagulants is not suitable for many AF patients since it is limited by specific contraindications, monitoring constraints and poor compliance. Aspirin, the only standard alternative to oral anticoagulants, provides only modest protection in this patient population." Salim Yusuf, professor of medicine and director of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster, is chair of the ACTIVE Steering Committee. The multicentre, multinational ACTIVE trial includes three primary objectives in investigating the long-term efficacy and safety of clopidogrel plus ASA for the prevention of vascular events in patients with atrial fibrillation. Clopidogrel plus aspirin, which inhibits platelet aggregation, will be compared with standard oral anticoagulant therapy in one trial (ACTIVE W), and compared with ASA alone in a second trial (ACTIVE A). The goal of treatment is the prevention of vascular events in patients with AF. A third integrated trial is also evaluating whether the angiotensin II receptor antagonist, irbesartan, is superior to placebo (in addition to usual blood pressure lowering therapy) in preventing vascular events in patients with atrial fibrillation (ACTIVE I).

Posted on April 10: McMaster seeks $55M from Canada Foundation for Innovation

McMaster will submit 23 applications valued at $55 million to the 2003 Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) competition, according to a report to Senate from the University Planning Committee. Established in 1997, CFI provides research infrastructure awards to universities, colleges, research hospitals and not-for-profit institutions. Its budget over the 10-year period is $3.65 billion. This year, CFI will invest up to $450 million for projects with total project costs of $150,000 or more. All universities are required to submit applications to CFI by May 30, 2003. A funding decision will be made in February, 2004. In 2002, CFI received more than 900 notices of intent requesting more than $2.5 billion. As a result, CFI implemented an allocation strategy to reduce both the number and value of applications, setting a maximum envelop for each institution. McMaster originally submitted 37 applications valued at $91 million. Three internal review panels reviewed the submissions and recommended which ones they felt should received full institutional endorsement. McMaster's largest funding request is for a $11.6 Institute for Life-Related Systems, led by engineering professor Simon Haykin.

Posted on April 10: Draft Refining Directions report now online

A draft Refining Directions report is now online. Click here to view the report. McMaster has spent the past six months reviewing its strategic plans through a process called Refining Directions. A number of work teams with representatives from across campus were created in the fall and they spent the next few months working on recommendations in six areas: undergraduate education; graduate education and research; external activities; internal community; planning and managing; and branding. The process has been overseen by a steering committee that has now reviewed the recommendations from each work group along with input from two rounds of community consultation and presentations to the University Planning Committee and approximately 25 other groups on campus. Input and comments on the draft report are welcome and can be forwarded to refining@mcmaster.ca. Over the next month, additional town hall meetings and consultation will be held on the draft report. Details of these sessions will be provided once the times and locations are confirmed. A final document will be presented to Senate in May and the Board of Governors in June.