Top University Health Network doctor steps down amid falsified data investigation

A top Toronto doctor has stepped down from running the country’s largest medical laboratory amid a University Health Network (UHN) investigation that found falsified data in two scientific articles she co-authored.

The papers, which describe the genetics of breast cancer, were authored jointly by UHN physicians Dr. Sylvia Asa and her husband, Dr. Shereen Ezzat, and two other authors.

The papers, originally published in the May and December 2010 editions of theAmerican Journal of Pathology, have since been retracted.

According to a notice in the publication’s latest issue, the authors agreed with the retraction but stood by their findings.

“We wish to state we have collectively confirmed the validity and reproducibility of the findings,” wrote Ezzat. “Nevertheless, we request that these papers be retracted.”

Both Asa and Ezzat declined to comment when contacted at their home Sunday; neither responded to phone calls or emails to their workplace.

The Star has since learned the authors have asked for a judicial review of the investigative committee’s findings in provincial court, according to UHN spokesperson Gillian Howard. She would not say whether or not the investigation is complete or still ongoing.

Howard did confirm Asa and Ezzat’s research lab had been suspended as a result of the investigation, affecting 10 staff and research trainees.

Details are scarce surrounding the UHN-led investigation. The retraction notice reads that investigators found the presence of “manipulated and/or fabricated data” in the form of several figures used in the papers.

Skepticism originally arose over the articles in 2012, after the journal’s editors received notice from a concerned reader.

When communication with Dr. Ezzat failed to resolve the matter, the editorial office requested the UHN launch an investigation. Further in the retraction notice, it is revealed the committee informed the journal’s editors this past April “that the articles in question contained falsified data.”

A source with knowledge of the incident told the Star the committee asked the authors for original source data and it was not provided.

According to the American Journal of Pathology’s ethical standards, every author listed in an article is responsible for its content.

“The corresponding author is also asked if all authors have read and approved of the submission, at every version submitted,” wrote the journal’s managing editor, Audra Cox, in an email to the Star.

Before resigning from her leadership position in the spring, Asa had led the University Health Network’s Laboratory Medicine Program since 2000. As medical director, she earned just over $430,000 last year, according to the Ontario Sunshine List.

It is not clear if she stepped down as a result of the investigation.

Today, Asa remains employed by the UHN as a clinical pathologist while Ezzat continues in his role as physician.

Also, the retraction notice by itself does not provide enough information to fully understand who is at fault, according to Retraction Watch cofounder, Dr. Ivan Oransky.

“All we know is that Dr. Asa’s name was on papers that contained the falsified images,” he said. “And she has stepped down from her position as program medical director of the lab.”

Together, the two doctors have previously co-authored more than 90 other works, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s PubMed.gov database.

Throughout the past 16 years, Asa and Ezzat have been named recipients of more than $3.2 million worth of government grant money, according to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Information System database.

According to the articles, the pair’s research involved human breast tissue samples. It is “highly probable” these samples were obtained from UHN patients, according to Howard.

The cost of committing one of science’s most egregious sins can taint an entire study’s results.

“Even if one variable in the study has been altered or compromised, it puts the whole study under a cloud of suspicion,” said Colleen Derkatch, vice-chair of the research ethics board at Ryerson University.

But just one intentionally incorrect study deals damage to the credibility of researchers everywhere, said Raywat Deonandan, a health sciences professor at the University of Ottawa.

“It is pretty serious. It is as bad as it can get,” Deonandan said. “Any time there is a falsification in science, it is a black mark on all of us.

“This puts more bullets in the guns of people aiming to kill science and show it as untrustworthy.”

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Young people find plenty of career opportunities in the health IT field

Career experts say that for those deciding on a field of study for their future careers, the health care industry is a good option.

Professionals agree that health care, including veterinary care, has perhaps the most extensive variety in career choices of any field.

Health care workers can personalize their job experiences by deciding which diseases and conditions they want to focus on and the age group of their patients – or even to have no patients at all. Jobs in health care could involve research science, pharmaceutical science, dentistry and veterinary medicine, amongst others.

Education requirements vary based on the job type, ranging from four years of high school to 10 or more years of college and medical school. Medical receptionists, for example, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), need at least a high school diploma with on-the-job training, along with optional completion of a medical reception or medical office technology program.

For registered nurses, the education requirements are, as stated by the BLS, a bachelor’s degree (four years), associate’s degree (two years), or a nursing diploma (three years).

Cardiac surgeons, who have some of the most extensive education requirements, must earn a bachelor’s degree, a Doctor of Medicine degree (four years after bachelor’s) and complege residencies and fellowships in cardiac surgery, according to the BLS.

The diversity in health care allows for a wide range of people to hone in on their interests and to follow their passions in whatever way is feasible for them, with education and its costs in mind.

Another benefit of a career in health care is job security.

According to the BLS, health care and social assistance are projected to have the greatest growth in demand for employees by 2022. With all the opportunities that are opening up in health care, the rising demand for workers is likely to outpace the increase in the workforce, providing most health care workers with a variety of job offers as soon as they finish school.

Along with stable jobs, according to the BLS, health care workers should expect growing paychecks over the next several years as demand for workers increases.

The benefits of a career in health care attract many students, but some may not know where to begin in order to enter this field.

Capt. Robert Tosatto, the director of the Division of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in an interview, “One of the most important things that students can do for themselves is to get involved – in their schools, their communities – whatever interests them.”

He explained that this is especially valuable in the health care field, which provides such an extensive variety of options.

“You never know,” he said. “Volunteering – especially if you are doing it in the field that interests you – helps you gain perspective, and sometimes that perspective can end up impacting your whole life.”

Tosatto explained the importance of what he calls “generational succession planning,” in which today’s professionals help teach volunteers and interns in the health care industry in order to ensure a sustainable flow of educated, capable new workers for each successive generations.

He further encouraged students to get involved, explaining how volunteering allows students not only to see all of the possibilities for them, but also to help the professionals themselves learn and grow, thanks to students’ fresh, innovative approaches to issues.

Yash Patel, an Esperanza High School graduate who will be a freshman at California State University, Fullerton during the coming school year, is involved in Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), an organization whose “two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people.”

Patel was one of over 8,000 students who attended HOSA’s 38^th Annual National Leadership Conference in Anaheim June 24-27. He explained how HOSA and its conferences have allowed him to learn more about health care and its applications in medicine and forensic science, helping him explore his interests and meet people with different perspectives from across the nation.

“It is guaranteed that whoever joins an organization like HOSA will walk away more educated and social than he or she was before,” he said.

Nicole King, a recent graduate from the North Orange County Regional Occupational Program, is another HOSA member who attended the National Leadership Conference.

To her, health care means more than just a career. When King was 6 years old, one of her siblings, then just 8 years old, was diagnosed with cancer.

“I decided then and there that I wanted to help ease the suffering of children by studying oncology (the study and treatment of tumors) for children. There is something about the way that [health care professionals] boost the spirits of kids and help give them hope that makes me want to do the same,” she said.

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Vanguard health project announced for Peterborough

The NHS in England has announced a new ‘’vanguard’’ project in Peterborough aimed at driving forward more integration between health and social care.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group is one of eight bodies across the country chosen to pioneer a move which will see the “transformation” of urgent and emergency care for more than nine million people.

It aims to change the way organisations work together to provide care in a more joined up way.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said it would link up the “often confusing array of A&E, GP out of hours, minor injuries clinics, ambulance services and 111 so that patients know where they can get urgent help easily and effortlessly, seven days a week”.

Another aim is to break down boundaries between physical and mental health.

It follows the first wave of 29 vanguard sites which were announced in March and are all part of NHS England’s five-year plan, the Five Year Forward View.

Six vanguards will cover smaller local systems, which may include hospitals and surrounding GP practices and social care, while two network vanguards will be working with much larger populations to integrate care on a greater scale.

In north-east England, services across the region will be aligned to a single joined-up system to ensure all patients including those living in remote rural locations will get the care they need, including a rapid specialist opinion should they need one.

The West Yorkshire network will launch mobile treatment services and, working with mental health providers and the police, create rapid crisis response and street triage services.

Other vanguards, such as Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, will focus on establishing same-day response teams with GPs, acute home-visiting and crisis response services, community nursing, an older people’s assessment unit and a new urgent care centre.

The announcement about the new sites comes as frontline emergency services face rising pressure, with increased A&E attendances and emergency admissions, and both ambulance and NHS 111 services facing rising demands.

Professor Keith Willett, NHS England’s director of acute care, who is leading the urgent and emergency care transformation, said: “This proves a modern NHS needs a very different approach and shows we can transform patient care.

These networks and new vanguards will support and improve all our local urgent and emergency care services, such as A&E departments, urgent care centres, GPs, NHS 111 and community, social care and ambulance services, so no-one is working isolated from expert advice 24 hours a day. All over the country there are pockets of best practice yielding enormous benefits, but to ensure our urgent care services are sustainable for the future every region must begin delivering faster, better and safer care.

“Now it is time for the new urgent and emergency care vanguards to design the best solutions locally.”

The new vanguard projects are:

South Nottingham System Resilience Group

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group

North East Urgent Care Network

Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge System Resilience Group

West Yorkshire Urgent Emergency Care Network

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland System Resilience Group

Solihull Together for Better Lives

South Devon and Torbay System Resilience Group

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Microsoft Health

Get actionable insights for healthier living with the Microsoft Health app for Windows Phone. Microsoft Health helps you live healthier by providing actionable insights based on data gathered from the fitness devices and apps that you use every day, and delivering easy-to-understand charts and graphs.

Use Microsoft Band to help you achieve your wellness goals by tracking your heart rate, calorie burn, and sleep quality, and maximize your fitness with Guided Workouts. Be more productive with email previews and calendar alerts at a glance. If you don’t have a Microsoft Band,

your phone’s motion sensor will track daily steps and calorie burn. App available in English only. This app is available in English only at present. You acknowledge that your health and fitness data will be stored and processed in Microsoft data centers, which may be located outside of your region/country.

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Relief for Cities’ Budget-Busting Health-Care Costs

The budgets of many cities and states will soon be disrupted by new accounting rules for retiree health plans. Local governments pay most of the health-insurance premiums for their retired employees—for example, from age 50 until Medicare at age 65, and sometimes for life. Nationwide, the total unfunded obligations of these plans are close to $1 trillion, according to a comprehensive recent study in the Journal of Health Economics.

The accounting rules, adopted in June by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), require local governments for the first time to report their obligations for retiree health care as liabilities on their balance sheets. Local governments must also use a reasonable and uniform methodology to calculate the present value of these liabilities. These are both steps forward, enhancing transparency and accountability.

The new rules further provide an incentive for local governments to establish a dedicated trust with assets invested today to help pay health-care benefits in the future. But here the GASB takes one step backward, by allowing local governments to make overly optimistic assumptions, including excessive returns for the trust.

Local government health plans for retirees are on average only 6% funded, according to the Pew Charitable Trust. Because most cities pay these health-care costs almost entirely out of current budgets, they increasingly face two unattractive alternatives: raise taxes, or cut spending for such services as schools and police.

However, a handful of cities, such as Los Angeles, prefund their retiree health-care obligations. They contribute considerably more than necessary to pay insurance premiums for current retirees, setting aside and investing assets now to help pay future benefits.

The new GASB rules will encourage local governments to join this prefunding club. Here’s an example of the math. Suppose a city currently reports a $1 billion liability for its retiree health-care obligations, based on an average life of 20 years for benefit payments and a discount rate of 5%. Under the new GASB rules it must use the interest rate on high-quality, tax-exempt bonds with a maturity of 20 years, or 3.3% today. That means the city’s reported liability for retiree health care would increase by 35% to approximately $1.35 billion.

Suppose, instead, the city contributes $100 million to a qualifying trust. The city assumes that the trust’s investments will earn an average annual return of 6%, and that each year it will contribute enough to pay the premiums for current retirees so the trust doesn’t run out of money in the future. Under these conditions, a trust will reduce the city’s unfunded retiree health-care liabilities from $1.35 billion to as low as $750 million.

Forcing cities to report to the public their long-term retiree health-care liabilities—calculated under a reasonable and uniform method—should provoke taxpayers to pressure officials to negotiate less-expensive benefits with the unions. It might also give unions a better sense of the trade-offs between asking for wage increases and higher benefits.

Nevertheless, a word of warning. If a city establishes a trust, taxpayers have to ensure that the government follows through with the necessary annual contributions—and that the government doesn’t hide true health-care liabilities by unrealistic projections of investment returns. As former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg once said, while assuming a conservative investment portfolio will earn 8% a year is “absolutely hysterical,” reducing it to 7.5% or 7% is merely “totally indefensible.”

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Inspection of Waikato DHB mental health services

The Government is to carry out an inspection of the Waikato District Health Board (DHB)’s mental health services.

The inspection follows recent high-profile cases at the DHB, including the death of 21-year-old Nicky Stevens in March who drowned in the Waikato River after he went missing from the Henry Bennett Centre in Hamilton.

Three people in two different occasions have since escaped the facility since April, and this weekend, a man appeared in court facing charges of fraud following an investigation into whether he used another person’s qualifications to work as a psychiatrist.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said he found out about the latest case on Friday, and the Medical Council hasassured him about its registration process.

The ministry has managed to contact 15 of the man’s 21 patients so far, and they appeared to be well, he said.

Dr Coleman said he met with officials today, when it was decided an inspection of the Waikato DHB’s mental health services would be carried out.

“This was on the back of two serious incidents, some of which are still subject to inquiry. I thought it was very important to launch this inspection,” Dr Coleman said.

“We really need a level of assurance that those services are safe.”

Dr Coleman said Ministry of Health director of mental health John Crawshaw would do the inspection, which will start this week.

“He gets to report back within eight weeks and then a decision can be made as to whether a further inquiry may be needed,” he said.

The inspection will be made in accordance with the director of mental health’s legislative powers under the Mental Health Act.

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HP Fortify finds 100% of tested smartwatches contain significant security vulns

By StephanieWisdom (HP)

Smartwatches—they’re growing in popularity for both their convenience and capabilities (plus, they look pretty cool). But, as they become more mainstream, they’ll continue to store more sensitive information, and through connectivity with mobile applications, they may soon enable physical access functions—unlocking cars and homes. It truly is the era of Internet of Things (IoT).

As part of an ongoing series looking at IoT security, HP has unveiled results of a recent study which confirms that smartwatches with network and communication functionality represent a new and open frontier for cyberattack. The study conducted by HP Fortify found that 100 percent of the tested smartwatches contained significant vulnerabilities, including insufficient authentication, lack of encryption and privacy concerns.

The study questions whether smartwatches are designed to store and protect the sensitive data and tasks for which they are built. HP Fortify on Demand assessed 10 smartwatches, along with their Android and iOS cloud and mobile application components, uncovering numerous security concerns.

You can read the report here, as well as see actionable recommendations for secure smartwatch development and use—both at home and in the office!

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