Academic medical centers face shrinking profits - what to do?

Here are some suggestions from the official AMA newsletter for 5 recommendations to help academic medical centers evolve, with my comments:

1. Build a brand name by holding faculty accountable for cost and quality. Mayo Clinic has mastered that and they offer a "subscription service" allowing local hospitals to gain quick access to Mayo experts - and to advertise that in the local press.

2. Become part of a larger community network. This is part of the "spokes of a wheel" concept to generate referrals to the tertiary center from the peripheral clinics and hospitals.

3. Increase effectiveness by maximizing use of extenders such as telemedicine and simulation technology. Mayo Clinic has a TeleStroke unit. Cleveland Clinic offers an "all-electronic" second opinion for a base price of $600.

4. Become an information hub. MayoClinic.com, the online patient information portal of the Mayo organization, is a good example of that concept.

5. Align research efforts with clinical and business strategies.

Bart Demaerschalk, M.D., neurologist and medical director of Mayo Clinic Telestroke, shows us how the smartphone technology works:



References:

Academic medical centers may face shrinking profits. Amednews staff. Posted April 4, 2012.
Image source: openclipart.org, public domain.

Optimal Waist-to-Hip Ratios in Women (an Hourglass Figure) Activate Neural Reward Centers in Men

Secondary sexual characteristics convey information about reproductive potential:

- Facial symmetry, masculinity, and shoulder-to-hip ratio convey information about reproductive/genetic quality in males.

- Waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) is a phenotypic cue to fertility, fecundity, neurodevelopmental resources in offspring, and overall health, and is indicative of “good genes” in women.

Researchers in this study used fMRI to show activation in male brain reward centers in response to WHR with redistributed body fat and similar body mass index (BMI). Brain activation to observed in bilateral orbital frontal cortex. Changes in WHR revealed activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area associated with reward processing and decision-making.

These findings suggest that an hourglass figure (i.e., an optimal WHR) activates brain centers that drive appetitive sociality/attention toward females that represent the highest-quality reproductive partners.

References:
Platek SM, Singh D (2010) Optimal Waist-to-Hip Ratios in Women Activate Neural Reward Centers in Men. PLoS ONE 5(2): e9042. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009042

Image source: openclipart.org, public domain.