| Riekeman Named President of Life University Guy Riekeman, DC, has been elected president of Life University after serving as president and chancellor of Palmer Chiropractic University since 1998. “Dr Riekeman epitomizes Life’s fundamental commitments to chiropractic scholarship, teaching, and service to others,” says Charles Ribley, DC, Life chairman of the board. “His character and outstanding human qualities have made [him] a valued colleague among chiropractic educators and an inspiration to students.” Despite disagreements between Riekeman and the Palmer Board of Trustees on how the board should function, the following statement was released: “We understand that the Board of Life University has extended the presidency to Dr Guy Riekeman and that he has accepted. Life University is a fellow institution in chiropractic education and Dr Riekeman is a graduate of Palmer, a former employee, and now a colleague. We wish him and Life University the very best and anticipate that we will be able to work together to assure the positive advancement of chiropractic as a primary health care provider.” President Riekeman thanked the trustees for “this opportunity to lead a university that I have developed such affection for. I know that I have much to learn over the coming months, but I also know that I can depend on the advice and counsel of all members of the Life community, from our faculty, staff, and students to the trustees, alumni, and the chiropractic family around the world.” |
Florida State Considers Chiropractic Degree Program
Florida State University (FSU), Tallahassee, may soon establish a chiropractic medicine degree program because of the recent introduction of S2002/H-1089 into both state legislative chambers. In 1999, the Florida legislature commissioned a study on the need for and feasibility of a school of chiropractic medicine at FSU. The study, which was presented to the governor in 2000, concluded that if a new chiropractic college were established within the state university system or an independent postsecondary institution in Florida, it would be feasible to locate the chiropractic college at a school that has a diversity of health professions education programs and a program in exercise and movement science. The legislature provided funds for FSU to develop an implementation plan for a chiropractic college.
A Call for Abstracts
Sherman College, Spartanburg, SC, will be holding the International Research and Philosophy Symposium: A Conference on Vertebral Subluxation on October 9–10, 2004. The conference will address the extent to which patient outcomes support or challenge a cyclic relationship with the philosophical tenets underlying vertebral subluxation correction.
Wanting to explore the link between what chiropractic philosophy predicts and what scientific research has reported, Sherman College is looking for submissions which fall into one of the following categories:
• Philosophical papers that discuss the general nature and validity of philosophy and science in regard to the practice of vertebral subluxation correction.
• Papers reporting patient outcomes, including, but not limited to, physical and physiological status, and overall health and quality of life parameters associated with vertebral subluxation correction care.
• Presentations that discuss patient outcomes in regard to supporting or challenging the tenets of the philosophy underpinning vertebral subluxation correction.
Abstract deadline is April 30, 2004. For more information, visit www.sherman.edu/edu/continued/iraps.html.
CCP Completes Revision of Chiropractic Guidelines
The Council on Chiropractic Practice (CCP) completed its review and revision of Clinical Guideline Number 1: Vertebral Subluxation in Chiropractic Practice.” Taking 2 years to revise, the guidelines include new recommendations dealing with maternity care, peer review, open adjusting rooms, heart rate variability, radiographic digitizing, record keeping, and patient privacy. Commentary was also added to many of the previous recommendations to bring them up to date with the current literature.“We completed an exhaustive review of the literature since the last review and also included a thorough review of the guideline development literature that was published since the first publication of the Guidelines in 1998,” CCP President Christopher Kent, DC, said. “This is a document the whole chiropractic profession can be proud of.” One of the first steps in the update process was a meeting of technique developers and experts. Representatives of several technique systems that were not involved in the development of the original document participated in these early meetings and those previously involved were invited to submit additional material. At the initial revision meeting, more than 40 technique systems were represented, and a technique panel was formed with 125 members representing the widest possible range of techniques. “The involvement of technique experts is crucial to the development of any chiropractic guideline,” stated Matthew McCoy, DC, CCP vice president. “Unfortunately these dedicated and unsung heroes have effectively been shut out of other groups’ guideline development efforts and the research community. Instead, they need to be deeply involved in this process since the art of chiropractic is the application of the philosophy and science.” According to Kent, because vertebral subluxation and related concepts are central to the practice of chiropractic and the profession, guidelines that specifically address them are clearly needed. For more information on the CCP Guidelines, visit www.ccp-guidelines.org. The next review of the CCP Guidelines is scheduled for August 2008. |
Vitamin Vortex
Vitamins, although beneficial, can prove harmful when taken in large dosages. The February issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter outlines these risks.
Vitamin A plays an important role in vision, bone growth, reproduction, and regulation of the immune system. However, taking more than 5,000 international units (IU) a day can cause reduced bone mineral density. The recommended daily amount is 3,000 IU for men and 2,300 for women.
Vitamin D aids in the absorption of dietary calcium and also helps the body deposit calcium in bones and teeth. Although the amount needed depends on age, amount of sunlight exposure, and medical conditions, the recommended amount is 400 IU per day for people aged 51 to 70. More than 2,000 IU a day can cause problems such as high blood pressure and kidney damage.
Vitamin B6, considered essential to vertebrate nutrition, can cause nerve damage when taken in large amounts. The recommended amount for men over age 50 is 1.7 mg a day; for women over age 50, 1.5 mg a day is recommended.
Monitoring the Immunological Response to Cancer Vaccines
The Cancer Vaccine Collaborative (CVC), a partnership established by the Cancer Research Institute in New York and the International Ludwig Institue for Cancer Research (LICR), recently announced that it is the first to demonstrate that vaccination with a cancer-specific recombinant protein antigen has successfully induced a fully integrated immunological response in humans. In a Phase I clinical trial conducted by the CVC in conjunction with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer received a vaccine of recombinant protein and AS02B, one of GSK’s immunological adjuvants. The CVC cancer vaccine contains a full-length protein antigen, as opposed to many of the antigen-specific cancer vaccines that are currently in early-phase clinical trials using protein fragments.
For the first time, all three major components of the immunological response to cancer vaccines will be monitored. “The ability to monitor is really making a big difference to our work,” says Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, PhD, executive director of the Cancer Research Institute. “We are now using a systematic, coordinated approach to vaccine development, by comparing the immunological responses produced by single vaccine variables being tested in parallel at each of our different sites. We believe that this approach will yield cancer vaccines with the greatest efficacy, and in a much shorter time than the conventional approach of trying variables sequentially with limited monitoring of responses.”
The study is published in the March 15, 2004, issue of Journal of Immunology.
Slowing Osteoarthritis
Cod liver oil may be the answer to slowing the destruction of joint cartilage in patients with osteoarthritis, according to scientists from Cardiff University, Wales, UK. The trial shows that 86% of preoperative patients with arthritis who took cod liver oil capsules daily, had no or significantly reduced levels of the enzymes that cause cartilage damage compared to 26% of those given a placebo oil capsule.“This breakthough is hugely significant because it demonstrates the efficacy of a dietary intake of cod liver oil in patients with osteoarthritis,” says Bruce Caterson, lead professor in the study, along with John Harwood and Colin Dent, an orthopedic consultant at the University of Wales College of Medicine. “The data suggests that cod liver oil has a dual mode of action, potentially slowing down the cartilage degeneration inherent in osteoarthritis and also reducing factors that cause pain and inflammation.” |
Tightening the Noose on Chiropractic Care
New legislation may further limit access to chiropractic care. At a Senate hearing in February, the California Chiropractic Association (CCA) opposed these efforts to limit access but supported measures to ensure that all medical providers participating in the workers’ compensation (WC) system are certified. When outlining the fundamental weaknesses in pending WC reform bills SBX4 3 and ABX4 1, CCA testified that last year’s legislation will cut chiropractic care by 70% and that new legislation may completely eliminate chiropractic care.
Under the proposed legislation, doctors of chiropractic would lose the ability to determine when a worker may return to work, or whether the worker should be placed on temporary or permanent disability. Such restrictions would require an injured worker who received chiropractic treatment to make unnecessary visits to a medical doctor before returning to work, or before being placed on temporary or permanent disability.
CCA does, however, support the provisions in SBX4 3 and ABX4 1 that would create an independent medical review (IMR), as long as the review is done by a like provider. “Like-provider review is the standard in other IMR systems and must be in this one as well,” testified Kassie Donoghue, DC, from Sacramento. “We also are concerned that current IMR proposals allow only for a paper review of a patient’s case. Reviewing the file of a patient in a complicated arena such as California’s WC system is not adequate to accurately assess a patient’s condition.”
Although CCA supports WC reforms to tighten utilization standards, they stand firm on their role in health care. “Chiropractors are trained and licensed to serve as primary care doctors,” says Doug Wilson, DC, CCA president. “We are well qualified to determine disability. We take pride in our profession and our ability to alleviate pain, rehabilitate injuries, and return injured workers back to work quickly. This proposal has no known cost savings, but certainly will be costly in terms of pain for injured workers who would be denied the most effective treatment for their injuries.”
DCs Underrepresented in NHSC Student Loan Program
Doctors of chiropractic now have support when it comes to how they are represented in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) student loan program, a federally funded program that allows health care professionals to be reimbursed for student loans in return for establishing and maintaining their practices in underserved geographic areas. Rep Charles W. Norwood (R-Ga) expressed his concern about chiropractic representation in a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson that only eight doctors of chiropractic were selected to participate in the program when originally 36 slots were funded, and although $3 million was appropriated by Congress in 2003, only a small portion is being used for the chiropractic demonstration program. Further, NHSC made a recent decision to prevent any doctors of chiropractic from even applying to the program in 2004.
“Such a narrow view of the demonstration is inconsistent with Congress’s clear intent that the chiropractic demonstration should be a statistically significant, comprehensive, and multiyear ‘test’ of the placement of doctors of chiropractic in the NHSC and the medically underserved areas it serves,” Norwood states in his letter. “...I look forward to working with [HHS] to eliminate any and all impediments to the full and fair implementation of this NHSC chiropractic pilot program, and to ensure that interested doctors of chiropractic will have an opportunity to fill at least the remaining 28 positions in 2004.”
American Chiropractic Association (ACA) President Donald J. Krippendorf, DC, says, “The ACA sincerely thanks Congressman Norwood for his willingness to speak out and work with our members on this extremely important issue. Not only is the chiropractic profession unfairly being denied its rightful place in the NHSC, but patients in rural and medically underserved areas who could benefit greatly from chiropractic are being deprived of the safe, effective care that only we can provide.”
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