Research

Canadian research facility enters the big leagues

Winnipeg’s national research facility received its first shipment of biosafety level-4 viruses, launching it into the elite company of 13 research facilities worldwide that are equipped to handle these dangerous pathogens. The Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health received samples of the Ebola, Lassa, Marburg and Hunan viruses from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on June 8. CMAJ 2000;163(2):199.

MRC changes its name, doubles its budget

After 40 years in business, the Medical Research Council of Canada was officially disbanded and resurrected, April 1, as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Through a network of research institutions, CIHR it supports a much wide spectrum of health research, from basic science to clinical research to health services and population health. It also has a much larger budget. By its second year of operations it will be close to $500 million, nearly double that of the MRC. CMAJ 2000;162(7)1029.

In June, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research was officially launched. Its inaugural president is Dr. Alan Bernstein, an internationally recognized cancer researcher. With a budget of $530 million, the CIHR will include 13 "virtual institutes" — networks of researchers across Canada — that will study areas ranging from aboriginal people’s health to cancer and genetics. CMAJ 2000;163(5):586.

New natural medicine research network

The new Natural Sourced Medicine Research Network, the first of its kind in Canada, aims to pool information about the efficacy and safety of natural medicines. Based at Dalhousie University, the network’s top priority is to develop a comprehensive database of clinical trials and other research involving natural medicines. CMAJ 2000;163(2):199.

Quantitative ranking of Canada’s research

Canadian research output of original human studies was more than 3 times higher than worldwide rate between 1989 and 1998 shows a new quantitative study. Researchers used author affiliations listed in original articles of human studies to determine the annual rate of increase. Canada is now ranked seventh among countries contributing human studies to the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System of the National Library of Medicine. The authors conclude that Canada’s medical schools are productive, competitive in making contributions to medical science and are supporting Canadian journals. CMAJ 2000(1):162:37-40.

Research failures teach important lessons

In the first of a series of essays, Canada’s best known epidemiologist, David Sackett, draws on extensive firsthand knowledge gleaned through participation in over 200 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to offer reasons why they fail. CMAJ 2000;162(9):1311-14.

Dr. Sackett had three goals for his series. The first is to help physicians better advise patients who are eligible for, or have been asked to join, an RCT by showing them how to determine whether the proposed trial is likely to generate valid, clinically useful results. The second is to help clinicians and patients decide whether the report of an RCT is true enough and clinically sensible enough for its results to be offered by clinicians and requested by patients. The series’ third goal is to help clinicians at any stage of training or experience who are interested in RCTs evade avoidable errors. CMAJ 2000;162(9):1301-2.

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