MCAT changes to take effect in 2003
Beginning in 2003, all students taking the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) must abide by the newly instituted rules of "full disclosure." Under these guidelines, examinees are required to report their entire testing history, relinquishing the luxury of sending only the best scores and withholding the rest.
All scores will automatically be released and included in the MCAT Testing History Reports, also known as THx reports, which are then sent to medical and professional schools at the examinee's request. Scores dating back to 1991 may still be covered at the test taker's discretion, but the dates on which they were taken will still be revealed.
Initial reactions to the modified policies may be one of concern from students, but worries are somewhat unwarranted according to Hopkins premedical advisor Dr. Fishbein.
Asked how the changes will affect the medical school selection process and student preparation strategies, Fishbein said, "I think that this is really a non-subject. Formerly, when a student sought to conceal an MCAT score, medical schools asked them to list the scores of all previously taken exams. I do not think that the "change in policy' will make even the slightest difference."
According to Fishbein, medical schools would be concerned with only the highest score.
"If a student repeats the exam because he or she did not do well the first time, but does improve with the second exam, a reasonable person would agree that the student is as strong as the higher score," said Fishbein. "The preparation strategy should always be to review well and to get a good night's sleep before the exam."
-- By Zirui Song
New contraceptive gel may help fight AIDS transmission
A new contraceptive gel developed by researchers at The Johns Hopkins University may help in fighting the AIDS virus.
BufferGel is a lubricant gel that uses a common pharmaceutical compound used to thicken ointments in combination with microbicide, a microbe-killing chemical compound. Early studies of BufferGel have determined that this combination can be effective in preventing various STDs, such as HIV, chlamydia, HPV, and trichomaniases, the most common sexually transmitted disease.
The gel, which helps to maintain the acidity of the vagina in the presence of foreign substances such as semen, has been shown to be more effective than the microbicide nonoxynol-9, a common spermicide approved by the FDA in early 2000. Recent controversy over nonoxynol-9 has called its effectiveness into question. The compound has been shown in studies to irritate the cells of the vagina, which helps to create a pathway for infection for various viruses and bacteria.
Safety studies on 125 women in the United States and abroad have recently been completed, and the National Institutes of Health is currently conducting a study on 975 women who will use a diaphragm in combination with BufferGel or a conventional spermicide.
Next spring, a larger study of 8,500 women will be undertaken to see if BufferGel can prevent the spread of AIDS in the U.S., India and Africa.
If tests are successful, BufferGel could be on the market in the next few years. A Rockefeller Foundation study has estimated that such a development could avert 2.5 million HIV infections in Africa in the first three years alone.
-- By Diana Iskelov
Brody rated third highest paid college president in U.S.
President William R. Brody was rated the fourth highest paid college president by the Nov. 22 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
With an annual salary of $677,564, Brody was eclipsed only by the presidents of Connecticute College, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, who made $898,410, $808,021 and $705,683 respectively.
"It's hard to make comparisons, but not all the Ivies have hospitals attached to them," said Jerry Schnydman, executive assistant to the president.
In fact, according to The Chronicle, doctoral institutions led the increase in presidential pay raises; many doctoral institutions have gone through searches to hire new presidents in recent years.
Among doctoral institutions, Brody rated number three.
The universities that followed Brody's rating included New York University, Drexel University and Yale University.
-- By Shruti Mathur and Jessica Valdez
