Becker's Hospital Review

38 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Meet the Mesentery — the Newly Identified Human Organ By Heather Punke R esearchers have identified a new organ in the human digestive tract — the mesentery — that had been hiding in plain sight for years, according to a paper in The Lancet Gastro- enterology & Hepatology. Previously, experts believed the organ — a dou- ble fold of the lining of the abdominal cavity that attaches the gut to the body — was made up of fragmented and separate structures. Now, they know it is one continuous organ. "We are now saying we have an organ in the body which hasn't been acknowledged as such to date," said Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, a professor and researcher from University Hospital Limerick in Ireland. "The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incor- rect. This organ is far from fragmented and com- plex. It is simply one continuous structure." The role the mesentery plays in the body is still not well understood. "The next step is [to establish] the function," Dr. Coffey said. "If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease. Put them together and you have the field of mesenteric science…the basis for a whole new area of science." n Female Cardiologists Experience 3 Times More Discrimination Than Male Counterparts By Emily Rappleye T hough both men and women in cardiology report high levels of job satisfaction, female cardiologists were less likely to re- port career advancement than their male counterparts, accord- ing to survey published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The survey was completed by 964 women and 1,348 men in 2015. It showed both men and women in cardiology are overall satisfied with their work lives (88 percent of women and 90 percent of men) and satisfied with their compensation (63 percent of women and 65 percent of men). Yet women were less likely to report high levels of career advance- ment compared to their peers, and female cardiologists were almost three times more likely to report discrimination than male cardiol- ogists. Women reported experiencing discrimination regarding sex and parenting, while men were more likely to experience racial and religious discrimination, according to the survey. Though the survey indicates gender disparities persist among cardiol- ogists, it also shows signs of progress. The survey noted a significant decline in the number of women reporting discrimination over the past two decades. In 1996, 71 percent of women cardiologists report- ed experiencing discrimination, compared to 65 percent in 2015. "Discrimination continues to be an issue reported by a clear major- ity of female cardiologists," the report concludes. "Addressing the changing demographics and practice settings of the work force, in- creasing diversity and achieving parity in race and sex continue to be important goals for the cardiology community." n Bill Gates Says Next 10 Years Will Be High Risk for Antibiotic-Resistant Pandemic By Brian Zimmerman A s antibiotic-resistant superbugs con- tinue to spread across the globe, peo- ple everywhere — especially those in the developing world — are vulnerable to pandemics, according to billionaire philan- thropist Bill Gates. Mr. Gates, who made his fortune as a co-found- er of Microso, launched the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife in 2000 to im- prove healthcare and education and to combat extreme poverty. e foundation's global health division places emphasis on fighting infectious disease in the developing world. During an interview with BBC's Radio 4 cov- ered by e Guardian, Mr. Gates said the suc- cess of antibiotics created a complacency in the treatment of infectious disease and now that complacency is being exposed by growing antibiotic resistance. "I cross my fingers all the time that some epi- demic like a big flu doesn't come along in the next 10 years," said Mr. Gates. Mr. Gates argued that international cooperation needs to improve to beat back the threat of an- tibiotic resistance, citing the eradication of po- lio and smallpox as international collaborative efforts. He also said the criticism aimed at the World Health Organization for mistakes made during the Ebola crisis in West Africa was un- fair because the organization wasn't staffed or funded to complete the tasks observers expect- ed from it. WHO membership dues haven't in- creased in more than four decades, which means the core budget for the organization has been decreasing when adjusted for inflation. "e cooperation that we have seen, I think, needs to intensify," said Mr. Gates during the interview. "It's the only way that global prob- lems like epidemics will get solved and so [for] all the people who are negative on WHO, the message to take away from that is not that that kind of multilateral cooperative effort is doomed and the money is not well spent, rather that we actually need to broaden their capacity. We actually need to dedicate our- selves to this global cooperation." n

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