Christine Farrenkopf

Analytical Review

I researched articles pertaining to AIDS and compared Science, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and Bioethics based on their presentation of information on AIDS and their general layout.

The contents of Science are organized into the following sections: News, Research, Editorial, Letters, Policy Forum, Books and News Media, Perspectives, Essay, and Review. This magazine is suitable for a broad audience. The magazine as a whole is appropriate for both people with a basic biological understanding (comparable to a college level intro course) and those with a sophisticated understanding (comparable to a degree in the biological sciences); there are also news articles that are appropriate for those with no biological background.

A section entitled "This Week in Science" provides short abstracts on current developments in all fields of science. Those articles pertaining to biology are largely understandable to those with a basic biological background.

The "News" section, which is divided into subject areas (from HIV epidemiology to ecology to neurobiology), has articles concerning current advances/information on various topics. Biological articles range from general-knowledge based (such as those found in newspapers or news magazines) to those requiring basic biological knowledge. For example, an article concerning AIDS in this section addressed statistics on new infections, economic problems regarding medicines available, and the surge of infections in Africa; another article discussed the AIDS vaccine in non-biological terms (4 December 1998, p.1790-91).

The "Research" section is very sophisticated and is understandable only to advanced biologists. Articles are written concerning very specific aspects of a field or issue and contain graphs and diagrams analyzing data. Abstracts are very difficult to understand and articles are more so. Because research is so specific as it focuses on particular aspects of a disease, these articles may not be usable within this course.

Editorials largely examine non-biological aspects of science and instead look at what should be done in the future in a particular field, social aspects/consequences of science, economic factors, etc. Therefore, this section would be useful to scan for opinions as they apply to the aims of this course.

Issues used in research: 4 December 1998 and 28 June 1996

Bioethics is laid out in four sections: Editorial, Article, A Syposium, and Book Reviews. This journal is appropriate for those with a basic to advanced biological background and examines issues from both a biological and social perspective.

The "A Symposium" section is the most helpful for work done in this class. Several writers look at a certain medical/scientific problem or issue and present their viewpoints. All sides of an issue are presented in-depth; data tables and diagrams are used to illustrate points made in the article. Feedback from readers is published at the end of the series of articles. This type of article would be very helpful with the required social justice paper as it advances our understanding of disease and discrimination.

The series of articles I looked at examined the issue of the ethics of research on preventing the perinatal transmission of HIV in developing nations. In research conducted in developing countries, some participants in the study were given a placebo and thus denied a drug that is believed to combat HIV transmission to fetuses. Authors debated whether a double standard exists for research in developing as opposed to developed nations (October 1998, p. 286-333).

Issue used in research: October 1998

JAMA contains Archives Abstracts, Letters to the Editor, Original Contributions, and Medical News and Perspectives. Overall, the journal is written for bio-medical professionals. However, there are several parts of the journal that those with a basic understanding can readily comprehend.

The Archives Abstract section provides abstracts for recent experiments done within the medical field. Each is broken down into a background, patients and methods, results, and conclusions section that present ideas in a clear and concise manner. Although principles involved in these experiments tend to be advanced, those with a basic understanding should be able to understand the abstracts and to use that information in research papers.

The Letters to the Editor section provides feedback from readers who bring insight or pose questions in regard to past articles. Several letters to the editor were written concerning an article about women and AIDS and provided non-biological based information (statistics) regarding this issue (4 February 1998, p. 354-6).

The Original Contributions are detailed research articles of highly specific subjects. Abstracts are partially understandable to those with a basic biological knowledge-base, but the contents of the articles are very difficult to comprehend. Because these articles focus on very specific topics within a given field, they may be less usable for our purposes than more general articles.

The Medical News and Perspectives section is composed of short, comprehensible articles on current issues in medicine.

Issue used in research: 4 February 1998