Enrollment trends

FIGURE 3.1 Student enrollment trends at Spelman College from 1977 to 2001. The chart compares total enrollments at the college, science majors, and chemistry majors. 

Dekkers, J., de Laeter, J. (2001). Enrolment trends in school science enrolment in Australia. International Journal of Science Education, 23,487-500. 

Figure 1. Number of bachelor s degrees conferred in the U.S. between 1950—1990. Enrollment trends vary greatly by discipline.

CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers). 2008. Women s university enrolments trends by level of study and discipline, 1992-2003 . Equity Review (3). Retrieved from http //www.caut.ca/ uploads/EquityReview3-en.pdf, accessed on March 1 , 2011. 

Dickinson et al. [27], in 1985, published a double-blind controlled trial on the use of oral vancomycin as an adjunctive therapy in acute exacerbations of idiopathic colitis. No significant difference was found between the two treatment groups with only a trend in favor of a superior efficacy of vancomycin. It is important to underline that 7 of the 40 patients enrolled had colonic CD and that none of them had C. difficile infection that could explain the action of vancomycin. Subsequently, intravenous metronidazole, in addition to steroids, was effective similar to placebo in inducing remission [28],... 

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, the Bosentan Randomized trial of Endothelin Antagonist Therapy for Pulmonary Arterial I lypertension (BREATHE-2), 33 patients took epoprostenol (2 ng/kg/ min initially, increasing to a mean dosage of 14 ng/kg/min at week 16) and were then randomized for 16 weeks in a 2 1 ratio to bosentan (62.5 mg bd for 4 weeks then 125 mg bd) or placebo (11). There was a non-significant trend towards hemodynamic and clinical improvement with to the combination. There were several early and late major complications (four withdrawals with bosentan + epoprostenol two deaths due to cardiopulmonary failure, one clinical worsening, and one increase in hepatic transaminases and one withdrawal due to increased hepatic transaminases with placebo + epoprostenol. Power was the major limitation of this study, in which only 33 patients were enrolled, and the results should be interpreted with caution. Additional information is needed to evaluate the benefit to harm balance of combined bosentan + epoprostenol therapy in pulmonary arterial hypertension. 

The recent trends toward the use of lower doses of aspirin have been driven by the belief that these offer a better safety profile while retaining equivalent therapeutic efficacy. Despite the large number of patients enrolled in randomized clinical trials and included in meta-analyses, there is no firm evidence that dose reduction significantly lowers the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients and doctors therefore need to consider the trade-off between the benefits and harms of long-term treatment with aspirin. Meanwhile, it seems wise to use the lowest dose of proven efficacy. 

Recent trends in managed care indicate increasing numbers of PPO, POS and IPA plans. This movement represents a shift from the more restrictive staff and group model HMO plans to the less restrictive types of managed care plans with open-ended coverage. According to the Health Confidence Survey (Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2001), 53% of managed care enrollees reported enrollment in PPO-type plans, compared to 37% in HMO-type plans. 

While Medicare beneficiaries have not enrolled in managed care plans at rates seen in the employer market, trends have mirrored the employer market. Enrollment in Medicare managed care increased steadily in the 1990s, peaking with 6.3 million enrollees in 2000. Plan withdrawals, reduced benefits and higher premiums resulted in a downward trend from 2000 to 2003 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004). Cost management and oversight will... 

Since the early 1980s, there has been a more than fivefold increase in the number of Americans enrolled in HMOs, which has had a dramatic impact on the delivery of healthcare in the United States. As a result of this trend, HMOs realized the need to demonstrate the quality of care they provided to their members compared with fee-for-service health plans however, at the time the industry lacked established standards. Subsequently, various independent review processes evolved, which often did not have consistent assumptions about the parameters that defined quality. It was not until the late 1980s that a group of HMO industry leaders recognized that an organization called the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) had the potential to act as an independent authority on quality control in managed care. ... 

Zierold, K. M. Anderson, H. (2004). Trends in blood lead levels among children enrolled in the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children from 1996 to 2000. Am. J. Public Health. 94 1513—1515. 

These articles were not alone in taking up the issue. Concerns about trends in declining engineering enrollments, a lack of diversity, and the potential erosion of US innovation primacy in global markets have been expressed for over a decade under numerous titles in reports from the National Academy of Engineering, the Millenium Project led by former University of Michigan President James... 

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