Interhemispheric comparison of atmospheric circulation features as evaluated from NIMBUS satellite data

Findings are presented for IRIS data from NIMBUS 3 in mapping the global ozone distribution. The seasonal and regional variations of ozone, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, reveal features that were not evident from the sparse ground-based ozone observation network in this hemisphere. A regression analysis was undertaken for temperature and height fields on radiance data. Spectrum analyses of upper wind data from the North American section and Australia were completed

Management of vaginal wall perforation during a second trimester dilation and evacuation

Background: We report an unusual case involving vaginal perforation associated with second trimester dilation and evacuation. Review of the literature fails to identify additional reports. Case: A 22 year G3P1011 female at 16 weeks gestation referred for evaluation following incomplete dilation and evacuation was found to have vaginal perforation, and communication with the peritoneal cavity on pelvic examination. Examination under anesthesia and laparoscopy confirmed multiple vaginal perforations with intraperitoneal defects and hematomas but no viscus involvement. Cervical dilation was accomplished with osmotic dilators placed under ultrasound guidance during exam under anesthesia, with evacuation completed approximately 16 hours later without further complication. Conclusion: This is the first case of vaginal perforation at time of dilation and evacuation reported in the literature. Laparoscopy should be performed to evaluate for intraabdominal injury to bowel, bladder and/or blood vessels. Use of osmotic dilators during the second trimester could potentially decrease the risk of vaginal perforation during the dilation portion of the procedure

The impact of clinical clerkships on medical students’ attitudes toward contraception and abortion: a pilot study

Objective: Investigate the impact of clinical clerkships on medical students’ attitudes toward contraception and abortion. Methods: As part of their required curriculum, second-year medical students at the University of Iowa complete an anonymous survey that presents eight questions involving specific contraception and abortion scenarios. In this pilot study, all 159 members of the Class of 2013 who had previously completed this required anonymous survey were invited to re-take the survey at the conclusion of their fourth year. Additional questions, asking the students if they felt that clinical clerkships had changed their perspectives on contraception and abortion in general, were included. Results: Of the 159 members of the Class of 2013, 42 volunteered to participate, for a response rate of 26%. Twenty students (47.62%) felt that clinical clerkships had changed their perspectives on contraception and thirteen students (39.95%) felt that clinical clerkships had changed their perspectives on abortion. The percentage of students who felt comfortable referring a patient to a colleague for an abortion increased significantly from 71.33% to 90.48% (p=0.024). Responses to the other seven questions included in the survey did not differ significantly pre and post-clerkships. Conclusions: This pilot study, although limited by a low response rate, suggests that clinical clerkships have the ability to impact medical students’ attitudes toward contraception and abortion in general, as well as toward specific scenarios involving abortion

Land-Based Learning: A Learning Paradigm for Building Community and Sustainable Farms

Mitigating complex problems is increasingly essential to sustaining life on Earth. Empowering current and future generations to address these problems requires rethinking traditional education approaches. This article serves as a primer for land-based learning—defined as a pedagogical approach in which learners collaborate with community members to implement place-based interventions within agricultural systems to increase the sustainability of their community. As an introduction to land-based learning, the article (a) describes critical checkpoints within land-based learning, (b) illuminates the role of Extension educators in facilitating land-based learning, and (c) introduces a case study of land-based learning in Michigan\u27s Upper Peninsula

Evaluating Inpatient Asthma Management Practices in Florida Hospitals

We evaluated inpatient asthma management practices in 10 Florida hospitals. We wanted to learn about care protocols, instrumental resources, and use of evidence-based guidelines. We sought to recommend strategies for improving care based on gaps identified by this study. We developed a survey that included detailed questions on care strategies and resources. Guidelines from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in the Expert Panel Report 3 (EPR-3) for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma were a primary focus. Hospitals were given the option of completing their surveys by phone or email. Data were analyzed via content coding of completed surveys. Most participating hospitals had robust protocols and resources in place for inpatient asthma management, and continually reassessed these resources for quality improvement. Overall, inpatient care practices at these hospitals adhered strongly to national guidelines for asthma management. Inpatient asthma care practices at surveyed Florida hospitals are largely robust, evidence-based, and constantly improving. Our findings suggest not only that hospitals in Florida are deeply committed to effective asthma management, but also that they have active interest in collaborating with one another to further improve care

Mechanism of carbon dioxide and water incorporation in Ba2TiO4: A joint computational and experimental study

© 2017 American Chemical Society. CO 2 incorporation in solids is attracting considerable interest in a range of energy-related areas. Materials degradation through CO 2 incorporation is also a critical problem with some fuel cell materials, particularly for proton conducting ceramic fuel cells. Despite this importance, the fundamental understanding of the mechanism of CO 2 incorporation is lacking. Furthermore, the growing use of lower temperature sol gel routes for the design and synthesis of new functional materials may be unwittingly introducing significant residual carbonate and hydroxyl ions into the material, and so studies such as the one reported here investigating the incorporation of carbonate and hydroxyl ions are important, to help explain how this may affect the structure and properties. This study on Ba 2 TiO 4 suggests highly unfavorable intrinsic defect formation energies but comparatively low H 2 O and CO 2 incorporation energies, in accord with experimental findings. Carbonate defects are likely to form in both pristine and undoped Ba 2 TiO 4 systems, whereas those based on H 2 O will only form in systems containing other supporting defects, such as oxygen interstitials or vacancies. However, both hydroxyl and carbonate defects will trap oxide ion defects induced through doping, and the results from both experimental and modeling studies suggest that it is primarily the presence of carbonate that is responsible for stabilizing the high temperature α′-phase at lower temperatures

The Swift X-Ray Telescope: Status and Performance

We present science highlights and performance from the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT), which was launched on November 20, 2004. The XRT covers the 0.2-10 keV band, and spends most of its time observing gamma-ray burst (GRB)afterglows, though it has also performed observations of many other objects. By mid-August 2007, the XRT had observed over 220 GRB afterglows, detecting about 96% of them. The XRT positions enable followup ground-based optical observations, with roughly 60% of the afterglows detected at optical or near IR wavelengths. Redshifts are measured for 33% of X-ray afterglows. Science highlights include the discovery of flaring behavior at quite late times, with implications for GRB central engines; localization of short GRBs, leading to observational support for compact merger progenitors for this class of bursts; a mysterious plateau phase to GRB afterglows; as well as many other interesting observations such as X-ray emission from comets, novae, galactic transients, and other objects.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figure