Stated versus real purposes of the St. Paul Walther League

Purpose: It was the purpose of this study to present the formal stated objectives of the Walther League, an international organization of Lutheran young people within the Synodical Conference of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, as promulgated by the International organization and to compare them with the real objectives as practiced by the Walther Leaguers of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas. Also, to redefine the League's objectives in an effort to indicate what can be done to make the League more meaningful to the members of the St. Paul Society. Methods: Information for this study was obtained by personal interviews with the young people of the St. Paul Walther League, the pastor of St. Paul church, other League counselors; by group interviews with the St. Paul Leaguers and by the use of prepared questionnaires. In addition books, pamphlets, and periodicals from the National Walther League Headquarters, the Houston Public Library, the library of St. Paul Lutheran Church, and the writer's personal library were used, Findings This study briefly discussed the history of the League, indicating its growth and accomplishments since its organization in 1893. The ten original objectives of the early League were listed. The five amended objectives of the League were presented and discussed, and it was shown that the League of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas has not practiced these objectives for the four and one--half year period studied. A response Inventory was used to help detect attitudes, feelings, beliefs and areas of action of the St. Paul Leaguers, the St. Paul League parents, and the Houston area pastors. This Inventory attempted to provide (1) factual information, (2) a variety of information, (3) data on attitudes and feelings, (4) data that could be easily translated into meaningful and useful information, and (5) useful data from all three groups i.e., St. Paul Leaguers, parents and Houston area pastors. The responses resulting from this Inventory were analyzed and conclusions were drawn based on those responses. A list of general findings was presented. This study should serve as a guide to help the St. Paul Leaguers understand why it is they lack enthusiasm and should provide them with a foundation from which they can reorganize their thinking and attitudes to bring about a renewed vigor in the League. Recommendations: The information in this study indicates that the following recommendations seem to be in order: 1 . The Leaguers of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas should educate themselves in the Walther League's objectives of worship, education, service, recreation, and fellowship in order to reorganize their society in a manner which will give purpose and direction to their coming together. 2. To supplement these objectives, the Leaguers should substitute their desire for more variety in their social activities with action. Also, more attention should be paid by the Leaguers to the organization and planning of these activities. 3. More effort should be expended by the Leaguers to obtain adult guidance and adult acceptance. 4. Delinquent members should be removed from the League rolls to allow for better program planning. 5. An effort should be made by the Leaguers to increase the number of primary relationships in the League. This can be achieved by a. Providing projects in which all Leaguers are interested. b. Having socials in which all can participate. c. Establishing a "friendship" chairman whose duties would be to arrange between meetings get—togethers among members of the League. d. Getting together as a group between planned activities. e. Having a better purpose to come together than Just to have fun. f. Becoming involved in church work as a group. g. Allowing the word of God to become a dominant factor in League activity. h. Becoming more spiritually active in as well as away from League. 6. The Leaguers should elect strong and resourceful leaders who will reorganize the League in strict accordance with parliamentary procedure and who will see that these procedures are adhered to in all League meetings. 7. Parents should be educated about the League--its purpose and its function--so that they will become aware of their responsibility to encourage their children toward more active participation in League affairs. 8. Responsible Jobs in the church should be provided for League youth to perform. 9. The League should adopt a strong program of support for some church need. 10. The League should stop trying to compete with secular organizations and should realize its position in the spiritual life of its youth

Moderate-to-deep sedation technique, using propofol and ketamine, allowing synchronised breathing for magnetic resonance high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) treatment for uterine fibroids: a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) treatment for uterine fibroids is rapidly gaining popularity as a treatment modality. This procedure is generally uncomfortable, painful, and requires minimal or absence of movement and an MR-HIFU synchronised breathing pattern of the patient. Procedural sedation and analgesia protocols have become the standard practice in interventional radiology departments worldwide. The aim of this study was to explore if a sedation regimen with low-dose propofol and ketamine performed by trained non-medical sedation practitioners could result in relief of discomfort for the patient and in adequate working conditions for MR-HIFU treatment for uterine fibroids. METHODS: In this study, conducted from August 2013 until November 2014, 20 patients were subjected to MR-HIFU treatment of uterine fibroids. Patients were deeply sedated using intravenous propofol and esketamine according to a standardised hospital protocol to allow synchronisation of the breathing pattern to the MR-HIFU. The quality of sedation for MR-HIFU and complications were recorded and analysed. The side effects of the sedation technique, the propofol and esketamine consumption rate, the duration of recovery, and patient satisfaction after 24 h were examined. RESULTS: A total of 20 female patients (mean age 42.4 [range 32-53] years) were enrolled. Mean propofol/esketamine dose was 1309 mg/39.5 mg (range 692-1970 mg/ 23.6-87.9 mg). Mean procedure time was 269 min (range 140-295 min). Application of the sedation protocol resulted in a regular breathing pattern, which could be synchronised with the MR-HIFU procedures without delay. The required treatment was completed in all cases. There were no major adverse events. Hypoxemia (oxygen desaturation <92%) and hallucinations were not observed. CONCLUSIONS: The use of a specific combination of IV propofol and esketamine for procedural sedation and analgesia reduced the discomfort and pain during MR-guided HIFU treatments of uterine fibroids. The resulting regular breathing pattern allowed for easy synchronisation of the MR-HIFU procedure. Based on our results, esketamine and propofol sedation performed by trained non-medical sedation practitioners is feasible and safe, has a low risk of major adverse events, and has a short recovery time, avoiding a session of general anaesthesia

The effects of socioeconomic status and indices of physical environment on reduced birth weight and preterm births in Eastern Massachusetts

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Air pollution and social characteristics have been shown to affect indicators of health. While use of spatial methods to estimate exposure to air pollution has increased the power to detect effects, questions have been raised about potential for confounding by social factors.Methods: A study of singleton births in Eastern Massachusetts was conducted between 1996 and 2002 to examine the association between indicators of traffic, land use, individual and area-based socioeconomic measures (SEM), and birth outcomes ( birth weight, small for gestational age and preterm births), in a two-level hierarchical model.Results: We found effects of both individual ( education, race, prenatal care index) and area-based ( median household income) SEM with all birth outcomes. The associations for traffic and land use variables were mainly seen with birth weight, with an exception for an effect of cumulative traffic density on small for gestational age. Race/ethnicity of mother was an important predictor of birth outcomes and a strong confounder for both area-based SEM and indices of physical environment. The effects of traffic and land use differed by level of education and median household income.Conclusion: Overall, the findings of the study suggested greater likelihood of reduced birth weight and preterm births among the more socially disadvantaged, and a greater risk of reduced birth weight associated with traffic exposures. Results revealed the importance of controlling simultaneously for SEM and environmental exposures as the way to better understand determinants of health.This work is supported by the Harvard Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Center, Grants R827353 and R-832416, and National Institute for Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) ES-0002

Variance estimation for integrated population models

Abstract State-space models are widely used in ecology. However, it is well known that in practice it can be difficult to estimate both the process and observation variances that occur in such models. We consider this issue for integrated population models,which incorporate state-space models for population dynamics. To some extent, the mechanism of integrated population models protects against this problem, but it can still arise, and two illustrations are provided, in each of which the observation variance is estimated as zero. In the context of an extended case study involving data on British Grey herons, we consider alternative approaches for dealing with the problem when it occurs. In particular, we consider penalised likelihood, a method based on fitting splines and a method of pseudo-replication, which is undertaken via a simple bootstrap procedure. For the case study of the paper, it is shown that when it occurs, an estimate of zero observation variance is unimportant for inference relating to the model parameters of primary interest. This unexpected finding is supported by a simulation study

Rare and common vertebrates span a wide spectrum of population trends

Conservation biologists often assume that rare (or less abundant) species are more likely to be declining under anthropogenic change. Here, the authors synthesise population trend data for ~2000 animal species to show that population trends cover a wide spectrum of change from losses to gains, which are not related to species rarity

A time-resolved proteomic and prognostic map of COVID-19

COVID-19 is highly variable in its clinical presentation, ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe organ damage and death. We characterized the time-dependent progression of the disease in 139 COVID-19 inpatients by measuring 86 accredited diagnostic parameters, such as blood cell counts and enzyme activities, as well as untargeted plasma proteomes at 687 sampling points. We report an initial spike in a systemic inflammatory response, which is gradually alleviated and followed by a protein signature indicative of tissue repair, metabolic reconstitution, and immunomodulation. We identify prognostic marker signatures for devising risk-adapted treatment strategies and use machine learning to classify therapeutic needs. We show that the machine learning models based on the proteome are transferable to an independent cohort. Our study presents a map linking routinely used clinical diagnostic parameters to plasma proteomes and their dynamics in an infectious disease

Urban indicators for UK butterflies

Most people live in urban environments and there is a need to produce abundance indices to assist policy and management of urban greenspaces and gardens. While regional indices are produced, with the exception of birds, studies of the differences between urban and rural areas are rare. We explore these differences for UK butterflies, with the intention to describe changes that are relevant to people living in urban areas, in order to better connect people with nature in support of conservation, provide a measure relevant to human well-being, and assess the biodiversity status of the urban environment. Transects walked under the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme are classified as urban or rural, using a classification for urban morphological zones. We use models from the Generalised Abundance Index family to produce urban and rural indices of relative abundance for UK butterfly species. Composite indices are constructed for various subsets of species. For univoltine and bivoltine species, where we are able to fit phenomenological models, we estimate measures of phenology and identify urban/rural differences. Trends in relative abundance over the period 1995–2014 are more negative in urban areas compared to rural areas for 25 out of 28 species. For the composite indices, all trends are negative, and they are significantly more negative for urban areas than for rural areas. Analysis of phenological parameters shows butterflies tend to emerge earlier in urban than in rural areas. In addition, some fly longer in urban than in rural areas, whereas in other cases the opposite is the case, and hypotheses are proposed to account for these features. Investigating new urban/rural indicators has revealed national declines that are stronger for urban areas. For continued monitoring, there is a need for an urban butterfly indicator, and for this to be evaluated and reported annually. We explain how this may be interpreted, and the relevance for other monitoring schemes. The results of this paper, including the phenological findings, shed new light on the potentially deleterious effects of urbanisation and climate change, which require suitable monitoring and reporting to support policy and management, for example of urban greenspaces and gardens