Farm prices and quality of Missouri cotton

Publication authorized January 20, 1936."In cooperation with United States Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of agricultural economics."Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references

The pattern of central corneal thickness in patients attending a Tertiary Hospital in Dar-Es-Salaam

Funding: Ministry of Health Social Welfare, Gender, Elderly and Children in Tanzania for sponsoring the study.Background : Central Corneal Thickness (CCT) is an indicator of corneal health status as well as being an essential tool in assessment and management of corneal diseases. It is an important factor in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma as it affects the measurement of intraocular pressure. However, the pattern of central corneal thickness in our population is not known. Our study aimed to describe the CCT measurements and their variation with age and sex among patients attending the eye clinic at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methodology : A hospital-based descriptive, cross-sectional study used convenient sampling to recruit adult patients aged 18 years and above, presenting to the MNH between August 2016 and January 2017.Visual acuity assessment, Goldman applanation tonometry and CCT assessment using an ultrasound pachymeter were performed. Patients with previous intraocular surgery were excluded. Results : A total of 398 patients (208 males and 190 females) were recruited. The mean CCT was 526.64±38.30 µm; being 523.99±38.20 µm for males and 529.7±38.3 µm for females. 226 (56.85%) had CCT of less than 520 µm.There was no statistically significant difference in CCT between gender. The proportion of patients with thinner CCT increased with increasing age from 25.8% in those < 30 years to 75% in those aged 71years and above. The mean CCT decreased with increasing age with P-value<0.001. Conclusion : The average CCT in patients attending Muhimbili National Hospital is 526.64 µm (SD 38.30) which is generally thin, inversely proportion to age and similar that of other Africans and African-Americans. This finding has implications for the management of glaucoma in this population.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Empirical Legal Studies Before 1940: A Bibliographic Essay

The modern empirical legal studies movement has well-known antecedents in the law and society and law and economics traditions of the latter half of the 20th century. Less well known is the body of empirical research on legal phenomena from the period prior to World War II. This paper is an extensive bibliographic essay that surveys the English language empirical legal research from approximately 1940 and earlier. The essay is arranged around the themes in the research: criminal justice, civil justice (general studies of civil litigation, auto accident litigation and compensation, divorce, small claims, jurisdiction and procedure, civil juries), debt and bankruptcy, banking, appellate courts, legal needs, legal profession (including legal education), and judicial staffing and selection. Accompanying the essay is an extensive bibliography of research articles, books, and reports

Albiglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Harmony Outcomes): a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists differ in chemical structure, duration of action, and in their effects on clinical outcomes. The cardiovascular effects of once-weekly albiglutide in type 2 diabetes are unknown. We aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of albiglutide in preventing cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Methods: We did a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 610 sites across 28 countries. We randomly assigned patients aged 40 years and older with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (at a 1:1 ratio) to groups that either received a subcutaneous injection of albiglutide (30–50 mg, based on glycaemic response and tolerability) or of a matched volume of placebo once a week, in addition to their standard care. Investigators used an interactive voice or web response system to obtain treatment assignment, and patients and all study investigators were masked to their treatment allocation. We hypothesised that albiglutide would be non-inferior to placebo for the primary outcome of the first occurrence of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, which was assessed in the intention-to-treat population. If non-inferiority was confirmed by an upper limit of the 95% CI for a hazard ratio of less than 1·30, closed testing for superiority was prespecified. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02465515. Findings: Patients were screened between July 1, 2015, and Nov 24, 2016. 10 793 patients were screened and 9463 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to groups: 4731 patients were assigned to receive albiglutide and 4732 patients to receive placebo. On Nov 8, 2017, it was determined that 611 primary endpoints and a median follow-up of at least 1·5 years had accrued, and participants returned for a final visit and discontinuation from study treatment; the last patient visit was on March 12, 2018. These 9463 patients, the intention-to-treat population, were evaluated for a median duration of 1·6 years and were assessed for the primary outcome. The primary composite outcome occurred in 338 (7%) of 4731 patients at an incidence rate of 4·6 events per 100 person-years in the albiglutide group and in 428 (9%) of 4732 patients at an incidence rate of 5·9 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·78, 95% CI 0·68–0·90), which indicated that albiglutide was superior to placebo (p&lt;0·0001 for non-inferiority; p=0·0006 for superiority). The incidence of acute pancreatitis (ten patients in the albiglutide group and seven patients in the placebo group), pancreatic cancer (six patients in the albiglutide group and five patients in the placebo group), medullary thyroid carcinoma (zero patients in both groups), and other serious adverse events did not differ between the two groups. There were three (&lt;1%) deaths in the placebo group that were assessed by investigators, who were masked to study drug assignment, to be treatment-related and two (&lt;1%) deaths in the albiglutide group. Interpretation: In patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, albiglutide was superior to placebo with respect to major adverse cardiovascular events. Evidence-based glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists should therefore be considered as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. Funding: GlaxoSmithKline

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

NOTEWORTHY COLLECTIONS

Volume: 48Start Page: 211End Page: 21

Critically important antimicrobial resistant Enterobacteriaceae in Irish farm effluent and their removal in integrated constructed wetlands

peer-reviewedThis study investigated the ability of Integrated Constructed Wetlands (ICWs) to remove critically important antimicrobial resistant organisms (AROs) from farm wastewater. Influent samples from the untreated farm waste and effluent samples taken at the end of the ICW system were collected monthly from four ICWs, serving four different farm types (suckler, dairy, dairy & poultry and pig). Using selective media to screen for the presence of carbapenemase resistant organisms, plasmid mediated and AmpC β-Lactamase producing organisms (ESBL/pAmpC) and fluoroquinolone resistant organisms, a total of 82 AROs were obtained with the majority being E. coli (n = 79). Statistically significant were the differences on the number of AROs isolated from influent (higher) compared to effluent, as well as a seasonal effect, with less AROs recovered during winter in comparison to other seasons (P < 0.05). On the other hand, there was no significant differences in the recovery of AROs on different farms. The majority of isolates from each of the farms (99%) were multi drug resistant, with 65% resistant to seven or more antimicrobials. A high incidence of tetracycline, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and ampicillin resistance was common to the isolates from all four farms but there were differences in ESBL levels with 63% of the isolates recovered from Farm 4 (piggery) being ESBLs compared to 18%, 36% and 4.5% recovered from Farms 1 (suckler), 2 (dairy) and 3 (dairy & poultry), respectively. No carbapenemase producing organisms were isolated. Our results showed that ICWs are effective in removing critically important AROs from farm wastewater on all four farm types

Clinical Factors Associated with Longer Hospital Stay Following Ovarian Cancer Surgery

Background: Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancy and is treated with a combination of cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy. Extended length of stay (LOS) after surgery can affect patient morbidity, overall costs, and hospital resource utilization. The primary objective of this study was to identify factors contributing to prolonged LOS for women undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer. Methods: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database was queried to identify women from 2012&ndash;2016 who underwent hysterectomy for ovarian, fallopian tube and peritoneal cancer. The primary outcome was LOS &gt;50th percentile. Preoperative and intraoperative variables were examined to determine which were associated with prolonged LOS. Results: From 2012&ndash;2016, 1771 women underwent elective abdominal surgery for OC and were entered in the ACS-NSQIP database. The mean and median LOS was 4.6 and 4.0 days (IQR 0&ndash;38), respectively. On multivariate analysis, factors associated with prolonged LOS included: American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Classification III (aOR 1.71, 95% CI 1.38&ndash;2.13) or IV (aOR 1.88, 95% CI 1.44&ndash;2.46), presence of ascites (aOR 1.88, 95% CI 1.44&ndash;2.46), older age (aOR 1.23, 95% CI 1.13&ndash;1.35), platelet count &gt;400,000/mm3 (aOR 1.74, 95% CI 1.29&ndash;2.35), preoperative blood transfusion (aOR 11.00, 95% CI 1.28&ndash;94.77), disseminated cancer (aOR 1.28, 95% CI 1.03&ndash;1.60), increased length of operation (121&ndash;180 min, aOR 1.47, 95% CI 1.13-1.91; &gt;180 min, aOR 2.78, 95% CI 2.13&ndash;3.64), and postoperative blood transfusion within 72 h of incision (aOR 2.04, 95% CI 1.59&ndash;2.62) (p &lt; 0.05 for all). Conclusions: Longer length of hospital stay following surgery for OC is associated with many patient, disease, and treatment-related factors. The extent of surgery, as evidenced by perioperative blood transfusion and length of surgical procedure, is a factor that can potentially be modified to shorten LOS, improve patient outcomes, and reduce hospital costs