Results of Universal Prenatal Screening for Hepatitis C Infection in a Remote American Indian Primary Care Population

BACKGROUND: Although chronic liver disease remains a major area of health disparity for American Indian (AI) people, the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among AI people is poorly documented. Because of suspected high local prevalence, two remote AI clinics in the Northern Plains implemented universal prenatal HCV screening in 2005. When this screening program reported an unexpectedly high prenatal anti-HCV (anti-HCV antibody) positivity rate, we conducted a case-control study to determine risks for infection and opportunities for community intervention. MAIN FINDINGS: The clinics screened a total of 205 pregnant women (median age, 22 years). Of these 205 women, a total of 13 (6.3%; 95% confidence interval, 3.4–10.6) had anti-HCV confirmed. Of the anti-HCV-positive women, 10 (76.9%) were aged 15–24 years. We included 10 cases and 40 anti-HCV-negative prenatal controls in a case-control study. On multivariate analysis, only injection-drug use (IDU) remained associated with HCV seropositivity. CONCLUSIONS: Universal prenatal screening revealed a high prevalence of anti-HCV at these remote AI clinics. This population has not been previously described at being at elevated risk for HCV infection. In order to reduce health disparities, young, rural AI populations seeking prenatal care need to be included in interventions to reduce HCV transmission

State Responses to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: An Analysis from Indiana and Missouri

This Article, authored by lawyers from the Indiana Department of Revenue and Missouri Department of Revenue, is intended to address, and hopefully add clarity to, the complexities of state taxation under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“TCJA”). After a brief historical and general overview of the TCJA, this Article focuses on seven distinct topics within the TCJA from a state perspective. These topics are: (1) Business Assets Expensing; (2) the TCJA’s treatment of 529 Accounts; (3) the 30% Business Interest Limitation; (4) the Transition Tax (also referred to as “Deemed Repatriation”); (5) GILTI, or Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income; (6) the elimination of the Personal and Dependency Exemption Deductions; and (7) the Qualified Business Income Deduction. For each topic, this Article gives an overview of the associated TCJA provisions, addresses some responses of the states to these provisions, and provides opportunity for discussion of possible or actual responses by Indiana and/or Missouri

Some exact non-vacuum Bianchi VI0 and VII0 instantons

We report some new exact instantons in general relativity. These solutions are K\"ahler and fall into the symmetry classes of Bianchi types VI0 and VII0, with matter content of a stiff fluid. The qualitative behaviour of the solutions is presented, and we compare it to the known results of the corresponding self-dual Bianchi solutions. We also give axisymmetric Bianchi VII0 solutions with an electromagnetic field.Comment: latex, 15 pages with 3 eps figure

Long range forces between polar alkali diatoms aligned by external electric fields

Long range electrostatic, induction and dispersion coefficients including terms of order $R^{-8}$ have been calculated by the sum over states method using time dependent density functional theory. We also computed electrostatic moments and static polarizabilities of the individual diatoms up to the octopole order using coupled cluster and density functional theory. The laboratory-frame transformed electrostatic moments and van der Waals coefficients corresponding to the alignment of the diatomic molecules were found. We use this transformation to obtain the coupling induced by an external DC electric field, and present values for all XY combinations of like polar alkali diatomic molecules with atoms from Li to Cs. Analytic solutions to the dressed-state laboratory-frame electrostatic moments and long range intermolecular potentials are also given for the DC low-field limit

Measurement of Electron Clouds in Large Accelerators by Microwave Dispersion

Clouds of low energy electrons in the vacuum beam pipes of accelerators of positively charged particle beams present a serious limitation for operation at high currents. Furthermore, it is difficult to probe their density over substantial lengths of the beam pipe. We have developed a novel technique to directly measure the electron cloud density via the phase shift induced in a TE wave transmitted over a section of the accelerator and used it to measure the average electron cloud density over a 50 m section in the positron ring of the PEP-II collider at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

Synchronization of Energy Consumption By Human Societies Throughout the Holocene

We conduct a global comparison of the consumption of energy by human populations throughout the Holocene and statistically quantify coincident changes in the consumption of energy over space and time—an ecological phenomenon known as synchrony. When populations synchronize, adverse changes in ecosystems and social systems may cascade from society to society. Thus, to develop policies that favor the sustained use of resources, we must understand the processes that cause the synchrony of human populations. To date, it is not clear whether human societies display long-term synchrony or, if they do, the potential causes. Our analysis begins to fill this knowledge gap by quantifying the long-term synchrony of human societies, and we hypothesize that the synchrony of human populations results from (i) the creation of social ties that couple populations over smaller scales and (ii) much larger scale, globally convergent trajectories of cultural evolution toward more energy-consuming political economies with higher carrying capacities. Our results suggest that the process of globalization is a natural consequence of evolutionary trajectories that increase the carrying capacities of human societies

Synchronization of Energy Consumption By Human Societies Throughout the Holocene

We conduct a global comparison of the consumption of energy by human populations throughout the Holocene and statistically quantify coincident changes in the consumption of energy over space and time—an ecological phenomenon known as synchrony. When populations synchronize, adverse changes in ecosystems and social systems may cascade from society to society. Thus, to develop policies that favor the sustained use of resources, we must understand the processes that cause the synchrony of human populations. To date, it is not clear whether human societies display long-term synchrony or, if they do, the potential causes. Our analysis begins to fill this knowledge gap by quantifying the long-term synchrony of human societies, and we hypothesize that the synchrony of human populations results from (i) the creation of social ties that couple populations over smaller scales and (ii) much larger scale, globally convergent trajectories of cultural evolution toward more energy-consuming political economies with higher carrying capacities. Our results suggest that the process of globalization is a natural consequence of evolutionary trajectories that increase the carrying capacities of human societies