The election of Democrats alone is not enough to ensure gay rights

Although Congressmen are elected to represent their districts and states, they will occasionally defy majority opinion to support the rights of a minority group. Drawing on data from House Democrats that voted against the popular Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Benjamin G. Bishin and Charles Anthony Smith determine that favorable district composition, membership in the Congressional Black Caucus, and competitive elections were associated with opposition to DOMA. They conclude that the difficulty of passing legislation to protect minority rights leaves the courts as the best option for such advancement

Interpersonal violence in peacetime Malawi.

Background: The contribution of interpersonal violence (IPV) to trauma burden varies greatly by region. The high rates of IPV in sub-Saharan Africa are thought to relate in part to the high rates of collective violence. Malawi, a country with no history of internal collective violence, provides an excellent setting to evaluate whether collective violence drives the high rates of IPV in this region. Methods: This is a retrospective review of a prospective trauma registry from 2009 through 2016 at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Adult (\u3e16 years) victims of IPV were compared with non-intentional trauma victims. Log binomial regression determined factors associated with increased risk of mortality for victims of IPV. Results: Of 72 488 trauma patients, 25 008 (34.5%) suffered IPV. Victims of IPV were more often male (80.2% vs. 74.8%; p Discussion: Even in a sub-Saharan country that never experienced internal collective violence, IPV injury rates are high. Public health efforts to measure and address alcohol use, and studies to determine the role of mob justice, poverty, and intimate partner violence in IPV, in Malawi are needed. Level of evidence: Level III

Red blood cell transfusion within the first 24 hours of admission is associated with increased mortality in the pediatric trauma population: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract Background Allogeneic red blood cell transfusion is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in adult trauma patients. Although studies have suggested that the adoption of a more restrictive transfusion strategy may be safely applied to critically ill adult and all-cause critically ill pediatric patients, recent developments in our understanding of the negative consequences of red blood cell transfusion have focused almost entirely on adult populations, while the applicability of these findings to the pediatric population remains poorly defined. The object of this study was to evaluate the effect of red blood cell transfusion within the first 24 hours following admission on mortality in pediatric trauma patients treated at our institution. Results Age, race, and mechanism of injury did not differ between transfused and non-transfused groups, although there were significantly more female patients in the transfusion group (51 vs. 37%; p < 0.01). Shock index (pulse/systolic blood pressure), injury severity score, and new injury severity score were all significantly higher in the transfused group (1.21 vs. 0.96, 26 vs. 10, and 33 vs. 13 respectively; all p ≤ 0.01). Patients who received a red blood cell transfusion experienced a higher mortality compared to the non-transfused group (29% vs. 3%; p < 0.001). When attempting to control for injury severity, goodness-of-fit analysis revealed a poor fit for the statistical model preventing reliable conclusions about the contribution of red blood cell transfusion as an independent predictor of mortality. Conclusion Red blood cell transfusion within the first 24 hours following admission is associated with an increase in mortality in pediatric trauma patients. The potential contribution of red blood cell transfusion as an independent predictor of hospital mortality could not be assessed from our single-institution trauma registry. A review of state-wide or national trauma databases may be necessary to obtain adequate statistical confidence

AN EXTENSION OF SOME RESULTS DUE TO JARDEN

This paper defines some generalized Fibonacci and Lucas sequences which satisfy arbitrary order linear recurrence relations and which answer a problem posed by Jarden in 1966 about generalizing an elegant result for a connection between even and odd subscripted Fibonacci and Lucas numbers

Exciting dark matter in the galactic center

We reconsider the proposal of excited dark matter (DM) as an explanation for excess 511 keV gamma rays from positrons in the galactic center. We quantitatively compute the cross section for DM annihilation to nearby excited states, mediated by exchange of a new light gauge boson with off-diagonal couplings to the DM states. In models where both excited states must be heavy enough to decay into e^+ e^- and the ground state, the predicted rate of positron production is never large enough to agree with observations, unless one makes extreme assumptions about the local circular velocity in the Milky Way, or alternatively if there exists a metastable population of DM states which can be excited through a mass gap of less than 650 keV, before decaying into electrons and positrons.Comment: Dedicated to the memory of Lev Kofman; 16 pages, 9 figures; v3 added refs, minor changes, accepted to PR

Some aspects of Fibonacci polynomial congruences

This paper formulates a definition of Fibonacci polynomials which is slightly different from the traditional definitions, but which is related to the classical polynomials of Bernoulli, Euler and Hermite. Some related congruence properties are developed and some unanswered questions are outlined. Keywords: Congruences, recurrence relations, Fibonacci sequence, Lucas sequences, umbral calculus

ARBITRARY ORDER RECURSIVE SEQUENCES AND ASSOCIATED CONTINUED FRACTIONS

The essential idea in this paper it to generalize and synthesize some of the pioneering ideas of Bernstein, Lucas and Horadam on generalizations of basic and primordial Fibonacci numbers and their arbitrary order generalizations and their relation to generalized continued fractions with matrices as the unifying elements

Divergence of the single-copy DNA sequences of the Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark’s Grebe (A. clarkii), as indicated by DNA-DNA hybridization

Single-copy nuclear DNA sequences of individuals of Aechmophorus occidentalis and A. ciarkii were compared by DNA-DNA hybridization. In each of three experimental sets the average thermal stability of homoduplex and within-species DNA-DNA hybrids did not differ, but the between-species DNA-DNA hybrids dissociated at an average temperature 0.57°C below the median melting temperature of homoduplex and within-species hybrids. The difference was highly significant in all three sets. The median DNA sequence distance between A. occidentalis and A. clarkii is comparable to such distances between other closely related congeneric species

Contributors to the November Issue/Notes

Notes by Leo L. Linck, Anthony M. Bernard, Richard F. Swisher, Charles G. Hasson, James H. Neu, William J. Syring, and John H. Verdonk

Pediatric intestinal obstruction in Malawi: characteristics and outcomes

Abstract Background Intestinal obstruction (IO) is a common pediatric surgical emergency in sub-Saharan Africa with high morbidity and mortality, but little is known about its etiopathogenesis in Malawi. Methods Retrospective analysis of patients seen from February 2012 to June 2014 at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi (n = 3,407). Pediatric patients with IO were analyzed (n = 130). Results Overall, 57% of patients were male with a mean age of 3.5 ± 4.1 years. A total of 52% of patients underwent operative intervention. The overall mortality rate was 3%. Leading causes of IO were Hirschprung's 29%, anorectal malformation 18%, and intussusception 4%. Neonates and patients with congenital causes of IO underwent surgery less frequently than infants and/or children and patients with acquired causes, respectively. These groups also demonstrated increased number of days from admission to surgery. Conclusions Increasing pediatric-specific surgical education and/or training and expanding access to resources may improve mortality after IO in poor medical communities within sub-Saharan Africa