Brief of Interested Law Professors As \u3ci\u3eAmici Curiae\u3c/i\u3e Supporting Petitioner in \u3ci\u3eBrohl v. Direct Marketing Association\u3c/i\u3e

Amici curiae are 14 professors of law who have devoted much of their teaching and research to the area of state taxes and the role of state tax policy in our federal system. The names and affiliations (for identification purposes only) of amici are included in an addendum to this brief. The amici are concerned with the effect of this Court’s dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence on the development of fair and efficient state tax systems. No decision of this Court has had more effect on state sales and use tax systems than Quill Corporation v. North Dakota. We believe the Tenth Circuit properly decided the case below. But if the Court decides to grant the Direct Marketing Association’s petition to review the issue of discrimination which it raises, we respectfully request that the Court also grant the conditional crosspetition filed by Executive Director Barbara J. Brohl of the Colorado Department of Revenue asking the Court to reconsider Quill. This brief sets forth the reasons for our support of that cross-petitio

A systematic review of studies measuring and reporting hearing aid usage in older adults since 1999: a descriptive summary of measurement tools

Objective: A systematic review was conducted to identify and quality assess how studies published since 1999 have measured and reported the usage of hearing aids in older adults. The relationship between usage and other dimensions of hearing aid outcome, age and hearing loss are summarised. Data sources: Articles were identified through systematic searches in PubMed/MEDLINE, The University of Nottingham Online Catalogue, Web of Science and through reference checking. Study eligibility criteria: (1) participants aged fifty years or over with sensori-neural hearing loss, (2) provision of an air conduction hearing aid, (3) inclusion of hearing aid usage measure(s) and (4) published between 1999 and 2011. Results: Of the initial 1933 papers obtained from the searches, a total of 64 were found eligible for review and were quality assessed on six dimensions: study design, choice of outcome instruments, level of reporting (usage, age, and audiometry) and cross validation of usage measures. Five papers were rated as being of high quality (scoring 10–12), 35 papers were rated as being of moderate quality (scoring 7–9), 22 as low quality (scoring 4–6) and two as very low quality (scoring 0–2). Fifteen different methods were identified for assessing the usage of hearing aids. Conclusions: Generally, the usage data reviewed was not well specified. There was a lack of consistency and robustness in the way that usage of hearing aids was assessed and categorised. There is a need for more standardised level of reporting of hearing aid usage data to further understand the relationship between usage and hearing aid outcomes

Hearing aid effectiveness after aural rehabilitation - individual versus group (HEARING) trial: RCT design and baseline characteristics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hearing impairment is the most common body system disability in veterans. In 2008, nearly 520,000 veterans had a disability for hearing loss through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Changes in eligibility for hearing aid services, along with the aging population, contributed to a greater than 300% increase in the number of hearing aids dispensed from 1996 to 2006. In 2006, the VA committed to having no wait times for patient visits while providing quality clinically-appropriate care. One approach to achieving this goal is the use of group visits as an alternative to individual visits. We sought to determine: 1) if group hearing aid fitting and follow-up visits were at least as effective as individual visits, and 2) whether group visits lead to cost savings through the six month period after the hearing aid fitting. We describe the rationale, design, and characteristics of the baseline cohort of the first randomized clinical trial to study the impact of group versus individual hearing aid fitting and follow-up visits.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Participants were recruited from the VA Puget Sound Health Care System Audiology Clinic. Eligible patients had no previous hearing aid use and monaural or binaural air-conduction hearing aids were ordered at the evaluation visit. Participants were randomized to receive the hearing aid fitting and the hearing aid follow-up in an individual or group visit. The primary outcomes were hearing-related function, measured with the first module of the Effectiveness of Aural Rehabilitation (Inner EAR), and hearing aid adherence. We tracked the total cost of planned and unplanned audiology visits over the 6-month interval after the hearing aid fitting.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>A cohort of 659 participants was randomized to receive group or individual hearing aid fitting and follow-up visits. Baseline demographic and self-reported health status and hearing-related measures were evenly distributed across the treatment arms.</p> <p>Outcomes after the 6-month follow-up period are needed to determine if group visits were as least as good as those for individual visits and will be reported in subsequent publication.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>NCT00260663</p

Prevalência de deficiência auditiva referida e fatores associados em uma população de idosos da cidade de Manaus: um estudo de base populacional

RESUMO: Objetivo: estimar a prevalência de deficiência auditiva referida e fatores associados em idosos da cidade de Manaus. Métodos: realizou-se um estudo seccional de base populacional em 646 sujeitos com 60 anos ou mais entrevistados durante 2013. A amostra foi obtida com o delineamento transversal, com amostragem por conglomerados, dois estágios de seleção e auto ponderada. Os dados foram analisados pelo teste Qui-quadrado e Regressão de Poisson. Resultados: prevalência de perda auditiva referida de 25,7%. Os fatores que se mantiveram significantemente associados após modelo multivariado foram: viver sozinho (RP= 1,34), dependência em Atividades Instrumentais de Vida Diária (RP=1,61), labirintite (RP=1,33), Mal de Parkinson (RP=2,02), dificuldade de compreensão (RP=1,69), deficiência visual (RP=1,94) e dificuldade de comunicação (RP=1,34). Os impactos na comunicação apontaram que a perda auditiva foi 68% maior entre em os indivíduos com dificuldade de fala em comparação aos que não referiram tal dificuldade, reforçando a limitação que a perda auditiva pode trazer à comunicação. Conclusão: a prevalência de perda auditiva entre idosos aponta para a necessidade de se conhecer a magnitude desse déficit para a saúde pública, e contribuir para a construção de estratégias de identificação dessas perdas, possibilitando a minimização desses efeitos neste grupo

Probability, Professionalism, and Protecting Taxpayers

This Article--the first in a three-part series--analyzes the affirmative and disciplinary duties imposed on tax lawyers that require them to make probability assessments about the merits of a client's tax position or tax-favored transaction and to reflect those estimates with numerical precision. It describes how the Treasury, Congress, and the American Bar Association (often in concert, occasionally at odds) forged this obligatory standard of care over the last three decades with the shared goal of facilitating accurate advice, accurate tax returns, and compliance with the law. The resulting regulatory standard of care (which swept aside the old regime of self-regulation) assists tax lawyers in avoiding flawed methodological processes and in minimizing psychological biases and misaligned incentives that can distort professional judgment. In this way, the standard of care for tax lawyers--particularly its emphasis on improving accuracy and reducing errors by updating subjective beliefs with new, relevant information--reflects a branch of probabilistic decision theory known as Bayesian reasoning