Drug Supply Chain Security Act of 2013 and It’s Computer System Implementation

Since 1987, the federal government and state governments, have tried to combat counterfeit drugs from entering the United States and the states\u27 pharmaceutical supply chain. The latest attempt to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the state drug supply chain was the California E-Pedigree drug tracing program that was to be implemented by the end of 2017. The California E-Pedigree system uses GS1 PDMS tracing system as its guideline. Since all of the states use paper format pedigree systems, California would have been the first electronic pedigree system in the U.S. However, on November 27, 2013, the President of the United States signed into law the Drug Quality Security Act (DQSA). Title II of DQSA is called the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) and it removes all existing or future drug track or trace systems including pedigree systems from all states. DSCSA does establish a new federal drug tracing program that uses pedigrees and product identifiers for verification of the drugs being accepted by the buyer. Although the full implementation of the DSCSA will take about ten years from its enactment, the basic structure of the new federal tracing program is laid out. My thesis will analyze the current state of the pharmaceutical industry, the impact of counterfeit medicine, and anti-counterfeit technologies. We will proceed to analyze the DSCSA to create a basic logical model and show a possible implementation of its verification process. Additionally, we will discuss DSCSA model as to its effectiveness of the basic design against the entrance of counterfeit medicine into the United States Pharmaceutical Supply Chain. This will be followed by a conclusion

Natural Resource Enterprises: Payments to Landowners for Ecosystem Services from Forests and their Management in the United States of America (U.S.)

Abstract Mississippi landowners were found to diversify incomes from forests through fee-access outdoor recreation, including hunting, angling, wildlife watching, and other nature-based activities (Jones et al. 2005). The Natural Resource Enterprises (NRE) Program at Mississippi State University educates private landowners, resource agencies, and local communities about recreational enterprises, conservation, and integration of these activities with sustainable forestry through educational workshops. Since 2005, the NRE Program has organized and conducted over 75 landowner workshops in 11 U.S. states and Sweden and trained in excess of 4,000 participants in outdoor recreational business development and associated conservation practices. Survey results revealed that our programming has initiated over 1,000 new outdoor recreational businesses on an estimated 1.2 million hectares of forest and agricultural lands, generating over $14 million in incomes while fostering natural resource conservation on family farms in the U.S. NRE development on rural lands benefits landowners and local communities through promoting payments for ecosystem services supported by sustainable forests.</jats:p

Introduction of a rapid response system: why we are glad we MET

Hospital patients can experience serious adverse events during their stay. To identify, review and treat these patients and to prevent serious adverse events, we introduced a medical emergency team (MET) service into our hospital in September 2000 following a 1-year period of preparation and education. The introduction of the MET into our institution has been associated with profound changes to cultural and medical practice that have affected the way in which the intensive care unit and the hospital view the roles of junior doctors, nurses, intensive care physicians, and senior doctors. These changes have also been associated with a progressive reduction in the incidence of cardiac arrests of close to 70%. Furthermore, they have allowed improved analysis and characterization of 'at-risk' patients and their needs. Four years later, we remain glad we MET

Pigment geochemistry as chronological marker: The case of lead pigment in rock art in the Urrmarning 'Red Lily Lagoon' rock art precinct, western Arnhem Land

This paper presents selected results of an experimental study using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for the non-destructive analysis of rock art pigments in northern Australia. During two weeks of fieldwork in the dry season of 2011 at the Red Lily Lagoon area in western Arnhem Land, 32 rock art motifs in four rockshelter sites were analysed. A total of 640 analyses were undertaken, including of white, red, black, yellow and blue pigments from both early and contact art motifs. This paper discusses the geochemical analysis of one particular motif painted with black pigment. It was determined that processed metal lead was the most likely pigment base. Contrary to previous stylistic analysis that suggested the motif had an old age, our analysis suggests that the motif was painted within the last 200-300 years