Women's Health Coverage Since the ACA: Improvements for Most, But Insurer Exclusions Put Many at Risk

Since enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many more women have health insurance than before the law, in part because it prohibits insurer practices that discriminate against women. However, gaps in women's health coverage persist. Insurers often exclude health services that women are likely to need, leaving women vulnerable to higher costs and denied claims that threaten their economic security and physical health.Goal: To uncover the types and incidence of insurer exclusions that may disproportionately affect women's coverage. Method: The authors examined qualified health plans from 109 insurers across 16 states for 2014, 2015, or both years.Key findings and conclusions: Six types of services are frequently excluded from insurance coverage: treatment of conditions resulting from noncovered services, maintenance therapy, genetic testing, fetal reduction surgery, treatment of selfinflicted conditions, and preventive services not covered by law. Policy change recommendations include prohibiting variations within states' "essential health benefits" benchmark plans and requiring transparency and simplified language in plan documents

Cortical Gating of Oropharyngeal Sensory Stimuli

Somatosensory evoked potentials provide a measure of cortical neuronal activation in response to various types of sensory stimuli. In order to prevent flooding of the cortex with redundant information various sensory stimuli are gated cortically such that response to stimulus 2 (S2) is significantly reduced in amplitude compared to stimulus 1 (S1). Upper airway protective mechanisms, such as swallowing and cough, are dependent on sensory input for triggering and modifying their motor output. Thus, it was hypothesized that central neural gating would be absent for paired-air puff stimuli applied to the oropharynx. Twenty-three healthy adults (18–35 years) served as research participants. Pharyngeal sensory evoked potentials (PSEPs) were measured via 32-electrode cap (10–20 system) connected to SynAmps2 Neuroscan EEG System. Paired-pulse air puffs were delivered with an inter-stimulus interval of 500 ms to the oropharynx using a thin polyethylene tube connected to a flexible laryngoscope. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a repeated measures analysis of variance. There were no significant differences found for the amplitudes S1 and S2 for any of the four component PSEP peaks. Mean gating ratios were above 0.90 for each peak. Results supports our hypothesis that sensory central neural gating would be absent for component PSEP peaks with paired-pulse stimuli delivered to the oropharynx. This may be related to the need for constant sensory monitoring necessary for adequate airway protection associated with swallowing and coughing

Complete Genome Sequence of Clostridium clariflavum DSM 19732

Clostridium clariflavum is a Cluster III Clostridium within the family Clostridiaceae isolated from thermophilic anaerobic sludge (Shiratori et al, 2009). This species is of interest because of its similarity to the model cellulolytic organism Clostridium thermocellum and for the ability of environmental isolates to break down cellulose and hemicellulose. Here we describe features of the 4,897,678 bp long genome and its annotation, consisting of 4,131 protein-coding and 98 RNA genes, for the type strain DSM 19732

How Behavior of Nontarget Species Affects Perceived Accuracy of Scat Detection Dog Surveys

Detection dogs, specially trained domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), have become a valuable, noninvasive, conservation tool because they remove the dependence of attracting species to a particular location. Further, detection dogs locate samples independent of appearance, composition, or visibility allowing researchers to collect large sets of unbiased samples that can be used in complex ecological queries. One question not fully addressed is why samples from nontarget species are inadvertently collected during detection dog surveys. While a common explanation has been incomplete handler or dog training, our study aimed to explore alternative explanations. Our trials demonstrate that a scat’s genetic profile can be altered by interactions of nontarget species with target scat via urine-marking, coprophagy, and moving scats with their mouths, all pathways to contamination by nontarget species’ DNA. Because detection dogs are trained to locate odor independent of masking, the collection of samples with a mixed olfactory profile (target and nontarget) is possible. These scats will likely have characteristics of target species’ scats and are therefore only discovered faulty once genetic results indicate a nontarget species. While the collection of nontarget scats will not impact research conclusions so long as samples are DNA tested, we suggest ways to minimize their collection and associated costs

Adolescents who Perceive their Diet as Healthy Consume More Fruits, Vegetables and Milk and Fewer Sweet Drinks

This study assessed whether adolescents’ perception of the healthfulness of their diet was related to dietary behaviors over the past week, controlling for demographic characteristics. Participants (n=391) completed an online survey on the frequency of specific dietary behaviors over the past week and the perceived healthfulness of their own diet compared to their peers’ diets. Mean intakes of juice, fruit, vegetables, milk, sugar-sweetened beverages, and diet beverages, were compared by perceived healthfulness of diet categories using analysis of covariance. Participants with higher perceived healthfulness of diet reported significantly higher mean fruit and vegetable intakes and a lower mean intake of sugar sweetened beverages over the past week than participants with the same or lower perceived healthfulness of diet (all p< 0.001). Participants who reported a higher perceived healthfulness of diet reported a significantly higher frequency of milk intake (p< 0.05) than those who reported the same perceived healthfulness of diet. Those with lower perceived healthfulness of diet reported higher mean frequencies of diet beverage intakes than those with higher perceived healthfulness (p<0.05). Further research should include qualitative studies with adolescents to explore how individuals rate their diets and how these perceptions influence dietary choices

Educación para la animación en un contexto índígena

En este trabajo describimos los procesos y resultados de los talleres de animación y video que realizamos en el Centro Rural de Educación Superior, en Estipac, Jalisco, México. Los talleres se dirigieron a estudiantes de preparatoria y licenciatura, muchos de ellos huicholes, a quienes les dimos el equipo técnico, el entrenamiento y el apoyo necesario para permitir que contaran sus propias historias en su idioma a través de la animación cuadro por cuadro. Durante el proceso, no sólo aprendieron a valorar, preservar y transmitir sus tradiciones culturales en forma novedosa, sino que también se ejercitaron en ser consumidores más críticos de los medios de comunicación de la sociedad contemporánea. La idea que guió estos talleres es que la animación puede abrir las puertas al mundo de los medios visuales a partir del interés en las competencias sobre medios de comunicación y justicia social. === === ABSTRACT === === This article describes the processes and results of the animation and video workshops we held at Centro Rural de Educación Superior, en Estipac, Jalisco, Mexico. The workshops were directed to high school and college students, many of whom were Huicholes. We gave them technical equipment, training, and the necessary support to allow them to tell their own stories in their language, through frame–by–frame animation. During the process, they learned not only to value, preserve, and transmit their cultural traditions in a new way, but also to practice being more critical consumers of mass media in today's society. The idea that guided these workshops is that animation can open the door to the world of the visual media, based on interest in media skills and social justice

Draft Genome Sequence of Sorghum Grain Mold Fungus Epicoccum sorghinum, a Producer of Tenuazonic Acid

The facultative plant pathogen Epicoccum sorghinum is associated with grain mold of sorghum and produces the mycotoxin tenuazonic acid. This fungus can have serious economic impact on sorghum production. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of E. sorghinum (USPMTOX48)