Aquaculture Law in the North Central States: A Digest of State Statutes Pertaining to the Production and Marketing of Aquacultural Products

One of the barriers to the growth and development of the aquaculture industry in the 12-state North Central region is a lack of comprehensive information on the state laws and regulations that affect the industry. The North Central Regional Aquaculture Center and its advisory committees quickly recognized this problem and made it one of their highest priorities for research. Among the factors that cause the confusion are the many aspects or stages of producing and marketing aquacultural products. The long and complex chain of production, transportation and marketing may include issues such as land use planning and zoning, water pollution and state fisheries regulations, transportation requirements and food quality standards. Many public policies and a wide variety of public agencies are involved in regulating these aspects of aquacultural production and marketing

Assessment of Pharmacist Attitudes Regarding Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Hours

Introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) hours are a means of integrating experiential education as a key role early on in pharmacy education. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) has offered little guidance on mandatory and specific objectives to accomplish during IPPE hours, thus it is possible that preceptors do not feel adequately prepared, nor do they have a full understanding of what is required of them when they agree to precept an IPPE student. Given the lack of previous research conducted, the objective of this study was to obtain an understanding of the general attitude that preceptors have toward IPPE hours. A self-administered Internet-based questionnaire was completed by 100 respondents. The survey included multiple choice, Likert-type scale (1 =strongly disagree to 7 =strongly agree), sliding scale, and open-ended questions assessing preceptor\u27s knowledge of academic IPPE hour requirements, college of pharmacy expectations, time commitment and work site issues, expectations of the student, formality of IPPE hours, personal experience as a preceptor, an open-ended response and demographic information. Upon analyzing the data, researchers found that respondents presented with a generally positive attitude regarding IPPE hours (5.79 ± 1.03). Respondents expressed a desire to receive a zero to two hour online preceptor training (5.17 ± 1.25). In general, pharmacists indicated sufficient staffing to accommodate IPPE students (3.92 ± 1.38) and were undecided regarding monetary reimbursement (4.39 ± 1.53). Survey participants preferred receiving a guided checklist of activities for completion (S.45 ± 1.27), student resume (5.19 ± 1.30) and previous didactic course work (S.33 ± 1.41); however, survey participants expressed a desire for flexibility in determining the specifics of the experience (5.41 ± 1.11) while having students complete hours in a more concentrated time frame (5.19 ± 1.44). This exploratory research project was conducted to serve as baseline data to stimulate further investigation regarding IPPE hours

Sustained Medication Reduction Following Unilateral VIM Thalamic Stimulation for Essential Tremor

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an increasingly utilized therapeutic modality for the management of medication refractory essential tremor (ET). The aim of this study was to determine whether DBS allowed for anti-tremor medication reduction within the year after the procedure was performed. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review and telephone interviews on 34 consecutive patients who had been diagnosed with ET, and who had undergone unilateral DBS surgery. Results: Of the 34 patients in our cohort, 31 patients (91%) completely stopped all anti-tremor medications either before surgery (21 patients, 62%) or in the year following DBS surgery (10 patients, 29%). Patients who discontinued tremor medications before DBS surgery did so because their tremors either became refractory to anti-tremor medication, or they developed adverse events to tremor medications. Patients who stopped tremor medications after DBS surgery did so due to sufficient tremor control. Only three patients (9%) who were taking tremor medications at the time of surgery continued the use of a beta-blocker post-operatively for the purpose of hypertension management in all cases. Discussion: The data from this study indicate that medication cessation is common following unilateral DBS for ET

Clean Low-Biomass Procedures and Their Application to Ancient Ice Core Microorganisms

Microorganisms in glacier ice provide tens to hundreds of thousands of years archive for a changing climate and microbial responses to it. Analyzing ancient ice is impeded by technical issues, including limited ice, low biomass, and contamination. While many approaches have been evaluated and advanced to remove contaminants on ice core surfaces, few studies leverage modern sequencing to establish in silico decontamination protocols for glacier ice. Here we sought to apply such “clean” sampling techniques with in silico decontamination approaches used elsewhere to investigate microorganisms archived in ice at ~41 (D41, ~20,000 years) and ~49 m (D49, ~30,000 years) depth in an ice core (GS3) from the summit of the Guliya ice cap in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau. Four “background” controls were established – a co-processed sterile water artificial ice core, two air samples collected from the ice processing laboratories, and a blank, sterile water sample – and used to assess contaminant microbial diversity and abundances. Amplicon sequencing revealed 29 microbial genera in these controls, but quantitative PCR showed that the controls contained about 50–100-times less 16S DNA than the glacial ice samples. As in prior work, we interpreted these low-abundance taxa in controls as “contaminants” and proportionally removed them in silico from the GS3 ice amplicon data. Because of the low biomass in the controls, we also compared prokaryotic 16S DNA amplicons from pre-amplified (by re-conditioning PCR) and standard amplicon sequencing, and found the resulting microbial profiles to be repeatable and nearly identical. Ecologically, the contaminant-controlled ice microbial profiles revealed significantly different microorganisms across the two depths in the GS3 ice core, which is consistent with changing climate, as reported for other glacier ice samples. Many GS3 ice core genera, including Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, Flavobacterium, Janthinobacterium, Polaromonas, and Rhodobacter, were also abundant in previously studied ice cores, which suggests wide distribution across glacier environments. Together these findings help further establish “clean” procedures for studying low-biomass ice microbial communities and contribute to a baseline understanding of microorganisms archived in glacier ice

Development and implementation of a community pharmacy medication therapy management-based transition of care program in the managed Medicaid population

Objective: To describe successes and barriers with the development and implementation of a community pharmacy medication therapy management-based transition of care program in the managed Medicaid population. Setting: A single supermarket chain pharmacy Practice description: Community pharmacists provide dispensing and non-dispensing pharmacy services including medication therapy management, biometric wellness screenings, and immunizations. Practice innovation: Developed and implemented a community pharmacy medication therapy management-based transition of care program for patients with managed Medicaid Main outcome measures: Feasibility of developing and implementing a transition of care service in a community pharmacy Results: During the first six months, a total of 17 patients were seen as part of the program. Study pharmacists identified successes and potential strategies for overcoming barriers. Conclusion: Developing and implementing a community pharmacy transition of care program for patients with managed Medicaid was logistically feasible.   Type: Original Researc

A dual-chamber method for quantifying the effects of atmospheric perturbations on secondary organic aerosol formation from biomass burning emissions

Biomass burning (BB) is a major source of atmospheric pollutants. Field and laboratory studies indicate that secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from BB emissions is highly variable. We investigated sources of this variability using a novel dual-smog-chamber method that directly compares the SOA formation from the same BB emissions under two different atmospheric conditions. During each experiment, we filled two identical Teflon smog chambers simultaneously with BB emissions from the same fire. We then perturbed the smoke with UV lights, UV lights plus nitrous acid (HONO), or dark ozone in one or both chambers. These perturbations caused SOA formation in nearly every experiment with an average organic aerosol (OA) mass enhancement ratio of 1.78 ± 0.91 (mean ± 1σ). However, the effects of the perturbations were highly variable ranging with OA mass enhancement ratios ranging from 0.7 (30% loss of OA mass) to 4.4 across the set of perturbation experiments. There was no apparent relationship between OA enhancement and perturbation type, fuel type, and modified combustion efficiency. To better isolate the effects of different perturbations, we report dual-chamber enhancement (DUCE), which is the quantity of the effects of a perturbation relative to a reference condition. DUCE values were also highly variable, even for the same perturbation and fuel type. Gas measurements indicate substantial burn-to-burn variability in the magnitude and composition of SOA precursor emissions, even in repeated burns of the same fuel under nominally identical conditions. Therefore, the effects of different atmospheric perturbations on SOA formation from BB emissions appear to be less important than burn-to-burn variability

Bullets over ballots: Islamist groups, the state and electoral violence in Egypt and Morocco

This article is concerned with state-sponsored electoral violence in liberalized autocracies. The first section of the paper identifies a number of variables that can help explain the decision calculus of authoritarian incumbents to deploy force against strong electoral challengers. The second section then examines these propositions with reference to Egypt and Morocco. Drawing on recent parliamentary elections in both countries the article questions why, despite facing the challenge of political Islam, the two regimes differed so markedly in their willingness to manipulate the polls by recourse to violence. Whilst the Egyptian authorities decided to abrogate all pretence of peaceful elections in favour of violent repression against the Muslim Brotherhood candidates and sympathizers, no such tactics were deployed by the ruling elite in Morocco. We suggest that three principal factors influenced the regimes' response to this electoral challenge: (1) the centrality of the elected institution to authoritarian survival; (2) the availability of alternative electioneering tools; and (3) the anticipated response of the international community. The article concludes by suggesting that in order to understand better when and how states deploy violence in elections, we need to focus on a more complex set of factors rather than simply on the electoral potency of key opposition challengers or the authoritarian nature of the state

Differences in career paths and attributes of pharmacists completing a community pharmacy residency program (CPRP)

Objective: To determine any differences in career paths and career attributes of pharmacists who have completed a PGY1 community pharmacy residency program (CPRP) as compared to those that have not completed a PGY1 CPRP. Methods: A web-based survey evaluating various aspects of community pharmacists’ careers was distributed to 274 CPRP graduates in addition to a random sample of 7,376 community pharmacists. The survey contained 32 questions evaluating various career attributes. Questions that assessed level of agreement were on a 6-point Likert-type Scale (1=strongly disagree; 6=strongly agree). Results: A total of 353 participants completed the survey, with 224 indicating that they had not completed a CPRP. Pharmacists who completed a CPRP responded that they spend significantly more time on patient care services, teaching, and research, and spend less time dispensing medications compared to those that have not completed a CPRP. Compared to those that did not complete a CPRP, CPRP graduates were less likely to agree that current level of workload negatively impacts job performance, motivation to work, job satisfaction, mental/emotional health, and physical health. Conclusion: Pharmacists completing a CPRP noted significant differences in their current employment and job responsibilities. Additional expansion and education regarding the importance of CPRPs should be considered