The EEOC Is Meeting the Challenge: Response to David Rose R.

In his recent article, Twenty-Five Years Later: Where Do We Stand On Equal Employment Opportunity Law Enforcement?, David Rose declares, The time is ripe for review. Mr. Rose argues that effective enforcement of the equal employment opportunity law in the next decade is a necessary, if not sufficient, predicate for the social and economic well being of the Nation. \u27 From my perspective as Vice Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission), I heartily agree with both points. I must take issue,however, with Mr. Rose\u27s assessment of developments in federal equal employment opportunity law over the last twenty-five years by focusing specifically on the last six years at the EEOC under the leadership of Clarence Thomas. I write to set the factual record straight. Mr. Rose notes that Clarence Thomas, who became Chairman in 1982, devoted substantial time and effort in his first two years to correcting the bookkeeping and other financial problems of the Commission. The problems that greeted Thomas were orders of magnitude greater than Mr. Rose suggests. In fact, Thomas did spend two full years making the Commission function, but this task required a great deal more than paying the overdue bills: an entire infrastructure was needed

Parallel Multi-Hypothesis Algorithm for Criticality Estimation in Traffic and Collision Avoidance

Due to the current developments towards autonomous driving and vehicle active safety, there is an increasing necessity for algorithms that are able to perform complex criticality predictions in real-time. Being able to process multi-object traffic scenarios aids the implementation of a variety of automotive applications such as driver assistance systems for collision prevention and mitigation as well as fall-back systems for autonomous vehicles. We present a fully model-based algorithm with a parallelizable architecture. The proposed algorithm can evaluate the criticality of complex, multi-modal (vehicles and pedestrians) traffic scenarios by simulating millions of trajectory combinations and detecting collisions between objects. The algorithm is able to estimate upcoming criticality at very early stages, demonstrating its potential for vehicle safety-systems and autonomous driving applications. An implementation on an embedded system in a test vehicle proves in a prototypical manner the compatibility of the algorithm with the hardware possibilities of modern cars. For a complex traffic scenario with 11 dynamic objects, more than 86 million pose combinations are evaluated in 21 ms on the GPU of a Drive PX~2

Vorkommen von Campylobacter coli und Campylobacter jejuni bei Schweinen im Bestand und nach der Schlachtung sowie in weiteren Lebensmitteln tierischen Ursprungs-Typisierung der Isolate und Vergleich mit humanen Isolaten

Schweine im Bestand und auf dem Schlachthof, Schlachttierkörper und Lebern sowie Hackfleisch vom Schwein und Schweinefleisch aus dem Handel wurden auf das Vorkommen von thermophilen Campylobacter spp. untersucht. Zusätzlich wurden Putenkarkassen auf einem Putenschlachthof und Hähnchen- und Putenfleischerzeugnisse aus dem Handel mit in die Untersuchung einbezogen. Die in den Proben gefundenen Campylobacter-Isolate wurden zuerst phänotypisch charakterisiert, anschließend erfolgte eine genotypische Feindifferenzierung durch zwei molekularbiologische Fingerprintingmethoden (AFLP-Typisierung und FLA-Typing). Durch den Vergleich der Isolate untereinander und mit humanen Campylobacter-Isolaten sollten epidemiologische Zusammenhänge geklärt und die Bedeutung von Geflügel- und Schweinefleisch als Infektionsquelle für den Menschen aufgezeigt werden.Faeces of pigs at the farm and the slaughterhouse, pig carcasses, livers, minced meat and porc from retail were investigated for the occurence of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. Turkey carcasses at a turkey slaughterhouse and chicken and turkey products from retail were also included in this investigation. First the Campylobacter isolates found in the samples were characterized phenotypically, afterwards they were typed with two molecularbiological fingerprinting methods (AFLP- and FLA-Typing). The comparison of the isolates with human isolates should give answers to epidemiological questions and the importance of poultry and porc as a source of infection for humans

Spectrum of patients with hypermethioninemia based on neonatal screening tests over 14 years

Purpose : The neonatal screening test for homocystinuria primarily measures methionine by using a dried blood specimen. We investigated the incidence and clinical manifestations of homocystinuria, isolated hypermethioninemia, and transient hypermethioninemia among patients with hypermethioninemia on a neonatal screening test. Methods : We performed a retrospective study of 58 patients transferred to Shoonchunhyang Hospital because of hypermethioninemia on a neonatal screening test between January 1996 and August 2009. We analyzed the level of amino acid from plasma and urine, as well as blood homocysteine. Results : Almost half of the 58 patients were identified as normal. Whereas only 3 (5.1%) patients were identified as having homocystinuria, about 20.7% (12 cases) of the patients had isolated hypermethioninemia. The ages of these two groups at initial detection of hypermethioninemia on plasma amino acid analysis were 50.0¡?#?2.5; days and 34.9¡?#?3.5; days, respectively. Both groups were put on diets, and they showed a normal developmental course as a result of early diagnosis and treatment. Conclusion : Hypermethioninemia without homocystinuria, referred to as isolated hypermethioninemia, was also detected. Thus, the impact of hypermethioninemia on a neonatal screening test should be carefully evaluated through analysis of amino acid levels from blood and urine, and we need to detect and treat an early stage of isolated hypermethioninemia as well as homocystinuria

Evaluation of a new chromogenic Salmonella plating medium

Oxoid Salmonella Chromogenic Medium (OSCM) was tested for its sensitivity and specificity as well as its use in isolation of Salmonella from stool specimens and from porcine faeces. Colonies of Salmonella enterica ssp. I, II, IV, and VI-strains grow onto the ivory-coloured turbid plates purple to mauve, size 1-2 mm in diameter. Contrarily, E. coli, Enterobacter spp., Klebsiella spp., S. sonnei and the most of C. freundii strains appear as turquoise to blue colonies. Proteus spp., Providencia spp. and Morganella morganii grow light with brownish precipitation. S. dysenteriae, S. jlexneri and S. boydii are widely inhibited. Pseudomonads, Aeromonas spp., grampositive bacteria and C. albicans are completely inhibited. Its recovery rate and sensitivity in isolation of salmonella from stool specimens is comparable to Hektoen Enteric agar. OSCM was superior in isolation of Salmonella from porcine faeces compared with XLD

Resolution of the clinical features of tyrosinemia following orthotopic liver transplantation for hepatoma

The clinical history before transplantation and subsequent clinical and biochemical course of 3 children and one adult with hereditary tyrosinemia treated by orthotopic hepatic transplantation is described. All four patients are now free of their previous dietary restrictions and appear to be cured of both their metabolic disease and their hepatic neoplasm. © 1986 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

Campylobacter in pigs: an epidemiological study

To improve our knowledge of the epidemiology of Campylobacter in pigs and to know the prevalence of these bacteria in pigs around the area of Leipzig, we monitored 60 fattening pigs and 30 piglets. Faeces samples were collected at different times and at the slaughterhouse. Till now 376 isolates could be detected, and all were proved as C. coli. The prevalence of campylobacter in fattening pigs is between 70 and 93 %. All the piglets are negative at the day of birth, but the rate of Campylobacter-positive piglets increased up to 90% after 3 weeks. For epidemiological studies we used two high-resolution genomic fingerprinting methods (AFLP and RFLP) to characterize the isolates at the strain level. We could distinguish 45 AFLP pattern types and 15 RFLP pattern types. Both methods are proved to be useful tools for epidemiological investigations, but the discriminatory power of AFLP is higher