Grace N. Brough, Golden Spike Oral History Project, GS-22, American West Center, University of Utah

Transcript (34 pages) of interview by Greg Thompson and Phil Notarianni with Grace N. Brough on September 5, 1974 for the Golden Spike Oral History Project.Brough (b. 1885) details her genealogy and discusses homesteading in the Promontory area. Other topics include the Bar-M ranch, mustangs, Lavina Rock, the towns of Wells and Fernley, social activities, the WPA, and World War II. Interviewed by Greg Thompson and Phil Notarianni. 34 pages

Initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health training: participatory action research to understand experiences in the East Midlands

Background Specialty public health training consists of 48 months of practice across the domains of health protection, healthcare public health and health improvement. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, activity pivoted towards pandemic management and the response became a significant element of registrar practice. This research aimed to understand the impact of this shift in focus on registrars’ role and training. Methods Participatory action research comprising (i) a reflective survey sent to all specialty registrars in the East Midlands training region and (ii) Delphi rounds with survey respondents to generate consensus and define themes. Results Sixteen (44%) registrars completed the survey with 12 (75%) participating in the Delphi rounds. The early pandemic response stages both challenged and re-affirmed registrars’ role and identity in public health and training while providing unique and diverse learning and development. Underpinning these themes is a variability in experience depending on prior experience, placement and training stage. Conclusions The pandemic impacted the practice, training and home-life of registrars who were required to negotiate significant challenge and uncertainty. This original work adds to a growing body of correspondence and opinion pieces articulating the experiences and challenges of medical and public health education during a pandemic

The clinical, genetic, and immune landscape of meningioma in patients with NF2-schwannomatosis.

NF2-schwannomatosis is the most common genetic predisposition syndrome associated with meningioma. Meningioma in NF2-schwannomatosis is a major source of morbidity and mortality. This is due to accumulative tumor burden in patients with synchronous schwannomas and ependymomas, sometimes including complex collision tumors. Balancing the impact of multiple interventions against the natural history of various index tumors, and the ongoing risk of de novo tumors over an individual's lifetime makes decision-making complex. The management of any given individual meningioma is often different from a comparable sporadic tumor. There is typically a greater emphasis on conservative management and tolerating growth until a risk boundary is reached, whereby symptomatic deterioration or higher risk from anticipated future treatment is threatened. Management by high-volume multidisciplinary teams improves quality of life and life expectancy. Surgery remains the mainstay treatment for symptomatic and rapidly enlarging meningioma. Radiotherapy has an important role but carries a higher risk compared to its use in sporadic disease. Whilst bevacizumab is effective in NF2-associated schwannoma and cystic ependymoma, it has no value in the management of meningioma. In this review, we describe the natural history of the disease, underlying genetic, molecular, and immune microenvironment changes, current management paradigms, and potential therapeutic targets

Agricultural Research Bulletins, Nos. 413-447

Volume 32, Bulletins 413-447. (413) What Does the Iowa Farmer Want from Radio Market News?; (414) Estimate of the Volume of Farm Dwelling Construction in Iowa; (415) Retail Lumber Establishment and Farm Dwelling Construction in Iowa; (416) Farm Rental Practices and Problems in the Midwest; (417) How Do Iowa Farmers Obtain and Use Market News?; (418) Incomplete Block Designs with Blocks of Two Plots; (419) Economic Efficiency in Pasture Production and Improvement in Southern Iowa; (420) Load Characteristics of Southeastern Iowa Farms Using Electric Ranges; (421) Objective Grade Specifications for Slaughter Barrow and Gilt Carcasses; (422) Comparison of Costs of Service and Self-Service Methods in Retail Meat Departments; (423) Costs, Returns and Capital Requirements for Soil-Conserving Farming on Rented Farms in Western Iowa; (424) Crop Response Surfaces and Economic Optima in Fertilizer Use; (425) Resource Returns and Productivity Coefficients in Selected Farming Areas of Iowa, Montana and Alabama; (426) Optimum Combinations of Competitive Crops at Particular Locations (Applications of Linear Programming: 1); (427) Application of Input-Output Analysis to a Simple Model Emphasizing Agriculture (A Study of the Interdependence of Agriculture and Other Sectors of the National Economy; (428) Farm Size Adjustments in Iowa and Cost Economies in Crop Production for Farms of Different Sizes; (429) Costs and Returns for Soil-Conserving Systems of Farming on Ida-Monona Soils in Iowa; (430) Population Change and Net Migration in the North Central States, 1940-1950; (431) Economic Instability and Choices Involving Income and Risk in Livestock and Poultry Production; (432) Relationships Between Lard Production Methods, Volumes of Production, Costs and Characteristics of Lard Produced in Selected Packing Plants; (433) Marginal Productivity of Resources and Imputation of Shares for Cash and Share Rented Farms; (434) Nutrition of 9-, 10-, and 11-Year-Old Public School Children in Iowa, Kansas and Ohio; (435) Optimum Allocation of Resources Between Pasture Improvement and Other Opportunities on Southern Iowa Farms; (436) Physical and Mathematical Theories of the Tile and Ditch Drainage and their Usefulness in Design; (437) Optimum Combinations of Livestock Enterprises and Management Practices on Farms Including Supplementary Dairy and Poultry Enterprises (An Application of Linear Programming); (438) Application of Expectation Models to Livestock and Crop Prices and Products; (439) Combinations of Rotations and Fertilization to Maximize Crop Profits on Farms in North-Central Iowa (An Application of Linear Programming); (440) Optimum Farm Plans for Beginning Farmers on Tama-Muscatine Soils; (441) Production Functions, Isoquants, Isoclines and Economic Optima in Corn Fertilization for Experiments with Two and Three Variable Nutrients; (442) Least-Cost Rations and Optimum Marketing Weights for Broilers; (443) Least-Cost Rations and Optimum Marketing Weights for Turkeys; (444) Milk Production Functions, Hay/Grain Substitution Rates and Economic Optima in Dairy Cow Rations; (445) Analysis of the Efficiencies of Alternative Farm Leasing Arrangements (An Application of Linear Programming); (446) Effects of the USDA Corn Storage Program on Corn Carryover Stocks and Corn Utilization; (447) Uncertainty, Expectations and Investment Decisions for a Sample of Central Iowa Farmers</p

WHO Global Situational Alert System: a mixed methods multistage approach to identify country-level COVID-19 alerts

Background Globally, since 1 January 2020 and as of 24 January 2023, there have been over 664 million cases of COVID-19 and over 6.7 million deaths reported to WHO. WHO developed an evidence-based alert system, assessing public health risk on a weekly basis in 237 countries, territories and areas from May 2021 to June 2022. This aimed to facilitate the early identification of situations where healthcare capacity may become overstretched.Methods The process involved a three-stage mixed methods approach. In the first stage, future deaths were predicted from the time series of reported cases and deaths to produce an initial alert level. In the second stage, this alert level was adjusted by incorporating a range of contextual indicators and accounting for the quality of information available using a Bayes classifier. In the third stage, countries with an alert level of ‘High’ or above were added to an operational watchlist and assistance was deployed as needed.Results Since June 2021, the system has supported the release of more than US$27 million from WHO emergency funding, over 450 000 rapid antigen diagnostic testing kits and over 6000 oxygen concentrators. Retrospective evaluation indicated that the first two stages were needed to maximise sensitivity, where 44% (IQR 29%–67%) of weekly watchlist alerts would not have been identified using only reported cases and deaths. The alerts were timely and valid in most cases; however, this could only be assessed on a non-representative sample of countries with hospitalisation data available.Conclusions The system provided a standardised approach to monitor the pandemic at the country level by incorporating all available data on epidemiological analytics and contextual assessments. While this system was developed for COVID-19, a similar system could be used for future outbreaks and emergencies, with necessary adjustments to parameters and indicators