Gender Differences in Risk Perception: Broadening the Contexts

The author surveys literature on the effect of gender on risk perception

Commentary: Hospital Tax-Exempt Policy: A Comparison of Schedule H and State Community Benefit Reporting Systems

In Hospital Tax-Exempt Policy: A Comparison of Schedule H and State Community Benefit Reporting Systems, Rosenbaum et aldescribe the numerous variations between current state law in 24 states and federal requirements regarding nonprofit hospitals’ community benefit activities. The potential for nonprofit hospitals to help shape community health is great, and how states choose to address requirements regarding community benefit, and potentially reinforce the new federal requirements to incentivize hospital participation in addressing root causes of poor health, should be of significant interest to the public, policy makers and public and population health experts, given the large percentage of hospitals in the US that are nonprofit. Criteria that states may wish to examine when determining whether to add or retain separate reporting requirements include: 1) Is there a state policy interest in listing or further defining additional examples of community benefit investments beyond federal requirements, for instance specific public health activities or in mandating statutory percentages/minimums for community benefit overall and also among specific sub-categories of benefits, such as the percentage for uncompensated care versus community-building activities, and, 2) Is there a state policy interest in continuing to include ‘bad debt’ as a part of ‘charity care’ even after implementation of health care reform? For the 24 states that address community benefit reporting in state policy, and the other 26 that do not, key policy debates will include how nonprofit hospitals can continue to meet divergent state and federal reporting and activity requirements, what fundamental values are articulated by Schedule H that could be replicated by states to serve their own tax and other policy needs, how state action may reinforce federal requirements and encourage nonprofit hospital engagement in addressing community health, and whether states may have unique or additional policy interests beyond federal requirements that should be included in separate reporting requirements. Rosenbaum’s analysis provides a helpful start to acknowledging the varying state and federal interests at play

Mercury Sorption on Metal Oxides

This project addresses the fundamental aspects of toxic metal (mercury) sorption by metal oxides. The emission of toxic trace elements from anthropogenic sources, such as combustion, has drawn attention to potential dangers for the ecosystem. Particular concern has been directed toward mercury species because of their high toxicity and tendency to convert into forms leading to mercury accumulation in mammals. Efforts to control mercury species release have centered on sorption technology using carbonaceous sorbents. However, it has been found, in some cases, that fly ash also has some sorptive properties towards mercury species. In order to further understand the sorption processes in the fly ash, a project was initiated to study the mercury sorption properties of various metal oxides. The purpose of the project was to serve as a baseline for further fly asli studies by determining differential sorption capacities of fly ash types. Along with the metal oxides studies, an assortment of fly ashes were looked at. Some of the metal oxide species (AI20 3) have no sorption properties for Hg. On the other hand, other metal oxides can oxidize the Hg° or catalyze the air oxidation of Hg° to form HgO. If S02 or HC1 are present in the flue gas, a mercury salt can form. A parametric study was undertaken of the effects of condition variables such as temperature and air on the sorption of mercury on metal oxides. The investigation began with simple oxides and proceeded to more complex mixed oxides and other transition or lanthanide metal oxides. Elemental mercury (Hg°) mass uptake efficiency of the oxides was monitored using a continuous mercury vapor monitor. Infrared spectrophotometry was used to characterize the oxides before mercury uptake experiments to achieve a better understanding of the binding interactions that determine the sorption process for each mercury species. The determination was made that molecular oxygen is not involved in the reaction of supports with elemental mercury. The reaction, therefore, is not catalytic. Chemical activation of supports (A120 3 and carbon) increased their adsorption capacity. For example, A120 3 alone emitted 84 % Hg into the effluent; after activation with Mn02, no trace (0 %) Hg was emitted into the effluent. Several iron oxides were tested; active samples were less dense than inactive samples. Active samples, like maghemite, include vacant sites. Vacancies in the iron oxide structure make it possible for Hg to be oxidized by iron species on ihe inside of the structure. All but one fly ash failed as sorbents for Hg. Fly ashes are inactive due to the iron species which are heated to high temperatures. The iron forms hematite which is inactive

Bicycle Safety Supplement to Teacher Buggy Driving Safety Curriculum

PDF pages:

Understanding Patient Trust in the Athletic Setting through Interviews

Trust is a vital component of the patient-clinician relationship yet little is known about trust in the athletic training (AT) profession. Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to define and understand trust in an athletic training setting. Methods: Interviews with Division I student-athlete patients (n=9) and athletic trainers (n=3) were conducted to collect data about participant views and definitions of trust. Data were analyzed using classical and constant comparison techniques; the trustworthiness of findings were assessed via peer debriefing, member checks, and reflexive journaling. Results: The analyses yielded 21 codes and four themes described to promote trust: (1) athletic trainers’ attributes, (2) interactions between athletic trainers and athletes, (3) the quality of this relationship and (4) the overall experience. Conclusion: A working definition of trust in the athletic training setting was developed via this work; furthermore, athletic trainers and patients agreed that trust is a complex construct but is vital to developing a productive therapeutic relationship

Current Status of Copyright Protection in the Digital Age and Related Topics

This Article provides a basic overview of the recent amendments to the copyright law, including the DMCA and recent developments generally, in relation to the protection of digital works. While portions of the discussion are directed to general copyright law, the primary discussion is directed specifically to legal theories used to protect or defend digital works. Interestingly, the DMCA amendments affect only slightly the rights incident to a copyrighted work, but provide significant protection against unauthorized access to copyrighted works

Neuropathic pain in AIDS patients prior to antiretroviral therapy

Objective. To measure the prevalence, severity and morbidity of neuropathic pain in AIDS patients, prior to the initiation of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. Design. A prospective, cross-sectional and descriptiveanalytical study. Setting. The Kalafong Hospital HIV Clinic in Pretoria. Subjects. All patients with confirmed AIDS who were referred to the Kalafong HIV clinic to be initiated on ARV therapy during the period August 2006 to March 2007. Outcome measures. Data were collected regarding the presence and severity of neuropathic pain in each subject. Pain of predominantly neuropathic origin (POPNO) was identified using the Neuropathic Pain Diagnostic Questionnaire (DN4). Numerical rating scales (NRS), adapted from the Brief Pain Inventory, were used to measure pain severity and painrelated interference with six aspects of daily living. Results. Of the 354 patients studied, 20.9% (95% confidence interval (CI) 16.8 - 25.2%) had POPNO. This pain was significantly more frequent in patients who were male, had lower CD4+ counts or higher viral load levels, and those on TB treatment. Eighty per cent of patients with POPNO experienced significant pain (worst pain severity ≥5 out of 10 on a NRS). Pain-related interference was highest for enjoyment of life, mood and ability to work. There was a significant positive correlation between severity of pain and pain-related interference for all domains of daily living evaluated. Conclusions. POPNO results in significant suffering and impaired functioning in patients with AIDS. It is therefore imperative that clinicians assess patients with AIDS for the presence and severity of neuropathic pain and manage it, using the most recent evidence-based guidelines. South African Medical Journal Vol. 98 (11) 2008: pp. 889-89

Fully Dynamic Matching in Bipartite Graphs

Maximum cardinality matching in bipartite graphs is an important and well-studied problem. The fully dynamic version, in which edges are inserted and deleted over time has also been the subject of much attention. Existing algorithms for dynamic matching (in general graphs) seem to fall into two groups: there are fast (mostly randomized) algorithms that do not achieve a better than 2-approximation, and there slow algorithms with \O(\sqrt{m}) update time that achieve a better-than-2 approximation. Thus the obvious question is whether we can design an algorithm -- deterministic or randomized -- that achieves a tradeoff between these two: a $o(\sqrt{m})$ approximation and a better-than-2 approximation simultaneously. We answer this question in the affirmative for bipartite graphs. Our main result is a fully dynamic algorithm that maintains a 3/2 + \eps approximation in worst-case update time O(m^{1/4}\eps^{/2.5}). We also give stronger results for graphs whose arboricity is at most \al, achieving a (1+ \eps) approximation in worst-case time O(\al (\al + \log n)) for constant \eps. When the arboricity is constant, this bound is $O(\log n)$ and when the arboricity is polylogarithmic the update time is also polylogarithmic. The most important technical developement is the use of an intermediate graph we call an edge degree constrained subgraph (EDCS). This graph places constraints on the sum of the degrees of the endpoints of each edge: upper bounds for matched edges and lower bounds for unmatched edges. The main technical content of our paper involves showing both how to maintain an EDCS dynamically and that and EDCS always contains a sufficiently large matching. We also make use of graph orientations to help bound the amount of work done during each update.Comment: Longer version of paper that appears in ICALP 201