Administrative License Renewal and Due Process -- A Case Study

Scholars have recently noted the paucity of scholarship on administrative licenses as especially significant given the prevalence-indeed ubiquity-of administrative licenses today.This Article contributes to filling that void by tackling an aspect of administrative licensing that has received especially little attention and, as a result, has been a source of serious confusion: license renewals. As this Article details, administrative license renewal practices raise interesting and important questions about administrative law and procedural due process. Does one have a property interest in a license after that license expires by its terms? Is an agency\u27s decision not to renew a license more akin to denying an initial license application or to suspending or revoking an active license? This Article answers these questions and then applies those answers to one particular context-the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Our nation\u27s most important animal protection law, the AWA governs more than 2.5 million animals held at nearly eleven thousand locations. By all accounts, it is woefully underenforced. As this Article discusses, that underenforcement is seriously aggravated by the practice of automatically renewing AWA licenses, even in the face of egregious violations. After analyzing recent litigation that has tried to challenge this practice, the Article concludes with policy proposals to address the automatic renewal problem while also ensuring fairness

A Patient-Centered Description of Severe Asthma:Patient Understanding Leading to Assessment for a Severe Asthma Referral (PULSAR)

BACKGROUND: Although severe asthma can be life-threatening, many patients are unaware they have this condition. OBJECTIVES: Patient Understanding Leading to Assessment for a Severe Asthma Referral (PULSAR) is a novel, multidisciplinary working group aiming to develop and disseminate a global, patient-centered description of severe asthma to improve patient understanding of severe asthma and effect a change in patient behavior whereby patients are encouraged to visit their healthcare professional, when appropriate. METHODS: Current definitions from patient organization websites, asthma guidelines, and medication information for key asthma drugs were assessed and informed a multidisciplinary working group, convened to identify common concepts and terminology used to define severe asthma. A patient-centered description of severe asthma and patient checklist were drafted based on working-group discussions and reviewed by an external behavioral scientist for patient understanding and relevance. These were tested using an online US/Canadian survey. RESULTS: The patient-centered description of severe asthma and patient checklist were reviewed and re-drafted by the authors. The text was simplified following the behavioral-scientist review. The survey (n = 153) included 105 patients with severe asthma. Of those with severe asthma, 92.2% of patients reported that the description was consistent with their experiences of severe asthma and 92.6% of patients reported that the PULSAR initiative would encourage them to visit their healthcare provider. CONCLUSION: A patient-centered description of severe asthma has been developed and tested using patients with severe asthma; this description will allow patients to assess whether they might have severe asthma and prompt them to visit their healthcare provider, if appropriate

Impact of Shade in Beef Feed Yards on Performance, Body Temperature, and Heat Stress

A study using crossbred steers was conducted at a commercial feedyard in Eastern NE to determine the effects of shade on cattle performance, ear temperature, panting scores, and cattle activity. Cattle with shade had greater dry matter intake, average daily gain and lower panting scores while movement and ear temperature were not different between treatments. Over the course of the experiment three weather events were selected to be analyzed separately (two heat events and one cool event) based on wind adjusted temperature- humidity index. Providing shade during heat event 1 resulted in greater intakes and lower panting scores, while providing shade during heat event 2 resulted in lower panting scores compared to non- shaded cattle. During the cool event, greater intakes and lower panting scores were observed for shaded cattle, although panting scores were low for both treatments. Providing shade for cattle improved intakes and average daily gains while mitigating some effects of heat stress

Evidence of Limited Recruitment of Pallid Sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River

Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus are endemic to the Missouri and Mississippi river basins and are rare throughout their range. The species was listed as federally endangered with little to no evidence of natural recruitment. Since population augmentation was initiated as a recovery objective in the early 1990s, thousands of hatchery-origin Pallid Sturgeon have been stocked in the lower Missouri River (Gavins Point Dam [river kilometer 1,305.1] to the confluence of the Mississippi River [river kilometer 0.0]). Efforts to discriminate natural reproduction and recruitment of wild-origin Pallid Sturgeon from hatchery-origin fish has been hampered by tag loss in hatchery-origin sturgeon, inconsistent documentation of hatchery parental crosses, and the failure to collect tissue samples for genotyping all broodstock. However, the recent reconstruction of missing parental genotypes from known hatchery-origin progeny and from cryopreserved milt made it possible to examine Pallid Sturgeon recruitment. Therefore, our objectives were to 1) determine the likelihood that unmarked Pallid Sturgeon captured from the lower Missouri River were the result of natural recruitment and 2) examine the length distribution of wild- and hatchery-origin fish to determine if a difference exists by origin and examine the life-stage distribution. Genetic analysis showed that from 2003 to 2015, 358 ‘‘presumptive wild-origin’’ Pallid Sturgeon were captured in the lower Missouri River and the comparison between the length distributions of wild- and hatchery-origin fish did not provide any additional clarification into potential wildorigin fish. Low recruitment may be due to a small breeding population, high mortality of early life stages, hybridization with Shovelnose Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus, or transport of drifting free embryos or larvae into inhospitable habitats. Determining what factors are limiting recruitment is the important next step for the recovery of Pallid Sturgeon in the lower Missouri River

Plain Language Summary of principles for improving the care of people with eosinophil-associated diseases.

Eosinophil-associated diseases (EADs) are a group of conditions in which eosinophils (a type of white blood cell) are thought to play a key role in the disease and how it develops. Some EADs are common, such as atopic dermatitis (also called eczema) and a subtype of asthma called eosinophilic asthma, while others are rare, such as hypereosinophilic syndrome (a condition in which a person has a very high number of eosinophils in both the blood and one or more organs). People with EADs face many problems related to their conditions. Symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, itch, or shortness of breath impact both the patient as well as their friends and family. Patients with EADs also experience delays to diagnosis and treatment as well as financial barriers. Healthcare professionals sometimes fail to recognize the complex set of symptoms that characterize an EAD, and this may cause delays in reaching a correct diagnosis. As a result, it may take longer for a patient to get the best care and the most effective treatments, which may contribute to poor health. The goal of this charter is to describe the key elements of good quality care, which all people with EADs deserve, as well as to present an action plan to improve health and overall well-being for people with EADs. Proposed use of this patient charter: The principles described in this charter (a written guide to achieve an outcome) show the core elements of quality care that people with EADs must receive. They also describe clear steps to reduce the burden on patients and their caregivers and to improve patient health outcomes. We urge healthcare professionals, hospitals, and policymakers around the world to adopt these principles quickly. By doing this, people with EADs will be more likely to receive an accurate and timely diagnosis and have access to quality care and treatment in the right setting

Improving Care in Eosinophil-Associated Diseases: A Charter.

Eosinophil-associated diseases (EADs) are a range of heterogeneous conditions in which eosinophils are believed to play a critical pathological role. EADs include common illnesses such as eosinophilic asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis and rare conditions such as hypereosinophilic syndromes (HES) and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs). EADs are associated with substantial burdens for the patient, including chronic, debilitating symptoms, increased financial burden, decreased health-related quality of life, and the need for repeated visits to multiple different healthcare professionals (HCPs), emergency departments, and/or hospitals. Poor EAD recognition by HCPs often contributes to delayed diagnoses, which further delays patient access to appropriate care and effective treatments, contributing to poor health outcomes. The objective of this charter is to outline key patient rights and expectations with respect to the management of their condition(s) and to set forth an ambitious action plan to improve health outcomes for patients with EADs: (1) people with EADs, their caretakers, HCPs, and the public must have greater awareness and education about EADs; (2) people with EADs must receive a timely, accurate diagnosis; (3) all people with EADs must have access to an appropriate multidisciplinary team, when necessary; and (4) people with EADs must have access to safe and effective treatment options without unnecessary regulatory delays. The principles described in this charter demonstrate the core elements of quality care that people with EADs must receive, and they represent clear steps by which to reduce patient and caregiver burden and improve patient outcomes. We urge HCPs, healthcare systems, and policymakers worldwide to swiftly adopt these principles to ensure patients with EADs have an accurate diagnosis in a timely manner and access to high-level care and treatment in an appropriate setting

The Pierre Auger Observatory III: Other Astrophysical Observations

Astrophysical observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Pierre Auger ObservatoryComment: Contributions to the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Beijing, China, August 201