Short Subjects: Foxes Guarding the Hen House: Archivists in Special Collections

While deciding on a title for this presentation, I selected one that was less provocative than that which initially occurred to me, the first iteration being: Foxes Guarding the Hen House: The Coming Archival Takeover of Special Collections. I decided against this title for two reasons: first, it overstates the current situation and likely future condition of research IIbraries· generally, and special collections units in particular; and, second, it. only exacerbates the attitudinal problem that I believe all of us need to acknowledge

The Importance Of Combining Basic And Applied Literature In Determining International Monetary Policy

This article is a discussion of the current state of knowledge about optimal monetary policy.  The authors contrast basic and applied literatures. The basic literature is explicit about the frictions that generate a positive value for money and make it socially beneficial. The applied literature concentrates on ad hoc constructs.  The authors discuss monetary policy lessons from each type of literature, as well as how the two distinct approaches may be usefully combined

Clinical Case Mix and other Challenges to Detroit\u27s Medicaid-Dependent Nursing Homes

Nursing homes that care for the poor in Detroit are frequently dependent upon Medicaid as their principal source of revenue. These facilities face numerous challenges because they face limited resources for maintenance of facilities, staff and administrative supports, and other normal costs. They lack the kinds of support that are provided in-kind, or by more generous sources of revenue and are often characterized as institutions of poor quality; yet nearly 70% of the nation’s Medicaid-recipient elderly nursing home patients are in for-profit facilities that are sustained largely on Medicaid funding. These facilities are often sources of care for underserved minority populations, the adult mentally-ill, and others for whom alternative venues of care are no longer available. The case mix of aged, mentally ill, and numerous other chronic adult conditions is unlike any other health care environment in Michigan, yet the facilities that offer such care are poorly understood and insufficiently supported. The situation has established a health care disparity for the aged, urban poor

Quality and safety of milk from farm to dairy product

End of Project ReportNeutrophils (PMN cells) constitute one of the main cell types in milk. Increased PMN level is an indication of mastitis. An ELISA method has been developed to determine PMN levels in milk. This may allow (in addition to somatic cell count [SCC]) selection of infected quarters at drying off, thereby allowing antibiotic therapy to be limited to those quarters. PMN counts may also be used to select milk for processing. Little information is available on the contribution of different somatic cells in milk to cheese-making efficiency. The overall objective of this study was to establish the influence of the quality of raw milk, as determined by somatic cell level and type, on milk biochemistry and cheese quality. The work firstly included modification to a method for an enzyme immunoassay, which could enumerate milk PMN. Subsequently, the impact of somatic cell and PMN content on biochemistry of individual udder quarter milks and simulated bulk cow milks, and quality of cheese manufactured from such milks was investigated. The somatic cell and PMN content of bulk herd milks was also investigated. The modification to the test of O’Sullivan et al (1992) allowed the accurate measurement of PMN levels in milk. The strong relationship or correlation between SCC and PMN of 92% in the individual quarter milks has confirmed previous preliminary data. This is important since PMN in conjunction with SCC may now provide a more reliable method of selecting milks for processing. The reduction in casein at elevated SCC and PMN levels may have resulted in the trend towards deteriorated milk coagulation properties. A very heterogeneous selection of proteolysis patterns was observed in the miniature cheeses. This substantial difference in proteolytic activity in milk from different quarters had not been observed previously. Enzymes associated with the cells in high SCC milk were retained in the cheese curd and thus, contributed to proteolysis during ripening. Addition of low volumes of high SCC milk had an obvious impact on proteolysis patterns and cheese ripening. However, such trends were generally less clear with increasing PMN milk than those observed for addition of high SCC milk. The poor correlation between SCC and PMN obtained in both cow and herd bulk milks, compared to the correlation in quarter milks was probably due to the mixing of high and low SCC milks from either quarters or cows. Thus, the true effect of PMN may not be observed in bulk herd milk but may still have an adverse effect on milk quality. Whether elevated bulk milk SCC and PMN level is due to milk from a smaller number of cows with extremely high SCC/PMN being included with milk from a predominantly healthy herd, or, to large numbers of cows with sub-clinical infections, probably contributes to variation in the effects of SCC/PMN on dairy products

Transition from electron accumulation to depletion at InGaN surfaces

The composition dependence of the Fermi-level pinning at the oxidized (0001) surfaces of n-type InxGa1−xN films (0<=x<=1) is investigated using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The surface Fermi-level position varies from high above the conduction band minimum (CBM) at InN surfaces to significantly below the CBM at GaN surfaces, with the transition from electron accumulation to depletion occurring at approximately x=0.3. The results are consistent with the composition dependence of the band edges with respect to the charge neutrality level

Current Review of In Nivo GBM Rodent Models: Emphasis on the CNS-1 Tumour Model

GBM (glioblastoma multiforme) is a highly aggressive brain tumour with very poor prognosis despite multi-modalities of treatment. Furthermore, recent failure of targeted therapy for these tumours highlights the need of appropriate rodent models for preclinical studies. In this review, we highlight the most commonly used rodent models (U251, U86, GL261, C6, 9L and CNS-1) with a focus on the pathological and genetic similarities to the human disease. We end with a comprehensive review of the CNS-1 rodent model

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: Island in Time: A Natural and Human History of the Islands of Maine by Philip W. Conkling; A Seafaring Legacy: The Photographs, Diaries and Memorabilia of a Maine Sea Captain and His Wife by Julianna FreeHand; Coming of Age on Damariscove Island, Maine by Carl R. Griffin III and Alaric Faulkner; The Identity of the St. Francis Indians by Gordon M. Day; Soldiers, Sailors and Patriots of the Revolutionary War: Maine by Carleton E. Fisher and Sue K. Fisher

Building the Interstate

This PDF was downloaded from FHWA's Highway History website: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/history.cfm.What follows is the documentation of the critical events during the building of the Interstate System. The record begins with the passage of the 1956 Highway Act, which kicked off the Interstate construction program. It ends in 1974 just after the passage of the 1973 Highway Act, which was landmark legislation for the Interstate System and the highway program in general

Safety assessment of drotrecogin alfa (activated) in the treatment of adult patients with severe sepsis

INTRODUCTION: Drotrecogin alfa (activated; recombinant activated protein C) was shown to reduce 28-day all-cause mortality in patients with severe sepsis and to have an acceptable safety profile in 1690 patients studied in the F1K-MC-EVAD (PROWESS) trial. We analyzed all available data on the safety of treatment with drotrecogin alfa (activated) in 2786 adult patients with severe sepsis enrolled in all phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, and in an estimated 3991 patients receiving the drug in commercial use. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Mortality and safety analyses were performed on all available data from adult severe sepsis patients enrolled in seven clinical trials as of 12 April 2002. Trial-specific safety data and spontaneously reported serious adverse events from commercial use were extracted from a pharmacovigilance database. RESULTS: The 28-day mortality rate for all adult patients who received active treatment in all clinical trials was 25.3% (704/2786). Serious bleeding events during the infusion period and 28-day study period occurred in 2.8% (79/2786) and 5.3% (148/2786) of patients, respectively. Of bleeding events during the infusion period, 43% (34/79) were procedure-related. Fatal serious bleeding events during the infusion period occurred in 0.4% (12/2786) of cases. Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) events during the infusion period and 28-day study period occurred in 0.6% (16/2786) and 1.1% (32/2786) of patients, respectively. Ten out of the 16 ICH events occurring during the study drug infusion period were associated with severe thrombocytopenia (≤ 30,000/mm(3)) and/or meningitis. Serious bleeding and ICH events spontaneously reported from commercial use (n = 3991) occurred in 0.9% and 0.2% of patients, respectively. CONCLUSION: Drotrecogin alfa (activated) significantly reduces mortality in severe sepsis. The efficacy and safety profiles of drotrecogin alfa (activated) have remained consistent over the conduct of multiple clinical trials. The most important serious adverse event associated with drotrecogin alfa (activated) treatment is bleeding. Additional clinical experience indicates that invasive procedures are associated with a substantial percentage of serious bleeding events, particularly those occurring at the start of infusion of the drug. Severe thrombocytopenia (for all serious bleeding events, including ICH) and meningitis (for ICH only) may be risk factors for serious bleeding. However, patients with severe thrombocytopenia and/or meningitis may be at greater risk for bleeding or ICH in the absence of drug therapy

Geographic Population Structure of the Sugarcane Borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), in the Southern United States

The sugarcane borer moth, Diatraea saccharalis, is widespread throughout the Western Hemisphere, and is considered an introduced species in the southern United States. Although this moth has a wide distribution and is a pest of many crop plants including sugarcane, corn, sorghum and rice, it is considered one species. The objective was to investigate whether more than one introduction of D. saccharalis had occurred in the southern United States and whether any cryptic species were present. We field collected D. saccharalis in Texas, Louisiana and Florida in the southern United States. Two molecular markers, AFLPs and mitochondrial COI, were used to examine genetic variation among these regional populations and to compare the sequences with those available in GenBank and BOLD. We found geographic population structure in the southern United States which suggests two introductions and the presence of a previously unknown cryptic species. Management of D. saccharalis would likely benefit from further investigation of population genetics throughout the range of this species