Constitutionality of Caps: Upholding Missouri\u27s Right to Jury Trial and the Non-Economic Damages Debate, The

This Note argues that the Watts decision appropriately invalidated the statutory limits on economic damages, finding non-economic caps on damages unconstitutional. Part II of this Note analyzes the facts and holding of Watts. Part III examines previous constitutional challenges to Missouri Revised Statutes chapter 538 and how the court interpreted constitutional language to reach its decision. Next, Part IV explains the court’s rationale in Watts. Last, Part V explains why the court was correct in declaring noneconomic damage caps unconstitutional and explores the policy issues behind statutory limitations on damages

The Impact of Child Gender on Parent Coping Suggestions and Suggestion Outcomes

The way a parent socializes their child to cope with stress is an important factor that influences how their child adjusts to stress later in life. However, how a parent’s coping suggestions may differ depending on their child’s gender is not well understood. This project examined (a) how parent coping suggestions differed depending on the gender of their child, and (b) if gender moderated the association between parent coping suggestions and their child’s internalizing and externalizing problems. I drew from two studies, one in middle childhood and one in emerging adulthood, which both contained measures of parent coping suggestions and youth adjustment. Results indicated that in the emerging adulthood study, parents were significantly more likely to offer secondary control and disengagement coping suggestions to daughters compared to sons, whereas in the middle childhood study, secondary control engagement coping suggestions were associated with less internalizing problems in boys but not girls. Thus, my results suggest that both gender differences and gender moderation of socialization of coping may occur, but in different age groups

Attempting to validate the over/under triage matrix at a level I trauma center.

The Optimal Resources Document (ORD) mandates trauma activation based on injury mechanism, physiologic and anatomic criteria and recommends using the over/undertriage matrix (Matrix) to evaluate the appropriateness of trauma team activation. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the Matrix method by comparing patients appropriately triaged with those undertriaged. We hypothesized that these two groups are different and Matrix does not discriminate the needs or outcomes of these different groups of patients.Trauma registry data, from 1/2013-12/2015, at a Level I trauma center were reviewed. Over and undertriage rates were calculated by Matrix. Patients with ISS ≥16 were classified by activation level (full, limited, consultation), and triage category by Matrix. Patients in the limited activation and consultation groups were compared to patients with full activation by demographics, injuries, initial vital signs, procedures, delays to procedure, ICU admission, length of stay, and mortality.7031 patients met activation criteria. Compliance with ACS tiered activation criteria was 99%. The Matrix overtriage rate was 45% and undertriage was 24%. Of 2282 patients with an ISS ≥16, 1026 were appropriately triaged (full activation), and 1256 were under triaged. Undertriaged patients had better GCS, blood pressure, and BD than patients with full activation. ICU admission, hospital stays, and mortality were lower in the undertriaged group. The under triaged group required fewer operative interventions with fewer delays to procedure.Despite having an ISS ≥ 16, patients with limited activations were dissimilar to patients with full activation. Level of activation and triage are not equivalent. The ACS-COT full and tiered activation criteria are a robust means to have the appropriate personnel present based on available pre-hospital information. Evaluation of the process of care, regardless of level of activation should be used to evaluate trauma center performance.Level III Therapeutic and Care managementThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal

Understanding root causes of asthma: Perinatal environmental exposures and epigenetic regulation

A common explanation for the origins and rising prevalence of asthma is that they involve complex interactions between hereditary predispositions and environmental exposures that are incompletely understood. Yet, emerging evidence substantiates the paradigm that environmental exposures prenatally and during very early childhood induce epigenetic alterations that affect the expression of asthma genes and, thereby, asthma itself. Here, we review much of the key evidence supporting this paradigm. First, we describe evidence that the prenatal and early postnatal periods are key time windows of susceptibility to environmental exposures that may trigger asthma. Second, we explain how environmental epigenetic regulation may explain the immunopathology underlying asthma. Third, we outline specific evidence that environmental exposures induce epigenetic regulation, both from animal models and robust human epidemiological research. Finally, we review some emerging topics, including the importance of coexposures, population divergence, and how epigenetic regulation may change over time. Despite all the inherent complexity, great progress has been made toward understanding what we still consider reversible asthma risk factors. These, in time, may impact patient care

Using structured additive regression models to estimate risk factors of malaria: analysis of 2010 Malawi malaria indicator survey data.

BACKGROUND: After years of implementing Roll Back Malaria (RBM) interventions, the changing landscape of malaria in terms of risk factors and spatial pattern has not been fully investigated. This paper uses the 2010 malaria indicator survey data to investigate if known malaria risk factors remain relevant after many years of interventions. METHODS: We adopted a structured additive logistic regression model that allowed for spatial correlation, to more realistically estimate malaria risk factors. Our model included child and household level covariates, as well as climatic and environmental factors. Continuous variables were modelled by assuming second order random walk priors, while spatial correlation was specified as a Markov random field prior, with fixed effects assigned diffuse priors. Inference was fully Bayesian resulting in an under five malaria risk map for Malawi. RESULTS: Malaria risk increased with increasing age of the child. With respect to socio-economic factors, the greater the household wealth, the lower the malaria prevalence. A general decline in malaria risk was observed as altitude increased. Minimum temperatures and average total rainfall in the three months preceding the survey did not show a strong association with disease risk. CONCLUSIONS: The structured additive regression model offered a flexible extension to standard regression models by enabling simultaneous modelling of possible nonlinear effects of continuous covariates, spatial correlation and heterogeneity, while estimating usual fixed effects of categorical and continuous observed variables. Our results confirmed that malaria epidemiology is a complex interaction of biotic and abiotic factors, both at the individual, household and community level and that risk factors are still relevant many years after extensive implementation of RBM activities

Modeling hydrodynamic self-propulsion with Stokesian Dynamics. Or teaching Stokesian Dynamics to swim

We develop a general framework for modeling the hydrodynamic self-propulsion (i.e., swimming) of bodies (e.g., microorganisms) at low Reynolds number via Stokesian Dynamics simulations. The swimming body is composed of many spherical particles constrained to form an assembly that deforms via relative motion of its constituent particles. The resistance tensor describing the hydrodynamic interactions among the individual particles maps directly onto that for the assembly. Specifying a particular swimming gait and imposing the condition that the swimming body is force- and torque-free determine the propulsive speed. The body’s translational and rotational velocities computed via this methodology are identical in form to that from the classical theory for the swimming of arbitrary bodies at low Reynolds number. We illustrate the generality of the method through simulations of a wide array of swimming bodies: pushers and pullers, spinners, the Taylor=Purcell swimming toroid, Taylor’s helical swimmer, Purcell’s three-link swimmer, and an amoeba-like body undergoing large-scale deformation. An open source code is a part of the supplementary material and can be used to simulate the swimming of a body with arbitrary geometry and swimming gait

Development of manufacturing engineering program of Bulacan State University using employability tracer study

Tracer study is one of the continuous quality improvement tools for curriculum development. The graduates are invited to answer the tracer form to determine their employability. Since the Manufacturing Engineering program in Bulacan State University (BuLSU) is the youngest engineering program, there is minimal data on graduates available, especially on the details of their first jobs, such as the first job related to the program, time taken to land their first job, gross monthly salary, and learning competencies. The demographic profile of the manufacturing engineering graduates from 2015 to 2019 is preserved and remains strictly confidential for the safety of their identification. Correspondingly, the study applied a cross-sectional retrospective survey method. Moreover, 67.41% of manufacturing engineering graduates responded. The employment rate of manufacturing engineering graduates was 93.38%, whereas regular or permanent in their current employment was 84.40%. Furthermore, data show that they are employed within less than a month, 50.97% of responses. Lastly, the primary learning competency that manufacturing engineering graduates consider is critical thinking skills, with a response rate of 86.11%, followed by problem-solving skills, with 81.94% responses, while third was communication skills, with a rate of 78.08%. Ultimately, the recommendations for further curriculum and program improvement are exhibited

The Protective and Therapeutic Function of Small Heat Shock Proteins in Neurological Diseases

Historically, small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) have been extensively studied in the context of being intracellular molecular chaperones. However, recent studies looking at the role of sHSPs in neurological diseases have demonstrated a near universal upregulation of certain sHSPs in damaged and diseased brains. Initially, it was thought that sHSPs are pathological in these disease states because they are found in the areas of damage. However, transgenic overexpression and exogenous administration of sHSPs in various experimental disease paradigms have shown just the contrary – that sHSPs are protective, not pathological. This review examines sHSPs in neurological diseases and highlights the potential for using these neuroprotective sHSPs as novel therapeutics. It first addresses the endogenous expression of sHSPs in a variety of neurological disorders. Although many studies have examined the expression of sHSPs in neurological diseases, there are no review articles summarizing these data. Furthermore, it focuses on recent studies that have investigated the therapeutic potential of sHSPs for neurological diseases. Finally, it will explain what we think is the function of endogenous sHSPs in neurological diseases

Peace and Security Funding Index: An Analysis of Global Foundation Grantmaking

The Peace and Security Funding Index: An Analysis of Global Foundation Grantmaking is a first-of-its-kind research project that showcases the foundations and philanthropists dedicated to building a safer, more peaceful and prosperous global future. These funders are investing in efforts to prevent, mitigate, and resolve conflict and to rebuild after conflict. From research on stopping nuclear terrorism to citizen journalism in Egypt, peace and security funders are supporting peace, justice, diplomacy, and dialogue in a variety of ways. In 2013, the latest year data is available, 288 foundations supported over 1,200 organizations with more than $283 million spread across nearly 2,000 grants. The Peace and Security Funders Group (PSFG) and Foundation Center created the Index to help funders, policymakers, and the general public better understand the peace and security funding landscape. The Index identifies who "peace and security" funders are, what issues they fund (e.g., cybersecurity, preventing genocide and atrocities, climate security), where they focus (i.e., specific regions or countries), and how they make an impact (e.g., through public education efforts, journalism, research)