Examining the evidentiary basis of Congress\u27s commerce clause power to address individuals\u27 health insurance status

Chief among the issues that the United States Supreme Court considers in United States Department of Health and Human Services et al. v Florida et al. is the questionof whether Congress has the constitutional power to apply a “minimum essential coverage requirement” on most nonelderly Americans. Opponents of the provision (referred to under the Act as the “Individual Responsibility” requirement) argue that compelling individuals to buy affordable health insurance coverage exceeds Congressional powers. By contrast, the United States Department of Justice and supporters of the law assert that the minimum coverage requirement is consistent with a long line of Supreme Court decisions regarding the power of Congress to regulate individual conduct. The Administration, in a brief filed on January 9, 2012, argues that Congressional authority to act can be found under both its taxing powers as well as its power under the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause to regulate interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause arguments are of special interest, because it is this basis of power that has received so much attention in the lower court decisions to date

Examining the evidentiary basis of Congress\u27s commerce clause power to address individuals\u27 health insurance status

Chief among the issues that the United States Supreme Court considers in United States Department of Health and Human Services et al. v Florida et al. is the questionof whether Congress has the constitutional power to apply a “minimum essential coverage requirement” on most nonelderly Americans. Opponents of the provision (referred to under the Act as the “Individual Responsibility” requirement) argue that compelling individuals to buy affordable health insurance coverage exceeds Congressional powers. By contrast, the United States Department of Justice and supporters of the law assert that the minimum coverage requirement is consistent with a long line of Supreme Court decisions regarding the power of Congress to regulate individual conduct. The Administration, in a brief filed on January 9, 2012, argues that Congressional authority to act can be found under both its taxing powers as well as its power under the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause to regulate interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause arguments are of special interest, because it is this basis of power that has received so much attention in the lower court decisions to date

Global transpiration data from sap flow measurements : the SAPFLUXNET database

Plant transpiration links physiological responses of vegetation to water supply and demand with hydrological, energy, and carbon budgets at the land-atmosphere interface. However, despite being the main land evaporative flux at the global scale, transpiration and its response to environmental drivers are currently not well constrained by observations. Here we introduce the first global compilation of whole-plant transpiration data from sap flow measurements (SAPFLUXNET, https://sapfluxnet.creaf.cat/, last access: 8 June 2021). We harmonized and quality-controlled individual datasets supplied by contributors worldwide in a semi-automatic data workflow implemented in the R programming language. Datasets include sub-daily time series of sap flow and hydrometeorological drivers for one or more growing seasons, as well as metadata on the stand characteristics, plant attributes, and technical details of the measurements. SAPFLUXNET contains 202 globally distributed datasets with sap flow time series for 2714 plants, mostly trees, of 174 species. SAPFLUXNET has a broad bioclimatic coverage, with woodland/shrubland and temperate forest biomes especially well represented (80 % of the datasets). The measurements cover a wide variety of stand structural characteristics and plant sizes. The datasets encompass the period between 1995 and 2018, with 50 % of the datasets being at least 3 years long. Accompanying radiation and vapour pressure deficit data are available for most of the datasets, while on-site soil water content is available for 56 % of the datasets. Many datasets contain data for species that make up 90 % or more of the total stand basal area, allowing the estimation of stand transpiration in diverse ecological settings. SAPFLUXNET adds to existing plant trait datasets, ecosystem flux networks, and remote sensing products to help increase our understanding of plant water use, plant responses to drought, and ecohydrological processes. SAPFLUXNET version 0.1.5 is freely available from the Zenodo repository (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3971689; Poyatos et al., 2020a). The "sapfluxnetr" R package - designed to access, visualize, and process SAPFLUXNET data - is available from CRAN.Peer reviewe

Calibration of the CMS hadron calorimeters using proton-proton collision data at root s=13 TeV

Methods are presented for calibrating the hadron calorimeter system of theCMSetector at the LHC. The hadron calorimeters of the CMS experiment are sampling calorimeters of brass and scintillator, and are in the form of one central detector and two endcaps. These calorimeters cover pseudorapidities vertical bar eta vertical bar ee data. The energy scale of the outer calorimeters has been determined with test beam data and is confirmed through data with high transverse momentum jets. In this paper, we present the details of the calibration methods and accuracy.Peer reviewe

The handbook for standardized field and laboratory measurements in terrestrial climate change experiments and observational studies (ClimEx)

1. Climate change is a world‐wide threat to biodiversity and ecosystem structure, functioning and services. To understand the underlying drivers and mechanisms, and to predict the consequences for nature and people, we urgently need better understanding of the direction and magnitude of climate change impacts across the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum. An increasing number of climate change studies are creating new opportunities for meaningful and high‐quality generalizations and improved process understanding. However, significant challenges exist related to data availability and/or compatibility across studies, compromising opportunities for data re‐use, synthesis and upscaling. Many of these challenges relate to a lack of an established ‘best practice’ for measuring key impacts and responses. This restrains our current understanding of complex processes and mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems related to climate change. 2. To overcome these challenges, we collected best‐practice methods emerging from major ecological research networks and experiments, as synthesized by 115 experts from across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Our handbook contains guidance on the selection of response variables for different purposes, protocols for standardized measurements of 66 such response variables and advice on data management. Specifically, we recommend a minimum subset of variables that should be collected in all climate change studies to allow data re‐use and synthesis, and give guidance on additional variables critical for different types of synthesis and upscaling. The goal of this community effort is to facilitate awareness of the importance and broader application of standardized methods to promote data re‐use, availability, compatibility and transparency. We envision improved research practices that will increase returns on investments in individual research projects, facilitate second‐order research outputs and create opportunities for collaboration across scientific communities. Ultimately, this should significantly improve the quality and impact of the science, which is required to fulfil society's needs in a changing world

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Risk and protective factors for mental health morbidity in a community sample of female-to-male trans-masculine adults

Abstract Background Trans-masculine (TM) individuals, who are assigned female sex at birth and identify along the masculine gender spectrum, face mental health disparities relative to cisgender people. Limited research has sought to explore the multi-level risk and protective factors associated with mental health morbidity for TM populations. Methods Between August 2015–September 2016, 150 TM adults were enrolled in a one-time biobehavioral health study. A survey assessed socio-demographics, past 12-month everyday discrimination, lifetime intimate partner violence (IPV), resilience (using the Brief Resilience Scale), and other factors. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses examined associations between participant characteristics and four mental health statuses: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Results In this sample (76.7% had a binary gender identity, i.e., man or transgender man; 74.7% were white, 70.0% were under age 30 years), 42.2% had PTSD based on past 30-day symptoms; 25.7% had depression based on past 7-day symptoms; 31.1% had anxiety based on past 7-day symptoms; and 31.3% had engaged in NSSI within the past 12-months. Results from multivariable models: 1) PTSD: unemployment, lifetime IPV and past 12-month discrimination were each associated with increased odds of PTSD, while having a partner was associated with the reduced odds of PTSD. 2) Depression: lower educational attainment and past 12-month discrimination were each associated with the increased odds of depression, while greater resilience was associated with the reduced odds of depression. 3) Anxiety: low annual household income and past 12-month discrimination were each associated with the increased odds of anxiety, while resilience was associated with the reduced odds of anxiety. 4) NSSI: past 12-month discrimination was associated with the increased odds of past 12-month NSSI, while higher age and greater resilience was associated with the reduced odds of NSSI (all p-values < 0.05). Conclusions Unemployment, low income, limited education, everyday discrimination, and violence were risk factors for poor mental health, while being in a relationship, higher age, and personal resilience were protective against mental health morbidity. Findings highlight the need for interventions to address the individual, interpersonal, and societal factors that may be driving poor mental health in this population