Ramblings and Introspection from the Electronic Records Section at MDAH

The proliferation of electronic records is causing governments, corporations and organizations around the globe to reassess the way they keep and manage their records. There\u27s no more prominent example of this than our own country\u27s National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and its draft Proposal for a Redesign of Federal Records Management, issued in July 2002. This proposal was preceded by the Report on Current Recordkeeping Practices within the Federal Government, produced jointly by NARA and a private contractor in December 2001, and the General Accounting Office\u27s (GAO) report to Congress entitled Information Management: Challenges in Managing and Preserving Electronic Records, issued in June 2002. In his State of the Archives address of December 3, 2002, Archivist of the United States John W. Carlin described the situation thusly: To put it simply, our current records management program was developed in the 20th century in a paper environment and has not kept up with a government that now creates and uses most of its records electronically. With our current way of doing business, we just don\u27t have the resources to cope with the growing volumes of both electronic and paper records. It is clear that today\u27s Federal records environment requires different management strategies and techniques. NARA is not alone in wrestling with these issues. Its records management system is emulated by many states, including Mississippi, and the need for reexamination of existing policies and procedures is shared by those states. While NARA admittedly operates on a much larger scale, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is no stranger to finding ways to meet its obligations and carry out its duties on a tight budget with a small staff. The MDAH Records Management Division and Archives and Library Division alike are short on staff and resources but long on responsibility and duties

Processing the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Records

In a state whose historical image is inextricably linked with racism, the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission is surely one of its most sinister manifestations. In existence from 1956 to 1977, this state agency spied on civil rights activists, acted as a clearing-house for information on civil rights legislation from around the nation, funneled money to prosegregation organizations, and disseminated right-wing propaganda. Ironically, although its loudest proponents championed themselves as on a crusade against the insidious red menace, the Commission was the embodiment of Big Brother. Approximately 132,000 pages of remaining agency records document the Commission\u27s dubious quest. Included in these records are names of close to 87,000 individuals, the majority of whom were victims of Commission surveillance

The Conversion of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Records

In 2001, after the final court-ordered record release, the Electronic Records (ER) section of the Archives and Library Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) assumed responsibility for the electronic version of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission records.\u27 In addition to basic maintenance and preservation responsibilities, ER was assigned the task of converting the proprietary inhouse system to make it web accessible. This was a watershed project representing both closure and new beginnings. Not only would the web-enabled electronic version mark the final stage in access with the promise of global availability via the Internet but it was also the first time ER would be able to test its migration strategies and open source philosophy

Physiological status during emergency department care : relationship with inhospital death after clinical deterioration

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between patient physiological status in the emergency department (ED) and inhospital mortality after rapid response team (RRT) or cardiac arrest team (CAT) activations within 72 hours of emergency admission to medical or surgical wards. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A multisite, retrospective, cohort study of 660 randomly selected (220 patients per site) adult medical or surgical patients who were admitted from the ED during 2012 and who had had an RRT or CAT activation within 72 hours of admission, at three hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Inhospital mortality. RESULTS: There were 825 RRT activations (for 634 patients) and 42 CAT activations (for 35 patients). The median time to the first RRT or CAT activation was 18.8 hours and was significantly shorter in patients who died in hospital (14.6 v 20.6 hours, P=0.036). Compared with survivors, patients who died were more likely to have at least one observation meeting RRT criteria during their ED stay (45.9% v 34.8%; P=0.029): tachypnoea (21.1% v 13.4%, P=0.039), hypotension (20.2% v 11.8%, P=0.018), hypoxaemia (8.3% v 3.1%, P=0.001) and altered conscious state (6.2% v 1.3%, P=0.001) were more common in patients who died. The risk-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for inhospital death was highest for patients with an altered conscious state during their ED stay (OR, 4.633; 95% CI, 1.365-15.728; P=0.014). CONCLUSIONS: In patients who needed an RRT or CAT activation within the first 72 hours of emergency admission to medical or surgical wards, there was a strong association between physiological derangement during ED care and inhospital death

Variations of radiocarbon in tree rings: southern hemisphere offset preliminary results

The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland and University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand radiocarbon laboratories have undertaken a series of high-precision measurements on decadal samples of dendrochronologically dated oak (Quercus patrea) and cedar (Libocedrus bidwillii) from Great Britain and New Zealand, respectively. The results show a real atmospheric offset of 3.4 ± 0.6% (27.2 ± 4.7 ¹⁴C yr) between the two locations for the interval AD 1725 to AD 1885, with the Southern Hemisphere being depleted in ¹⁴C. This result is less than the value currently used to correct Southern Hemisphere calibrations, possibly indicating a gradient in Δ¹⁴C within the Southern Hemisphere

The systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria and their differential association with mortality

Purpose: Despite the recent Sepsis-3 consensus, the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) criteria continue to be assessed and recommended. Such use implies equivalence and interchangeability of criteria. Thus, we aimed to test whether such criteria are indeed equivalent and interchangeable. Materials and methods: From 2000 to 2015, we identified patients with infection, organ failure, and at least one SIRS criterion in 179 Intensive Care Units in Australia and New. Zealand. We studied the association of different SIRS criteria with hospital mortality. Results: Among 131,016 patients with infection and organ failure, mortality increased from 10.6% for the respiratory rate criterion to 15.8% for the heart rate criterion (P <0.01); from 10.1% for the high leukocyte count criterion to 20.0% for a low count and from 10.1% for a high temperature to 14.4% for a low temperature criterion. With any two SIRS criteria, hospital mortality varied from 11.5% to 30.8% depending on the combination of criteria. This difference remained unchanged after adjustments and was consistent over time. Conclusions: Different individual and combinations of SIRS criteria were associated with marked differences in hospital mortality. These differences remained unchanged after adjustment and over time and imply that individual SIRS criteria are not equivalent or interchangeable. (c) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Risky Business: The Issue of Timing, Entry and Performance in the Asia-Pacific LNG Market

Canada’s federal government has championed the prospect of exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to overseas markets. The government of British Columbia is aggressively planning to turn itself into a global LNG-export hub, and the prospect for Canadian LNG exports is positive. However, there are market and political uncertainties that must be overcome in a relatively short period of time if Canada is to become a natural gas exporter to a country other than the United States. This report assesses the feasibility of Canadian exports and examines the policy challenges involved in making the opportunity a reality. Demand for natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow over 60 per cent by 2025. LNG trade is expected to make up nearly two-thirds of global natural gas trade by 2035. Supply in the Asia-Pacific region is limited, requiring significant LNG imports with corresponding infrastructure investment. This results in substantial price differentials between North America and the Asia-Pacific countries, creating a potentially lucrative opportunity for Canada. The lower North American prices are a reflection of the fact that there is a surplus of gas on this continent. Canada’s shipments to its sole export market, the United States, are shrinking in the face of vast increases in American production of shale and tight gas. Canada has a surplus of natural gas and there is growing demand in the Asia-Pacific region. Proponents argue that all Canada needs to do is build and supply facilities to liquefy gas and ship it across the Pacific; the reality is not so simple. Timing is one of the key challenges Canada faces. Producers around the world — including in the newly gas-rich U.S. — are racing to lock up market-share in the Asia-Pacific region, in many cases much more aggressively than Canada. While this market is robust and growing, the nature of the contracts for delivery will favour actors that are earliest in the queue; margins for those arriving late will be slimmer and less certain over time. As supply grows, so too does the likelihood of falling gas prices in the Asia-Pacific region, making later projects less lucrative. LNG projects are feasible only on the basis of long-term contracts; once a piece of market share is acquired, it could be decades before it becomes available again. Currently, there are more proposed LNG-export projects around the world than will be required to meet projected demand for the foreseeable future. Delays beyond 2024 risk complete competitive loss of market entry for Canadian companies. B.C. is behind schedule on the government’s goal of having a single terminal operational by 2015. Of equal concern is the lack of policy and regulatory co-ordination, with disagreements between governments over standards, process and compensation for those stakeholders involved in the potential LNG industry. Issues as basic as taxing and royalty charges for gas shipments between provinces and locating facilities and marine-safety standards remain unsettled in Canada. The B.C. government has announced plans to levy special taxes on LNG, a policy that could render many current proposals uncompetitive. The LNG market is much more complicated than current discussions suggest; this report delves into every aspect relevant for Canada as a potential exporter. The prospect for Canada expanding into the Asia-Pacific market is entirely viable. Canada has almost everything going for it: political stability, free-market principles, immense resources, extensive infrastructure and industry experience. Everything, that is, except a co-ordinated regulatory and policy regime. Without that, Canada could be shut out, stuck relying on a single U.S. gas-export market that, increasingly, does not need us

Very old patients admitted to intensive care in Australia and New Zealand: a multi-centre cohort analysis

INTRODUCTION: Older age is associated with higher prevalence of chronic illness and functional impairment, contributing to an increased rate of hospitalization and admission to intensive care. The primary objective was to evaluate the rate, characteristics and outcomes of very old (age >or= 80 years) patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from the Australian New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database. Data were obtained for 120,123 adult admissions for >or= 24 hours across 57 ICUs from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005. RESULTS: A total of 15,640 very old patients (13.0%) were admitted during the study. These patients were more likely to be from a chronic care facility, had greater co-morbid illness, greater illness severity, and were less likely to receive mechanical ventilation. Crude ICU and hospital mortalities were higher (ICU: 12% vs. 8.2%, P /= 80 years was associated with higher ICU and hospital death compared with younger age strata (ICU: odds ratio (OR) = 2.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.4 to 3.0; hospital: OR = 5.4, 95% CI = 4.9 to 5.9). Factors associated with lower survival included admission from a chronic care facility, co-morbid illness, nonsurgical admission, greater illness severity, mechanical ventilation, and longer stay in the ICU. Those aged >or= 80 years were more likely to be discharged to rehabilitation/long-term care (12.3% vs. 4.9%, OR = 2.7, 95% CI = 2.6 to 2.9). The admission rates of very old patients increased by 5.6% per year. This potentially translates to a 72.4% increase in demand for ICU bed-days by 2015. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of patients aged >or= 80 years admitted to intensive care in Australia and New Zealand is rapidly increasing. Although these patients have more co-morbid illness, are less likely to be discharged home, and have a greater mortality than younger patients, approximately 80% survive to hospital discharge. These data also imply a potential major increase in demand for ICU bed-days for very old patients within a decade