1,689 research outputs found
Conservation Congress v. Finley
Once again the federal government is challenged for violation of the ESA and NEPA in relation to forest management projects affecting the Northern Spotted Owl. Conservation Congress, joined by a number of other plaintiffs, brought suit against the USFWS and USFS challenging both the agencies consultation under § 7 of the ESA, and the Forest Service’s failure to take a “hard look” as required within the EIS completed under NEPA. Although Conservation Congress provided sufficient notice of intent to sue in accord with 16 U.S.C.S. § 1540(g)(2)(A) and their claims were not moot, the summary judgment was appropriately awarded to the government on both challenges. The Ninth Circuit reviewed the district court’s ruling
Ellis v. Bradbury
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California reiterated the need for a party seeking suspension or cancellation of an EPA registered pesticide to fully exhaust their administrative remedies under FIFRA. Here, plaintiffs filed a number of claims, including claims requesting either cancellation or suspension of pesticides containing clothianidin and thiamethoxam. However, as described by the court, plaintiffs failed to adequately exhaust existing administrative remedies outlined within § 136d of FIFRA. Additionally the court found that claims asserting § 7 violations of the ESA could be filed prior to exhaustion of administrative remedies under FIFRA
Conservation Congress v. Finley
Once again the federal government is challenged for violation of the ESA and NEPA in relation to forest management projects affecting the Northern Spotted Owl. Conservation Congress, joined by a number of other plaintiffs, brought suit against the USFWS and USFS challenging both the agencies consultation under § 7 of the ESA, and the Forest Service’s failure to take a “hard look” as required within the EIS completed under NEPA. Although Conservation Congress provided sufficient notice of intent to sue in accord with 16 U.S.C.S. § 1540(g)(2)(A) and their claims were not moot, the summary judgment was appropriately awarded to the government on both challenges. The Ninth Circuit reviewed the district court’s ruling
Drakes Bay Oyster Co. v. Jewell
In Drakes Bay the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit ruled that language within appropriations legislation aimed specifically at the expiration of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s Reservation of Use and Occupancy within Point Reyes National Seashore provided the Secretary of the Interior discretion whether to issue a new special use permit for oyster farming. The inclusion of the term “notwithstanding” ensured that the Secretary was not obligated to consider previously passed legislation, department policy, or any other requirements in reviewing whether to reauthorize the special use permit. The Ninth Circuit held that they had jurisdiction to review the narrow issue of whether the Secretary misinterpreted granted authority
A retrospective study on the effects of illness severity and atrial fibrillation on outcomes in the intensive care unit
Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in patients in
the intensive care unit (ICU) and has been associated with
worse outcomes. However, it is unclear whether AF itself adds
to the risk of death or is merely a marker of illness severity.
We aimed to record the incidence and outcomes of all patients
with different categories of AF and determine whether AF was
an independent predictor of death.<p></p>
Methods: This retrospective cohort study was undertaken in
the ICU of a tertiary-referral university hospital. Category of AF,
sex, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, APACHE II score, predicted
hospital mortality and survival outcomes were analysed from
1084 records. Percentages, medians and interquartile ranges
were used to describe the sample. Chi-square test and the
non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test were used, as appropriate,
for statistical analysis. Logistic regression analyses were
performed to evaluate the association of AF with death in the
ICU adjusting for age, sex, CRP level and APACHE II score.<p></p>
Results: Overall, 13.6% of patients developed new-onset AF
during their critical illness, while 4.3% had a pre-existing history.
The hospital mortality rate was higher in those with AF
compared with those without (47.9% vs. 30.9%, p<0.001) and
higher in those with newly diagnosed AF compared with those
with a prior history (53.1% vs. 31.9%, p=0.012). CRP levels
were higher in those with AF (p<0.001) compared with those
without and higher in those with newly diagnosed AF compared
with those with a prior history (p=0.012). On multivariate
logistic regression analysis, only the APACHE II score was
found to be an independent predictor of death.<p></p>
Conclusion: Despite the higher mortality rate in patients
with AF, the APACHE II score was the only independent predictor of death within the ICU. Prospective studies are required to explore the apparently reduced risk of dying
among those with a prior history of AF.<p></p>
Evidence against AMPA receptor-lacking glutamatergic synapses in the superficial dorsal horn of the rat spinal cord
Pure NMDA receptor (NMDAr)-mediated EPSCs, thought to correspond to "silent" glutamatergic synapses that lack AMPA receptors (AMPArs), have been observed in superficial spinal dorsal horn of neonatal but not adult rats. Recent anatomical studies suggest that AMPArs are present at virtually all glutamatergic synapses in this region in adults. We used antigen retrieval to examine colocalization of AMPArs and PSD-95 (a marker for glutamatergic synapses) in laminae I–II of neonatal and adult rats. We found a high degree of colocalization in all cases, which suggests that AMPArs are present in the great majority of glutamatergic synapses even in neonatal animals. We therefore reexamined evidence for silent synapses by performing blind whole-cell recordings from superficial dorsal horn neurons in slices from neonatal or adult rats, with focal stimulation to activate glutamatergic synapses. On some occasions in both neonatal (10 of 109, 9%) and adult (9 of 77, 12%) slices, NMDAr-mediated EPSCs were observed when the holding potential was raised to +50 mV at a stimulus strength that had failed to evoke AMPAr-mediated EPSCs. However, in all cases tested, AMPAr-mediated EPSCs were then observed when the cell was returned to –70 mV; this and other properties of the EPSCs suggest that they do not represent genuine silent synapses. When compared with previous findings, our results indicate that the appearance of silent synapses depends on experimental protocol. This suggests that pure NMDAr-mediated EPSCs seen in previous studies do not correspond to AMPAr-lacking synapses but result from another mechanism, for example, loss of labile AMPArs from recently formed synapses
Crack Growth Induced by Sonic IR Inspection
We have developed an experiment to study the propagation of laboratory-synthesized fatigue cracks under various controlled conditions during Sonic IR inspection. The experiment provides for good repeatability in testing. The parameters of interest include the initial crack length, load history (stress intensity and load ratio) during crack generation, geometry of the crack, material and also the various conditions involving the ultrasonic excitation source. In general, we find that under typical sonic IR inspection conditions, the initial crack will propagate under sonic IR testing. The crack growth after each inspection event varies and exhibits a distribution in length of propagation. The results show that the average crack propagation decreases with increasing stress intensity factor, and we test two hypotheses about the cause of this. Furthermore, we find that crack propagation is affected by the initial crack length
A retrospective study on the effects of illness severity and atrial fibrillation on outcomes in the intensive care unit
Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in patients in
the intensive care unit (ICU) and has been associated with
worse outcomes. However, it is unclear whether AF itself adds
to the risk of death or is merely a marker of illness severity.
We aimed to record the incidence and outcomes of all patients
with different categories of AF and determine whether AF was
an independent predictor of death.<p></p>
Methods: This retrospective cohort study was undertaken in
the ICU of a tertiary-referral university hospital. Category of AF,
sex, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, APACHE II score, predicted
hospital mortality and survival outcomes were analysed from
1084 records. Percentages, medians and interquartile ranges
were used to describe the sample. Chi-square test and the
non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test were used, as appropriate,
for statistical analysis. Logistic regression analyses were
performed to evaluate the association of AF with death in the
ICU adjusting for age, sex, CRP level and APACHE II score.<p></p>
Results: Overall, 13.6% of patients developed new-onset AF
during their critical illness, while 4.3% had a pre-existing history.
The hospital mortality rate was higher in those with AF
compared with those without (47.9% vs. 30.9%, p<0.001) and
higher in those with newly diagnosed AF compared with those
with a prior history (53.1% vs. 31.9%, p=0.012). CRP levels
were higher in those with AF (p<0.001) compared with those
without and higher in those with newly diagnosed AF compared
with those with a prior history (p=0.012). On multivariate
logistic regression analysis, only the APACHE II score was
found to be an independent predictor of death.<p></p>
Conclusion: Despite the higher mortality rate in patients
with AF, the APACHE II score was the only independent predictor of death within the ICU. Prospective studies are required to explore the apparently reduced risk of dying
among those with a prior history of AF.<p></p>
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