Zane Grey

No one knows how many words Zane Grey wrote for publication, but the estimates vary between five million and nine million. No one knows how many copies of his novels have been sold, but the number must be well over forty million. No one knows how many different languages his novels have been translated into, or how many copies of those translations have been sold, but again, the figures must be high. Ultimately, no one knows how large an audience Zane Grey’s novels have reached, either directly or through serialization and reprint, as well as through movies and television. One can guess conservatively, though, that his audience numbers well over 250 million. Two generations of Americans grew up on The Heritage of the Desert, Riders of the Purple Sage, Desert Gold, The Light of Western Stars, and fifty-four subsequent novels of the West, besides a variety of such other offerings as short story collections, books for boys, and tales of hunting and fishing

Professionalism in residency training: A compilation of desirable behaviors and a case-based comparison between pathologists in training and practice

Professionalism is one of the most important competencies for physicians but is also the most difficult to teach, assess, and manage. To better understand professionalism in pathology, we surveyed practicing pathologists and pathology residents and fellows in training. We identified 12 key desirable attributes of professionalism. In addition, 8 case scenarios highlighting unprofessional behavior were presented, and results between pathologists in practice and in training were compared. No significant differences between attending pathologists and residents were identified in how these cases should be managed. Our study demonstrated remarkable concordance between practicing pathologists and residents as to what constitutes professionalism and how to manage unprofessional behavior. Our case-based approach can be a useful technique to teach professionalism to both pathologists in practice and in training

Are School Superintendents Rewarded for “Performance”?

[Excerpt] This chapter presents analyses of the compensation and mobility of school superintendents in New York State during the 1978-79 to 1982-83 period. The focus is on school superintendents because they are the chief operating officers of school districts, their salaries are determined through individual negotiations with school boards, and their salary data were made available to us. In contrast, school principals\u27 salary data were not available to us. Especially in large districts, principals tend to be members of a union and their salary increases negotiated collectively, which limits the likelihood of observing individual principals\u27 salaries being related to measures of their school\u27s performance

Interdisciplinary palliative care teams : insights and experiences of chaplain interns and social work interns.

In 2030, the population of those 65 years and older is projected to be 72 million, which will represent 20% of adults in the United States. This large group will have affected many aspects of our society, including families and healthcare providers. Decisions about medical care, caregiving, financial concerns, and new circumstances in living arrangements will be made. Perhaps no aspect of life will be as important as how one spends the end-of-life. Importantly, the care that individuals receive is likely an important aspect of this end-of-life experience. Interdisciplinary palliative care teams provide effective and comprehensive end-of-life care for patients and their families; however, barriers exist that often impede their effectiveness. The current qualitative study explored some of the often-reported barriers evidenced in the literature base; more specifically, the study explored written reflections of chaplain and social work interns after they completed clinical placement with an interdisciplinary palliative care team. Findings from the data revealed five themes (i.e., Learning Lessons, Disappointment, Being There, Dealing with Family Matters, and Making Hard Decisions), which aligned with both groups of interns. Two themes were identified that describe unique chaplain or social work discipline-specific roles and interventions (i.e., Intern as Existential Comforter and Intern as Psychosocial Resourcer). The meaning and importance of the findings in the context of the literature base are discussed. Directions for future research for palliative care and interdisciplinary teams are offered. Suggestions for diverse providers, counselors, and counselor training programs are provided

USSR space life sciences digest, issue 27

This is the twenty-fifth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 30 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 2 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 18 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, biospherics, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, enzymology, exobiology, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, immunology, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, radiobiology, and space medicine. A Soviet book review of a British handbook of aviation medicine and a description of the work of the division on aviation and space medicine of the Moscow Physiological Society are also included

Māori and community news constructions of Meningococcal B: the promotion of a moral obligation to vaccinate

News media communicate various risks of disease, showcase medical breakthroughs and disseminate texts that both reflect and renegotiate shared cultural understandings of health and illness. Little is known about the role of Māori and community news media in the social negotiation of health and illness in Aotearoa. To address this gap in the literature, this paper reports findings from a study of news reporting on Meningococcal B by the Māori Television Service and two community newspapers serving Māori communities. Findings document how news works to position vaccination as a ‘common sense’ practice that whānau have a moral obligation to undergo. Neglected are wider socio-structural considerations that impact the prevalence of illness among Māori

Lightning Occurrence and Social Vulnerability

The occurrence of lightning in time and space around the world is well known. Lightning fatalities and injuries are well delineated in the United States; however, there is much less information about lightning impacts on people in the developing world. It is estimated that between 6000 and 24,000 people are killed globally per year, and 10 times as many are injured. The fatality rate per capita has become very low in the developed countries during the past century due to the availability of lightning-safe structures and vehicles, less labor-intensive agriculture, and other factors, but this reduction has not occurred where people continue to work and live in lightning-unsafe situations. Lightning safety advice often mistakenly expects that the direct strike is most common, but ground current, direct contact, side flash, and upward streamers are much more frequent mechanisms. In developed countries, the injury:death ratio is approximately 10:1, meaning that 90% survive but may have permanent disabling injuries. The proximate cause of death is cardiac arrest and anoxic brain injury at the time of the lightning strike, and, at this time, the damage from a lightning strike cannot be reversed or decreased in survivors. Lightning vulnerability in many developing countries continues to be a major issue due to widespread exposure during labor-intensive agriculture during the day when thunderstorms are the most frequent and while occupying lightning-unsafe dwellings at night

Theoretical approach to oxygen atom degradation of silver

Based on available Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and ellipsometry data obtained on silver specimens subjected to atomic oxygen attack in low Earth orbit STS flight 41-G, a theory was developed to model the oxygen atom degradation of silver. The diffusion of atomic oxygen in a microscopically nonuniform medium is an essential constituent of the theory. The driving force for diffusion is the macroscopic electrochemical potential gradient developed between the specimen surface exposed to the ambient and the bulk of the silver specimen. The longitudinal electric effect developed parallel to the gradient is modified by space charge of the diffusing charged species. Lateral electric fields and concentration differences also exist due to the nonuniform nature of the medium. The lateral concentration differences are found to be more important than the lateral electric fields in modifying the diffusion rate. The model was evaluated numerically. Qualitative agreement exists between the kinetics predicted by the theory and kinetic data taken in ground-based experiments utilizing a plasma asher

Characterizing HIV-1 Splicing by Using Next-Generation Sequencing

ABSTRACT Full-length human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA serves as the genome or as an mRNA, or this RNA undergoes splicing using four donors and 10 acceptors to create over 50 physiologically relevant transcripts in two size classes (1.8 kb and 4 kb). We developed an assay using Primer ID-tagged deep sequencing to quantify HIV-1 splicing. Using the lab strain NL4-3, we found that A5 ( env / nef ) is the most commonly used acceptor (about 50%) and A3 ( tat ) the least used (about 3%). Two small exons are made when a splice to acceptor A1 or A2 is followed by activation of donor D2 or D3, and the high-level use of D2 and D3 dramatically reduces the amount of vif and vpr transcripts. We observed distinct patterns of temperature sensitivity of splicing to acceptors A1 and A2. In addition, disruption of a conserved structure proximal to A1 caused a 10-fold reduction in all transcripts that utilized A1. Analysis of a panel of subtype B transmitted/founder viruses showed that splicing patterns are conserved, but with surprising variability of usage. A subtype C isolate was similar, while a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) isolate showed significant differences. We also observed transsplicing from a downstream donor on one transcript to an upstream acceptor on a different transcript, which we detected in 0.3% of 1.8-kb RNA reads. There were several examples of splicing suppression when the env intron was retained in the 4-kb size class. These results demonstrate the utility of this assay and identify new examples of HIV-1 splicing regulation. IMPORTANCE During HIV-1 replication, over 50 conserved spliced RNA variants are generated. The splicing assay described here uses new developments in deep-sequencing technology combined with Primer ID-tagged cDNA primers to efficiently quantify HIV-1 splicing at a depth that allows even low-frequency splice variants to be monitored. We have used this assay to examine several features of HIV-1 splicing and to identify new examples of different mechanisms of regulation of these splicing patterns. This splicing assay can be used to explore in detail how HIV-1 splicing is regulated and, with moderate throughput, could be used to screen for structural elements, small molecules, and host factors that alter these relatively conserved splicing patterns