Let's study your farm business : an analysis of 45 farms, central Missouri, 1952

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Association of Gender and Personal Choices with Salaries of New Emergency Medicine Graduates

Objective: The medical literature has demonstrated disparities and variability in physician salaries and, specifically, emergency physician (EP) salaries. We sought to investigate individual physician characteristics, including sex and educational background, together with individual preferences of graduating EPs, and their association with the salary of their first job. Methods: The American College of Emergency Physicians and the George Washington University Mullan Institute surveyed 2019 graduating EPs. The survey included respondents’ demographic and educational background, post-training job characteristics and location, hospital characteristics, importance of different personal priorities, and starting salaries. We performed a multivariable regression analysis to determine how salaries were associated with job types and individuals’ characteristics. Results: We sent surveys to 2,192 graduating residents in 2019. Of these, 487 (22.2%) responded, and 270 (55.4%) accepted first-time clinical jobs and included salary data (12.3% of all surveys sent). Male sex, osteopathic training, and full-time work were significantly associated with higher salary. Men and women prioritized different factors in their job search. Women were more likely to consider such factors as parental leave policy, proximity to family, desired practice setting, type of hospital, and desired location as important. Salary/compensation was considered very important by 51.8% of men and 29.6%of women. Men’s median salary was $30,000 more than women’s (p= 0.01, 95$6,929 ± $53,071), a significant pay differential. Conclusion: Salaries of graduating emergency medicine residents are associated with the resident’s sex and degree type: doctor of osteopathic medicine or doctor of allopathic medicine. Multiple factors may contribute to men having higher salaries than women, and some of this difference reflects different priorities in their job search. Women were more likely to consider job conditions and setting to be more important, while men considered salary and compensation more important

Antarctic Krill Are Reservoirs for Distinct Southern Ocean Microbial Communities

Host-associated bacterial communities have received limited attention in polar habitats, but are likely to represent distinct nutrient-rich niches compared to the surrounding environment. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a super-abundant species with a circumpolar distribution, and the krill microbiome may make a substantial contribution to marine bacterial diversity in the Southern Ocean. We used high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene to characterize bacterial diversity in seawater and krill tissue samples from four locations south of the Kerguelen Plateau, one of the most productive regions in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean. Krill-associated bacterial communities were distinct from those of the surrounding seawater, with different communities inhabiting the moults, digestive tract and faecal pellets, including several phyla not detected in the surrounding seawater. Digestive tissues from many individuals contained a potential gut symbiont (order: Mycoplasmoidales) shown to improve survival on a low quality diet in other crustaceans. Antarctic krill swarms thus influence Southern Ocean microbial communities not only through top-down grazing of eukaryotic cells and release of nutrients into the water column, but also by transporting distinct microbial assemblages horizontally via migration and vertically via sinking faecal pellets and moulted exuviae. Changes to Antarctic krill demographics or distribution through fishing pressure or climate-induced range shifts will also influence the composition and dispersal of Southern Ocean microbial communities

Tethered capsule endomicroscopy enables less-invasive imaging of gastrointestinal tract microstructure

Here, we introduce “tethered capsule endomicroscopy,” that involves swallowing an optomechanically-engineered pill that captures cross-sectional, 30 μm (lateral) × 7 μm (axial) resolution, microscopic images of the gut wall as it travels through the digestive tract. Results in human subjects show that this technique rapidly provides three-dimensional, microstructural images of the upper gastrointestinal tract in a simple and painless procedure, opening up new opportunities for screening for internal diseases

Spitting Performance Parameters and Their Biomechanical Implications in the Spitting Spider, Scytodes thoracica

Spitting spiders Scytodes spp. subdue prey by entangling them at a distance with a mixture of silk, glue, and venom. Using high-speed videography and differential interference contrast microscopy, the performance parameters involved in spit ejection by Scytodes thoracica (Araneae, Scytodidae) were measured. These will ultimately need to be explained in biomechanical and fluid dynamic terms. It was found that the ejection of “spit” from the opening of the venom duct (near the proximal end of the fang) was orderly. It resulted in a pattern that scanned along a lateral-medial axis (due to fang oscillations) while traversing from ventral to dorsal (due to cheliceral elevation). Each lateral-to-medial sweep of a fang produced silk-borne beads of glue that were not present during each subsequent medial-to-lateral sweep. The ejection of “spit” was very rapid. A full scan (5–57 fang cycles, one upsweep of a chelicera) typically occupied less than 30 ms and involved fang oscillations at 278–1781 Hz. Ejection velocities were measured as high as 28.8 m/s. The “spit” was contractile. During the 0.2 s following ejection, silk shortened by 40–60% and the product of a full scan by both of the chelicerae could exert an aggregate contractile force of 0.1 – 0.3 mN. Based on these parameters, hypotheses are described concerning the biomechanical and fluid dynamic processes that could enable this kind of material ejection

Prior Antithrombotic Use Is Associated With Favorable Mortality and Functional Outcomes in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Acknowledgments Drs Myint and Smith conceived the idea and developed the analysis plan with critical input from coauthors. A.S. Hellkamp analyzed the data. Drs Myint and Smith drafted the article with input from all coauthors. All authors contributed in interpretation of results and in making an important intellectual contribution to the article. Sources of Funding The Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)-Stroke program is currently supported, in part, by a charitable contribution from Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership and the American Heart Association Pharmaceutical Roundtable. GWTG-Stroke has been funded in the past through support from Boehringer-Ingelheim and Merck. These funding agencies did not participate in design or analysis, article preparation, or approval of this study.Peer reviewedPostprin

A photographic and acoustic transect across two deep-water seafloor mounds, Mississippi Canyon, northern Gulf of Mexico

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Marine and Petroleum Geology 25 (2008): 969-976, doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.020.In the northern Gulf of Mexico, a series of seafloor mounds lie along the floor of the Mississippi Canyon in Atwater Valley lease blocks 13 and 14. The mounds, one of which was drilled by the Chevron Joint Industry Project on Methane Hydrates in 2005, are interpreted to be vent-related features that may contain significant accumulations of gas hydrate adjacent to gas and fluid migration pathways. The mounds are located not, vert, similar150 km south of Louisiana at not, vert, similar1300 m water depth. New side-scan sonar data, multibeam bathymetry, and near-bottom photography along a 4 km northwest–southeast transect crossing two of the mounds (labeled D and F) reveal the mounds' detailed morphology and surficial characteristics. Mound D, not, vert, similar250 m in diameter and 7–10 m in height, has exposures of authigenic carbonates and appears to result from a seafloor vent of slow-to-moderate flux. Mound F, which is not, vert, similar400 m in diameter and 10–15 m high, is covered on its southwest flank by extruded mud flows, a characteristic associated with moderate-to-rapid flux. Chemosynthetic communities visible on the bottom photographs are restricted to bacterial mats on both mounds and mussels at Mound D. No indications of surficial gas hydrates are evident on the bottom photographPartial support for the research cruises that collected the data for this study was provided by the Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Lab

Regional Systems of Care Demonstration Project: American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline STEMI Systems Accelerator.

BACKGROUND: Up to 50% of patients fail to meet ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) guideline goals recommending a first medical contact-to-device time of <90 minutes for patients directly presenting to percutaneous coronary intervention-capable hospitals and <120 minutes for transferred patients. We sought to increase the proportion of patients treated within guideline goals by organizing coordinated regional reperfusion plans. METHODS: We established leadership teams, coordinated protocols, and provided regular feedback for 484 hospitals and 1253 emergency medical services (EMS) agencies in 16 regions across the United States. RESULTS: Between July 2012 and December 2013, 23 809 patients presented with acute STEMI (direct to percutaneous coronary intervention hospital: 11 765 EMS transported and 6502 self-transported; 5542 transferred). EMS-transported patients differed from self-transported patients in symptom onset to first medical contact time (median, 47 versus 114 minutes), incidence of cardiac arrest (10% versus 3%), shock on admission (11% versus 3%), and in-hospital mortality (8% versus 3%; P<0.001 for all comparisons). There was a significant increase in the proportion of patients meeting guideline goals of first medical contact-to-device time, including those directly presenting via EMS (50% to 55%; P<0.001) and transferred patients (44%-48%; P=0.002). Despite regional variability, the greatest gains occurred among patients in the 5 most improved regions, increasing from 45% to 57% (direct EMS; P<0.001) and 38% to 50% (transfers; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This Mission: Lifeline STEMI Systems Accelerator demonstration project represents the largest national effort to organize regional STEMI care. By focusing on first medical contact-to-device time, coordinated treatment protocols, and regional data collection and reporting, we were able to increase significantly the proportion of patients treated within guideline goals

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure