Monitoring the Status of Alaska Fishing Communities, 1980-2010

Commercial fishing provides social and economic benefits for hundreds of communities across Alaska, with dozens of species being harvested commercially. The state's fisheries are complex, with the species mix, vessels and gear, environmental conditions, and socioeconomic circumstances varying widely from one part of the state to another. And while the majority of Alaska's fisheries continue to be successfully managed for sustainable harvests, fishing communities face a number of challenges, including changing market conditions, volatile catches and stock dynamics, changes in fishery regulations, redistribution of access rights, and climate change.North Pacific Research Board

Is There an Acceptable Answer to Rising Medical Malpractice Premiums?

This article explores the key issues involved in the attempts at reform of the present medical malpractice system. Investigating the effects that federal tort reform legislation would have on physicians, patients, lawyers, and the medical malpractice insurers, Dr. Gunnar succinctly outlines the issues surrounding the present crisis in healthcare and explores the separate interests involved. The article examines the economic forces influencing the medical malpractice insurance industry, reviews previous tort reform, and predicts the future of federal tort reform legislation. Dr. Gunnar concludes by proposing alternatives for malpractice reform

The Fundamental Law That Shapes the United States Health Care System: Is Universal Health Care Realistic within the Established Paradigm?

In this article, the author draws from his own experience as a doctor in describing the issues the uninsured patient population faces. Pointing out that neither the U.S. Constitution nor case law provides a positive right to health care, the author describes the parameters of federal health care funding and ultimately concludes that universal health care cannot be fully achieved in the U.S

Electromagnetics from a quasistatic perspective

Quasistatics is introduced so that it fits smoothly into the standard textbook presentation of electrodynamics. The usual path from statics to general electrodynamics is rather short and surprisingly simple. A closer look reveals however that it is not without confusing issues as has been illustrated by many contributions to this Journal. Quasistatic theory is conceptually useful by providing an intermediate level in between statics and the full set of Maxwell's equations. Quasistatics is easier than general electrodynamics and in some ways more similar to statics. It is however, in terms of interesting physics and important applications, far richer than statics. Quasistatics is much used in electromagnetic modeling, an activity that today is possible on a PC and which also has great pedagogical potential. The use of electromagnetic simulations in teaching gives additional support for the importance of quasistatics. This activity may also motivate some change of focus in the presentation of basic electrodynamics

The Impact of Female Leadership in Collegial Courts on Time to Render Merits Decisions: Evidence from the Norwegian Supreme Court

What is the effect of gender on the deliberative process of judging? Drawing on previous research on female leaders’ inclination to foster a more inclusive and collaborative decision-making process, we argue that decision making takes more time in a collegial court when female justices preside over decisional panels. Analyzing an original data set on cases decided by the Norwegian Supreme Court between 2008 and 2019, we find that when a woman is the presiding justice, the duration of case disposition time increases. This effect, however, persists for only eight days. Our finding suggests that institutional practices take effect over gendered effects.publishedVersio

Prevalence of COPD in Iceland-the ISOLD study

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenOBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Iceland and possible risk factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This Icelandic survey is a part of an international study (www.BOLDCOPD.org). The target population consisted of a simple random sample taken among all non-institutionalized Icelanders 40 years and older living in Reykjavik and adjacent suburbs (n=938). Participants were subjected to a structured interview based on questionnaires on respiratory diseases, symptoms, life style and possible risk factors. They also underwent a spirometry that was repeated after inhalation of a bronchodilating agent. COPD stage I, or higher, was defined according to the GOLD staging (www.goldcopd.org) based on chronic airflow limitation (FEV1/FVC 70%) persisting after inhaled bronchodilator. RESULTS: Full participation was by 755 (80.5%). Altogether 18.0 % of the participants fulfilled criteria for COPD, GOLD stage I or higher and 9.0 % for GOLD stage II or higher. There were proportionally more young females (40-49 years) than males diagnosed with COPD GOLD stage I or higher (8.1% compared to 4.8%), even though there was no difference in total prevalence between males and females. The prevalence of COPD increased with increasing age and the amount of tobacco smoked. Only a part of those fulfilling criteria for COPD had been diagnosed by doctors. CONCLUSION: Our results show a high prevalence of COPD among Icelanders 40 years and older when internationally accepted criteria and methods are used. These results are useful for heath authorities when planning and giving priority in our future health care system.Tilgangur: Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að kanna algengi og mögulega áhrifaþætti langvinnrar lungnateppu meðal Íslendinga á höfuðborgarsvæðinu. Efniviður og aðferðir: Um er að ræða hluta af fjölþjóðarannsókn (www.BOLDCOPD.org) þar sem val á efnivið og aðferðir eru staðlaðar. Rannsóknarhópurinn var slembiúrtak þeirra Íslendinga á höfuðborgarsvæðinu sem voru 40 ára og eldri og voru ekki á stofnun (n=938). Þátttakendur svöruðu stöðluðum spurningarlistum um öndunarfæraeinkenni, lífsstíl og áhættuþætti. Gert var blásturspróf sem varð að uppfylla strangar gæðakröfur og var það endurtekið eftir gjöf berkjuvíkkandi lyfs. Lungnateppustig I eða hærra samkvæmt skilgreiningu GOLD var skilgreint samkvæmt alþjóðaviðmiðun ef teppa var á blástursprófi (FEV1/FVC <70%). Niðurstöður: Þátttakendur voru alls 755 (80,5%). Reyndist 18,0 % með stig I af eða hærra, en þar af voru 9,0 % með stig II eða hærra. Hlutfallslega voru mun fleiri ungar (40-49 ára) konur en karlar sem voru með langvinna lungnateppu (8,1% á móti 4.8%), en ekki var munur á heildaralgengi karla og kvenna. Algengi fór vaxandi með hækkandi aldri og umfangi tóbaksreykinga. Aðeins hluti þeirra sem uppfylltu skilmerki höfðu áður greinst með sjúkdóminn. Ályktun: Niðurstöður okkar sýna háa tíðni langvinnrar lungnateppu meðal Íslendinga 40 ára og eldri þegar fylgt er alþjóðlega viðurkenndum og samræmdum vísindavinnubrögðum. Upplýsingarnar geta nýst heilbrigðisyfirvöldum til þess að forgangsraða verkefnum í heilbrigðisþjónust

Determination of left ventricular volumes with use of a new nongeometric echocardiographic method: Clinical validation and potential application

AbstractA new nongeometric echocardiographic technique for measurement of right and left ventricular volumes was recently validated in vitro. With this method, all images are taken from one point on the chest wall as the transducer is tilted through the ventricle. This approach offers several advantages. No geometric assumptions about ventricular shape are made. All images are acquired from the best echocardiographic window. Furthermore, the digitized points can be used to make a three-dimensional reconstruction of the ventricle.The present study addresses the clinical feasibility of imaging the heart from a single pivoting point in short axis and compares the accuracy of the method in determining left ventricular volumes with that of biplane cineangiography. Twenty-four patients underwent echocardiographic studies within 2 h before angiography. At catheterization, volumes determined by the biplane area-length method ranged between 95 and 368 ml at end-diastole and between 15 and 303 ml at end-systole. A good correlation was observed between ventricular volumes by angiography and echocardiography at end-diastole and end-systole (r = 0.92 and 0.96, respectively). Correlations between volumes by the two techniques were equally good in patients with wall motion abnormalities (n = 13; r = 0.97). Ventricular ejection fraction ranged between 18% and 84% at angiography and correlated well with echocardiographic measurements (r = 0.82).Thus, the echocardiographic tilt method provides accurate determination of left ventricular volume and ejection fraction. This nongeometric method offers the potential for the determination of right ventricular volume and three-dimensional display of the heart

NIPS workshop on New Problems and Methods in Computational Biology

The field of computational biology has seen dramatic growth over the past few years, both in terms of available data, scientific questions and challenges for learning and inference. These new types of scientific and clinical problems require the development of novel supervised and unsupervised learning approaches. In particular, the field is characterized by a diversity of heterogeneous data. The human genome sequence is accompanied by real-valued gene expression data, functional annotation of genes, genotyping information, a graph of interacting proteins, a set of equations describing the dynamics of a system, localization of proteins in a cell, a phylogenetic tree relating species, natural language text in the form of papers describing experiments, partial models that provide priors, and numerous other data sources. This supplementary issue consists of seven peer-reviewed papers based on the NIPS Workshop on New Problems and Methods in Computational Biology held at Whistler, British Columbia, Canada on December 8, 2006. The Neural Information Processing Systems Conference is the premier scientific meeting on neural computation, with session topics spanning artificial intelligence, learning theory, neuroscience, etc. The goal of this workshop was to present emerging problems and machine learning techniques in computational biology, with a particular emphasis on methods for computational learning from heterogeneous data. We received 37 extended abstract submissions, from which 13 were selected for oral presentation. The current supplement contains seven papers based on a subset of the 13 extended abstracts. Submitted manuscripts were rigorously reviewed by at least two referees. The quality of each paper was evaluated with respect to its contribution to biology as well as the novelty of the machine learning methods employed

Method for in-field texture analysis of sugar beet roots using a handheld penetrometer

Methodology for analysing textural properties of sugar beet roots in the laboratory has previously been established. It has been shown to be reliable and of value in exploring relationships between textural properties, damage rates, and storability of varieties. In this paper, a methodology for the assessment of textural properties in-field, prior to harvest, using an inexpensive handheld penetrometer is examined. Three sugar beet varieties were grown in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden during 2019. Textural properties were assessed in-field with the handheld penetrometer 2, 1 and 0 months prior to harvest, and with the laboratory penetrometer directly after harvest. Comparison of the results showed generally strong correlations. A power analysis suggests a difference in mean Handheld Pressure of 0.10 MPa could be found significant within a large trial with a block design. The reliability of the handheld penetrometer was further assessed in the Swedish national variety trials over three years (2019-2021). Correlation coefficients of 0.86 and 0.94 were found between mean Handheld Pressure for 2019 and 2020, and 2020 and 2021 respectively. The handheld penetrometer can be applied as an economic means of quantifying differences in textural properties of sugar beet varieties. Clear operating procedure and training must exist

Genetic Rescue of the Highly Inbred Norwegian Lundehund

Augmenting the genetic diversity of small, inbred populations by the introduction of new individuals is often termed “genetic rescue“. An example is the Norwegian Lundehund, a small spitz dog with inbreeding-related health problems that is being crossed with three Nordic breeds, in-cluding the Norwegian Buhund. Conservation breeding decisions for the (typically) small number of outcrossed individuals are vital for managing the rescue process, and we genotyped the Lundehund (n = 12), the Buhund (n = 12), their crosses (F1, n = 7) and first-generation backcrosses to the Lundehund (F2, n = 12) with >170,000 single nucleotide polymorphism loci to compare their levels of genetic diversity. We predicted that genome-wide diversity in F2 dogs would be higher than in the Lundehund but lower than in the F1 and the Buhund, and the heterozygosity values showed the expected patterns. We also found that runs of homozygosity, extended chromosomal regions of homozygous genotypes inherited from a common ancestor, were reduced in F2 individuals compared with Lundehund individuals. Our analyses demonstrate the benefits of outcrossing but indicate that some of the acquired genetic diversity is lost following immediate backcrossing. Additional breeding among F2 crosses could therefore merit from further consideration in genetic rescue management.publishedVersio