Why Communication is Important: A Rationale for the Centrality of the Study of Communication

This article defends the importance of studying communication. Academic disciplines in higher education are routinely called upon to explain and justify their role in the educational enterprise. Some academic fields such as history and philosophy are more central in the pursuits of liberal arts, while others such as business administration and engineering are more related to career development. The discipline of communication is fairly unique as it crosses these boundaries. As a result, a need exists to provide a rationale for the study of communication. The National Communication Association, in response to requests from communication departments and administrators for evidence supporting the centrality of their discipline, has collected and annotated nearly 100 articles, commentaries, and publications which call attention to the importance of the study of communication in contemporary society. Four of five major themes in the bibliography provide support for the importance of communication education to: the development of the whole person; the improvement of the educational enterprise; being a responsible citizen of the world, both socially and culturally; and, succeeding in one\u27s career and in the business enterprise. A fifth theme highlights the need for communication education to be provided by those who are specialists in its study

Corneal thickness in children with growth hormone deficiency: The effect of GH treatment.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: The eye represents a target site for GH action, although few data are available in patients with GH deficiency (GHD). Our aim was to evaluate central corneal thickness (CCT) and intraocular pressure (IOP) values in GHD children to assess the role played by GHD or GH treatment on these parameters. DESIGN: In 74 prepubertal GHD children (51M, 23F, aged 10.4\ub12.4years) we measured CCT and IOP before and after 12months of treatment. A baseline evaluation was also made in 50 healthy children matched for age, gender and body mass index. The study outcome considered CCT and IOP during treatment and their correlations with biochemical and auxological data. RESULTS: No difference in CCT and IOP between GHD children at baseline and controls was found (all p>0.005). GHD children after 12months of therapy showed greater CCT (564.7\ub113.1\u3bcm) than both baseline values (535.7\ub117\u3bcm; p<0.001) and control subjects (536.2\ub112.5\u3bcm; p<0.001), with a concomitantly higher corrected mean IOP (15.6\ub10.7mmHg; p<0.001) than both baseline (12.5\ub10.8mmHg; p<0.001) and controls (12.3\ub10.5mmHg; p<0.001), without correlation with auxological and biochemical parameters. CONCLUSIONS: 12months of GH treatment in children with GHD, regardless of auxological and biochemical data, affect CCT and IOP. Our findings suggest careful ocular evaluation in these patients to prevent undesirable side effects during the follow-up

Fattori di emissione dalla combustione di legna e pellet in piccoli apparecchi domestici

The aim of this study was to report emission factors of pollutants (i.e., carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, non-methane hydrocarbons, particulate matter, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins) from biomass burning residential heating appliances. The influence of several factors such as biomass type, appliance and combustion cycle was investigated. Four manually fed (6-11 kW) firewood burning and two automatic wood pellets (8.8-25 kW) appliances were tested under real-world operating conditions in order to determine the actual environmental performance of the appliance. The experimental EFs were also compared with the values proposed by the European emission inventory guidebook used in the local inventory in order to evaluate their representativeness of real world emissions. The composite macropollutant EFs for manually fed appliances are: for CO 5858 g GJ-1, for NOx 122 g GJ-1, NMHC 542 g GJ-1, PM 254 g GJ-1, whereas emissions are much lower for automatic pellets appliances: CO 219 g GJ-1, for NOx 66 g GJ-1, NMHC 5 g GJ-1, PM 85 g GJ-1. The open fireplace appears to have very high emission factors, however traditional and advanced stoves show the highest overall CO EFs. Especially for the advanced stove real-world emissions are far worse than those measured under cycles used for type testing of residential solid fuel appliances. No great difference is observed for different firewood types in batch working appliances, diversely the quality of the pellets is observed to influence directly the emission performance of the automatic appliances. Benzo(b)fluoranthene is the PAH with the highest contribution (110 mg GJ-1 for manual appliances and 2 mg GJ-1 for automatic devices) followed by benzo(a)pyrene (77 mg GJ-1 for manual appliances and 0,8 mg GJ-1 for automatic devices)

Gastrointestinal Bleeding in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been reported to affect the gastrointestinal system with a variety of symptoms, including bleeding. The prevalence of bleeding in these patients remains unclear. The aim of this meta-Analysis is to estimate the rate of gastrointestinal bleeding in COVID-19 patients and its association with mortality. MEDLINE and Embase were searched through December 20, 2020. Studies reporting COVID-19 patients with and without gastrointestinal bleeding were included. Estimated prevalence with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was pooled; heterogeneity was expressed as I2. Metaregression analysis was performed to assess the impact of confounding covariates. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. A total of 91887 COVID-19 patients were considered, of whom 534 reported gastrointestinal bleeding (0.6%) [409 (76.6%) upper and 121 (22.7%) lower gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB and LGIB, resp.)]. The overall pooled gastrointestinal bleeding rate was 5% [95% CI 2-8], with high heterogeneity (I2 99.2%); "small study effect"was observed using the Egger test (p=0.049). After removing two outlier studies, the pooled bleeding rate was 2% [95% CI 0-4], with high heterogeneity (I2 99.2%), and no "small study effect"(p=0.257). The pooled UGIB rate was 1% (95% CI 0-3, I2 98.6%, p=0.214), whereas the pooled LGIB rate was 1% (95% CI 0-2, I2 64.7%, p=0.919). Metaregression analysis showed that overall estimates on gastrointestinal bleeding were affected by studies reporting different sources of bleeding. No significant association between gastrointestinal bleeding and mortality was found. In this meta-Analysis of published studies, individuals with COVID-19 were found to be at risk for gastrointestinal bleeding, especially upper gastrointestinal bleeding

INVERSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AORTIC ROOT DIAMETER AND RENAL FUNCTION IN HYPERTENSIVE SUBJECTS

Recent studies suggest that enlarged aortic root diameter (ARD) may predict cardiovascular events in absence of aneurysmatic alterations. Little is known about the influence of renal function on ARD. Our study was aimed to assess the relationships between glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and ARD in hypertensive subjects

Structural Brain MR Imaging Changes Associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

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Evaluation of the U.S. EPA/OSWER Preliminary Remediation Goal for Perchlorate in Groundwater: Focus on Exposure to Nursing Infants

BACKGROUND: Perchlorate is a common contaminant of drinking water and food. It competes with iodide for uptake into the thyroid, thus interfering with thyroid hormone production. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) set a groundwater preliminary remediation goal (PRG) of 24.5 μg/L to prevent exposure of pregnant women that would affect the fetus. This does not account for the greater exposure that is possible in nursing infants or for the relative source contribution (RSC), a factor normally used to lower the PRG due to nonwater exposures. OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to assess whether the OSWER PRG protects infants against exposures from breast-feeding, and to evaluate the perchlorate RSC. METHODS: We used Monte Carlo analysis to simulate nursing infant exposures associated with the OSWER PRG when combined with background perchlorate. RESULTS: The PRG can lead to a 7-fold increase in breast milk concentration, causing 90% of nursing infants to exceed the reference dose (RfD) (average exceedance, 2.8-fold). Drinking-water perchlorate must be < 6.9 μg/L to keep the median, and < 1.3 μg/L to keep the 90th-percentile nursing infant exposure below the RfD. This is 3.6- to 19-fold below the PRG. Analysis of biomonitoring data suggests an RSC of 0.7 for pregnant women and of 0.2 for nursing infants. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that the RfD itself needs to be reevaluated because of hormonal effects in the general population. CONCLUSIONS: The OSWER PRG for perchlorate can be improved by considering infant exposures, by incorporating an RSC, and by being responsive to any changes in the RfD resulting from the new CDC data