Closing the Loophole: A Case Study of Organizing for More Equitable and Affordable Access to Health Care in San Francisco

This paper presents in-depth case study of a successful hybrid political and community organizing campaign to ensure equitable access to health care through the perspective of a grassroots San Francisco community-based organization, the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), which has been organizing low-income Chinese immigrants for over four decades. First, it outlines the Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO), which, since its passage in 2006, has established a near-universal health care access program, helping to make health care accessible and affordable to individuals living and working in San Francisco. Then it presents the campaign to save the HCSO, focusing on CPA’s participation in the HCSO coalition. Finally, it discusses health care as it relates to the San Francisco’s affordability crisis and the political economic context in which it is taking place. Despite the limitations inherent in small case studies like this one, it nevertheless provides a valuable opportunity to better understand how one politically progressive city attempted to address the problem of grossly inequitable health care access through the lens of community organizing, advocacy, and coalition building. San Francisco, like many major American cities today, is being confronted with rapid gentrification and growing economic inequality—the backdrop to the HCSO. Through innovative experiments in social responsibility like the HCSO, however, the city has made leaps in health care access. It concludes with lessons learned from local organizing and advocacy to save the HCSO as these may inform other local efforts to promote health care for all

Examining Pharmacy Students’ Perceptions Of Clinical Faculty Mentoring Characteristics Influencing Students’ Decision To Pursue A Pharmacy Residency

The field of pharmacy is changing from a drug-distribution-centered model to a patient-centered integrated model whereby pharmacists are actively involved in patient care as part of an interdisciplinary team. To address the estimated pharmacy leadership crisis in the future and to prepare pharmacists to work in the changing healthcare landscape, national pharmacy organizations such as the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) have stated that postgraduate pharmacy residency should be mandatory by 2020. Past pharmacy research literature has shown that while many factors influence students to pursue a pharmacy residency, there is a lack of understanding about the influence of clinical faculty mentoring on students to pursue a postgraduate residency. This phenomenological study explored pharmacy students’ experiences with clinical faculty mentoring in relation to Professional Year 4 (PY4) students’ decision to pursue a pharmacy residency. The research was conducted utilizing ten students from two Northeastern Schools of Pharmacy. Qualitative data was collected via interviews using semi-structured open-ended questions. Data from the interviews gathered from both sites were merged for data analysis. Results showed the emergence of seven themes with connected elements: (a) type of mentoring relationship, (b) mentoring functions, (c) mentor characteristics, (d) mentee characteristics, (e) time spent with mentor, (f) decision-making, and (g) need for formal mentoring programs. Findings indicated that PY4 students’ decision to pursue a pharmacy residency does relate to clinical faculty mentoring even though the types of influential clinical faculty mentoring experiences varied. Psychosocial mentoring functions were utilized by clinical faculty that provided positive experiences for participants and allowed for transformative growth. Mentor and mentee characteristics were important in supporting the mentoring process. Time spent with mentors could not be quantified and the quality of time spent with mentors was important. The central finding that clinical faculty mentoring does influence students’ decision to pursue a pharmacy residency fills a gap in pharmacy mentoring literature

Ambient halocarbon mixing ratios in 45 Chinese cities

During this study 158 whole air samples were collected in 45 Chinese cities in January and February 2001. The spatial distribution of different classes of halocarbons in the Chinese urban atmosphere, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Halon-1211, and other chlorinated compounds is presented and discussed. Most of these compounds were enhanced compared to background levels. However, the mean enhancement of CFCs was relatively small, with CFC-12 and CFC-11 increases of 6% (range 1-31%) and 10% (range 2-89%), respectively, with respect to the global background. On the contrary, strongly enhanced levels of CFC replacement compounds and halogenated compounds used as solvents were measured. The average Halon-1211 concentration exceeded the background of 4.3 pptv by 75% and was higher than 10 pptv in several cities. Methyl chloride mixing ratios were also strongly elevated (78% higher than background levels), which is likely related to the widespread use of coal and biofuel in China. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Discovery of Extended Thermal X-ray Emission from PKS 2152-699: Evidence for a `Jet-cloud' Interaction

A Chandra ACIS-S observation of PKS 2152-699 reveals thermal emission from a diffuse region around the core and a hotspot located 10" northeast from the core. This is the first detection of thermal X-ray radiation on kiloparsec scales from an extragalactic radio source. Two other hotspots located 47" north-northeast and 26" southwest from the core were also detected. Using a Raymond-Smith model, the first hotspot can be characterized with a thermal plasma temperature of 2.6$\times10^6$ K and an electron number density of 0.17 cm$^{-3}$. These values correspond to a cooling time of about 1.6$\times10^7$ yr. In addition, an emission line from the hotspot, possibly Fe xxv, was detected at rest wavelength 10.04\AA. The thermal X-ray emission from the first hotspot is offset from the radio emission but is coincident with optical filaments detected with broadband filters of HST/WFPC2. The best explanation for the X-ray, radio, and optical emission is that of a `jet-cloud' interaction. The diffuse emission around the nucleus of PKS 2152-699 can be modeled as a thermal plasma with a temperature of 1.2$\times10^7$ K and a luminosity of 1.8$\times10^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$. This emission appears to be asymmetric with a small extension toward Hotspot A, similar to a jet. An optical hotspot (EELR) is seen less than an arcsecond away from this extension in the direction of the core. This indicates that the extension may be caused by the jet interacting with an inner ISM cloud, but entrainment of hot gas is unavoidable. Future observations are discussed.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal 21 pages, 5 Postscript figures, 1 table, AASTeX v. 5.

CENP-A Is Dispensable for Mitotic Centromere Function after Initial Centromere/Kinetochore Assembly

Human centromeres are defined by chromatin containing the histone H3 variant CENP-A assembled onto repetitive alphoid DNA sequences. By inducing rapid, complete degradation of endogenous CENP-A, we now demonstrate that once the first steps of centromere assembly have been completed in G1/S, continued CENP-A binding is not required for maintaining kinetochore attachment to centromeres or for centromere function in the next mitosis. Degradation of CENP-A prior to kinetochore assembly is found to block deposition of CENP-C and CENP-N, but not CENP-T, thereby producing defective kinetochores and failure of chromosome segregation. Without the continuing presence of CENP-A, CENP-B binding to alphoid DNA sequences becomes essential to preserve anchoring of CENP-C and the kinetochore to each centromere. Thus, there is a reciprocal interdependency of CENP-A chromatin and the underlying repetitive centromere DNA sequences bound by CENP-B in the maintenance of human chromosome segregation

Kinetics and Mechanism of Formation of S-Nitrosocysteine

The kinetics and mechanism of the nitrosation of cysteine by nitrous acid has been studied in acidic medium. The stoichiometry of the reaction is strictly 1:1, with the formation of one mole of S-nitrosocysteine (CySNO) fromone mole of nitrous acid. Only two nitrosating agents were detected: nitrous acid itself and protonated nitrous acid which is the hydrated form of the nitrosonium cation, NO+. Nitric oxide itself was not detected as a nitrosant. The bimolecular rate constant for the direct nitrosation of cysteine by nitrous acid was determined to be 6.4±1.1 L mol–1 s–1, while nitrosation by the nitrosonium cation has a rate constant of 6.8× 103 L mol–1 s–1. CySNO is short-lived, and decomposes completely to cystine and nitric oxide within 100 s in the presence of micromolar quantities of Cu(II) ions. Since the physiological environment contains many metal ions and metalloenzymes, it is unlikely that CySNO will be an effective carrier of NO.Keywords: Cysteine, Nitric Oxide, Nitrosothio

Determining the Accuracy of Basal Metabolic Rate Prediction Equations for Athletes

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