Reining in Medicaid spending--states respond to declining revenues

Medical care, Cost of ; Medicare

The branch banking boom in Illinois: a byproduct of restrictive branching laws

What’s behind the boom in bank branches across Illinois, particularly in Chicago? The authors explore the history of branch banking within the state and across the nation to help explain this recent trend and discuss its future implications.Branch banks ; Branch banks - Illinois ; Banks and banking - History

Federal preemption of state bank regulation: a conference panel summary

The Chicago Fed's 42nd Annual Conference on Bank Structure and Competition, which took place May 17–19, 2006, included a panel on federal preemption of state banking regulation. The panelists discussed the wide-ranging impact of rules issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal agency that regulates national banks.Bank supervision

Practical alternatives for managing castration pain in piglets

Surgical castration of piglets is a painful procedure used to reduce aggression, sexual behaviours, and boar taint, and is often completed on young piglets. Recent requirements in Canada state that an analgesic must be administered to control the pain of the procedure. The thesis objectives were to evaluate the effects of age and timing of analgesic administration on piglets’ response to castration. Three-day-old PIC Landrace x Large White male piglets were enrolled in study 1 or 2. For study 1, piglets were split into two groups: handling chute and average daily gain (ADG, n=115) or serum cortisol and pen behaviour (n=96), and assigned within litter to six treatments: 1) castration with ketoprofen at 3 days old (YK, n=35), 2) castration with ketoprofen at 10 days old (OK, n=36), 3) castration at 3 days old (YC, n=35), 4) castration at 10 days old (OC, n=35), 5) sham castration at 3 days old (YS, n=35), and 6) sham castration at 10 days old (n=35). From the ages of 9 to 13 days old, older piglets had a higher ADG than younger piglets (0.270.01 kg/day vs. 0.250.01 kg/day respectively, LSMSEM; P<0.05). Serum cortisol concentration 24 hours after treatment was higher in young piglets than old piglets (77.89.2 nmol/L vs. 36.18.9 nmol/L respectively, P<0.05). Older piglets were observed tail wagging at a higher frequency 24 and 25 hours after castration than younger piglets (P<0.05). For study 2, piglets were split into two groups: handling chute (n=76) or serum cortisol and pen behaviour (n=103) and assigned within litter to five treatments: 1) castration with ketoprofen one hour prior (HK, n=37), 2) sham castration with saline one hour prior (HS, n=34), 3) castration with ketoprofen immediately prior (IK, n=37), 4) sham castration with saline immediately prior (IS, n=35), and 5) castration with saline immediately prior (CA, n=36). HK had lower cortisol concentrations than CA, IK, and IS 45 minutes after treatment (90.226.4 nmol/L vs. 206.726.4 nmol/L, 147.525.6 nmol/L, 158.026.4 nmol/L respectively, P<0.05). These studies provide evidence that providing ketoprofen one hour before castration reduces cortisol concentrations and is beneficial to piglet welfare. More research is needed to compare piglet pain responses when castrated at different ages

Determining the Relationship Among Cattle Genotype, Hair Coat Score, and Productivity Through the Investigation of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms within Prolactin, Dopamine Receptor D2, and Melatonin Receptor 1A

Prolactin (PRL), melatonin (MTN), and dopamine (DA) are all hormones that are believed to play a role in the regulation and growth of hair in beef cattle. There are also single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with each of these hormones or their receptors, indicating that the investigation of these polymorphisms could allow them to serve as genetic markers for the future productivity of an animal. The objective of this study was to determine the relationships among cattle genotype, hair coat score, and productivity through the investigation of single nucleotide polymorphisms within prolactin, dopamine receptor D2, and melatonin receptor 1A. Body weights, hair coat scores, and blood samples were collected in May, June, and July from each non-lactating crossbred beef cow (n=71). The cows were grazing mixed grass pastures that included native endophyte infected tall fescue. Serum PRL, MTN, and DA concentrations were established by validated RIA. Based on the measurements recorded from the May samples, cows were categorized as high (n = 11; 159 ± 29 ng/mL PRL), medium (n = 48; 51 ± 4 ng/mL PRL), or low (n = 12; 21 ± 4 ng/mL PRL). Data were analyzed with Pearson correlations and repeated measures ANOVA with year, month, prolactin category (PRLCAT) and genotype as the main effects. Concentrations of PRL were correlated (r \u3e 0.53; P \u3c 0.0001) over the three months, and May PRL concentrations were correlated (r \u3e 0.29; P \u3c 0.02) with cow body weights in May, June, and July. Cows in the low PRLCAT had lower (

Teacher Planning Problem Space Of Expert Technology Integrating Teachers

Designing meaningful technology-integrated learning remains a challenge for teachers. To address this problem, the purpose of this single case study was to examine how experts plan for technology integration. The conceptual framework of this study drew from information processing theory and combined two existing constructs: the notion of a problem space (Simon & Newell, 1971) with a process model of teacher planning (Yinger, 1980). The resulting combination was a new construct called the teacher planning problem space. The significance of this study was in the application of this new construct to focus on thoughts, decisions, and judgments of teachers during the planning process for technology integration. Participants included a purposeful sample of six technology-integrating experts designated as such by their distinction as the winners of an innovation award. Winning the award bounded the case and the unit of analysis was how each participant negotiated the teacher planning problem space. Data collection included a survey, interviews, audiovisual materials, and documents. Qualitative content analysis methods where used for interpreting data. Results indicated expert technology-integrating teachers continuously sought to improve instruction for their students and technology served to facilitate this goal. Learning from experience as well as knowledge of technology’s affordances were major contributors to these teachers’ flexibility, troubleshooting, and fearlessness when implementing innovative practices with technology. The teacher planning problem space model resulting from this study provides theoretical implications for examining teacher planning. Practical implications include suggestions for administrative policies regarding lesson plan requirements and planning strategies for integrate technology

Big Event in a Small Town: Timeline

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/dighist/1000/thumbnail.jp