Charting New Ground: The Ethical Terrain of Nonprofit Journalism

A different kind of revenue, one that has nothing to do with advertising or subscriptions, is playing a larger role in journalism today. Nonprofit funding, once largely the province of public broadcasting, is becoming an important source of support for a new cohort of non-commercial news organizations -- many of them digital natives -- and a growing number of commercial news publishers, which are partnering with nonprofit media and in some cases accepting direct grants themselves. But the ethics of taking grants from foundations and gifts from donors to produce news is still evolving and not without controversy. In New York, a major public TV station returned a large journalism grant for a documentary series because of the donor's connection to the topic being covered. In New Orleans, a nonprofit media organization's reporting about a university president may have cost the organization's its office space at the school. In Texas, a nonprofit established new transparency rules after criticism that it was not revealing enough about donors and event backers. The role of nonprofit media outlets also seems likely to grow. In Philadelphia, the new owner of city's major newspapers is transferring ownership of the publications to a new nonprofit organization, a case being closely watched to see if it might become a model. This report, by the American Press Institute, explores the ethical terrain of nonprofit journalism by examining the kinds of grants made, the nature of communication between funders and grantees, the existence of journalistic firewalls, and the prevalence of written guidelines. The report is based on two main elements: surveys of funders, nonprofit news organizations and commercial partners about a range of funding and ethical issues; and five essays commissioned by people from various media and foundation stakeholder groups that explore different areas of ethical complexity. In a second phase, the study will be followed by recommendations for ethical guidelines

Cultivating Crisis: The Human Costs of Pesticide Use in Latin America, by Douglas L. Murray; University of Texas Press, 1994

Cultivating Crisis: The Human Costs of Pesticide Use in Latin America, by Douglas L. Murray; University of Texas Press (1994); xiv, 177 pp. Reviewed by William M. Loker, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Mississippi State University

Accurate and sensitive quantification of protein-DNA binding affinity

Transcription factors (TFs) control gene expression by binding to genomic DNA in a sequence-specific manner. Mutations in TF binding sites are increasingly found to be associated with human disease, yet we currently lack robust methods to predict these sites. Here, we developed a versatile maximum likelihood framework named No Read Left Behind (NRLB) that infers a biophysical model of protein-DNA recognition across the full affinity range from a library of in vitro selected DNA binding sites. NRLB predicts human Max homodimer binding in near-perfect agreement with existing low-throughput measurements. It can capture the specificity of the p53 tetramer and distinguish multiple binding modes within a single sample. Additionally, we confirm that newly identified low-affinity enhancer binding sites are functional in vivo, and that their contribution to gene expression matches their predicted affinity. Our results establish a powerful paradigm for identifying protein binding sites and interpreting gene regulatory sequences in eukaryotic genomes

Geospatial Analysis of Pediatric EMS Run Density and Endotracheal Intubation

Introduction: The association between geographic factors, including transport distance, and pediatric emergency medical services (EMS) run clustering on out-of-hospital pediatric endotracheal intubation is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine if endotracheal intubation procedures are more likely to occur at greater distances from the hospital and near clusters of pediatric calls. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study including all EMS runs for patients less than 18 years of age from 2008 to 2014 in a geographically large and diverse Oregon county that includes densely populated urban areas near Portland and remote rural areas. We geocoded scene addresses using the automated address locator created in the cloud-based mapping platform ArcGIS, supplemented with manual address geocoding for remaining cases. We then use the Getis-Ord Gi spatial statistic feature in ArcGIS to map statistically significant spatial clusters (hot spots) of pediatric EMS runs throughout the county. We then superimposed all intubation procedures performed during the study period on maps of pediatric EMS-run hot spots, pediatric population density, fire stations, and hospitals. We also performed multivariable logistic regression to determine if distance traveled to the hospital was associated with intubation after controlling for several confounding variables. Results: We identified a total of 7,797 pediatric EMS runs during the study period and 38 endotracheal intubations. In univariate analysis we found that patients who were intubated were similar to those who were not in gender and whether or not they were transported to a children’s hospital. Intubated patients tended to be transported shorter distances and were older than non-intubated patients. Increased distance from the hospital was associated with reduced odds of intubation after controlling for age, sex, scene location, and trauma system entry status in a multivariate logistic regression. The locations of intubations were superimposed on hot spots of all pediatric EMS runs. This map demonstrates that most of the intubations occurred within areas where pediatric EMS calls were highly clustered. By mapping the intubation procedures and pediatric population density, we found that intubation procedures were not clustered in a similar distribution to the pediatric population in the county. Conclusion: In this geographically diverse county the location of intubation procedures was similar to the clustering of pediatric EMS calls, and increased distance from the hospital was associated with reduced odds of intubation after controlling for several potential confounding variables

Geospatial Analysis of Pediatric EMS Run Density and Endotracheal Intubation

Introduction: The association between geographic factors, including transport distance, and pediatric emergency medical services (EMS) run clustering on out-of-hospital pediatric endotracheal intubation is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine if endotracheal intubation procedures are more likely to occur at greater distances from the hospital and near clusters of pediatric calls. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study including all EMS runs for patients less than 18 years of age from 2008 to 2014 in a geographically large and diverse Oregon county that includes densely populated urban areas near Portland and remote rural areas. We geocoded scene addresses using the automated address locator created in the cloud-based mapping platform ArcGIS, supplemented with manual address geocoding for remaining cases. We then use the Getis-Ord Gi spatial statistic feature in ArcGIS to map statistically significant spatial clusters (hot spots) of pediatric EMS runs throughout the county. We then superimposed all intubation procedures performed during the study period on maps of pediatric EMS-run hot spots, pediatric population density, fire stations, and hospitals. We also performed multivariable logistic regression to determine if distance traveled to the hospital was associated with intubation after controlling for several confounding variables. Results: We identified a total of 7,797 pediatric EMS runs during the study period and 38 endotracheal intubations. In univariate analysis we found that patients who were intubated were similar to those who were not in gender and whether or not they were transported to a children’s hospital. Intubated patients tended to be transported shorter distances and were older than non-intubated patients. Increased distance from the hospital was associated with reduced odds of intubation after controlling for age, sex, scene location, and trauma system entry status in a multivariate logistic regression. The locations of intubations were superimposed on hot spots of all pediatric EMS runs. This map demonstrates that most of the intubations occurred within areas where pediatric EMS calls were highly clustered. By mapping the intubation procedures and pediatric population density, we found that intubation procedures were not clustered in a similar distribution to the pediatric population in the county. Conclusion: In this geographically diverse county the location of intubation procedures was similar to the clustering of pediatric EMS calls, and increased distance from the hospital was associated with reduced odds of intubation after controlling for several potential confounding variables

Geospatial Analysis of Pediatric EMS Run Density and Endotracheal Intubation

Introduction: The association between geographic factors, including transport distance, and pediatricemergency medical services (EMS) run clustering on out-of-hospital pediatric endotracheal intubation isunclear. The objective of this study was to determine if endotracheal intubation procedures are more likely tooccur at greater distances from the hospital and near clusters of pediatric calls.Methods: This was a retrospective observational study including all EMS runs for patients less than 18years of age from 2008 to 2014 in a geographically large and diverse Oregon county that includes denselypopulated urban areas near Portland and remote rural areas. We geocoded scene addresses using theautomated address locator created in the cloud-based mapping platform ArcGIS, supplemented with manualaddress geocoding for remaining cases. We then use the Getis-Ord Gi spatial statistic feature in ArcGIS tomap statistically significant spatial clusters (hot spots) of pediatric EMS runs throughout the county. We thensuperimposed all intubation procedures performed during the study period on maps of pediatric EMS-runhot spots, pediatric population density, fire stations, and hospitals. We also performed multivariable logisticregression to determine if distance traveled to the hospital was associated with intubation after controlling forseveral confounding variables.Results: We identified a total of 7,797 pediatric EMS runs during the study period and 38 endotrachealintubations. In univariate analysis we found that patients who were intubated were similar to those who werenot in gender and whether or not they were transported to a children’s hospital. Intubated patients tendedto be transported shorter distances and were older than non-intubated patients. Increased distance fromthe hospital was associated with reduced odds of intubation after controlling for age, sex, scene location,and trauma system entry status in a multivariate logistic regression. The locations of intubations weresuperimposed on hot spots of all pediatric EMS runs. This map demonstrates that most of the intubationsoccurred within areas where pediatric EMS calls were highly clustered. By mapping the intubationprocedures and pediatric population density, we found that intubation procedures were not clustered in asimilar distribution to the pediatric population in the county.Conclusion: In this geographically diverse county the location of intubation procedures was similar to theclustering of pediatric EMS calls, and increased distance from the hospital was associated with reducedodds of intubation after controlling for several potential confounding variables. [West J Emerg Med.2016;17(5)656-661.]