The changing role of the physician as a consequence of the gag clause in managed health care contracts

In November 1995, at a meeting of the Managed Health Care Congress, Harvard Medical School professor and physician Dr. David Himmelstein, delivered a presentation that included a slide of what he called the gag clause in his U.S. Healthcare contract. Dr. Himmelstein explained that he was being restricted in what he could say to his patients - three days later, U.S. Healthcare terminated his contract. This event, coupled with Dr. Himmelstein\u27s appearance two weeks later on the Donahue Show, sparked a flood of media attention and, in turn, a public outcry. Managed health care, designed to regulate and curtail growing health care costs, had restricted physician patient communications and ultimately threatened the physicians\u27 role. This study provides an historical report of the gag clause including (1) a description of its public unveiling and critical evaluation, (2) a review of related literature, and (3) a detailed report of the state and federal gag clause legislation

The Covid-19 pandemic is linked to a ten percent increase in domestic violence cases across the country.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people across the world have been sheltering at home for several months, a shift which is sadly likely to mean a rise in domestic violence cases. After adjusting domestic violence call data for seasonal trends, Emily Leslie and Riley Wilson find that domestic violence increases by about ten percent compared to the same period in 2019 – an equivalent to nearly 1,400 additional cases across the US each day

The Hybrid Ensemble Model

Music education plays a significant role within the public school and needs to be available to all students. Students should have opportunities to learn with voice or instrument and learn the art of performing for an audience. Students that are unable to attend music classes in a traditional class setting or have selected different pathways for their education other than a traditional classroom setting, may be excluded from opportunities to work with others in a collective music environment. Limited options are available for students to remain in their school ensembles when schedule conflicts arise for example, with advanced classes or career preparation opportunities. To reach a deeper understanding of how school scheduling is affecting music ensemble classes, a survey will be provided to music educators. The intent of the study is to provide music educators with a model that they may use to work with students who wish to continue in ensemble classes in a non-traditional class setting

Small-amplitude swimmers can self-propel faster in viscoelastic fluids.

Many small organisms self-propel in viscous fluids using travelling wave-like deformations of their bodies or appendages. Examples include small nematodes moving through soil using whole-body undulations or spermatozoa swimming through mucus using flagellar waves. When self-propulsion occurs in a non-Newtonian fluid, one fundamental question is whether locomotion will occur faster or slower than in a Newtonian environment. Here we consider the general problem of swimming using small-amplitude periodic waves in a viscoelastic fluid described by the classical Oldroyd-B constitutive relationship. Using Taylor's swimming sheet model, we show that if all travelling waves move in the same direction, the locomotion speed of the organism is systematically decreased. However, if we allow waves to travel in two opposite directions, we show that this can lead to enhancement of the swimming speed, which is physically interpreted as due to asymmetric viscoelastic damping of waves with different frequencies. A change of the swimming direction is also possible. By analysing in detail the cases of swimming using two or three travelling waves, we demonstrate that swimming can be enhanced in a viscoelastic fluid for all Deborah numbers below a critical value or, for three waves or more, only for a finite, non-zero range of Deborah numbers, in which case a finite amount of elasticity in the fluid is required to increase the swimming speed.This work was funded in part by the European Union through a Marie Curie CIG Grant to E.L.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.06.04

NAU is abuzz about career

In 2013, NAU Career Development implemented a robust 3 year assessment strategy. Year One, showcased at the 2015 Assessment Fair, focused on assessing the Reach of our program. In Year Two, we continued to assess Reach and added measures of Perception, including satisfaction surveys targeted towards students, employers, and campus partners, as well as interviews with faculty. Assessing outcomes of both quantitative and qualitative data analyses, our results demonstrated something exciting….NAU is Abuzz about Career! The busy bees at NAU Career Development are having an impact, resulting in prepared students, engaged partners, and satisfied employers. Our data is reviewed throughout the year, and continues to inform future priorities and next steps. Come see what the buzz is about

South Dakota Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program: Using Teleaudiology to Conduct Infant Diagnostic Assessments

Teleaudiology allows patients and providers to bypass several economic and geographic barriers that impede the delivery and accessibility of audiological services. The South Dakota Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program recognized this benefit and created a teleaudiology infrastructure for the diagnostic assessment of infants. Using a hub-and-spoke model, a certified pediatric audiologist at the hub site assesses infants located at two spoke sites in South Dakota. Remote control software applications are used to provide a synchronous method of service delivery. The audiologist’s test battery includes video otoscopy, tympanometry, and auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing. Since establishing the teleaudiology program, nine infant assessments have been completed. The South Dakota EHDI program will continue improving the teleaudiology project to ensure all infants in the state have access to pediatric audiological services

Cal Poly Farmers Picnic

Agriculture can be seen as the world’s most essential industry. Many products people use daily come directly from agriculture, including the food placed on people’s tables. Knowing where that food comes from, and the overall importance of agricultural education is vital in the United States and the world. This message needs to be shared beyond the classroom: we need agriculture to survive. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “in 2012, there were 3.2 million farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers and an estimated 757,900 agricultural workers legally employed in the U.S.” (USDA, 2012). These findings concluded that less than 2% of the United States population has a direct and vital understanding of the importance of agriculture. Most of the general population has little to no understanding of what really happens on farms (Diesburg, 2016). Agriculture is viewed as being stuck in the past, but in reality, agriculture is at the forefront of modern technology. Additionally, lack of agricultural knowledge tends to cause people to turn away from farming, a feeling increased by misinformation in the media. Considering people no longer understand the process of farming, they have begun to fear it (Protect The Harvest, 2015). This project will help share how the agriculture industry is part of daily lives by targeting the students on California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo’s campus. This project will model how hosting “The Farmer’s Picnic” can address the importance of agriculture from the inside out. Cal Poly’s motto, Learn By Doing, is showcased through its agricultural programs and courses, meaning there is great opportunity to utilize the resources available on campus to better educate students. This senior project is designed to educate the student body on the impacts of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (CAFES) in their everyday lives. The Farmer’s Picnic will work in collaboration with the CAFES Student Council, whose members are representatives from each club in the CAFES and meet weekly to discuss business within the college. Utilizing the CAFES Student Council, the Farmer’s Picnic will encompass every sector of agriculture and educate students about the bigger picture of agriculture. Through industry focused education, the CAFES Student Council will work hand in hand with multiple student-run organizations to connect taste, touch, visual and auditory education of agriculture