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Background: Integration of palliative care in the management of critical illnesses has been linked with a better quality of life for patients and their families. Yet, there is a paucity of data regarding the role of palliative care for acute pulmonary embolism (PE) hospitalizations which is a leading cause of cardiovascular death in the United States. Methods: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample years 2005–2015, acute PE hospitalizations were identified by using ICD-9-codes. The primary outcome was the trends of palliative care penetration during acute PE hospitalizations and the main secondary outcome was the factors associated with palliative care utilization. Results: Among 505,485 acute PE hospitalizations, 15,522 (3.1%) had a palliative care encounter. Hospitalizations with high-risk PE versus non-high-risk PE showed a higher utilization for palliative care (7.6% vs. 2.7%, P < 0.001). The annual trends of palliative care penetration among hospitalizations with PE showed a rising pattern (0.6% in 2005 vs. 5.6% in 2015, Ptrend<0.001). A similar trend was observed among those with high-risk PE (0.8% in 2005 vs. 12.8% in 2015, Ptrend<0.001). The trends of palliative care utilization among cancer and non-cancer admissions increased over time (1.3%in 2005 to 15.5% in 2015 vs. 0.5% in 2005 to 3.9% in 2015, both P-trends<0.001). Some racial and regional disparities were identified among the predictors of palliative care utilization. Conclusions: Palliative care penetration among acute PE hospitalizations remains suboptimal even among high-risk PE, and cancer hospitalizations, but has been increasing in recent years. Future studies are needed to investigate the barriers for palliative care utilization and narrowing this gap among admissions with acute PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss data quality and modeling issues inherent in the use of nationwide property data to value environmental amenities. By example of Zillow's Transaction and Assessment Database, a real estate database covering the United States, we identify challenges and propose guidance for (1) identifying arm's-length sales; (2) geolocating parcels and buildings; (3) identifying temporal links between transaction, assessor, and parcel data; (4) identifying property types, such as single-family homes and vacant lands; and (5) dealing with missing or mismeasured data for standard housing attributes. We review [End Page 200] current practice and show that how researchers address these issues can meaningfully influence research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to reclassify legal sex as male (M), female (F), and even X, is a core issue of trans and non-binary legal engagements. A wave of legal reform and debate has recently swept across the United States, resulting in a spectrum of laws and policies, from a complete ban on reclassification to the innovative framework of self-identification. This Article provides a comprehensive study of American sex reclassification law, exploring a paradigmatic shift in legal preconditions for recognition: from demanding proof of medically authorized "sex reassignment" toward protecting the individual right to "gender identity." Investigating these shifts, this Article argues that even the most expansive reclassification framework fails to address the pervasive harm caused by the initial act of assigning sex at birth. The Article argues that the incongruence experienced by trans legal subjects is not between their body and identity but between their birth assigned sex and the gender expectations associated with it. Instead of merely seeking improved reclassification frameworks, the Article asks how sex classification impacts both trans and non-trans (cisgender) legal subjects. Linking the needs of trans and non-binary people to broader questions of sex in law, the Article lays the groundwork for envisioning the potential end of assigning sex at birth and the separation of the differentiated status M/F from the natal body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a new model for spatio-temporal data. More specifically, a graph penalty function is incorporated in the cost function in order to estimate the unknown parameters of a spatio-temporal mixed-effect model based on a generalized linear model. This model allows for more flexible and general regression relationships than classical linear ones through the use of generalized linear models (GLMs) and also captures the inherent structural dependencies or relationships of the data through this regularization based on the graph Laplacian. We use a publicly available dataset from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) in the United States of America and perform statistical inferences of future CO 2 emissions in 59 counties. We empirically show how the proposed method outperforms widely used methods, such as the ordinary least squares (OLS) and ridge regression for this challenging problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although disciplines are but one element of the institutional matrix of higher education, historians of International Relations (IR) rarely explore the field beyond its disciplinary context. To redress this lacuna, I sketch the history of professional international affairs (IA) schools in the United States. IA schools employ many IR scholars and train numerous practitioners, constituting a crucial interface between the IR academy and the policy world. When the social science disciplines were institutionalised at the turn of the twentieth century, the mission of training IR scholars momentarily eclipsed, but never extinguished, the commitment to training practitioners. During the twentieth century, this commitment increasingly found expression in interdisciplinary professional IA schools. I survey the emergence of IA schools, the growth of terminal master's programmes within their walls, and the rapid growth of enrollments in these programmes. The expansion of IA education mirrored the spectacular growth of professional education on US campuses in areas such as law, business, nursing, and social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of human learning happens through interaction with other people, but little is known about how this process is reflected in the brains of students and teachers. Here, we concurrently recorded electroencephalography (EEG) data from nine groups, each of which contained four students and a teacher. All participants were young adults from the northeast United States. Alpha-band (8–12 Hz) brain-to-brain synchrony between students predicted both immediate and delayed posttest performance. Further, brain-to-brain synchrony was higher in specific lecture segments associated with questions that students answered correctly. Brain-to-brain synchrony between students and teachers predicted learning outcomes at an approximately 300-ms lag in the students' brain activity relative to the teacher's brain activity, which is consistent with the time course of spoken-language comprehension. These findings provide key new evidence for the importance of collecting brain data simultaneously from groups of learners in ecologically valid settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Medical podcasts are becoming increasingly available; however, it is unclear how these new resources are being used by trainees or whether they influence clinical practice. This study explores the preferences and experiences of otolaryngology residents with otolaryngology-specific podcasts, and the impact of these podcasts on resident education and clinical practice. Methods: An 18-question survey was distributed anonymously to a representative junior (up to post-graduate year 3) and senior (post-graduate year 4 or greater) otolaryngology residents at most programs across the US. Along with demographic information, the survey was designed to explore the preferences of educational materials, podcast listening habits and motivations, and influence of podcasts on medical practice. Descriptive statistics and student t -tests were used to analyze the results. Results: The survey was distributed to 198 current otolaryngology residents representing 94% of eligible residency programs and was completed by 73 residents (37% response rate). Nearly 3-quarters of respondents reported previous use of otolaryngology podcasts, among which 83% listen at least monthly. Over half of residents changed their overall clinical (53%) and consult (51%) practice based on podcast use. Residents rank-ordered listening to podcasts last among traditional options for asynchronous learning, including reading textbooks and watching online videos. Conclusions: While other asynchronous learning tools remain popular, most residents responding to this survey use podcasts and report that podcasts influence their clinical practice. This study reveals how podcasts are currently used as a supplement to formal otolaryngology education. Results from the survey may inform how medical podcasts could be implemented into resident education in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public debate on mandating gender representation on boards of directors in the United States is close to a boiling point. California introduced a mandatory quota in 2018 only to see it constitutionally disqualified in 2022, and the Nasdaq Stock Market followed suit with new diversity rules in 2021 for all corporations listed on the exchange. While public discourse focuses on corporate performance, not much is known about the link between gender diversity and corporate normative obedience. In this study we explore the relationship between boardroom gender representation and corporate compliance with the law. We examine the impact of gender diversity on corporate obedience in a sample of 660 public corporations. Our findings indicate that gender diversity has a substantial positive impact on corporate compliance. Notably, every one percent increase in female representation on the board is associated with at least a four percent decrease in the probability that the corporation will be associated with a violation of the law. The key contributions of this Article to the literature are threefold: First, the findings of this Article call for an empirical reevaluation of gendered theories of female white-collar offenders. Second, this Article adds a unique perspective to the broad discussion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects of corporate purpose. Third, this Article sheds innovative light on the discussion about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the means to enhance it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: The impact of carotid artery stent fractures on the incidence of adverse clinical events remains unclear. The objective of this study is to report the stent fracture rate and its association with in-stent restenosis and adverse outcomes in the ACT-1 trial (Carotid Angioplasty and Stenting Versus Endarterectomy in Asymptomatic Subjects Who Are at Standard Risk for Carotid Endarterectomy With Significant Extracranial Carotid Stenotic Disease).Methods: ACT-1 is a prospective multicenter trial of patients who have standard surgical risk with severe asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis randomly assigned to carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy (Abbott Vascular). The primary end point was a composite of death, stroke, or myocardial infarction during the 30 days after the procedure or ipsilateral stroke during the 365 days after the procedure. After 771 patients were enrolled, successively randomly assigned patients were required to undergo annual radiographic (x-ray) analysis for stent fracture. Images were independently adjudicated by a core laboratory.Results: Of 1021 patients treated with carotid artery stenting during a mean follow-up of 3.1±1.6 years, 939 had at least 1 x-ray during the follow-up period. Stent fracture was reported in 51 (5.4%) patients. With a maximum follow-up period of 5 years, adverse clinical outcomes occurred in 39 patients with at least 1 x-ray during the follow-up. Of 826 (80.9%) subjects who underwent both duplex ultrasound and x-ray, 822 (99.5%) were interpretable. There was no association between stent fracture and the primary end point (P=0.86) or with restenosis (P=0.53).Conclusions: In this large, independently adjudicated, multicenter study, the stent fracture rate was low and not associated with major adverse clinical events or in-stent restenosis.Clinical Trial Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00106938. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the centrality of grand, paradigmatic theory in American IR has eroded, with the vacuum being filled by largely atheoretical "hypothesis-testing" research. Although a heated debate has emerged on whether it is good or bad for IR, hardly anyone has tried to analyze this trend. I offer an analysis grounded in a conceptual framework elaborated by sociologist Richard Whitley. In the 1980s and 1990s IR approximated the type of social organization Whitley labeled "polycentric oligarchy"--a hierarchic structure dominated by leaders of competing schools, toward which scholars orient their research. In recent years the field has become more of a "fragmented adhocracy." Its reputational hierarchy has become more fluid and, concomitantly, its intellectual output has become more fragmented, more empirical, and less oriented toward a theoretical center. To account for this change, I discuss three external forces that reduce American IR's "reputational autonomy": the corporatization of American higher education; a surge in the availability of research funding from the Pentagon and other defense agencies; and the enduring embeddedness of American IR in the political science discipline. To strengthen my argument, I compare American IR to its Australian counterpart on these three dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the portrayal of Iberic-Latin dictatorships in American political science. Link with the portrayal of fascist Italy; Critique on the views of several political scientists on fascism; Persistence of the interest of Americans in fascist corporatism; Rejection of fascist dictatorship by the scientists.

The article discusses maternal and neonatal outcomes as a result of the use of methamphetamine during pregnancy in the U.S. Some of the characteristics of patients that resulted in a high-risk pregnancy include domestic violence, substance abuse and poor quality of prenatal care. Research revealed that prenatal exposure to such drug leads to morphological alterations in the brain with related cognitive disorders. Also noted is the need to identify patients, who use methamphetamine, and provide intervention to enhance outcomes related to pregnancy.

September 11, 2001, forever changed the landscape surrounding terrorism. The oceans no longer protected the United States from terrorists. And as incidences in the Philippines, Spain, Iraq, and other corners of the globe have found, no place on the planet can be considered risk-free. Unfortunately, not only must the world be concerned with acts of violence and destruction, but also with the threat of a more insidious nature—chemical and biological terrorism. According to a March 29, 2004, article in the New York Times, the Pentagon released parts of an unclassified document suggesting that the United States is “woefully ill-prepared to detect and respond to a bioterrorist assault.” In this article, our authors offer us a first-hand window into an important and regrettably necessary area of medicine that could affect us both as physicians and citizens in the twenty-first century. Fig 1—The EditorsBiochemical terrorism—the deliberate dispersion of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and organic or inorganic toxin agents, to kill, mutilate, and create chaos—is a real threat that all countries must cope with today. Both sovereign nations and terror organizations now have the capability to produce and use biochemical agents, and some of them have already demonstrated their eagerness to do so. The development of instant communication has been a further inducement to the terrorists. Each event is reported almost immediately in the media, bringing recognition and reputation to the executors (1–3). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract. 1. The effects of prescribed fire on ant community structure were examined in a regenerating longleaf pine savanna in Florida, U.S.A. The presence of ants on 20, 10 × 10 m plots was determined by baiting every 1–3 months from 18 months before a fire until 6 months afterwards. 2. Expected species richness (based on rarefaction) and species density 6 months post-fire were significantly lower than for the same month (September) 6 months before the fire. 3. Cluster analysis revealed that the effects of fire were far less important predictors of ant community structure than seasonality and unexplained inter-annual variation. Thus, overall, the impacts of fire were relatively minor and short term at the community level. 4. Different functional groups of ants (as defined by Andersen, 1997) responded to fire in strikingly different ways. Generalised Myrmicinae (e.g. Pheidole spp., Monomorium viride ) were affected more severely by fire than were the other functional groups. In contrast, the dominant Dolichoderinae (Forelius pruinosus ) exhibited a large increase after the fire and seemed to be responsible for the decline in abundance of several species. 5. A strong negative correlation between F. pruinosus and other groups of ants immediately after the fire suggested more intense competition among ants at that time. Six months post-fire, the abundance of F. pruinosus decreased markedly and the abundance of other species rebounded. 6. The rapid post-fire recovery of the ant community probably reflects adaptations of ants to a chronic fire regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant, positivist, approach to the study of culture and national security specifies 'culture' as an independent variable. It assumes that culture, and the study of culture, are uncontaminated by the politics of national security. This formulation contrasts with the dominant understanding of 'culture' in the humanities, where culture and power are viewed as constituting a 'nexus', and where politics is claimed to shape cultural knowledge, including knowledge about culture, as much as the other way around. I demonstrate the utility of the 'nexus' approach by exploring the origins of Gabriel Almond's 'political culture' research. I show that Almond built on ideas that originated in national security work, that he enjoyed an intimate relationship with national security agencies, that his scholarship tracked US foreign policy concerns, and that it was part of a broader Cold War cultural formation. 'Political culture', thus, was not pure of the politics of national security. I conclude by raising some questions about the 'purity' of the present literature on culture and national security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. As part of a multiclinic U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute study of lipid levels of Americans, the University of Cincinnati studied a total school district's population. Out of a total of 8,906 eligible students from all grades, 6 to 17 years of age, 7,337 participated (82%). After fasting for 12 hours or more, plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels were ascertained in 6,775 children. For white and black boys and girls, normal lipid values are given by age in both fasting and casual (nonfasting) states. This study group closely resembled a normal pediatric practice population, so that the values established may be used as baseline data for the practicing pediatrician. Since sex, race, and age are dominant sources for variations, care must be taken in the interpretation of minor changes that occur over time in a child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Local effects of climate change on buildings across the United States are estimated. • A statistical and physics-based model was developed and uncertainty was quantified. • The framework outperforms other competitive machine learning approaches. • The energy use intensity of buildings for most cities and climate zones could grow. • Results suggest more efficiency for commercial buildings in hot and humid climates. Climate change could have both positive and negative effects on the energy consumption of buildings. Today, it is not clear what the extent of these effects could be at multiple spatial scales including building sectors, cities, and climate zones. More importantly, the uncertainty of mathematical models used to estimate these effects is not well understood. This knowledge gap makes it difficult to evaluate decisions about what buildings, cities, and even technologies should be prioritized in the race to mitigate climate change. Moreover, this lack of knowledge makes it difficult for researchers to build on the limitations of past models effectively. To address this knowledge gap, we develop a novel framework for quantifying model uncertainty in the context of climate change and building energy consumption. The framework blends for the first time large sources of weather and building energy consumption data with Bayesian statistics and first-principle building energy models. The framework is used to forecast the potential effects of climate change in buildings across 96 cities in the United States for the 21st century. Based on our estimates and credible intervals, we found reasons to support the idea that commercial buildings in hot/warm and humid climates should be at the top of the agenda of climate action in the building sector of the United States. We believe that future research on uncertainty quantification should take a closer look at the local effects of extreme events rather than yearly effects of climate change on buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the life and works of the literary scholar Richard S. Kennedy. Kennedy was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the year 1920, and attended the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles, completing his requirements for a graduate degree in English in 1942. He chose Harvard University for further studies and began to explore the William Wisdom Collection of Thomas Wolfe's papers for a seminar paper focusing on Wolfe's dramatic works. He contributed a great deal in the study works of Thomas Wolfe. Kennedy died on December 29, 2002.

The article focuses on increasing distance between policymakers and political science and reduce its focus on techniques. Topics discussed include focus of political science on statistical and mathematical methods according to Michael Desch, professor of political science, creation of the U.S. National Science Foundation due to activities of the U.S. Office of Naval Research and support for quantification of political science from government agencies.

This section introduces a series of articles, which focused on juvenile justice and the origins of the welfare state. The modern juvenile justice system originated early in the nineteenth century. The term was developed with the establishment of the first juvenile institution in New York City in 1825, nine years after the creation of the concept of juvenile delinquency. Prior to that period, children who committed offenses were described as black-guard children, stubborn children, poor vagrant children, or they were simply called young criminals. The first juvenile court was established in Chicago in 1899. Before then, criminal cases involving children and adolescents were handled by criminal courts. Young criminals received the same punishments as adults; the only difference being that they usually received less punishment than adults who committed the same offense. The passing of the Illinois Juvenile Court Law in 1899 signified a widely popular view of the criminal and problem child, of family and state responsibility for troublesome youths and of the adequate and useful state response to undesirable behavior of children. All over the Western world, the view emerged at the time that children ought to be saved and not punished for their misconduct. For instance, at the Second International Penitentiary Congress held in Stockholm in 1878, it was resolved that delinquent children should not be punished but educated so as to enable them to gain an honest livelihood and to become useful to society instead of an injury to it.

BACKGROUND: Black Americans have a higher risk of nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) than White Americans. We aimed to evaluate differences in the risk of tachyarrhythmias among patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). METHODS: The study population comprised 3895 ICD recipients in the United States enrolled in primary prevention ICD trials. Outcome measures included ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VTA), atrial tachyarrhythmia (ATA), ICD therapies, VTA burden (using Andersen-Gill recurrent event analysis), death, and the predicted benefit of the ICD. All events were adjudicated blindly. Outcomes were compared between self-reported Black patients versus White patients with cardiomyopathy (ischemic and NICM). RESULTS: Black patients were more likely to be female (35% versus 22%) and younger (57±12 versus 62±12 years) with a higher frequency of comorbidities. In NICM, Black patients had a higher rate of first VTA, fast VTA, ATA, and appropriate and inappropriate ICD therapy (VTA ≥170 bpm, 32% versus 20%; VTA ≥200 bpm, 22% versus 14%; ATA, 25% versus 12%; appropriate therapy, 30% versus 20%; and inappropriate therapy, 25% versus 11%; P <0.001 for all). Multivariable analysis showed that Black patients with NICM experienced a higher risk of all types of arrhythmia or ICD therapy (VTA ≥170 bpm, hazard ratio [HR] 1.71; VTA ≥200 bpm, HR 1.58; ATA, HR 1.87; appropriate therapy, HR 1.62; inappropriate therapy, HR 1.86; P ≤0.01 for all), higher burden of tachyarrhythmias or therapies (VTA, HR 1.84; appropriate therapy, HR 1.84; P <0.001 for both), and a higher risk of death (HR 1.92; P =0.014). In contrast, in ischemic cardiomyopathy, the risk of all types of tachyarrhythmia, ICD therapy, or death was similar between Black patients and White patients. Both Black patients and White patients derived a significant and similar benefit from ICD implantation. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with NICM with an ICD for primary prevention, Black patients compared with White patients had a high risk and burden of VTA, ATA, and ICD therapies with a lower survival rate. Nevertheless, the overall benefit of the ICD was maintained and was similar to that of White patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]