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It's called GoLibrary in the United States and Bokomaten in its native Sweden. Patrons know it as Library-a-Go-Go in Contra Costa County, California, but whatever its name, the automated lending service this materials handling machine provides has proved a tremendous aid in addressing underserved segments of this sprawling community. It's not hard to imagine that nightmarish daily commutes might leave residents with little time or inclination to visit community libraries. Though not necessarily a point of pride, a recent national report indicated that Contra Costa County workers have the tenth worst commute in the nation and the longest commute west of the Mississippi River. The library can't help with the commute, but it does have a ton of materials that could make passing the time a little more pleasant--if patrons can get their hands on them. That's where the GoLibrary machine enters the picture. Thanks to a generous 2007 Library Services and Technology Act-funded grant through the California State Library, commuters taking Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and residents living in an underserved area of the county will have immediate access to a wide variety of books at three locations (with a fourth in the works). Two of the current library materials vending machines have been installed at BART stations in the district and a third machine at a well-trafficked shopping center, which was additionally paid for in part by a grant from the Bay Area Library and Information System (BALIS). Two out of the three machines are accessible 24 hours a day. The Library-a-Go-Go service consists of a stand-alone machine, with access to a self-contained collection of approximately 400 paperbacks, that handles both checkouts and returns to authorized cardholders. The customer logs in to the system with a library card and uses the touch screen to make a selection, which is delivered by a robotic arm. The item arrives in a plastic case through an open slot, with a receipt. To return materials, the process is reversed, and the item is returned in its case through the same slot. A second-generation machine installed at the Sandy Cove Shopping Center does not require the plastic cases.

In this review essay, Harvey Kantor and Robert Lowe explore the history of the culture wars in public education in the United States. Drawing on three books--David Tyack's "Seeking Common Ground," Jonathan Zimmerman's "Whose America?" and Amy Binder's "Contentious Curricula"--Kantor and Lowe review the history of struggles over the content of history texts and over the place of religion and religious values in the classroom. They suggest that while these struggles have been partially successful in freeing public education from the racial and ethno-religious particularisms that informed its origins, the more inclusive curriculum that resulted from these efforts has been rendered largely symbolic by the persistence of segregation and the inequality of resources that accompanies it.

In 1994, students from Broad Meadows Middle School met Iqbal Masih, a 12-year-old Pakistani activist who had been sold into bonded labor at age 4 and escaped at age 10. They were moved to take action, and started a letter-writing campaign protesting child labor. When they heard of Iqbal's death later that year, they decided to build a school in his name in Pakistan, using the power of the Internet to raise the required money. By soliciting donations from classes in their school and from other middle schools, and by acquiring outside help from Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and Amnesty International, they eventually raised $150,000--money that was then used to build a five-room school for former bonded laborers and to establish a fund to help Pakistani families buy children back from bonded labor. They also worked with the United States Agency for International Development to co-found a new international aid program, Operation Day's Work. Students in the 15 participating schools throughout the United States work one day a year to raise money for an agreed-upon project geared to help youth through education. Eleven years after Iqbal's visit a legacy continues to inspire new groups of student activists. Taysir Mahmoud, an ODW alumnus, says, "Iqbal is very much alive to us. What happened is so vivid. It's passed down from one group of students to another. It's kind of like...an oral tradition."

The article deals with the former US President Bush's plan for the so-called third pillar of the American missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic in the context of American-Iranian and American-Russian relations. We assess the explanatory power of different but interconnected (neo)realist conceptualizations of security dilemma and deterrence. Specifically, the study evaluates the relative importance of classical security dilemma versus imperialist security dilemma and the explanatory power of three different modalities of deterrence. The paper further shows how Iran and Russia balanced the United States. We also argue that the American missile defense system was not primarily motivated by defensive realist worries about security, but rather by an offensive realist struggle for power and gains at the expense of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the spring of 2002, a mail survey was conducted to determine the use of individualized radiographic examinations (selective radiography) for comprehensive care patients at all sixty-four U.S. and Canadian dental schools. Results from previous surveys were used to evaluate the long-term longitudinal trends. Among sixty-two schools (97 percent response rate), selective radiography was used by 34 percent of schools for dentulous adult patients, by 100 percent for edentulous adults, and by 28 percent for children. Having a credentialed chief of service increased the likelihood that selective radiography would be used for dentulous adults (odd ratio[OR]=2.36) and for children (OR=2.33). Selective radiography for dentulous adults increased from 2 percent of schools in 1977 to 36 percent in 1997 and leveled off thereafter. Between 1987 and 2002, selective radiography for edentulous adults was used at nearly all schools (96-100 percent) and for children at about a quarter of dental schools (22-28 percent). Among the sixty-one schools for which there are complete data since 1987, the continuous use of routine radiography was most common (39 percent of schools) for dentulous adult patients, whereas the continuous use of selective radiography was uncommon (7 percent). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the use of ionizing radiation to make diagnostic radiographs which is an established standard in dental practice and education in the U.S. The study aims to update the data and establish trends about the diagnostic use of ionizing radiation in dental education facilities. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) radiographic guidelines being provided was incorporated into the American Dental Association's(ADA's) radiographic practice recommendations.

Aim: This executive summary of the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy clinical practice guideline provides recommendations and algorithms for clinicians to diagnose and manage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in adult and pediatric patients as well as supporting documentation to encourage their use., Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted from January 1, 2010, to April 30, 2020, encompassing studies, reviews, and other evidence conducted on human subjects that were published in English from PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Collaboration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports, and other relevant databases., Structure: Many recommendations from the earlier hypertrophic cardiomyopathy guidelines have been updated with new evidence or a better understanding of earlier evidence. This summary operationalizes the recommendations from the full guideline and presents a combination of diagnostic work-up, genetic and family screening, risk stratification approaches, lifestyle modifications, surgical and catheter interventions, and medications that constitute components of guideline directed medical therapy. For both guideline-directed medical therapy and other recommended drug treatment regimens, the reader is advised to follow dosing, contraindications and drug-drug interactions based on product insert materials., (Copyright © 2020 American Heart Association, Inc., and the American College of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in childhood cancer survivors (CCSs). Echocardiographic myocardial strain imaging is recommended in adult patients with cancer, but its role in pediatric CCSs has not been well established. Aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of abnormalities in left ventricular strain in pediatric CCSs, to compare strain with other echocardiographic measurements and blood biomarkers, and to explore risk factors for reduced strain., Methods: CCSs ≥3 years from their last anthracycline treatment were enrolled in this multicenter study and underwent a standardized functional echocardiogram and biomarker collection. Regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with longitudinal strain (LS)., Results: Five hundred forty-six pediatric CCSs were compared with 134 healthy controls. Abnormal left ventricular ejection fraction (<50%) and mean LS ( Z score, <-2) was found in 0.8% and 7.7% of the CCSs, respectively. LS was significantly lower in CCSs than in controls, but the absolute difference was small (0.7%). Lower LS in CCSs was associated with older current age and higher body surface area. Sex, cumulative anthracycline dose, radiotherapy, and biomarkers were not independently associated with LS. Circumferential strain, diastolic parameters, and biomarkers were not significantly different in pediatric CCSs., Conclusions: Global systolic function and LS are only mildly reduced in pediatric CCSs, and most LS values are within normal range. This makes single LS measurements of limited added value in identifying CCSs at risk for cardiac dysfunction. The utility of strain imaging in the long-term follow-up of CCS remains to be demonstrated.

Objectives: To report the incidence and predictors of moderate/severe radial artery spasm (RAS) in patients undergoing cardiovascular percutaneous procedures through a transradial approach (TRA) in centers with TRA expertise., Background: Data regarding the actual rate of clinically meaningful RAS are limited due to difference in study designs and operator expertise., Methods: The RAS registry, an international (14 centers from Argentina, Chile, India, Indonesia, Macedonia, The Netherlands and United States of America) registry that included 1,868 patients undergoing TRA cardiovascular procedures (63.5% diagnostic and 56.5% therapeutic).All selected centers used TRA as default strategy in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. Throughout 2012, each center included all consecutive TRA cases (during a 2-month period) into a dedicated database covering clinical characteristics as well as procedural topics related to TRA patterns and RAS occurrence., Results: The incidence of moderate/severe RAS was 2.7%. Only 0.7% of patients required crossover (8 to transfemoral and 5 to contralateral TRA). Patients with moderately/severe spasm were more frequently females, had a history of dyslipidemia, received more often a 7F sheath and more puncture attempts than patients without spasm. By multivariate analysis, the need for more than one attempt and the use of a 7 F sheath were independent predictors of the development of moderate/severe RAS., Conclusions: The incidence of moderate/severe RAS is low in centers with a default TRA. Its development appears to be strongly related to the numbers of puncture attempts and the use of large sheaths., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)