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We examine the effects of speculation in the form of index trading on contemporaneous returns and volatility on corn, soybeans and wheat futures markets on the Chicago Board of Trade using multivariate generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity models and weekly data for 2006-2014. We also assess spillovers. Results are threefold. First, contemporaneous effects of index trading on own returns are positive and inelastic, and they are partially mitigated in the following week. Second, volatility depends positively on own past volatility, and volatility spillovers are limited. Third, index trading reduces own volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will reduce tariffs and lower regulatory hurdles that currently impair trade between the EU and the US. However, TTIP has been controversial from the outset. Non-governmental organisations are concerned about lowered health and environmental standards, unions fear a further weakening of labour conditions, and economists debate whether or not there will actually be any noticeable impact on employment and GDP growth. This Forum, featuring contributions by the speakers at the 2015 Intereconomics conference, presents a balanced overview of both the prospective benefits as well as the possible drawbacks to the potentially monumental trade agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: This study examines relationships among election to the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) and election to Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), class rank, and residency selection to determine if GHHS members are more likely to select primary care residencies than students not elected to GHHS membership.Methods: We evaluated five graduating classes (2006--2010) at 10 medical schools (n=5,481 students). Residency selections were grouped into primary care (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN), surgery (including surgical specialties), or E-ROAD and other (including lifestyle practices-emergency medicine, radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, and dermatology plus all other specialties, eg, neurology, pathology).Results: A higher proportion of GHHS members were attracted to primary care compared to non-GHHS members (54.3% versus 44.5%). Additional comparisons between GHHS and non-GHHS members demonstrated that 33.1% of GHHS members matched into E-ROAD and other residencies, while 40.9% of non-GHHS went into one of these specialties. Fewer GHHS members chose general surgery or a surgical sub-specialty (12.6% versus 14.6%). More GHHS members were elected into AOA (30.3% versus 14.0%). Further, a far greater proportion of dual AOA/GHHS members elect family medicine residency versus AOA members not elected to GHHS. In addition, GHHS members had slightly higher mean scores on USMLE Step 1 and 2 CK (Clinical Knowledge) and mean class rank.Conclusions: This study demonstrates that students elected into the GHHS as an aggregate group tend to be academically higher achieving when compared to their non-GHHS peers and gravitate to a higher degree toward primary care and specifically to family medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an extension of previous work on tilapia in the US market (Norman-López and Asche 2008). This study investigates the degree of market integration between fresh farmed tilapia fillets and fresh fillets of farmed catfish, wild sea dab, wild blackback flounder, and wild whole fresh red snapper in the US market. The literature suggests farmed and wild fish of alternative species do not compete. However, this may be changing as new farmed species are introduced to new markets. The results indicate no relationship between prices of fresh tilapia and catfish. Hence, there is no evidence that fresh tilapia fillets compete in the same market as catfish fillets. Conversely, fresh farmed tilapia fillets compete with wild whole red snapper, wild fresh fillets of sea dab, and blackback flounder. The implications are important for managing these overexploited wild fish species, as prices will most likely decline with increased imports of fresh tilapia fillets. This could lead to lower investments in fishing fleets and a reduction in fishing effort over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Internet is today the largest platform for food distribution, and there are concerns about the impact that digital marketing has in the field of nutrition by promoting non-evidence-based recommendations. The purpose of this study was to describe the user profile that draws on Instagram to follow nutrition-related content versus not, and to analyze the frequency and type of content of the information provided by nutritional influencers. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving randomly selected United States residents having an Instagram account was performed. Participants completed an anonymous online survey link. Results: From 898 respondents, 78.7% were women, and 75.6% were Millennials. Scientific evidence present in the posts was 14.3%. Influencers promoted a product or a brand in more than 90% of posts. Women followed more nutrition-related content than men (p < 0.001). Millennials, followed by Generation-Z, followed more nutrition-related content (p < 0.001). There were no significant relationships between the following status of nutrition-related content with BMI, type of job, household income, education degree, or smoking habits. Conclusions: Women and Millennials followed more nutrition-related content. Scientific evidence was scarce and commercial interest in the network was evident. The vast majority of the posts were not based on scientific evidence and instead promoted a product/supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the competition between domestic catfish fillets and imported tilapia fillets in the US market. The market segmentation between fresh and frozen fillets of both species is also considered. The substitutability between catfish and tilapia is of interest because market reports have recently suggested that the rapid increase in tilapia imports in the last few years is the result of tilapia taking market share from domestically produced catfish. The competition between fresh and frozen fillets of catfish and tilapia imports in the same market is examined using market integration and demand analysis. The results indicate that imports of fresh and frozen tilapia fillets lie in different market segments, while fresh and frozen catfish fillets compete in the same market. Furthermore, fresh and frozen fillets of catfish and tilapia imports do not compete in the same market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vaccination, screening, and linkage to care can reduce the burden of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, recommendations vary among organizations, and their implementation has been suboptimal. The American College of Physicians' High Value Care Task Force and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed this article to present best practice statements for hepatitis B vaccination, screening, and linkage to care.Methods: A narrative literature review of clinical guidelines, systematic reviews, randomized trials, and intervention studies on hepatitis B vaccination, screening, and linkage to care published between January 2005 and June 2017 was conducted.Best Practice Advice1: Clinicians should vaccinate against hepatitis B virus (HBV) in all unvaccinated adults (including pregnant women) at risk for infection due to sexual, percutaneous, or mucosal exposure; health care and public safety workers at risk for blood exposure; adults with chronic liver disease, end-stage renal disease (including hemodialysis patients), or HIV infection; travelers to HBV-endemic regions; and adults seeking protection from HBV infection.Best Practice Advice2: Clinicians should screen (hepatitis B surface antigen, antibody to hepatitis B core antigen, and antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen) for HBV in high-risk persons, including persons born in countries with 2% or higher HBV prevalence, men who have sex with men, persons who inject drugs, HIV-positive persons, household and sexual contacts of HBV-infected persons, persons requiring immunosuppressive therapy, persons with end-stage renal disease (including hemodialysis patients), blood and tissue donors, persons infected with hepatitis C virus, persons with elevated alanine aminotransferase levels (≥19 IU/L for women and ≥30 IU/L for men), incarcerated persons, pregnant women, and infants born to HBV-infected mothers.Best Practice Advice3: Clinicians should provide or refer all patients identified with HBV (HBsAg-positive) for posttest counseling and hepatitis B-directed care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace and environmental exposures pose health risks for racial/ethnic minorities in rural agricultural communities, placing them at a disadvantage in accessing needed health care. Over three fourths (76%) of the 2.4 million farmworkers in the United States are immigrants, mostly from Mexico. However, little is known of the community health concerns and barriers to care of Latinx farmworkers in inland southern California. This qualitative study used a community-based participatory research approach, conducting nine in-home meetings to obtain meaningful community input on health concerns and barriers to access healthcare services among rural residents of the Eastern Coachella Valley, who are also located near the desert-bound Salton Sea of inland southern California. All interviews were audio-recorded and analyzed via listening to the audio recordings and summarizing data in templates and matrices. Participants discussed health concerns related to agricultural labor, including heat-related illness, musculoskeletal ailments and injuries, skin disorders, respiratory illness, and trauma. Participants raised concerns about environmental exposures related to agriculture and the nearby Salton Sea, a highly saline lakebed, and proposed solutions to improve the health of their communities. The findings from this study suggest farmworkers are aware of the health risks posed by living and working in rural farmlands but lack resources and information to act upon and advocate for improved public health.

In the United States (US), racial and ethnic minority populations experience poorer oral health than the general population. Social and commercial determinants of health embedded in structural and institutional racism and/or discrimination generate and exacerbate oral health inequities. We provide examples of oral health disparities (including oral health status and workforce issues) among selected racial and ethnic minority groups in the US. In addition, we compiled four priority areas based on research over the last two decades to guide actions to improve oral health equity. These four priority areas aim to improve health care models, interventions, and policies to help close gaps and reduce disparities in oral health and access to dental care., (© 2022 American Dental Education Association.)

In September 2020, the National Cancer Institute convened the first PARTNRS Workshop as an initiative to forge partnerships between oncologists, primary care professionals, and non-oncology specialists for promoting patient accrual into cancer prevention trials. This effort is aimed at bringing about more effective accrual methods to generate decisive outcomes in cancer prevention research. The workshop convened to inspire solutions to challenges encountered during the development and implementation of cancer prevention trials. Ultimately, strategies suggested for protocol development might enhance integration of these trials into community settings where a diversity of patients might be accrued. Research Bases (cancer research organizations that develop protocols) could encourage more involvement of primary care professionals, relevant prevention specialists, and patient representatives with protocol development beginning at the concept level to improve adoptability of the trials within community facilities, and consider various incentives to primary care professionals (i.e., remuneration). Principal investigators serving as liaisons for the NCORP affiliates and sub-affiliates, might produce and maintain "Prevention Research Champions" lists of PCPs and non-oncology specialists relevant in prevention research who can attract health professionals to consider incorporating prevention research into their practices. Finally, patient advocates and community health providers might convince patients of the benefits of trial-participation and encourage "shared-decision making.", (©2021 The Authors; Published by the American Association for Cancer Research.)

Paenibacillus larvae, the causal agent of American foulbrood disease in honeybees, acquires tetracycline-resistance via native plasmids carrying known tetracycline-resistance determinants. From three P. larvae tetracycline-resistant strains isolated from honeys, 5-kb-circular plasmids with almost identical sequences, designated pPL373 in strain PL373, pPL374 in strain PL374, and pPL395 in strain PL395, were isolated. These plasmids were highly similar (99%) to small tetracycline-encoding plasmids (pMA67, pBHS24, pBSDMV46A, pDMV2, pSU1, pAST4, and pLS55) that replicate by the rolling circle mechanism. Nucleotide sequences comparisons showed that pPL373, pPL374, and pPL395 mainly differed from the previously reported P. larvae plasmid pMA67 in the oriT region and mob genes. These differences suggest alternative mobilization and/or conjugation capacities. Plasmids pPL373, pPL374, and pPL395 were individually transferred by electroporation and stably maintained in tetracycline-susceptible P. larvae NRRL B-14154, in which they autonomously replicated. The presence of nearly identical plasmids in five different genera of gram-positive bacteria, i.e., Bhargavaea, Bacillus, Lactobacillus, Paenibacillus, and Sporosarcina, inhabiting diverse ecological niches provides further evidence of the genetic transfer of tetracycline resistance among environmental bacteria from soils, food, and marine habitats and from pathogenic bacteria such as P. larvae.