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During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Argentina was among the ten richest economies in terms of gross domestic product per capita with the United States being the leading economy most of the time. However, Argentina grew less and was less stable than the United States in a period of over 140 years (1875–2018). Structural breaks (1935 and 1975) were identified in the declining ratio of Argentina's gross domestic product per capita long-term trend to that of the United States, as well as in the long-term per capita growth rates of Argentina (1911 and 1975) and the United States (1935). The declining ratio partly reflects that growth in the United States accelerated after 1935 (during the post-1930 Great Depression recovery and the Second World War years) while it decelerated in Argentina after 1975 (in the context of large government deficits, high inflation, the first oil crisis, and the Latin American debt crisis). A Bayesian estimation model suggests that long-term growth was generally higher and less volatile in the United States than in Argentina, with relatively low spillovers from one country to the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study reports the clinical outcome of 704 papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients followed at our institution for a median time of 8 years. Currently, the long-term follow-up is based on the response to initial therapy (excellent response, indeterminate response, or biochemical or structural incomplete response) evaluated at 6–12 months after initial treatment. We assumed that the long-term follow-up of PTC patients might be better tailored by integrating the response to initial therapy with the American Thyroid Association (ATA) risk stratification system (low-, intermediate- and high-risk). This study confirmed that the initial response to therapy is predictive of the long-term outcome in PTC patients but also showed that the initial ATA risk class may be useful for improving the risk-adapted management of PTC patients based on the response to initial therapy. Background: In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in thyroid cancer management paradigms that use individualized risk assessments as the basis for treatment and follow-up recommendations. In this study, we assumed that the long-term follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer patients might be better tailored by integrating the response to initial therapy with the America Thyroid Association (ATA) risk classes. Methods: This retrospective study included low- and intermediate-risk papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients followed up for a median time of 8 years and classified according to the response to initial therapy assessed 6–12 months after initial treatment. Results: After a median follow-up of 8 years, in the initial excellent response subgroup of PTC patients (n = 522), the rate of recurrent disease was significantly higher in intermediate-risk patients than in low-risk PTC patients (6.9% versus 1.2%, p = 0.0005). Similarly, in the initial biochemical incomplete response subgroup (n = 82), the rate of excellent response was significantly higher in low-risk PTC patients (58.0%) than in intermediate-risk PTC patients (33.3%) (p = 0.007). Finally, in the initial structural incomplete response subgroup (n = 66), the rate of excellent response was higher in low-risk patients (80.0%) than in intermediate-risk patients (46.4%) (p = 0.08). Moreover, all patients with initial indeterminate response had an excellent response at the last follow-up visit. ATA risk classes were independently associated with long-term outcome in each subgroup of patients classified dynamically after initial therapy and the overall prognostic performance, defined via ROC curve analysis, of response to initial therapy integrated with the ATA risk system (AUC: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.86–0.92) was significantly higher compared to the ATA risk stratification (AUC 0.69; 95% CI: 0.65–0.74, p < 0.001) or the dynamic risk stratification (DRS) systems alone (AUC: 0.86 95% CI: 0.82–0.90, p = 0.007). Conclusions: This study of a large cohort of PTC patients showed that the initial ATA risk criteria may be useful for improving the risk-adapted management of PTC patients based on the response to initial therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides are ubiquitously applied in agricultural production systems to increase yields by managing insect pests, weeds, and diseases. While valuable, these chemicals can also have unwanted off-target effects on human health, biodiversity, and resistance evolution. Pesticide usage data can help to estimate and mitigate these impacts, but many countries lack spatial data on chemical usage trends. In contrast to pesticide usage, data on pesticide registration are more widely available and often organised into structured databases in accordance with governmental regulatory requirements. Here, we explored the extent to which pesticide registration databases can infer patterns of usage across agricultural pesticides, based on United States (US) and Australian data. Our predictive models explained 56% and 38% of the variation in pesticide usage across the US and Australia, respectively, with pesticide registrations explaining 58% and 23% of this variation and the remainder explained by land use patterns. Our results show that pesticide registrations can help to infer usage patterns across different chemical groups, active ingredients, and agricultural regions. Increasing numbers of registered products, pests, and products for a given active ingredient were associated with increased usage. However, there remains unexplained variation in pesticide usage patterns between active ingredient groups, highlighting the importance of additional explanatory factors. The value of chemical registration databases could be further enhanced through registration against taxonomically-identified pest species, rather than relying on common names or broadly defined groups. The associations detected in our work could be used to improve estimates of pesticide usage in countries lacking reliable data. • There is a paucity of pesticide usage data, but product registration data is more widely available. • Product registration data provided a partially effective surrogate for pesticide usage across regions and industries. • Better pesticide usage estimates will support assessments of off-target effects on biodiversity and resistance evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the informational module for ophthalmologists created by the National Postdoctoral Association Disease Models and Mechanisms (DMM) Advocacy Center. The module aims to aid optometrists in addressing the advocacy efforts of ophthalmologists (OMDs). The author also expresses his disgust on the move of the American Medical Association in suggesting that optometrists should be included in their Scope of Practice Partnership project.

The author reflects on the futility of the efforts of the American Optometric Association (AOA) to resist the potential threat of assimilation posed by House and Senate in relation to the development of a board certification. He explains the role of a College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) model in the profession. He encourages all optometrists to oppose the legislative bodies by taking part in the decision making in the Board Certification until legislators apply their own policy that set limits on their intervention to the profession.

The article emphasizes that optometry colleges in the U.S. are likely to be slow in applying social networking sites. Stephen Hoare of the periodical "The Guardian" noted the intention of some electronic learning (e-learning) experts to use the passion of their students for interactive online communication sites called Web 2.0 in order to provide academic content. Robin Mason, educational technology professor at the British Open University, states the benefit of communication tools such as Skype to students.

The author reflects on the objectives of the InfantSEE program launched by the American Optometric Association (AOA). The program aims to inform the public that vision disorders are the fourth most common disability in the U.S. and that only about 14 percent of children under the age of 6 are likely to have ever had vision examination. The organization claims that during the first year of the program, 50,000 infants were examined by 7,300 optometrists. He highlights that 7.35 million children were at risk of vision problems.

The author talks about his late colleague and friend Doctor Michael Rouse. He says that he met Rouse when he served in the vision therapy department of Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) when he was still a student. According to Rouse's biography in the Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO), he served as a member of the American Academy of Optometry and earned Diplomate status in the Binocular Vision and Perception Section of such institution in 1981. He also worked as optometry professor at SCCO.

Reports on the cultural diversity in the online world. Percentage of people in North America who are connected to the Internet; Comparison of the figures with that in Africa; Research findings of the U.S. Center for the Study of Cultural Diversity in Health Care.

The authors criticize the limited research and education on special patients in optometry and ophthalmology in the U.S. They note that special needs patients are those who have genetic disorders, traumatic brain injury, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, mental illness, learning and developmental disabilities because of the vision abnormalities they experience. They suggest that optometrists should publish research, case studies, editorials and reviews on the diagnosis and treatment of such patients. They urge professionals to share their knowledge with others.