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Studies on special education teacher time use (TTU) have indicated that special education teachers spend small percentages of their day teaching. The authors examined goal setting and self-monitoring to change the time use of 4 teachers. In terms of TTU, each teacher articulated goals for increasing some tasks (e.g., instruction) and decreasing others (e.g., paperwork). Data indicated that self-monitoring of time use produced medium and moderate effects for 1 teacher and small effects for another. Data for the 2 other teachers suggested that there are institutional barriers to increasing instructional time, even for highly motivated teachers. This unique and preliminary study on changing TTU articulated teacher beliefs regarding barriers to changing teacher time. In addition, this study mirrored R. Ingersoll's (1996, 2003) theoretical work, which indicated that teachers across the United States work every day in conditions shaped and controlled by a system that they do not control. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)

Background: Articular cartilage and meniscal damage are commonly encountered and often treated at the time of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Our understanding of how these injuries and their treatment relate to outcomes of ACLR is still evolving. Hypothesis/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess whether articular cartilage and meniscal variables are predictive of 10-year outcomes after ACLR. We hypothesized that articular cartilage lesions and meniscal tears and treatment would be predictors of the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) (all 5 subscales), and Marx activity level outcomes at 10-year follow-up after ACLR. Study Design: Cohort study (prognosis); Level of evidence, 1. Methods: Between 2002 and 2008, individuals with ACLR were prospectively enrolled and followed longitudinally using the IKDC, KOOS, and Marx activity score completed at entry, 2, 6, and 10 years. A proportional odds logistic regression model was built incorporating variables from patient characteristics, surgical technique, articular cartilage injuries, and meniscal tears and treatment to determine the predictors (risk factors) of IKDC, KOOS, and Marx outcomes at 10 years. Results: A total of 3273 patients were enrolled (56% male; median age, 23 years at time of enrollment). Ten-year follow-up was obtained on 79% (2575/3273) of the cohort. Incidence of concomitant pathology at the time of surgery consisted of the following: articular cartilage (medial femoral condyle [MFC], 22%; lateral femoral condyle [LFC], 15%; medial tibial plateau [MTP], 4%; lateral tibial plateau [LTP], 11%; patella, 18%; trochlea, 8%) and meniscal pathology (medial, 37%; lateral, 46%). Variables that were predictive of poorer 10-year outcomes included articular cartilage damage in the patellofemoral (P <.01) and medial (P <.05) compartments and previous medial meniscal surgery (7% of knees; P <.04). Compared with no meniscal tear, a meniscal injury was not associated with 10-year outcomes. Medial meniscal repair at the time of ACLR was associated with worse 10-year outcomes for 2 of 5 KOOS subscales, while a medial meniscal repair in knees with grade 2 MFC chondrosis was associated with better outcomes on 2 KOOS subscales. Conclusion: Articular cartilage injury in the patellofemoral and medial compartments at the time of ACLR and a history of medial meniscal surgery before ACLR were associated with poorer 10-year ACLR patient-reported outcomes, but meniscal injury present at the time of ACLR was not. There was limited and conflicting association of medial meniscal repair with these outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 is the ultimate test of administrative law and governance, as every country faces the common challenge of saving lives from a virulent pandemic at a manageable cost to the economy. Polls show that forty-eight percent of Americans think that COVID-19 posed an essentially impossible test and that the United States has performed as well as most other countries in meeting the pandemic challenge. This Essay refutes that misperception. It shows that the U.S. COVID-19 mortality rate for 2020, adjusted for population, was more than twice as high as Canada's and Germany's; forty times higher than Japan's; fifty-nine times higher than South Korea's, and 207 times higher than New Zealand's mortality rate despite over $2 trillion in U.S. deficit spending. In fact, U.S. performance at the level of South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, or Japan in containing the pandemic would have saved over 300,000 American lives in 2020 alone. This Essay then offers a detailed comparison of the COVID-19 response of the Trump Administration to that of New Zealand, which mounted a truly successful response. While some observers have dismissed New Zealand's success as an artifact of good luck—or of its geographic situation as a small, rural, island state—this Essay offers evidence to suggest that these distinctions are of marginal importance compared to a more crucial contrast: New Zealand followed the pandemic containment "playbook" to the letter while, in the United States, the Trump Administration departed from that playbook at every turn. Moreover, New Zealand's response was centrally planned and tightly managed while the U.S. response was incoherent and decentralized. The evidence thus strongly suggests that the tragic disparity between America's COVID-19 performance and New Zealand's is primarily due—not to geography or happenstance—but to a stark contrast in the pandemic response strategy by New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern compared to that of President Trump. Leadership matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the full participation and consent of Congress, President Trump has embarked upon a radical project to freeze and roll back federal regulations that protect public health, safety, the environment, and the economy. The principal justification for this project, publicly announced by both Congress and President Trump, is the claim that regulations are costing the American economy $2 trillion per year, thereby destroying jobs. This claim derives from two studies that have received wide and credulous circulation in the media, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House. This Article accordingly undertakes a comprehensive evaluation of these two studies. It will show that their methods are deeply flawed and their results far too weakly grounded to serve as the basis for a major policy shift. It also will examine the techniques used in these studies to give ungrounded numbers the veneer of credibility. The goal of this exercise is to equip the lay reader with insights needed to spot similar deceptions in the future. This Article will demonstrate that, ultimately, the "aggregate cost of regulation" is at once unknown, unknowable, and unnecessary to sound regulatory policy. The studies examined in this Article do not establish that regulations are costing more jobs than they create, or reducing the U.S. Gross Domestic Product by any amount close to $2 trillion per year. They do, however, highlight the impact of an archipelago of antiregulatory advocacy groups and policy centers that regularly sponsor and issue studies that overstate the cost of regulation using methods that seem plausible on a quick read but that do not withstand close scrutiny. For better or worse, such studies--and the centers that issue them--form a part of our national discourse. Policy makers, judges, scholars, and journalists should be aware, and wary, of them. Meanwhile, the fact that the House of Representatives explicitly relied on bogus studies to justify a radical set of deregulatory proposals is itself a reason for alarm: it demonstrates that Congress lacks any reliable mechanism for data quality assurance or truth-check in its legislative process. Given the complexity of most issues and Congress' vast power to legislate for good or ill, this is a serious institutional deficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To determine age-associated changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) among firefighters. Methods. Male firefighters (n = 1169) underwent annual evaluations from 2005 to 2015 in San Diego, California. We assessed CRF, the ability to deliver and use oxygen, during a maximal graded exercise test and recorded it in metabolic equivalents (METs; 1 MET = 3.5 ml/kg/min). We investigated differences in baseline CRF among 10-year age groups and patterns of change over follow-up using cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, respectively. Results. Both analyses support an inverse relationship between CRF and age. Mean baseline CRF decreased from 15.7 61.7 to 11.7 61.9 METs in the younger than 30 years and 50 years and older age groups, respectively. There was no interaction between body fat and age in predicting CRF (Page x body fat = .09). Longitudinally, there was a nonlinear decrease in CRF, which differed across age groups: the youngest age group demonstrated the greatest decrease in CRF. Conclusions. Results support a negative, nonlinear association between age and CRF without modification by body fatness. Public Health Implications. Fire departments should recognize the health and safety risks of declining CRF and institutionalize programs to promote firefighter fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The UK has a socialized healthcare system that provides treatment that is free at the point of care for acute and chronic health disorders (the National Health Service-NHS), which is currently experiencing a period of unprecedented challenge. Methods: A narrative review that discusses present and future arrangements for transplantation of alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD) in the UK. Results: Liver disease in the UK is reaching epidemic proportions due to obesity and metabolic disease compounding alcohol-mediated liver damage. Unfortunately, hepatology services in the UK are geographically disparate and subject to significant variations in liver morbidity and mortality, prompting concerns that this may negatively impair access to transplantation. In an attempt to improve referrals to tertiary liver services, the UK listing criteria for alcohol-associated liver disease were revised in 2016 by a working party under the aegis of the UK-Liver Advisory Group with the ambition of increasing opportunities for disease evaluation and improving the condition of candidates referred for assessment. Conclusion: Liver transplantation for ArLD is well established in the UK. Recent organizational changes seek to reduce inequities in access to transplant services. Short Summary: Liver disease in the UK is reaching epidemic proportions. Concerns over equity of access to liver transplantation prompted revision of the UK listing criteria for alcohol-associated liver disease in 2016, to improve to the availability of tertiary hepatology services. Transplanting patients with alcohol-related liver disease in the National Health System: New Rules and Decisions '...The second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, hath left the liver white and pale...' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have described the clinical impact of infection in alcoholic hepatitis (AH) but none have comprehensively explored the aetiopathogenesis of infection in this setting. We examined the causes, consequences and treatment of infection in a cohort of patients with AH.Methods: We undertook a retrospective cohort study of patients with AH admitted between 2009 and 2014 to seven centres in Europe and the USA. Clinical and microbiological data were extracted from medical records. Survival was analysed with Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards analysis to control the data for competing factors. Propensity score matching was used to examine the efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics administered in the absence of infection.Results: We identified 404 patients with AH. Of these, 199 (49%) showed clinical or culture evidence of infection. Gut commensal bacteria, particularly Escherichia coli and Enterobacter species, were most commonly isolated in culture. Fungal infection was rarely seen. Cultured organisms and antibiotic resistance differed markedly between centres. Infection was an independent risk factor for death (hazard ratio for death at 90 days 2.33, 95% confidence interval 1.63-3.35, p < 0.001). Initiation of antibiotic therapy on admission in the absence of infection did not reduce mortality or alter the incidence of subsequent infections. Corticosteroid use increased the incidence of infection but this did not impact on survival.Conclusions: In this large real-world cohort of patients with AH, infection was common and was associated with reduced short-term survival. Gram-negative, gut commensal bacteria were the predominant infective organisms, consistent with increased translocation of gut bacteria in AH; however, the characteristics of infection differ between centres. Infection should be actively sought and treated, but we saw no benefits of prophylactic antibiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the challenges facing negotiators of the regulatory cooperation chapter of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Topics discussed include recommendations on how negotiators might address challenges; challenges facing TTIP negotiators in the field of international regulatory cooperation (IRC); and differences between European Commission and United States Trade Representative (USTR) web pages relevant to TTIP.

Background: The management of meniscus tears identified at the time of primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is highly variable and includes repair, meniscectomy, and nontreatment. Hypothesis/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the reoperation rate for meniscus tears left untreated at the time of ACL reconstruction with a minimum follow-up of 6 years. The hypothesis was that small peripheral tears identified at the time of ACL reconstruction managed with “no treatment” would have successful clinical outcomes. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Patients with meniscus tears left untreated at the time of primary ACL reconstruction were identified from a multicenter study group with a minimum 6-year follow-up. Patient, tear, and reoperation data were obtained for analysis. The need for reoperation was used as the primary endpoint, with analysis performed to determine patient and tear characteristics associated with reoperation. Results: There were 194 patients with 208 meniscus tears (71 medial, 137 lateral) left in situ without treatment with a complete follow-up for analysis. Of these, 97.8% of lateral and 94.4% of medial untreated tears required no reoperation. Sixteen tears (7.7%) left in situ without treatment underwent subsequent reoperation: 9 tears (4.3%) underwent reoperation in the setting of revision ACL reconstruction, and 7 tears (3.4%) underwent reoperation for an isolated meniscus injury. The patient age was significantly lower in patients requiring reoperation, while tears measuring ≥10 mm more frequently required reoperation. Conclusion: Lateral and medial meniscus tears left in situ at the time of ACL reconstruction did not require reoperation at a minimum 6-year follow-up for 97.8% and 94.4% of tears, respectively. These findings re-emphasize the low reoperation rate after the nontreatment of small, peripheral lateral meniscus tears while noting less predictable results for medial meniscus tears left without treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), affects up to 150,000 patients per year in the United States. We and other groups have demonstrated that bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal stem cells prevent ARDS induced by systemic and local administration of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide (LPS)) in mice. Methods: A study was undertaken to determine the effects of the diverse populations of bone marrow derived cells on the pathophysiology of ARDS, using a unique ex-vivo swine preparation, in which only the ventilated lung and the liver are perfused with autologous blood. Six experimental groups were designated as: 1) endotoxin alone, 2) endotoxin + total fresh whole bone marrow nuclear cells (BMC), 3) endotoxin + non-hematopoietic bone marrow cells (CD45 neg), 4) endotoxin + hematopoietic bone marrow cells (CD45 positive), 5) endotoxin + buffy coat and 6) endotoxin + in vitro expanded swine CD45 negative adherent allogeneic bone marrow cells (cultured CD45neg). We measured at different levels the biological consequences of the infusion of the different subsets of cells. The measured parameters were: pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), gas exchange (PO2), lung edema (lung wet/dry weight), gene expression and serum concentrations of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6. Results: Infusion of freshly purified autologous total BMCs, as well as non-hematopoietic CD45(-) bone marrow cells significantly reduced endotoxin-induced pulmonary hypertension and hypoxemia and reduced the lung edema. Also, in the groups that received BMCs and cultured CD45neg we observed a decrease in the levels of IL- 1β and TNF-α in plasma. Infusion of hematopoietic CD45(+) bone marrow cells or peripheral blood buffy coat cells did not protect against LPS-induced lung injury. Conclusions: We conclude that infusion of freshly isolated autologous whole bone marrow cells and the subset of non-hematopoietic cells can suppress the acute humoral and physiologic responses induced by endotoxemia by modulating the inflammatory response, mechanisms that do not involve engraftment or trans-differentiation of the cells. These observations may have important implications for the design of future cell therapies for ARDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a response to intervention model, educators increasingly use progress monitoring (PM) to support medium- to high-stakes decisions for individual students. For PM to serve these more demanding decisions requires more careful consideration of measurement error. That error should be calculated within a fixed linear regression model rather than a classical test theory model, which has been more common. Seven practical skills are described for improving the use of PM data for medium- to high-stakes decisions: (a) estimating a static performance level in PM, (b) fitting a level of confidence to an educational decision, (c) expressing an estimated score (Yhat) with its measurement error, (d) judging reliable improvement from one time to a later time, (e) properly using slope versus trendedness, (f) expressing “rate of improvement” (slope) with error, and (g) controlling autocorrelation. An example data set and PM graphs are used to illustrate each. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An interview with Richard Parker, editor of the periodical "The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education," is presented. He talks about performance of African Americans in terms of education, African American women opting to become teachers, no increase in college enrollment by African American students and an increase in the cost of education in the U.S. He discusses quality of education provided in the U.S. colleges, cultural biases in entrance examinations, dropout rate among minority students.

The article discusses the study which focuses on the politics and practice of sexuality in the early 21st century in the U.S. The study examines the intersection and tension between grassroots struggles from sexual freedom and transnational movements for sexual rights within the context of global transformation. In this regard, the author explores the ways the contribution of changing politics of sexuality to reinvent the sexual meanings and intimate relations.

Data from large prospectively collected anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) cohorts are being utilized to address clinical questions regarding ACL injury demographics and outcomes of ACL reconstruction. These data are affected by patient and injury factors as well as surgical factors associated with the site of data collection. The aim of this article is to compare primary ACL reconstruction data from patient cohorts in the United States and Norway, demonstrating the similarities and differences between two large cohorts. Primary ACL reconstruction data from the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) in the United States and the Norwegian National Knee Ligament Registry (NKLR) were compared to identify similarities and differences in patient demographics, activity at injury, preoperative Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), time to reconstruction, intraarticular pathology, and graft choice. Seven hundred and thirteen patients from the MOON cohort were compared with 4,928 patients from the NKLR. A higher percentage of males (NKLR 57%, MOON 52%; P < 0.01) and increased patient age (NKLR 27 years, MOON 23 years; P < 0.001) were noted in the NKLR population. The most common sports associated with injury in the MOON cohort were basketball (20%), soccer (17%), and American football (14%); while soccer (42%), handball (26%), and downhill skiing (10%) were most common in the NKLR. Median time to reconstruction was 2.4 (Interquartile range [IQR] 1.2–7.2) months in the MOON cohort and 7.9 (IQR 4.2–17.8) months in the NKLR cohort ( P < 0.001). Both meniscal tears (MOON 65%, NKLR 48%; P < 0.001) and articular cartilage defects (MOON 46%, NKLR 26%; P < 0.001) were more common in the MOON cohort. Hamstring autografts (MOON 44%, NKLR 63%) and patellar tendon autografts (MOON 42%, NKLR 37%) were commonly utilized in both cohorts. Allografts were much more frequently utilized in the MOON cohort (MOON 13%, NKLR 0.04%; P < 0.001). Significant diversity in patient, injury, and surgical factors exist among large prospective cohorts collected in different locations. Surgeons should investigate and consider the characteristics of these cohorts when applying knowledge gleaned from these groups to their own patient populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author contends that there should be an amendment of the U.S. Constitution in order to limit the size of government and its inherent powers. He cites the belief of Professor Daniel H. Lowenstein that Independent, Democratic and Republican voters want a smaller government. He argues that it is ineffective to rely on the judiciary to impose stricter limits on government.

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The article discusses the importance of the regulatory reform movement. The movement focuses on the regulatory scorecard, which refers to a study based on cost-benefit analyses. It was pointed out that the health, safety, and environment regulation in the United States had never been on a balance condition.

Assesses the concept of patriotism and its implication on the concept of democratic politics. Discussion on the history of U.S. government and politics; Reference to the U.S. politics based on the motion pictures, 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' and 'Guadalcanal Diary'; Details of the book 'The Crying of Lot 49,' by Thomas Pynchon.

Teachers have long used readability formulas to select reading materials for their students at appropriate difficulty levels. Although research has provided little support for the use of these objective formulas, they continue to be used in teacher decision-making. With increasing numbers of Spanish-speaking children with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in today's classrooms, teachers need guidance for placing students into Spanish text. Can Spanish readability formulas help? This study used two formulas developed for Spanish language text to analyze nine stories that were read by 36 Spanish-speaking second graders with LEP. The oral reading accuracy and oral reading fluency performance of the students were compared to the difficulty levels suggested by the formulas, along with correlations with other objective analyses of the passages. The Spanish readability formulas only weakly predicted student performance, indicating the need to pursue broader, qualitative indices of difficulty for Spanish text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the concept of populism or political equality in the government system of the United States. Advantages of mass political participation; Relation of democracy and political equality to voting and the electoral process; Requirements in voting.

Reviews research on the Maze, a fifth classroom-based measure that can potentially address the reading needs of students with reading disabilities in the United States. Maze as an improvement of the Cloze procedure; Technical adequacy of Maze.

The article focuses on military law courts's view of a "proper" standard for governing political expression and the issues of the "General Articles" court cases in the U.S. It states that military law concerns on the free speech in which the court case of journalist Roger Priest convicted from distributing newspaper to promote disloyalty among members of the. Judge Carr Darden asserted that "free speech" in the armed services are limited and should be balanced with consideration of giving effective fighting force. He added that Priest's publication directly affected the military order and discipline and was punishable.

The article talks about the application of HIV and AIDS interventions in Latin American men. It discusses the features of sexual culture and system in Latin America, including the culture of machismo, same-sex interaction and sexual scripts. HIV and AIDS interventions and prevention, which included educational materials, condom distribution and programs for sexually transmitted disease, focused on responding to the effects of the diseases.

Focuses on the problems surrounding economics journalism in the United States. Complaints about the failure of such journalism; Admission on the part of the economists that economic theory itself has grown more mathematical and arcane; Low levels of public knowledge and the role of the press in them.

Anti-Americanism in the Arab world today is not an inherent and unavoidable phenomenon of race or religion. It is a reaction to American policies and to the penetration of Western culture. It will be with us for some time to come for a number of reasons, including U.S. identification with Israel, U.S. involvement in local issues, and U.S. overidentification with local leaders. We will continue to have relations with Arab states in spite of it. The seizure of American hostages, which is one current gauge of anti-Americanism, is not a new phenomenon. The Algerians once held 150, and we paid a ransom of over $800,000 to obtain the release of 82 survivors because we had no alternative. Early in this century, Theodore Roosevelt blustered in order to obtain the release of American hostages in Morocco, but success was due more to the efforts of the French than to American armed strength. Neither case offers much of a precedent for handling today's hostage problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]