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Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) continues to be a major challenge in terms of diagnosis, as evidenced by the fact that many patients die undiagnosed and/or untreated. The aim of this multicenter study was to determine the accuracy of thorax ultrasound (TUS) in the diagnosis of PE (TUSPE). Methods: From January 2002 through September 2003, 352 patients with suspected PE were examined in seven clinics. The patients were investigated prospectively by TUS according to the following criteria: (1) PE confirmed: two or more typical triangular or rounded pleural-based lesions; (2) PE probable: one typical lesion with pleural effusion; (3) PE possible: small (< 5 mm) subpleural lesions or a single pleural effusion alone; or (4) normal TUS findings. In all cases, CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) was used as the reference method. In the event of discrepant findings, a combination of duplex sonography of the leg veins, echocardiography, ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy, and a quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or latex d-dimer, or a biopsy/autopsy was performed. Findings: PE was diagnosed in 194 patients. On TUS, 144 patients had a total of 333 subpleural lesions (mean, 2.3 lesions per patient) averaging 15.5 x 12.4 mm in size. Additionally, a narrow pleural effusion was found in 49% of the patients. TUS yielded the following results under application of the strict criteria 1 and 2: PE true-positive, n = 144; PE false-positive, n = 8; PE true-negative, n = 150; and PE false-negative, n = 50. The sensitivity was 74%, specificity was 95%, positive predictive value was 95%, negative predictive was value 75%, and accuracy was 84%, at a prevalence of 55%. The sensitivity in patients with criterion 1 was 43% and a specificity of 99%. Interpretation: TUS is a noninvasive method to diagnose peripheral PE. In the absence of CTPA, TUS is a suitable tool to demonstrate a PE at the bedside and in the emergency setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the National Compensation Survey has worked to evaluate the potential effects on the cost, coverage, and provisions for the employer-sponsored health care data it currently publishes; and explore possibilities for future collection and publication efforts. The approach has included researching the details of the law and evolving regulations, listening to the suggestions and concerns of stakeholders, and testing collection of new data elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on historical reflections related to river management in the United States. Riverine ecologists deplore the human alterations that have degraded and depleted water, contributed to disease and species loss, increased invasive species, and affected the natural movement of material between ecosystems. Through river restoration and the modification of human behavior, they hope to salvage the advantages of natural systems, such as clean water, species restoration, increased biodiversity, improved public health, and even the economic benefits resulting from a restored commercial fish and wildlife population.

In light of the social/ethnic disparity in preterm delivery (PTD) rates, the Pregnancy Outcomes and Community Health (POUCH) Study takes a broad view of the determinants of PTD by attempting to link underlying biological and psychosocial factors. The relationships between placental pathology, maternal biomarkers, and antecedent psychosocial factors are evaluated in three hypothesised pathways of PTD – one characterised primarily by infection, one by maternal vascular disease, and one by premature elevations in corticotropin releasing hormone in the absence of histological evidence of placental pathology. Within each pathway, an emphasis is placed on understanding the roles of stress and of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein, an early biomarker associated with PTD. The POUCH Study enrols pregnant women from five Michigan communities. Information about these women and their environments is gathered through detailed interviews and collection of biological samples including hair, urine, saliva, blood, vaginal fluid, and vaginal smear at 15–26 weeks of gestation. We have chosen to focus on the second trimester – a time when pathological processes may have evolved to a detectable stage, but generally before the onset of biological changes that accompany labour. This focus is consistent with the long-range goal of early detection/intervention and prevention of PTD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the historical significance of the Atchafalaya Basin in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Information on the book `Designing the Bayous: The Control of Water in the Atchafalaya Basin, 1800-1995'; Views on the significance of historical analysis in assessing the broader considerations associated with large hydraulic engineering undertakings.

Analyzes the evolving relationship between river engineering and sciences by focusing on the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the largest river engineering organization in the world. Empirical techniques and inductive reasoning; Debate over river modeling; Development of dimensional analysis; Establishment of the waterways experiment station; Priority of empirical investigations.

Discusses the Compliance of Nutritional Supplements Using Multi-Form Energy Sources (CONSUME) Study, conducted to compare the effects of a multi-form nutrition supplement program versus a conventional liquid supplement program on compliance and body weight in long-term care residents with dementia. Objectives; Methodology.

A historical account of the Atchafalaya basin in southern Louisiana. Examines the roles that politics and competing interests have played in shaping the course of this critical floodway, and the dual challenge for the US Army Corps of Engineers in implementing flood control plans and achieving consensus among factions. INSET: Controlling the Rush of the River.

Presents recommendations concerning the initiation, management, and integration of large-scale, interdisciplinary, applied research projects. Example of the environmental and social consequences of the proposed resort development in Big Sky, Montana.

The article discusses the monetary policy revolutions and the role of the Federal Reserve's relationship to the U.S. Congress and to the Executives. The government's policy has produced a disaster. Over 12 million Americans are now without work. Over one-third of the industrial capacity stands idle. And the direction of the economy continues downward. The degree of tightness necessary to fight a spate of inflation can be lessened if monetary policy is not adequate, but instead is accompanied by an incomes policy and a credit conservation policy. The article presents a few recommendations for the adaptive reuse for the government. Monetary policy, which is the primary function of the government does not require the vast network of committees, staff, and real estate, which the Federal Reserve now possesses. Open Market purchases and sales are a simple exercise conducted by a small and talented group. The government's regulatory activities over financial institutions are in great need of reform. The Federal Reserve, could take upon itself a training function, in cooperation with regional schools of business and public administration.

In this article the author presents his views on reforming the U.S. budget. Before and after the implementation of the Budget Reform and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the budget system remains to be a substantial improvement over the spending and taxing procedures. But there are also many evils for which the budget process should not be blamed. Problems like that of fiscal policy are not caused by problems of budget procedure. The author presents five nominations where the budget would be genuinely improved by reform. First monetary policy should be incorporated into the budget process in a formal and regular way. Monetary policy is as a practical matter inseparable from the budget process. The rate of money and credit expansion is a powerful determinant of the rate of growth of real gross national product, and of inflation, and of unemployment. The second area would be in capital budgeting. Any measures there should be formal effort to incorporate capital budgeting into budget process. Remaining areas of reform are inflation accounting, indexing and the budget cycle. The key to successful budgeting is in simplifying decisions, sticking with the basic outline of programs, and not trying to revolutionize the world in each year's budget.

In this article, the author comments on the growing inequality in terms of income. According to the author, the goal of equality is something Americans have been groping for these two hundred years, with most of our progress in the last fifty. Greater political equality came as property qualifications for voting was removed in the first half of the nineteenth century, and as more recently voting rights laws were enacted that extended the vote to women and eighteen years old citizens, and adopted the principle of one person-one-vote in our legislative apportionments. Social equality was enhanced with the diminution of discrimination on the grounds of race and sex in employment, public accommodation, education and housing. The author comments that the Great Depression fifty years ago was a turning point in American economic life. Since then there has been a steady upward surge in the gross national product. And, just as important, from 1929 to 1967, income distribution grew more equitable. The author also comments that then, along about 1967, something happened. That something was the Vietnam War, and the guns and butter economic policy, which led to the dozen years of stagflation, unacceptable unemployment and inflation that have been with people ever since.

The article presents information about roots of the U.S. Left-Wing interest in folksong. The conscious interest, use and manipulation of folklore materials for political purposes is nothing new. The origins of folklore study itself are deeply rooted in the romantic nationalism of 19th century Europe, in a movement which saw politically-suppressed peoples collect their folksongs and tales. They did so in an effort to establish a cultural heritage which would serve as ideological props in the struggle for political independence. More recently, nations from every part of the political spectrum to name but a few-have employed folklore as a stabilizing, unifying and sometimes repressive tool in maintaining their respective regimes and ideologies. In the U.S., no a priori stress was put on folklore materials by any political group or protest movement until the 1930s, when the left wing, spearheaded by the Communist Party, discovered intrinsic working-class values in folksongs and other folklore genres. The subsequent influence of the left in popularizing folksong was, for a number of years, so great that its effects are felt to this day and have even reached into the academic profession.'

The article presents a qualitative study of depopulation in the Stonewall Magisterial rural district in Richmond County, Virginia, from 1900 to 1930. The effect of cityward migration upon the quality of the residual rural population is a matter of vital social significance. Yet, just as all rural areas are not alike, so the effects of migration are not everywhere the same. Broadly speaking, three types of rural areas may be distinguished. They are those adjacent to a small city, those affected by industrial development, and those remote from both city and industry. One single method of determining the qualitative nature of rural depopulation has been applied to each of these three types of rural locality. A different picture was found in each area, lending credence to the view that environmental influences largely determine the qualitative character of migration and its effects upon the residual rural population. It was revealed that Stonewall district is losing much of its better population. A new population, recruited from the lower classes is emerging.

The article deliberates on the amendment being made to the Railroad Retirement Act by the U.S. Congress. At the first glance, the Act of July 31, 1946, (Public Law 572), to amend the Railroad Retirement Act seems to be concerned with only a minor sector of the U.S. national system of social security. Although the railroad amendment, by implication, amends the Social Security Act in major respects, Congress considered it a pure railroad law. However, the railroad amendments are indeed an important piece of social security legislation. With these additions the railroad social insurance system now contains two blocks of protection, each consisting of three integrated parts: old- age, disability, and survivors' insurance, and unemployment, sickness, and maternity insurance. The benefits under the new railroad system, while not too high to maintain the incentive to supplement collective thrift by individual thrift, are yet adequate to give freedom from fear and want. A retired worker, after 30 years of service compensated by a monthly average wage of $200, will receive a benefit payment of $90 a month.

This article describes some aspects of the rural community in operation as revealed by a detailed analysis of the news and advertising content of a representative sample of weekly newspapers. Some of its findings could have been described after participant experience in small town life, others on the basis of common sense observations, and still others could have been determined by entirely different research procedures, but in each case they testify to the value of the small town newspaper as a source of significant sociological data. The sample of 22 newspapers used in the study was selected so as to be representative of the non-metropolitan weekly newspapers published in the State of Washington in respect to the population of the town of publication, circulation of the newspaper, the day of publication, political sympathy, number of columns per page, and the area of the State in which the paper was published. One of the most interesting findings, and perhaps the most significant, concerns the place of the individual in rural society.

This article presents the research projects, publications and student theses included in the 1943 Research Census of Members of the American Catholic Sociological Society. The research projects are arranged alphabetically by name of author. They are classified according to the author's preference. An example of research paper included, is in the field of psychology from Louis A. Ryan of Saint Mary of the Springs College in Columbus, Ohio entitled recent Propaganda Campaigns in the United States. Publications, on the other hand, are arranged by name of author. In a 1943 issue of the journal Catholic Family Monthly, is the article On taking a Long View by Sister Canisia. On one hand, student theses are listed according to college.

This article discusses various issues related to teaching of the Family course in the American colleges. Sometimes it seems as though the Family course is misnamed since the study usually concerns marriage interaction and a second course entitled Child Welfare explicitly deals with children. In 1936 Cecil Haworth in "Education for Marriage Among American Colleges" found that 403 of the 465 member institutions of the Association of American Colleges had courses on the family. In the same year Gilbert F. Wolters made a study of 150 Catholic colleges, 58 of which offered a course on the family. Thirty were colleges for women, and twenty-eight were colleges for men. When the course was given in the sociology department, the emphasis was on the history, form, functions, and problems of the modern family as a social institution. Six colleges, three for women and three for men made the Family course compulsory. In her thesis on "A Program for Home and Family Life in Catholic Liberal Arts Colleges for Women," Mary Saint Leonard held that the content of the course should include philosophy of family living, present economic and social conditions and ideals of the American family.

Focuses on Faculty-Employer Connection, a program developed by the Career Services & Cooperative Education at the Montana State University in Billing, Montana in 1998 for the benefit of college students. Purpose of the program; Details on the program; Results of the program.

The article presents information on land price index. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics should correct a serious gap in the consumer and wholesale price indexes the absence of any index for land prices. Land prices, which have been rising more rapidly than almost any other element in the economy, are largely ignored in the current battle against inflation. Yet they are a key element in the skyrocketing cost of both housing and food, two of the primary factors cited by the U.S. Department of Labor as responsible for the inflationary spiral. While there is no precise mark of how much of the rising cost of food is attributable to the rising cost of farm land, it is obviously substantial. Iowa farmland, for instance, averaged 1,375 an acre in 1978, up 10 percent from last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In several New England states, average farmland prices exceed $2,000 an acre. Government budgets, as well as consumer costs of food and housing, also reflect to a considerable extent the rising cost of acquiring land for highway and rapid transit rights-of-way, parks and playgrounds, military bases and wildlife preserves, schools and fire stations, and other public purposes.

The article comments on inflation, dollar and the international monetary system. The slide of the dollar during October 1978 was so dramatic that some sort of massive rescue operation was clearly called for. In the first two weeks of October, the trade-weighted average value of the dollar against the currencies of the ten largest industrial countries declined by almost one percent per week, in the week from October 18 to October 25 it fell by more than 2 percent, and in the week from October 25 to October 30, the week following the announcement of the anti-inflation program, it declined almost 3 percent. Long-run foreign exchange value of the dollar will not be achieved until the world economy attains a greater coordination of macroeconomic policies designed to accomplish a worldwide convergence of growth and inflation rates. The divergence of these rates during the past year or so was an important factor responsible for the dollar's decline. However, the required coordination must be based on a universal commitment to higher growth worldwide in order to combat the problem of world stagnation. Because of mounting demand pressures, the U.S. must pursue policies to slow its real growth. Thus, the lead in the direction of greater economic growth must come from the surplus countries, particularly Japan and Germany.

Reports that the United States Congress voted in favor of the amendment to cut the funding of the military school, School of the Americas (SOA). Role of SOA in Argentina's civil war from 1969-1979, known as the Dirty War; Sponsor of the amendment; Arguments of the SOA supporters concerning human right violations of the school's graduates.

The article focuses on the speech by House Representative Henry Reuss (Democrat Wisconsin), Chairman of the House Banking Committee, on the floor of the House, August 5, 1977 on the Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977, that was passed by the House of Representatives by voice vote on September 12, 1977. A similar bill is expected to be discussed by the Senate flanking Committee early in 1978. Reuss in quoted saying "Mr. Speaker, the Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977, approved by the House Banking Committee July 29 by a vote of 40 to 0 and ready for House action in September, represents an important advance in making the Federal Reserve more accountable to the U.S. Congress and the public. The bill, H.R. 8094, sets forth clear guidelines for monetary policy and establishes regular oversight hearings, In these hearings the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve will be asked not only to disclose their targets for growth of the money supply for the upcoming twelve months, as they have been doing for the past two and-a-half years with highly beneficial results, but to provide some assessment as to the impact of these targets on the economy.