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This article originally was prepared for presentation at the 1988 Texas Health Law Conference, Nov 4, 1988, in Austin. It appears this month in Texas Medicine to emphasize the importance of state and federal laws that require reporting of certain peer review actions by hospitals, medical societies, and other organizations to the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners (TSBME). The author, Michael G. Young, is staff counsel for the TSBME. He formerly was staff attorney and director, Office of Medical Ethics, at Texas Medical Association.

High quality films of Ba2YCu3O7 have been made by coevaporation of Y, Cu, and BaF2 and subsequent annealing in oxygen. Addition of water vapor to the annealing gas at high temperatures has been found to greatly reduce the annealing time and, thus the substrate interaction. Transition temperatures (zero resistance) between 89–92 K are routinely obtained on SrTiO3 and cubic zirconia substrates. Critical current densities on SrTiO3 are as high as 106 A/cm2 at 81 K and routinely above 105 A/cm2 at 77 K. Transmission electron microscopy shows that on SrTiO3 the superconducting grains have an epitaxial orientation with respect to the substrate. Persistent current measurements in thin film rings demonstrate the absence of residual resistance in the superconducting state.

Using a medical, social, and functional assessment form, we found several measures which were reliably associated with a criterion of impending mortality; activities of daily living were most highly correlated, medical assessment and services needed were correlated less strongly, but visual impairment and the cumulative total of all measures were the best predictors (r = .42).

We have utilized the large excitonic electrorefraction and tunable bandgap in high-quality InGaAsP quantum wells to produce compact directional coupler switches operating at 1.55 µm wavelength.

The Texas Family Code specifies the persons who may consent to a minor's medical treatment when the person having the power to consent cannot be contacted and when that absent person has not indicated a refusal to consent. It also specifies the content and circumstances under which consent must be given. Texas law provides for an exception to the general principle that minors are legally incapable of giving consent to treatment and the basis for this exception is specified. Physicians, dentists, hospitals, or other medical facilities may rely on the minor's written statement of the basis for his/her independent consent under Section 35.03, and physicians who examine and treat minors under this section are liable only for their own acts of negligence. When a minor consents to care under Section 35.03, parallel consent by parents, a managing conservator, or guardian (persons in loco parentis) is not legally required, but an individual physician may decide to impose whatever conditions regarding consent he or she sees fit before agreeing to treat a minor. In 1973 the US Supreme Court declared unconstitutional all Texas abortion statues which were placed before it for review in the case of Roe vs. Wade. The 1974 opinion of the Texas Attorney General that "there are now no laws in the state regulating abortion per se," remains substantially correct. Supreme Court findings in cases concerning minors and abortions indicate that a physician in Texas, who performs an abortion at the request of an emancipated minor who is sufficiently mature and well informed to make the decision, will not be held liable in civil damages to the minor's parents for operating without their consent. In Carey vs. Population Services International, the Supreme Court struck down a New York statute which made criminal the sale or distribution of contraceptives of any kind to minors under age 16, insofar as it applied to nonprescription contraceptives. The US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held in Doe vs. Irwin that a publicly operated family planning clinic in Michigan did not unconstitutionally infringe on parents' rights by distributing contraceptive devices and medication to unemancipated minors without parental consent or prior notification. No state statute requiring notification or consent was involved, and the court's opinion did not discuss this issue. Section 35.03(3) of the Texas Family Code enables minors to consent to the diagnosis and treatment of any infectious, contagious, or communicable disease. Thus a minor could consent independently to treatment for the 3 named venereal diseases, but presumably not for treatment of a sexually transmitted disease such as herpes.

The synthesis and antibacterial activity in vitro of 7-methoxylated cephalosporins having a thienylureidoacetyl or a thienylglycyl C-7 side-chain are described. Acylation of 7 beta-amino-7-methoxycephems with a novel 2-aminooxazolone hydrochloride under neutral conditions gave the thienylureidoacetyl derivatives in good yield with retention of configuration. 7 beta-[[D-[(Aminocarbonyl)amino]-2-thienylacetyl]amino]-7-methoxy-3-[[(1-methyl-1H-tetrazol-5-yl)thio] methyl]-8-oxo-5-thia-1-azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2-carboxylic acid sodium salt (SQ 14,359) was found to have a broad-spectrum of antibacterial activity in vitro, particularly against beta-lactamase-producing organisms.

Bone marrow from healthy, normal volunteers and patients with acute myelocytic leukemia was cultured in diffusion chambers implanted into cyclophosphamide pretreated mice. Chambers were removed at regularly scheduled intervals over a period of 28 days. Total and differential cell counts were then done on the contents of each chamber. Normal human bone marrow showed an orderly pattern of growth and differentiation which was not found with leukemic bone marrow. Monocytes and macrophages were the predominant cell types in the diffusion chambers filled with normal marrow after day 10 of culture. Although leukemic specimens showed predominantly leukemic cells, a few mature polymorphonuclear leukocytes could be found throughout the entire culture period. Questions about the nature of the defect in acute myelocytic leukemia and the significance of the in vivo culture system are discussed. The results of these studies are compared and contrasted with studies of a similar type.

Results of a survey of polymer science and engineering course credits and programs and degrees in polymer science and engineering available in the United States.