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Background: Nursing interventions in oral hygiene have been shown to be important for health promotion and illness prevention. This medical center advanced a registered nurse (RN)-led oral health initiative to introduce and standardize oral care practices. Problem: To examine the impact of the oral health initiative, we conducted an evaluation of documentation trends among RNs and the effect of the initiative on patients' oral health during hospitalization. Approach: We used a single-group pretest-posttest design and drew a sample of all inpatients who were admitted to the medical center from October 1 through December 31, 2017. Outcomes: Of the 13 303 patients admitted, the empirical evidence demonstrates 99.5% compliance in documentation at admission and discharge. Among 13 237 patients, there was improvement in patients' oral health during hospitalization (-0.03, P < .001), especially those initially assessed with moderate or severe dysfunction. Conclusions: The oral health initiative standardized assessment and care practices that have improved outcomes in patients' oral hygiene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong property tax growth and proactive policies--including having a substantial surplus of $5.3 billion (9% of revenues) at the beginning of the Great Recession--offset a severe contraction in income tax receipts and protected the city's budget so that it never contracted in absolute terms during or immediately following the Great Recession. Policymakers increased property and sales tax rates, utilized fund balances, cut agency budgets repeatedly, and reappropriated retiree health benefits in response to the fiscal challenges brought about by the Great Recession. Whether one attributes the city's position to compliance with a strong, state-mandated, balanced-budget rule or adept leadership, New York City certainly appears to be dealing effectively with the Great Recession's impact on its budget. However, city leaders have asked lower income residents to bear a substantial portion of the burden by favoring more regressive tax policies and by cutting the social service agency's budget substantially. With forecast budget gaps of $3 billion and $4 billion in FY2012 and FY2013, the long-term impact of the Great Recession on New York City's budget remains an open question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinion. Comments on issues concerning New York's Hyde Park Dump's effects on the sediment of Lake Ontario. Questions on the justification for the use of the Gaussian distribution; Comments on the implication of the Gaussian curve of a model for input function; Criticisms concerning Howdeshell and Hites' conclusions.