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Purpose: Describe temporal changes in use of myelosuppressive chemotherapy, primary prophylactic colony-stimulating factor, and neutropenia-related hospitalization, in commercially insured patients. Methods: Using a large commercial administrative database, we identified annual cohorts of adult patients diagnosed with breast or lung cancer, or non-Hodgkin lymphoma and initiating myelosuppressive chemotherapy during 2005–2017. We described yearly changes in proportions of myelosuppressive chemotherapy by febrile neutropenia risk category (high, intermediate, unclassified) and proportion of prophylactic colony-stimulating factor use and unadjusted incidence of neutropenia-related hospitalization in the first cycle of myelosuppressive chemotherapy. Results: Annual cohorts included 4383–5888 eligible patients during 2005–2017. The proportion of eligible patients aged ≥ 65 years increased from 26.0% in 2005 to 58.2% in 2017. Myelosuppressive chemotherapy use with regimens with high risk for febrile neutropenia increased from 15.1% in 2005 to 31.0% in 2017; and regimens with intermediate risk for febrile neutropenia decreased from 63.7% to 48.1% in 2017. Prophylactic colony-stimulating factor use increased from 41.6% in 2005 to 54.3% in 2017. Crude incidence of neutropenia-related hospitalization for all cancers increased from 2.0% to 3.1%, with a substantial increase in neutropenia-related hospitalization observed among non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients (2.8% to 8.5%) during 2005–2017. Conclusion: Among adult patients with breast and lung cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy, use of regimens with high risk for febrile neutropenia increased, as did the use of prophylactic colony-stimulating factors after 2005. Incidence of neutropenia-related hospitalization increased slightly, particularly among non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients. Further studies are required to understand this increasing trend of neutropenia-related hospitalization, changing patient-level risk factors, and febrile neutropenia management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the second decade of the 21st century begins, for 110,000 people in the United States are on a waiting list, that is, they are candidates hoping to receive a life-saving organ donation (HRSA, 2010). According to national data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, less than 30,000 transplants - a fraction of the waiting list - were performed in 2010, illustrating the large gap between the demand and the supply of organs. This gap continues to increase annually, leading to thousands of potentially avoidable deaths each year. Although the Unites States leads the world in biomedical advances, it has struggled to narrow the organ transplant gap. Policy insights can be learned about how to alleviate this problem by considering factors that contribute to the success and failure of organ donation programs in other countries. For example, the organ donation programs in Spain and Iran have managed to decrease the organ shortage and, consequently, shorten their transplant waiting list. On the other hand, some countries have lower rates of organ donations among their populations than the United States. In this article, organ donation programs in selected countries in Europe, Asia, and Australia are explored. Drawing on these international experiences, possible courses of action will be discussed for policymakers to consider in reforming the U.S. organ donation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant percentage of students who attend secondary schools in the United States do not acquire the basic writing skills required to gain admission to four-year colleges and universities. In the present study, participants were 41 low-income, multi-ethnic 12th-grade students, 19 of whom received instruction on specific genre features for writing college admission essays. The other 22 12th-grade students formed the comparison group and received instruction as usual in their regular English class (mostly on literary analysis). The students who received instruction on genre features of the college admission essay scored higher on a rubric-based rating of the pre and post test essay writing and on writing self-efficacy surveys associated with the genre. Findings yielded from this study point to the merit of using a features-based genre instructional approach to teaching college admission essays to low-income, multi-ethnic high school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses key skills and competencies required from multicultural teachers in the United States. Democratic attitudes and values; Multicultural philosophy; Ability to view events and situations from diverse ethnic perspectives; Knowledge of stages of ethnicity and their curricular and teaching implications.

This article focuses on tax-supported colleges for African Americans in the United States. The tendency of a higher institution to enroll the largest percent of its students from the community in which it is located and the practice of the state to establish different higher institutions at different locations within its boundaries suggest that the number and level of higher institutions, properly interpreted, may be used as a measure of the availability or status of higher education at any given period. The total number of higher institutions attended predominantly by African Americans increased from thirty-three in 1938 to thirty-six in 1958; while the total number of higher institutions attended predominantly by Whites increased from 188 in 1938 to 209 in 1958. It may be observed that in Negro colleges between 1938 and 1955, the undergraduate enrollment increased from approximately 16,000 to 38,000 and the graduate enrollment increased from 10 to over 2,000. The number of degrees conferred by higher institutions for Negroes increased from 2,000 undergraduate and four graduate degrees in 1938 to 6,600 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate degrees in 1955.