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The article information on the removal and appointment of administrative law judges (ALJs) in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Topics include the possible avenues of the decision of the Division of Enforcement to bring enforcement action against AJLs, the argument that SEC ALJs' appointment were unconstitutional under the Dodd-Frank in 2010, and the constitutionality of ALJs' removal.

The ground-based Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) and NASA Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) routinely monitor clouds using zenith radiances at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Using the transmittance calculated from such measurements, we have developed a new retrieval method for cloud effective droplet size and conducted extensive tests for non-precipitating liquid water clouds. The underlying principle is to combine a liquid-water-absorbing wavelength (i.e., 1640 nm) with a non-water-absorbing wavelength for acquiring information on cloud droplet size and optical depth. For simulated stratocumulus clouds with liquid water path less than 300 gm-2 and horizontal resolution of 201 m, the retrieval method underestimates the mean effective radius by 0.8 µm, with a root-mean-squared error of 1.7 µm and a relative deviation of 13%. For actual observations with a liquid water path less than 450 gm-2 at the ARMOklahoma site during 2007-2008, our 1.5-min-averaged retrievals are generally larger by around 1 µm than those from combined ground-based cloud radar and microwave radiometer at a 5-min temporal resolution. We also compared our retrievals to those from combined shortwave flux and microwave observations for relatively homogeneous clouds, showing that the bias between these two retrieval sets is negligible, but the error of 2.6 µm and the relative deviation of 22% are larger than those found in our simulation case. Finally, the transmittance-based cloud effective droplet radii agree to better than 11% with satellite observations and have a negative bias of 1 µm. Overall, the retrieval method provides reasonable cloud effective radius estimates, which can enhance the cloud products of both ARM and AERONET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of pesticides and other pest control products is a complex mechanical process with the desired result being a complex biological response. By nature, the materials applied are biologically active; therefore, their responsible use requires not only efficient mechanical systems but also design attributes to protect non-targets such as sensitive environmental areas, human and animal habitat, non-targeted crops, application workers, and natural organisms. Improved vehicles, atomization devices, analytical methods such as those for detection of spray drift and droplet size measurement, and on-board electronic sensing and control systems have been developed to address these needs. This article presents historical background on the development of the industry and reviews the research and development of pesticide application in the western U.S., with particular emphasis on large-scale, irrigated, and specialty crops and the over 60 continuous years of work at the University of California, Davis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy (HNA) is an autosomal dominant disorder that is associated with episodic recurrent brachial plexus neuropathy. A mutation for HNA maps to chromosome 17q25. To refine the HNA locus further, we carried out genetic linkage studies in seven pedigrees with a high density set of DNA markers from chromosome 17q25. All pedigrees demonstrated linkage to chromosome 17q25, and an analysis of recombinant events placed the HNA locus within an interval of approximately 1 Mb flanked by markers D17S722 and D17S802. In order to test the power of linkage disequilibrium mapping, we compared genotypes of 12 markers from seven pedigrees that were from the United States and that showed linkage to chromosome 17q25. The haplotypes identified a founder effect in six of the seven pedigrees with a minimal shared haplotype that further refines the HNA locus to an interval of approximately 500 kb. These findings suggest that, for the pedigrees from the United States, there are at least two different mutations in the HNA gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: A 2018 Executive Order calling for price transparency required hospitals to publicly provide chargemasters, which are detailed lists of standard price listings for billable medical procedures., Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate price listing variations in common urogynecology procedures., Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study of chargemasters obtained between February and April 2020 from hospitals across 5 states chosen to reflect the diversity of health systems in the United States. Hospital characteristic and quality metric data were obtained from the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services websites. Current Procedural Terminology codes and procedure names for 9 urogynecologic procedures were used to search each chargemaster and extract price listings. Price listings were compared with data on quality, population demographics, and hospital characteristics to determine if any significant relationships existed., Results: Eight hundred thirty-four chargemasters were identified. Price listings for most procedures differed significantly across the 5 states, including colpocleisis, cystoscopy with chemodenervation, diagnostic cystoscopy, diverticulectomy, sacral neuromodulation, midurethral sling, and sacrospinous ligament fixation. Price listings were significantly higher in urban hospitals than rural hospitals for 6 procedures. No significant association was seen with price listing and quality measures for most procedures., Conclusions: Listed prices varied for several urogynecologic procedures. Some of this variation is associated with hospital characteristics such as urban setting. However, notably, price listing was not associated with quality. Further investigation of chargemaster price listings with hospital characteristics and quality metrics and with what is actually paid by patients is imperative for patients to navigate charges., (Copyright © 2023 American Urogynecologic Society. All rights reserved.)

Background: Influenza vaccination rates are decreasing in the United States. Disinformation surrounding COVID-related public health protections and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine roll-out may have unintended consequences impacting pediatric influenza vaccination.We assessed influenza vaccination rates before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in one pediatric primary care center, serving a minoritized population., Methods: A cross-sectional study assessed influenza vaccination rates for children aged 6 months to 12 years over the following influenza seasons (September-May): 1) 2018-19 and 2019-20 (pre-pandemic), and 2) 2020-21 and 2021-22 (intra-pandemic). Demographics and responses to social risk questionnaires were extracted from electronic health records. Total tetanus vaccinations across influenza seasons served as approximations of general vaccination rates. Generalized linear regression models with robust standard errors evaluated differences in demographics, social risks, and influenza vaccination rates by season. Multivariable logistic regression with robust standard errors evaluated associations between influenza season, demographics, social risks, and influenza vaccination., Results: Most patients were young (mean age ∼ 6 years), non-Hispanic Black (∼80%), and publicly insured (∼90%). Forty-two percent of patients eligible to receive the influenza vaccine who were seen in 2019-20 influenza season received the influenza vaccine, compared to 30% in 2021-22. Influenza and tetanus vaccination rates decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0.01). The 2020-21 and 2021-22 influenza seasons, older age, Black race, and self-pay were associated with decreased influenza vaccine administration (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Influenza vaccination rates within one pediatric primary care center decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not rebounded, particularly for older children, those identifying as Black, and those without insurance., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Protective funnel devices are commonly used to deliver implants in primary breast augmentation (BA) yet there is a paucity of evidence-based data describing their safety in the literature., Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the safety of protective funnels in primary BA within the first 30 days postoperatively., Methods: This multicenter, Level 3 study retrospectively reviewed the surgical records of 380 consecutive patients (760 breasts) who underwent primary BA by 9 board-certified plastic surgeons using the iNPLANT Funnel (Proximate Concepts LLC, Allendale, NJ) for implant delivery between November 2019 and December 2020. Data were collected pertaining to demographics, implant information, surgery details, and postoperative complications., Results: The mean patient age was 33 years and 76% of patients had a BMI <25 kg/m2. Of this cohort, 11.4% were smokers, 0.8% had diabetes, and 83% were ASA Class 1. All patients received smooth implants with a median volume of 375 cc. A total of 8 (2.1%) complications were reported, including 3 hematomas (0.79%), 1 seroma (0.26%), and 1 superficial infection (0.26%). No patient required explantation. We identified ASA class, BMI, surgery duration, and implant size as potential risk factors., Conclusions: The data suggest that the use of protective funnels, such as the iNPLANT Funnel, in primary BA is a safe option when these are utilized according to the manufacturer's Instructions for Use. The use of this device led to a low infection rate (0.26%) and a complication rate of (2.1%) consistent with the average reported in the literature (2%-2.5%).1 Implications for clinical practice are encouraging and future research will include a prospective analysis with a larger case series and potentially a control group., (© 2021 The Aesthetic Society. Reprints and permission: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Purpose: We sought to advance understanding of linkage error in U.S. maternally linked datasets and how the error might affect results of studies based on the linked data., Methods: North Carolina birth and fetal death records for 1988-1997 were maternally linked (n=1,030,029). The maternal set probability, defined as the probability that all records assigned to the same maternal set do in fact represent events to the same woman, was used to assess differential maternal linkage error across race/ethnic groups., Results: Maternal set probabilities were lower for records specifying Asian or Hispanic race/ethnicity, suggesting greater maternal linkage error for these sets. The lower probabilities for Hispanics were concentrated in women of Mexican origin who were not born in the United States., Conclusions: Differential linkage error may be a source of bias in studies that use U.S. maternally linked datasets to make comparisons between Hispanics and other groups or among Hispanic subgroups. Methods to quantify and adjust for this potential bias are needed.

MedCath, Inc. is the largest provider of cardiovascular services in the United States; therefore, tremendous opportunities present themselves to us in regard to improving and redesigning care for this patient population. With that in mind, we actively address the nursing model of care specifically for a specialty hospital. This article illustrates why we believe our nursing delivery model is different and better than traditional health care models in the country. We believe that our approach to patient-focused care offers the resources and tools that nurses require to adequately care for the complex patients that present to our hospitals. A key part of our strategy is the commitment we have to education, training, adequate staffing ratios, safety, and collaborative care processes. We consider our model to be dynamic in nature, and we rely on the input from nurses, physicians, and other caregivers to continuously improve our model of care. Data and analysis are provided daily through our balanced scorecard initiatives and from our clinical metrics, clinical best practice teams, and throughput efforts. We seek to be a learning organization and recognize that knowledge is enhanced by the collective ideas and actions of our key stakeholders, which include the nursing staff.

This study examined relationships between specific dimensions of childhood sexual abuse and personality traits in adulthood. Study participants were 74 hospitalized female psychiatric patients with a self-reported history of childhood sexual abuse. Characteristics of childhood sexual abuse were obtained from a structured life-events interview. Personality was measured with the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), which yields scores on neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. We hypothesized that parental abuse, intercourse, and the combination of these two childhood sexual abuse characteristics would be associated with personality traits. Supporting this hypothesis, women who were abused by a parent had lower scores on openness to experience than women who were abused by someone else. Patients whose abuse history included both parental abuse and intercourse had very low extraversion scores. Our findings suggest that there are associations between personality traits and childhood sexual abuse characteristics in psychiatric patients. Specifically, women who experienced intercourse by a parent may be more introverted and less open to experience than women whose sexual abuse history does not include parental incest.

Objective: Refine the understanding of the desirable skills for health sciences librarians as a basis for developing a training program model that reflects the fundamental changes in health care delivery and information technology., Design: A four-step needs assessment process: focus groups developed lists of desirable skills; the research team organized candidate skills into a taxonomy; a survey of a random sample of librarians and library users assessed perception of importance of individual skills; and the research team framed, as a unifying hypothesis, a training model., Survey Methods: The survey was distributed to random samples of 150 librarians, stratified by type of library, and 150 library users, stratified by type of use. A non-randomized sample was obtained by mounting the survey on a World Wide Web server. The survey instrument included 96 distinct skills organized into 13 categories. Respondents rated the importance of each skill on a Likert scale and provided a separate ranking by identifying the ten most important skills for the profession., Results: Among the participants, 51% of librarians and 36% of library users responded to the survey. All categories of skills were rated above the midpoint of priority on the Likert scale. All groups rated personality characteristics and skills as most important, with an understanding of the health sciences, education, and research being rated comparably to technical skills., Conclusions: Health sciences librarians need a new educational model that provides them with broad-based tools to discover new roles and new resources for acquiring individual skills as the need arises. A unifying training model would involve trainees in developing their learning plan in a way that promotes proactive inquiry and self-directed learning, and it would rotate the trainees through projects to provide skills and an understanding of end-user work processes.