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This article presents an examination of AFL-CIO President George Meany. The author discusses some of Meany's accomplishments as president as well as the evolution of the American labor movement during his tenure. The article also examines some of the AFL-CIO's history since the organization's founding. The author discusses Meany's expulsion of the International Longshoremen's Association from the organization due to corruption and the subsequent reaction the move caused. Meany's work with the United Textile Workers of America is also examined along with his efforts with laundry workers, jewelry workers, distillery workers, automobile workers and bakery and confectionery workers.

The article reports biographical information for James Riddle Hoffa, president of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of North America, who became the most investigated union official in the United States. Excerpts from his testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Improper Practices in the Labor or Management Field, or the McClellan Committee, includes questioning by the Department of Justice Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Financial transactions, investments, and arrangements involving the Teamsters union, Hoffa, Owen Bert Brennan, and their wives are mentioned, as well as Hoffa's strategy for dealing with organized crime and the trucking industry.

Active learning in large science classrooms furthers opportunities for students to engage in the content and in meaningful learning, yet students can still remain anonymously silent. This study aims to understand the impact of active learning on these silent students in a large General Chemistry course taught via Socratic questioning and discussion "clicker" questions. A mixed-methods study including a survey and student interviews revealed that silent students are also active learners. Silent students report that, despite their silence, the active environment enhances their engagement in the class and understanding of the content. The data also suggest that some students choose to remain silent because of their own learning style, rather than being led by other motivations such as anxiety of perception by peers or professors. This active learning environment encourages participation and benefits both vocal and silent students even within a large class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Leahy-Smith Act deems tax strategies to be insufficiently novel and not obvious to differentiate an "invention" from prior art. On the face of it, tax strategy patents are no more. But nagging questions linger. And Congress did not disturb tile more than 150 tax strategy patents in existence at the time the Act was passed. This article discusses the current state of tile law, and its implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study in the U.S. which examines the hypernasility of mentally retarded persons. The researchers evaluated the acoustic and perceptual correlates of velophryngeal competency in two groups of retarded and one group of nonretarded individuals. Results if perceptual and acoustic analyses revealed that those persons with Down Syndrome were significantly hypernasal than the other group.

The article discusses labor policy, industrial relations, and the labor movement in the United States in the mid-20th century. The author focuses on the activities of the AFL-CIO, particularly its growing involvement in politics. Other topics discussed include the AFL-CIO's support for the presidential candidacy of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, the relationship of the trade union with the U.S. Congress, and problems of political organization and activism faced by organized labor organizations.

The article focuses on paramedical screening on the underwriting of life insurance on applicants. The article begins with a background on paramedical screening in life insurance underwriting. The mechanics of paramedical screening is explained. The article summarizes the answers to a 1970 questionnaire concerning paramedical examinations of life underwriting companies in the United States and Canada. The article concludes that a paramedical program has a definite role in the life insurance industry and it will grow in importance to underwriting.

The article explores the course of trade union corruption in the United States. Corruption is defined as the use of union power for private, unsanctioned enrichment by anyone. It started as an observable phenomenon in the building trades a decade or so after the Civil War. Gangsters became involved in industrial relations towards the end of the 19th century, providing violent services to employers and unions alike. Their activities in the labor movement during Prohibition were mainly local or regional in character. The aim of business unionism is to improve wages, hours and working conditions primarily through collective bargaining. The autonomy of individual unions is one of the strongest traditions in trade unionism in the country.

Purpose: People with COPD are at a higher risk of cognitive dysfunction than the general population. However, the additional impact of dementia amongst such patients is not well understood, particularly in those admitted with a COPD exacerbation. We assessed the impact of coexisting dementia on inpatient mortality and length of stay (LOS) in patients admitted to hospital with a COPD exacerbation, using the United States based National Inpatient Sample database., Patients and Methods: Patients aged over 40 years and hospitalised with a primary diagnosis of COPD exacerbation from 2011 to 2015 were included. Cases were grouped into patients with and without dementia. Multivariable logistic regression analysis, stratified by age, was used to assess risk of inpatient deaths. Cox regression was carried out to compare death rates and competing risk analysis gave estimates of discharge rates with time to death a competing variable., Results: A total of 576,381 patients were included into the analysis, of which 35,372 (6.1%) had co-existent dementia. There were 6413 (1.1%) deaths recorded. The odds of inpatient death were significantly greater in younger patients with dementia (41-64 years) [OR (95% CI) dementia vs without: 1.75 (1.04-2.92), p=0.03]. Cases with dementia also had a higher inpatient mortality rate in the first 4 days [HR (95% CI) dementia vs without: 1.23 (1.08-1.41), p=0.002] and a longer LOS [sub-hazard ratio (95% CI) dementia vs without: 0.93 (0.92-0.94), p<0.001]., Conclusion: Dementia as a comorbidity is associated with worse outcomes based on inpatient deaths and LOS in patients admitted with COPD exacerbations., Competing Interests: Professor Charlotte E Bolton reports grants from AZ, Boehringer, Chiesi, GSK, Novartis, BLF, personal fees from AZ, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2022 Gupta et al.)

Background/aims: Phenotypic discordance in monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs can have an epigenetic or genetic basis. Although age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has a strong genetic component, few studies have addressed its epigenetic basis., Methods: Using SNP arrays, we evaluated differences in copy number variation (CNV) and allele-specific methylation (ASM) patterns (via methyl-sensitive restriction enzyme digestion of DNA) in MZ twin pairs from the US Twin Study of AMD. Further analyses examined the relationship between ASM and CNVs with AMD by both case/control analysis of ASM at candidate regions and by analysis of ASM and CNVs in twins discordant for AMD., Results: The frequency of ASM sites differs between cases and controls in regions surrounding the AMD candidate genes CFH, C2 and CFB. While ASM patterns show a substantial dependence on local sequence polymorphisms, we observed dissimilar patterns of ASM between MZ twins. The genes closest to the sites where discordant MZ twins have dissimilar patterns of ASM are enriched for genes implicated in gliosis, a process associated with neovascular AMD. Similar twin-based analyses revealed no AMD-associated CNVs., Conclusions: Our results provide evidence of epigenetic influences beyond the known genetic susceptibility and implicate inflammatory responses and gliosis in the etiology of AMD.

A century ago, first-aid instruction enjoyed sudden popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain and the Dominions, including Canada, classes were organised by the St. John Ambulance Association, while on the European continent several sophisticated national and municipal lifesaving associations rapidly outstripped the St. John model. In this article, which concentrates on hitherto neglected developments in the United States, seeks to establish similarities and differences within a comparative framework. Voluntarism, militarism, and modernity all receive attention, as does the question of bourgeois anxiety, seen by Roger Cooter as an important factor in creating "the moment of the accident".