While the number of think tanks active in American politics has more than quadrupled since the 1970s, their influence has not expanded proportionally. Instead, the known ideological proclivities of ...many, especially newer think tanks with their aggressive efforts to obtain high profiles, have come to undermine the credibility with which experts and expertise are generally viewed by public officials. This book explains this paradox. The analysis is based on 135 in-depth interviews with officials at think tanks and those in the policy making and funding organizations that draw upon and support their work. The book reports on results from a survey of congressional staff and journalists and detailed case studies of the role of experts in health care and telecommunications reform debates in the 1990s and tax reduction in 2001.
In this manuscript, which appeared in ALTEX 36 , 154-160 ( doi:10.14573/altex.1901031 ), the Acknowledgements should read: This work was supported by the BMBF, the DAAD, the DFG (KoRS-CB), and it has ...received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 681002 (EU-ToxRisk).
The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) measured at an early time point is an appealing surrogate marker for long-term functional outcome of stroke patients treated with endovascular ...therapy. However, definitions and analytical methods for an early NIHSS-based outcome measure that optimize power and precision in clinical studies are not well-established.
In this post-hoc analysis of our prospective observational study that enrolled endovascular therapy-treated patients at 12 comprehensive stroke centers across the US, we compared the ability of 24-hour NIHSS, ΔNIHSS (baseline minus 24-hour NIHSS), and percentage change (NIHSS×100/baseline NIHSS), analyzed as continuous and dichotomous measures, to predict 90-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS) using logistic regression (adjusted for age, baseline NIHSS, glucose, hypertension, Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score, time to recanalization, recanalization status, and intravenous thrombolysis) and Spearman ρ.
Of 485 patients in the BEST (Blood Pressure After Endovascular Stroke Therapy) cohort, 446 (92%) with 90-day follow-up data were included. An absolute 24-hour NIHSS, adjusted for baseline in multivariable modeling, had the highest predictive power of all definitions evaluated (aR
0.368 and adjusted odds ratio 0.79 0.75-0.84,
<0.001 for mRS score 0-2; aR
0.444 and adjusted odds ratio 0.84 0.8-0.86 for ordinal mRS). For predicting mRS score of 0-2 with a cut point, the second most efficient approach, the optimal threshold for 24-hour NIHSS score was ≤7 (sensitivity 80.1%, specificity 80.4%; adjusted odds ratio 12.5 7.14-20,
<0.001), followed by percent change in NIHSS (sensitivity 79%, specificity 58.5%; adjusted odds ratio 4.55 2.85-7.69,
<0.001).
Twenty-four-hour NIHSS, adjusted for baseline, was the strongest predictor of both dichotomous and ordinal 90-day mRS outcomes for endovascular therapy-treated patients. A dichotomous 24-hour NIHSS score of ≤7 was the second-best predictor. Although ΔNIHSS, continuous and dichotomized at ≥4, predicted 90-day outcomes, absolute 24-hour NIHSS definitions performed better.
Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) is an indigenous underutilized but valuable root crop solely consumed in Ethiopia. It is commonly used as occasional food during holidays and as therapeutic ...food to treat fractured bone or develop strong bone. So far, different studies conducted related to its variety development, nutrition, and anti-nutrition contents. In this study, attempts were made to investigate the effect of predrying treatments and drying temperature on nutritional composition and thermophysical properties of its flour. A general full factorial experiment with two factors each at three levels used to run the experiment. The proximate compositions, thermophysical properties, and mineral contents were determined using AOAC standard methods; well-developed model equations; and atomic absorption spectrophotometry, respectively. The ranges of nutrients in mg/100 g DB were as follows: moisture content (MC) 7.37-10.10; protein 3.26-4.80; total fiber (TF) 7.24- 10.76; ether extract (EE) 0.49-0.70, ash 2.96-4.74, total carbohydrate (TC) 80.01-83.66; calcium (Ca) 357.07-482.89; magnesium (Mg) 138.87-222.38; iron (Fe) 10.87-16.00; zinc(Zn) 2.07-2.80; and copper(Cu) 1.90-2.25. The bulk density, specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity of the flours ranged in 0.72-0.82 (g/cmsup.3), 1.710-1.780 KJ/kg°C, 0.263-0.273 W/msup.2°C, and 1.88 x 10-4- 2.12 × 10-4 msup.2/s, respectively. The predrying treatment and drying temperature significantly affected (p <.05) MC, protein, TF, EE, ash, TC, Ca, Fe, and Zn contents. The thermophysical properties were also affected by the same factors. The flour made from raw anchote dried at 100°C was better in preserving the nutrients and improving its cooking property.
Gender disparities in academic vascular surgeons Carnevale, Matthew; Phair, John; Batarseh, Paola ...
Journal of vascular surgery,
October 2020, 2020-10-00, 20201001, Letnik:
72, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Previous studies have identified significant gender discrepancies in grant funding, leadership positions, and publication impact in surgical subspecialties. We investigated whether these ...discrepancies were also present in academic vascular surgery.
Academic websites from institutions with vascular surgery training programs were queried to identify academic faculty, and leadership positions were noted. H-index, number of citations, and total number of publications were obtained from Scopus and PubMed. Grant funding amounts and awards data were obtained from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Society for Vascular Surgery websites. Industry funding amount was obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website. Nonsurgical physicians and support staff were excluded from this analysis.
We identified 177 female faculty (18.6%) and 774 male faculty (81.4%). A total of 41 (23.2%) female surgeons held leadership positions within their institutions compared with 254 (32.9%) male surgeons (P = .009). Female surgeons held the rank of assistant professor 50.3% of the time in contrast to 33.9% of men (P < .001). The rank of associate professor was held at similar rates, 25.4% vs 20.7% (P = .187), respectively. Fewer women than men held the full professor rank, 10.7% compared with 26.2% (P < .001). Similarly, women held leadership positions less often than men, including division chief (6.8% vs 13.7%; P < .012) and vice chair of surgery (0% vs 2.2%; P < .047), but held more positions as vice dean of surgery (0.6% vs 0%; P < .037) and chief executive officer (0.6% vs 0%; P < .037). Scientific contributions based on the number of each surgeon's publications were found to be statistically different between men and women. Women had an average of 42.3 publications compared with 64.8 for men (P < .001). Female vascular surgeons were cited an average of 655.2 times, less than half the average citations of their male counterparts with 1387 citations (P < .001). The average H-index was 9.5 for female vascular surgeons compared with 13.7 for male vascular surgeons (P < .001). Correcting for years since initial board certification, women had a higher H-index per year in practice (1.32 vs 1.02; P = .005). Female vascular surgeons were more likely to have received NIH grants than their male colleagues (9.6% vs 4.0%; P = .017). Although substantial, the average value of NIH grants awarded was not statistically significant between men and women, with men on average receiving $915,590.74 ($199,119.00-$2,910,600.00) and women receiving $707,205.35 ($61,612.00-$4,857,220.00; P = .416). There was no difference in the distribution of Society for Vascular Surgery seed grants to women and men since 2007. Industry payments made publicly available according to the Sunshine Act for the year 2018 were also compared, and female vascular surgeons received an average of $2155.28 compared with their male counterparts, who received almost four times as much at $8452.43 (P < .001).
Although there is certainly improved representation of women in vascular surgery compared with several decades ago, a discrepancy still persists. Women tend to have more grants than men and receive less in industry payments, but they hold fewer leadership positions, do not publish as frequently, and are cited less than their male counterparts. Further investigation should be aimed at identifying the causes of gender disparity and systemic barriers to gender equity in academic vascular surgery.
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