A duality between scattering poles and transmission eigenvalues in scattering theory.

In this paper, we develop a conceptually unified approach for characterizing and determining scattering poles and interior eigenvalues for a given scattering problem. Our approach explores a duality stemming from interchanging the roles of incident and scattered fields in our analysis. Both sets are related to the kernel of the relative scattering operator mapping incident fields to scattered fields, corresponding to the exterior scattering problem for the interior eigenvalues and the interior scattering problem for scattering poles.

The Impact of Administrative Burden on Academic Physicians: Results of a Hospital-Wide Physician Survey.

Purpose: To determine the characteristics of clinically active academic physicians most affected by administrative burden; the correlation between administrative burden, burnout, and career satisfaction among academic physicians; and the relative value and burden of specific administrative tasks.

Method: The authors analyzed data from the 2014 Massachusetts General Physicians Organization Survey. Respondents reported the percentage of time they spent on patient-related administrative duties and rated the value and burden associated with specific administrative tasks.

Rethinking the roles of CRP, cAMP, and sugar-mediated global regulation in the Vibrionaceae.

Many proteobacteria modulate a suite of catabolic genes using the second messenger cyclic 3', 5'-AMP (cAMP) and the cAMP receptor protein (CRP). Together, the cAMP-CRP complex regulates target promoters, usually by activating transcription. In the canonical model, the phosphotransferase system (PTS), and in particular the EIIA(Glc) component for glucose uptake, provides a mechanistic link that modulates cAMP levels depending on glucose availability, resulting in more cAMP and activation of alternative catabolic pathways when glucose is unavailable.

Growth on glucose decreases cAMP-CRP activity while paradoxically increasing intracellular cAMP in the light-organ symbiont Vibrio fischeri.

Proteobacteria often co-ordinate responses to carbon sources using CRP and the second messenger cyclic 3', 5'-AMP (cAMP), which combine to control transcription of genes during growth on non-glucose substrates as part of the catabolite-repression response. Here we show that cAMP-CRP is active and important in Vibrio fischeri during colonization of its host squid Euprymna scolopes. Moreover, consistent with a classical role in catabolite repression, a cAMP-CRP-dependent reporter showed lower activity in cells grown in media amended with glucose rather than glycerol.

Modeling Analysis of Signal Sensitivity and Specificity by Vibrio fischeri LuxR Variants.

The LuxR protein of the bacterium Vibrio fischeri belongs to a family of transcriptional activators that underlie pheromone-mediated signaling by responding to acyl-homoserine lactones (-HSLs) or related molecules. V. fischeri produces two acyl-HSLs, N-3-oxo-hexanoyl-HSL (3OC6-HSL) and N-octanoyl-HSL (C8-HSL), each of which interact with LuxR to facilitate its binding to a "lux box" DNA sequence, thereby enabling LuxR to activate transcription of the lux operon responsible for bioluminescence.

Massachusetts General Physicians Organization's quality incentive program produces encouraging results.

Physicians are increasingly becoming salaried employees of hospitals or large physician groups. Yet few published reports have evaluated provider-driven quality incentive programs for salaried physicians. In 2006 the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization began a quality incentive program for its salaried physicians.

Cyclic AMP receptor protein regulates pheromone-mediated bioluminescence at multiple levels in Vibrio fischeri ES114.

Bioluminescence in Vibrio fischeri ES114 is activated by autoinducer pheromones, and this regulation serves as a model for bacterial cell-cell signaling. As in other bacteria, pheromone concentration increases with cell density; however, pheromone synthesis and perception are also modulated in response to environmental stimuli. Previous studies suggested that expression of the pheromone-dependent bioluminescence activator LuxR is regulated in response to glucose by cyclic AMP (cAMP) receptor protein (CRP) (P.

Aerial measuring system in Japan.

The U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE/NNSA) Aerial Measuring System (AMS) deployed personnel and equipment to partner with the U.

Contribution of rapid evolution of the luxR-luxI intergenic region to the diverse bioluminescence outputs of Vibrio fischeri strains isolated from different environments.

Vibrio fischeri serves as a valuable model of bacterial bioluminescence, its regulation, and its functional significance. Light output varies more than 10,000-fold in wild-type isolates from different environments, yet dim and bright strains have similar organization of the light-producing lux genes, with the activator-encoding luxR divergently transcribed from luxICDABEG. By comparing the genomes of bright strain MJ11 and the dimmer ES114, we found that the lux region has diverged more than most shared orthologs, including those flanking lux.

Reducing seclusion and restraint: questionnaire for organizational assessment.

Mental health organizations that have successfully reduced or, in some cases, eliminated use of seclusion and restraint report that they have primarily focused on organizational factors to facilitate this process. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an instrument that measures staff perceptions of organizational activities to reduce seclusion and restraint as well as staff attitudes toward the use of these interventions. Consequently, the instrument can be used diagnostically to identify areas in need of improvement and can also be used as an outcome measure to assess shifts in staff perceptions reflective of organizational change.

A physician leadership development program at an academic medical center.

To achieve care integration required for efficient high-quality care, physicians are increasingly organized into large multispecialty groups. The success of these groups depends in large part on the ability of leadership to successfully navigate the shifting reimbursement, regulatory, and quality and safety terrain, while simultaneously providing their physicians with a rewarding practice environment. The knowledge and management tools required for such leadership are not taught in medical school or residency and are rarely acquired as a product of day-to-day physician activities.

The risk of overweight in children and adolescents with major mental illness.

Objectives: To survey the charts of youths with major mental illness who may constitute a high-risk group (HRG) for overweight.

Methods: We reviewed the charts of youths admitted to a public sector psychiatric hospital. For the 795 cases of patients 6 to 18 years old identified as the study cohort, we derived body mass index percentiles using the Centers for Disease Control Epi Info software.

Serum levels of calcium and albumin in survivors versus nonsurvivors after critical injury.

Purpose: Injured patients who require aggressive resuscitation with intravenous (IV) fluids and blood products will frequently acquire low levels of serum calcium (CA) and albumin (ALB) in the intensive care unit (ICU) as result of this therapy. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine the time course of CA and ALB during ICU admission in survivors (S) compared to nonsurvivors (N) after major trauma. The study design is to verify if CA, ALB, or albumin-corrected CA can be used as indicators of patient survivability after critical injury.

Quality improvement in the curriculum: a survey of AUPHA programs.

During the past decade, healthcare organizations have responded to a changing and unstable healthcare environment by implementing Quality Improvement initiatives. The goal of these activities is to improve system performance and outcomes, both administrative and clinical. Many of the models for Quality Improvement have been adopted from the manufacturing sector and with modification, implemented within healthcare systems.

Prevention of ventilator-induced lung injury with partial liquid ventilation.

Background/purpose: Pulmonary injury from mechanical ventilation has been attributed to application of excess alveolar pressure (barotrauma) or volume (volutrauma). The authors questioned whether partial liquid ventilation (gas ventilation of the perfluorocarbon filled lung, PLV) would reduce ventilator-induced lung injury.

Methods: A tracheostomy tube and carotid artery catheter were placed in anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats (500 +/- 50 g).

Quality improvement in health care. Conceptual and historical foundations.

During the past decade, quality improvement (QI) has become the primary approach for health care organizations to measure performance and implement change. From a historical perspective, QI has multiple origins: in systems engineering, as a way of defining production processes; in quantitative analysis, as a methodological approach for collecting and analyzing data; and in organizational behavior, as a way of understanding how QI fits with an organization's structure and management philosophy. Although QI and evaluation share similar goals, as modes of inquiry, they developed in very distinct and separate settings, to fulfill different needs.

Neutrophil accumulation is reduced during partial liquid ventilation.

Objective: This study evaluates the ability of perflubron to inhibit pulmonary neutrophil accumulation during partial liquid ventilation (PLV) in the setting of acute lung injury.

Design: Randomized, controlled, nonblinded study.

Setting: Research laboratory at a university.

Partial liquid ventilation decreases albumin leak in the setting of acute lung injury.

Purpose: This study evaluated the ability of partial liquid ventilation (PLV, gas ventilation of the perfluorocarbon-filled lungs) to reduce the amount of lung albumin leak present in the setting of acute lung injury.

Materials And Methods: An experimental controlled, randomized design was used. All studies were performed in the liquid ventilation laboratories at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

The design of evaluations for continuous quality improvement.

Many health care organizations are modeling continuous quality improvement activities after designs used in business and industry. This has resulted in a somewhat standardized and possibly limited approach to conducting quality improvement activities. In contrast, the evaluation paradigm provides a broader approach because the design of an evaluation may be based on the questions to be examined, or the design may emerge during the process of conducting the evaluation.

Effect of two new cholecystokinin antagonists on gallbladder emptying in opossums.

In this investigation we evaluated the effect of two new cholecystokinin (CCK) antagonists, CR 1409 and L364,718, on gallbladder emptying in the opossum. Gallbladder emptying was elicited by both exogenous and endogenous CCK. The three test challenges were 1) intravenous infusion of CCK octapeptide (OP) (10 ng.

Role delineation for dietetic practitioners: empirical results.

In order to meet its need for a current, integrated picture of the dynamic profession of dietetics, The American Dietetic Association, with assistance from American College Testing, undertook a study focusing on the roles of entry-level dietetic technicians and registered dietitians and beyond-entry-level registered dietitians. A nationwide mail survey was conducted on random samples of 3,559 dietitians who had been registered for up to 3 years, 6,647 dietitians who had been registered for more than 3 years, and all 1,226 graduates (in the previous 3 years) from the 70 ADA-approved programs preparing dietetic technicians that agreed to participate (out of the 77 ADA-approved programs). Response rates of 77.

Mechanisms of digoxin-amiodarone interaction in the rat.

Amiodarone and digoxin are often used in combination and clinical experience suggests that amiodarone may increase serum digoxin levels and toxicity. We have investigated the influence of amiodarone on digoxin pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution in the rat. Forty-nine rats were injected with 10 mg/kg amiodarone sc three times a day for 7 days, while 49 others were injected with saline only.

Effects of cholecystokinin and hydrocortisone on DNA and protein synthesis in immature rat pancreas.

To define the developmental pattern of the trophic effects of cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) and hydrocortisone on immature rat pancreas, we injected newborn rats, rats aged 4, 7, 11, 18, and 25 days and 3 months, and adult rats with CCK (5 and 10 micrograms/kg) in gelatin and hydrocortisone (10 mg/kg) for 3 days. Animals were killed, the pancreata were removed, and the concentrations of DNA and protein were measured and DNA and protein synthesis rates determined by incorporation of [3H]thymidine and [14C]leucine, respectively. These values were compared with those of saline-injected controls.