Deliberative panels as a source of public knowledge: A large-sample test of the Citizens' Initiative Review.

Evolving US media and political systems, coupled with escalating misinformation campaigns, have left the public divided over objective facts featured in policy debates. The public also has lost much of its confidence in the institutions designed to adjudicate those epistemic debates. To counter this threat, civic entrepreneurs have devised institutional reforms to revitalize democratic policymaking.

Use of a Smartphone Medication Reminder Application to Support Emerging Adult Adherence to Non-Antibiotic Treatment for Viral Upper Respiratory Tract Infection.

Objective: This research study is a test of the efficacy of a smartphone-installed medication reminder application to support provider-recommended treatment plans for young adult patients who were seen for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and were not prescribed an antibiotic.

Methods: Two hundred seventy-five patients seen at a university student health center for URTI symptoms were randomly assigned to the medication reminder app intervention or a control group and then surveyed both 1 and 14 days after their medical visits with questions about the treatment plan, their satisfaction with medical care, and the electronic support tools.

Results: Compared to the control condition, patients using the reminder app reported more adherence to provider-recommended treatment plans.

Density-dependent winter survival of immatures in an irruptive raptor with pulsed breeding.

Highly mobile predators can show strong numerical responses to pulsed resources, sometimes resulting in irruptions where large numbers of young invade landscapes at a continental scale. High production of young in irruption years may have a strong influence on the population dynamics unless immature survival is reduced compared to non-irruption years. This could occur if subordinate individuals (mainly immatures) are forced into suboptimal habitats due to density-dependent effects in irruption years.

Author Correction: Arctic avian predators synchronise their spring migration with the northern progression of snowmelt.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Arctic avian predators synchronise their spring migration with the northern progression of snowmelt.

Migratory species display a range of migration patterns between irruptive (facultative) to regular (obligate), as a response to different predictability of resources. In the Arctic, snow directly influences resource availability. The causes and consequences of different migration patterns of migratory species as a response to the snow conditions remains however unexplored.

Diagnostic Accuracy, Prescription Behavior, and Watchful Waiting Efficacy for Pediatric Acute Otitis Media.

Current guidelines recommend "watchful waiting" (WW) as an alternative to immediate antibiotic treatment. Continued high rates of antibiotic use suggest that WW may be underutilized. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 474 pediatric acute otitis media (AOM) cases at a clinic in central Pennsylvania.

A Video Surveillance System to Monitor Breeding Colonies of Common Terns (Sterna Hirundo).

Many waterbird populations have faced declines over the last century, including the common tern (Sterna hirundo), a waterbird species with a widespread breeding distribution, that has been recently listed as endangered in some habitats of its range. Waterbird monitoring programs exist to track populations through time; however, some of the more intensive approaches require entering colonies and can be disruptive to nesting populations. This paper describes a protocol that utilizes a minimally invasive surveillance system to continuously monitor common tern nesting behavior in typical ground-nesting colonies.

Serum biochemistry values, plasma mineral levels, and whole blood heavy metal measurements in wild northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis).

Serum chemistry panels and complete mineral and heavy metal screens were performed on blood samples from eight adult northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) breeding in Pennsylvania. Serum chemistry panels were performed to determine the health status of each bird. Biochemical values measured included serum glucose, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, uric acid, creatine kinase, and aspartate transaminase.

Absence of mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Crohn's patients.

Background: Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) has been suspected of involvement in Crohn's disease (CD). We investigated this potential association by testing whole blood from CD patients and healthy controls for the presence of MAP by culture and molecular methods. In addition, each blood sample was analyzed for polymorphisms in the NOD2/CARD15 gene previously associated with CD.

Primary alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) of the breast: report of a deceptive case with xanthomatous features confirmed by TFE3 immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy.

Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare neoplasm that most commonly presents in the lower extremities. Although ASPS has distinctive histologic features, it may cause diagnostic problems when it arises in unusual locations. To our knowledge, only 1 case of ASPS arising within the breast has previously been reported.

Multilocular prostatic cystadenoma with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia.

Multilocular prostatic cystadenoma is a rarely encountered neoplasm located in the midline between the bladder and rectum that is either attached to the prostate by a pedicle or separate from the prostate entirely. Histologically and immunohistochemically these lesions resemble benign prostate tissue. We report the first case of this entity for which multifocal high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) is identified.

Pulmonary carcinoid tumor presenting with simultaneous orbital and intracranial metastases: value of transnasal endoscopic orbital biopsy and decompression.

A 62-year-old woman presented with a 10-week history of blurred vision in the left eye. Examination revealed mild limitation of upgaze of the left eye and evidence of a left optic neuropathy. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an enhancing mass in the posteromedial left orbit as well as an enhancing lesion in the inferior occipital lobe.