Clinical Evaluation of a Chairside Amalgam Separator to Meet Environmental Protection Agency Dental Wastewater Regulatory Compliance.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a commercially available chairside amalgam separator (CAS) in a clinical setting in which a relatively high number of amalgam restorations are placed. Performance parameters investigated included service life, amalgam collected, mercury concentrations in effluent, and solids retention efficiency.

Methods And Materials: CASs were tested per International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 11143:2008 prior to installation in a military dental treatment facility and after removal from service (n=4) in order to confirm compliance with the recently enacted United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Dental Category.

Practical actions for applied systematic conservation planning.

Systematic conservation planning is intended to inform spatially explicit decision making. Doing so requires that it be integrated into complex regulatory and governance processes, and there are limited instances where this has been achieved effectively. South Africa is a global leader in the application of conservation plans, the outputs of which are widely used for spatial planning and decision making in many spheres of government.

Improving Door to Groin Puncture Time for Mechanical Thrombectomy via Iterative Quality Protocol Interventions.

Introduction: Delays in door to groin puncture time (DGPT) for patients with ischemic stroke caused by acute large vessel occlusions (LVO) are associated with worse clinical outcomes. We present the results of a quality improvement protocol for endovascular stroke treatment at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) that aimed to minimize DGPT.

Materials And Methods: Our stroke team implemented a series of quality improvement measures to decrease DGPT, with a target of 90 minutes or less.

Maternal prenatal weight gain and autism spectrum disorders.

Background: The rising population of individuals identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) calls for further investigation of its underlying etiology. A disturbance in the fetal steroid hormone environment may be a mechanism in which environmental and genetic risk factors interact. The mother, fetus, and placenta collectively create the fetal steroid environment.

Excess mortality and causes of death in autism spectrum disorders: a follow up of the 1980s Utah/UCLA autism epidemiologic study.

This study's purpose was to investigate mortality among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) ascertained during a 1980s statewide autism prevalence study (n = 305) in relation to controls. Twenty-nine of these individuals (9.5 %) died by the time of follow up, representing a hazard rate ratio of 9.