Evidence of fuels management and fire weather influencing fire severity in an extreme fire event.

Following changes in vegetation structure and pattern, along with a changing climate, large wildfire incidence has increased in forests throughout the western United States. Given this increase, there is great interest in whether fuels treatments and previous wildfire can alter fire severity patterns in large wildfires. We assessed the relative influence of previous fuels treatments (including wildfire), fire weather, vegetation, and water balance on fire-severity in the Rim Fire of 2013.

A multi-scale evaluation of pack stock effects on subalpine meadow plant communities in the Sierra Nevada.

We evaluated the influence of pack stock (i.e., horse and mule) use on meadow plant communities in Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in the Sierra Nevada of California.

Detecting the influence of rare stressors on rare species in Yosemite National Park using a novel stratified permutation test.

Statistical models often use observational data to predict phenomena; however, interpreting model terms to understand their influence can be problematic. This issue poses a challenge in species conservation where setting priorities requires estimating influences of potential stressors using observational data. We present a novel approach for inferring influence of a rare stressor on a rare species by blending predictive models with nonparametric permutation tests.

A network extension of species occupancy models in a patchy environment applied to the Yosemite Toad (Anaxyrus canorus).

A central challenge of conservation biology is using limited data to predict rare species occurrence and identify conservation areas that play a disproportionate role in regional persistence. Where species occupy discrete patches in a landscape, such predictions require data about environmental quality of individual patches and the connectivity among high quality patches. We present a novel extension to species occupancy modeling that blends traditional predictions of individual patch environmental quality with network analysis to estimate connectivity characteristics using limited survey data.

Comparative hospital cost-analysis of open and robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy.

Objective: To perform a contemporary comparative cost-analysis of robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RARP) and open radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP).

Methods: All patients undergoing RARP (n = 115) or RRP (n = 358) by 1 of 4 surgeons at a single institution during a 15-month period were retrospectively reviewed. The hospital length of stay (LOS), operative time, hospital charges, reimbursement, and direct and indirect hospital costs were analyzed and compared.

Combining brain diagnosis and therapy in a single strategy: the safety, reliability, and cost implications using same-day versus separate-day stereotactic procedures.

Background: A therapeutic radiosurgery procedure usually follows a separate diagnostic stereotactic procedure after days or weeks.

Objectives: To define the clinical reliability, safety, and cost implications of same-day diagnostic stereotactic biopsy and therapeutic radiosurgery.

Methods: During an 8-year interval, 26 patients underwent stereotactic brain biopsy followed by immediate therapeutic stereotactic radiosurgery in a single-day combined procedure.

Effect of phlebotomy technique on serum bicarbonate values.

Objectives: To determine whether the following phlebotomy technique factors result in spuriously low serum bicarbonate values: 1) small needle size, 2) prolonged tourniquet time, and 3) underfilling of Vacutainer tubes.

Methods: Thirty-eight healthy young adult student volunteers from Brown University (mean age = 22 years) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 (24-ga or 20-ga) IV needle size groups. With a tourniquet applied, the subjects had blood sampled initially and then at 3 intervals 1 minute apart.

Can the NASCET technique for measuring carotid stenosis be reliably applied outside the trial?

Purpose: The North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET) and the Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Study (ACAS) both confirmed the effectiveness of carotid endarterectomy for preventing stroke in patients who have significant carotid stenosis. A uniform technique for measuring carotid stenosis from an arteriogram (% stenosis = [1 - minimum residual lumen/normal distal cervical internal carotid artery diameter] x 100) was used in both trials, with reproducibility internally validated. The reliability of this measurement when used outside the trials for defining carotid stenosis has not been validated.

Comparison of videocassette and personal instruction methods for training pharmacy personnel in aseptic technique.

A videocassette self-instruction method of aseptic-technique training was compared with a one-on-one instructor-trainee method to determine the effectiveness and cost of each method. Pharmacy department personnel and pharmacy students with no previous training in aseptic technique were randomly assigned to receive either personal or videocassette instruction. The trainees completed an identical set of practice activities.

Canine cardiovascular responses to endotracheally and intravenously administered atropine, isoproterenol, and propranolol.

This study compared canine cardiovascular responses observed after endotracheally administered atropine, isoproterenol, and propranolol to those observed following IV administration. Acetylcholine and isoproterenol dose response curves for arterial pressures and heart rate were established following IV boluses of each drug. Once the dose response curves were established, atropine and propranolol were administered endotracheally and intravenously in different groups to alter the established dose response curves.

Alteration of ethanol-induced changes in locomotor activity by adrenergic blockers in mice.

The effects of various doses of ethanol (ETOH) on spontaneous locomotor activity (SLMA) in mice were measured using photocell activity chambers. Of the 4 i.p.