The genetics of recolonization: an analysis of the stock structure of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the northwest Atlantic

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 490-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. Wood ◽  
T.R. Frasier ◽  
B.A. McLeod ◽  
J.R. Gilbert ◽  
B.N. White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Mitochondrial Control Region ◽  
The United States ◽  
Halichoerus Grypus ◽  
Stock Structure ◽  
Northwest Atlantic ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
Large Populations

Although historically distributed along the northeast coast of the United States (US), grey seals ( Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius, 1791)) were considered locally extinct until the late 1980s when three naturally re-established pupping colonies were discovered. Two large populations in Canada, the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) and Sable Island (SI) seals, are possible sources of immigrants for the recovering US population. To assess the stock structure of grey seals in the northwest Atlantic, tissue samples were collected from Canadian and US populations for genetic analyses. We examined nine highly variable microsatellite loci (n = 158; mean number of alleles per locus = 7.22). When population differentiation was assessed without a priori inference of potential subpopulations, all individuals were placed into one population. Pairwise FST values showed little difference in allele frequencies between the SI and the GSL or the Canadian and the US samples. We sequenced a 319 bp segment of the mitochondrial control region and identified 25 haplotypes (n = 163). Nucleotide diversity was similar at SI, GSL, and the US sites. Based on mtDNA haplotypes, no significant difference was found between the SI and GSL populations or the Canadian and the US populations. Although grey seals are philopatric, our study demonstrated that the genetic structure of the northwest Atlantic grey seal population is not different from the null hypothesis of panmixia.

Genomic profile of gastric cancer in the United States versus East Asia.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 45-45
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Gilmore ◽  
Mohamad Barakat ◽  
Uzair Bashir Chaudhary ◽  
Jeffrey P. Gregg ◽  
Amir Fathi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gastric Cancer ◽  
Tumor Biology ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Cancer Type ◽  
Asian Ethnicity ◽  
Recurrent Mutations ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us

45 Background: Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer type and is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Much heterogenicity exists in gastric cancer including geographic variation, with significantly higher incidence in Eastern Asia and a well-known but poorly understood relationship with Asian ethnicity. It has thus been hypothesized that differences in incidence and survival between United States and Asia may be related to a difference in the underlying tumor biology. Methods: We sought to compare the mutational frequencies by comparison of proportions of the 25 most frequent mutations between a US and Chinese population. The US population was derived from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) PanCancer Atlas comprising 440 patients and the Chinese from a University of Hong Kong Study comprising 100 patients. Results: We found there was a statistically significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) in the frequency of recurrent mutations between US and China population in 14 of the 25 most common genes mutations (table). Conclusions: This data suggests an underlying difference in the mutational profile of gastric cancers in the US as compared with Asia. These findings thus may help to describe the differences in incidence, histology, and outcomes that has been well described in the literature between these two regions of the world. [Table: see text]

Financial Impact of Tumor Lysis Syndrome Among Inpatients in the United States

Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 5966-5966
Author(s):  
Ranjan Pathak ◽  
Smith Giri ◽  
Madan Raj Aryal ◽  
Paras Karmacharya ◽  
Vijaya R. Bhatt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Nationwide Inpatient Sample ◽  
Tumor Lysis Syndrome ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hospital Charge ◽  
Hospital Charges ◽  
Tumor Lysis ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Mean

Abstract Background With an estimated 0.1 million cases in 2014, lymphomas and acute leukemias are the leading causes of malignancies in the US. Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is a potentially devastating complication associated with hematologic malignancies leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Previous European studies have shown that the financial burden of TLS is high, with an estimated cost of 7,342 Euros ($10,320 US Dollars) per admission. However, there is a paucity of data on the economic impact of TLS among US inpatients. Methods We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to identify hospitalized patients aged ≥18 years with a primary diagnosis of TLS (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification [ICD-9-CM] code 277.88) from the first year the diagnosis code was introduced (2009) to 2011. Nationwide Inpatient Sample is the largest all-payer publicly available inpatient care database in the US. It contains data from five to eight million hospital stays from about 1,000 hospitals across the country and approximates a 20% sample of all US hospitals. We calculated the mean length of stay (LOS) and mean hospital charges per TLS admission and compared them with those of overall inpatient admissions. Given that renal failure occurs in severe cases, we compared the mean LOS and hospital charge between TLS patients with and without RRT (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, ICD-9-CM procedure codes 39.35 and 54.98 respectively). Data analysis was done using STATA version 13.0 (College Station, TX). Results We identified 997 admissions with TLS. Mean age was 67.5 (±3.3) with 62% males and 80.4% whites. Overall mean LOS and hospital charge for TLS during the study period was 8.02 days (SE 0.83) and $ 72,840 (SE 8,083). Both the mean LOS and hospital charge for TLS were significantly higher than overall in-patient admissions (Table 1). A total of 949 patients (95%) underwent RRT. There was no significant difference in mean LOS (9.84 days vs 7.94 days, p=0.28) and mean hospital charge ($ 88,098 vs $ 71,930, p=0.58) in patients with TLS that underwent RRT compared (95.2%, n=949) to patients that did not undergo RRT (4.8%, n=48). Conclusion Our study shows that TLS is associated with a significant economic burden, with a mean cost of $ 72,840 per TLS hospitalization. Although majority of the patients hospitalized for TLS received RRT, its use was not associated with significantly higher costs. Further studies are warranted to determine the ways of optimizing current preventive measures and to explore the drivers of increased in-hospital costs in TLS patients. Table 1 Mean LOS and Hospital Charge in TLS Admissions Compared with Overall Inpatient Admissions, 2009-2011 Year Mean LOS (days) Mean hospital charge (USD) TLS admissions Overall admissions p TLS admissions Overall admissions p 2009 13.94 4.5 0.02 104,235 30,506 0.04 2010 7.62 4.6 <0.001 69,552 32,799 <0.001 2011 7.14 4.5 <0.001 69,222 35,213 <0.001 LOS=Length of Stay; TLS=Tumor Lysis Syndrome; USD=US Dollars Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Sustainable Development and the US

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 (1) ◽  
pp. 477-482
Author(s):  
Ann H. Walker ◽  
Steven R. Warren ◽  
Debra Scholz ◽  
John Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Initiatives

ABSTRACT In the late 1980s, the United Nations recognized that industrial activities of the 19th and 2(20th centuries were responsible for global pollution-related problems, and presented a future threat to life-sustaining qualities of the environment. While difficult to document in a perfectly quantifiable and defensible case, the evidence was sufficiently strong for the UN to create a global initiative for sustainable development. Many countries around the world now have institutionalized programs for sustainable development. Target projects and procedures to implement incremental changes in the way the natural elements necessary for life are sustained for their support of, and use by, future generations by managing growth and pollution are underway. The United States has a number of initiatives in various agencies that primarily consist of discrete government-government or government-industry partnerships. Nonetheless, the concept of sustainable development in the US remains ambiguous in terms of its widespread understanding and adoption by the public and private sectors, which are responsible for activities that can cause pollution, or indirectly affect the ability of the environment to sustain future human populations, lifestyles, and the economy. The US Environmental Protection Agency refers to some of its sustainable development initiatives as “Smart Growth” to more clearly and positively conveys the focus of these activities. It has been observed that sustainable development will not make a significant difference in the US, relative to the strides made in other countries, unless sustainable development programs become regulatory in nature. The US sustainable development initiatives are discretionary and essentially implemented according to the prevailing political will. Since the US economy is based on capitalism, and growth in profits is a pre-requisite to economic success, sustainable development programs will only be implemented if program managers in industry and government believe that these programs somehow tangibly benefit “the bottom line.” While exhibiting pioneering leadership in many areas, with regard to innovative and across-the-board programs for sustainable development, the US in fact may lag behind the rest of the world.

scholarly journals Comparison of Catastrophic Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenditures in the US and South Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 831-832
Author(s):  
Narae Kim ◽  
Mireille Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Health Care Expenditure ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Income ◽  
Medical Expenditure ◽  
System Level ◽  
Medical Spending ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us

Abstract To date, relatively few studies have examined catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending in the United States, especially in comparison to other high-income countries. We compared catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending among adults age 65 and older in the United States versus South Korea, a high-income country with national health insurance that is often overlooked in cross-country comparisons. We defined catastrophic medical spending as health care expenditure for the past two years that exceeds 50% of one’s annual household income. Using data from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA), we performed a logistic regression to examine the factors affecting catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending for older adults in both countries. We also performed a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to compare the contribution of demographics factors versus health system-level factors to catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending. The proportion of respondents with catastrophic out-of-pocket medical expenditure was higher in the US; the proportion was 5.8% and 3.0% in the US and South Korea, respectively. Both in the US and South Korea, respondents who were in the lower-income quartiles, who had experienced a stroke or had diabetes, and who rated their health as poor had higher odds of catastrophic out-of-pocket medical expenditure. The Blinder-Oaxaca non-linear decomposition showed that the significant difference in the rate of catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending between the two countries was attributable to unobservable system-level factors, not observed differences in the sociodemographic characteristics between the two countries.

A comparative study of the acceptance and understanding of evolution between China and the US

2021 ◽  
pp. 096366252110068
Author(s):  
Mingjun Zhang ◽  
Deena Skolnick Weisberg ◽  
Jing Zhu ◽  
Michael Weisberg
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Chinese Sample ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Acceptance Of Evolution ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Relationship

Prior work has found that Americans’ views on evolution are significantly and positively related to their understanding of this theory. However, whether this relationship is cross-culturally robust is unknown. This article extends earlier work by measuring and comparing the acceptance and understanding of evolution among highly educated individuals in China and the United States. We find a significantly higher evolution acceptance level in the Chinese sample than in the US sample, but no significant difference in their average levels of evolution knowledge. Our analysis also shows that accepting evolutionary theory is related to understanding in both the US and the Chinese samples. These results provide evidence for the robustness of the relationship between understanding and acceptance of evolution across different cultural contexts. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to comprehensively test understanding of evolutionary theory within a Chinese sample and to compare these results with the US sample.

scholarly journals Value Orientation Of Jamaicans Compared To Students In The United States Of America

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Dastoor ◽  
Edeta Roofe ◽  
Bahaudin Mujtaba
Keyword(s):  
United States Of America ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Cultural Orientation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Value Orientation ◽  
Uncertainty Avoidance ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
Jamaican Culture

This study investigates differences in the value orientation of Jamaican students who live and study in the US for an extended period compared to Jamaican students in Jamaica and US students to see if there is support for the theories of convergence, divergence and crossvergence given the effects of globalization on different countries. Dorfman and Howels (1988) scale, which measures Power distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Collectivism, Masculinity and Paternalism, assessed value orientation in this study. The results reveal that there are no differences between Jamaican students in Jamaica and those in the US that suggests strength in the Jamaican culture as Jamaicans live in the US. However, there was only one significant difference between Jamaican students in the US and the US students; uncertainty avoidance was significantly higher for the former. This supports divergend or retaining ones distinctive cultural orientation despite ongoing interaction over time. There was no difference between US students, Jamaicans in US and Jamaican universities on all other dimensions. This lends support to convergence or merging of cultures.

scholarly journals A Mathematical Programming Approach to Brand Efficiency of Smartphones in the US Market

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Shiu-Wan Hung ◽  
Han-Chung Chou ◽  
Wen-Min Lu ◽  
Shi-Xiao Wang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Mathematical Programming ◽  
Growth Period ◽  
The United States ◽  
Programming Approach ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mathematical Programming Approach

This study applied mathematical programming approach to investigate the brand efficiency of smartphone brands by collecting data of 2013–2015 from Consumer Report. The brand efficiency was completed by employing the slack-based measure in data envelopment analysis. The degree of inefficiency of each brand was evaluated, and each brand’s metatechnology ratio was calculated using the metafrontier concept. The results revealed that the sampled smartphone brands reach the highest average brand efficiency in 2013, where Apple exhibited the highest brand efficiency among the sampled brands. The high brand efficiency in 2013 was attributed to the small number of product types at beginning of the growth period of smartphones. Finally, this study examined the efficiency of smartphone brands among four major telecommunications operators in the United States. It was found that Apple demonstrated the highest efficiency with all four operators, while no significant difference was noted among operators and smartphone brands.

scholarly journals Characterizing the Regional Structure in the United States: A County-based Analysis of Labor Market Centrality

2020 ◽  
pp. 016001762094608
Author(s):  
Nikhil Kaza ◽  
Katherine Nesse
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Structure ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Population Concentration ◽  
The Us ◽  
Large Populations

Categorizing places based on their network connections to other places in the region reveals not only population concentration but also economic dynamics that are missed in other typologies. The US Office of Management and Budget categorization of counties into metropolitan/micropolitan and central/outlying is widely seen as insufficient for many analytic purposes. In this article, we use a coreness index from network analysis to identify labor market centrality of a county. We use county-to-county commute flows, including internal commuting, to identify regional hierarchies. Indicators broken down by this typology reveal counterintuitive results in many cases. Not all strong core counties have large populations or high levels of urbanization. Employment in these strong core counties grew faster in the postrecession (2008–2015) than in other types of counties. This economic dimension is missed by other typologies, suggesting that our categorization may be useful for regional analysis and policy.

scholarly journals Single-Blind and Double-Blind Peer Review: Effects on National Representation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghana Kalavar ◽  
Arjun Watane ◽  
David Wu ◽  
Jayanth Sridhar ◽  
Prithvi Mruthyunjaya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
Double Blinded ◽  
Single Blind

AbstractBackground/ObjectivesTo assess whether the type of peer-review (single-blinded vs double-blinded) has an impact on nationality representation in journals.MethodsA cross-sectional study analyzing the top ten nationalities contributing to the number of articles across 16 ophthalmology journals.ResultsThere was no significant difference in the percentage of articles published from the journal’s country of origin between the top single-blind journals and top double-blind journals (SB= 42.0%, DB = 26.6%, p=0.49) but there was a significant difference between the percentage of articles from the US (SB=48.0%, DB=22.8%, p=0.02). However, there was no significant difference for both country of origin (SB =38.0%, DB =26.6%, p=0.43) and articles from the US (SB=35.0%, DB=22.8%, p=0.21) when assessing the top 8 double-blind journals matched with single-blind journals of a similar impact factor. The countries that most commonly made the top ten lists for highest number of articles were the US (n=16, 100%) and England (n=16, 100%). This held true even for journals established outside the United States (US=11/12, England=11/12).ConclusionsThere was no statistically significant difference in country-of-origin representation between single-blind journals and double-blind journals. However, higher income countries contributed most often to the journals studied even among journals based outside the US.

Disparity in Gender Representation of Speakers at National Emergency Medical Services Conferences: A Current Assessment and Proposed Path Forward

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Alexandra Davic ◽  
Erin Carey ◽  
Erin Lambert ◽  
Therese Luckingham ◽  
Nikki Mongiello ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Medical Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gender Disparities ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Gender Representation ◽  
Study Objective ◽  
National Conference ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us

Abstract Introduction: Gender disparities between Emergency Medicine physicians with regards to salary, promotion, and scholarly recognition as national conference speakers have been well-documented. However, little is known if similar gender disparities impact their out-of-hospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) colleagues. Although there have been improvements in the ratio of women entering the EMS workforce, gender representation has improved at a slower rate for paramedics compared to emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Since recruitment, retention, and advancement of females within a specialty have been associated with the visibility of prominent, respected female leaders, gender disparity of these leaders as national conference speakers may contribute to the “leaky pipeline effect” seen within the EMS profession. Gender representation of these speakers has yet to be described objectively. Study Objective: The primary objective of this study was to determine if disparity exists in gender representation of speakers at well-known national EMS conferences and trade shows in the United States (US) from 2016-2020. The secondary objective was to determine if males were more likely than females to return to a conference as a speaker in subsequent years. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of programs from well-known national conferences, specifically for EMS providers, which were held in the US from 2016-2020 was performed. Programs were abstracted for type of conference session (pre-conference, keynote, main conference) and speakers’ names. Speaker gender (male, female) was confirmed via internet search. Results: Seventeen conference programs were obtained with 1,709 conference sessions that had a total of 2,731 listed speaker names, of whom 537 (20%) were female. A total of 30 keynote addresses had 39 listed speaker names of whom six (15%) were female. No significant difference was observed in the number of years males returned to present at the same conference as compared to females. Conclusion: Gender representation of speakers at national EMS conferences in the US is not reflective of the current best estimate of the US EMS workforce. This disparity exists not only in the overall percent of female names listed as speakers, but also in the percent of individual female speakers, and is most pronounced within keynote speakers. Online lecture platforms, as an unintentional consequent of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with intentional speaker development and mentorship initiatives, may reduce barriers to facilitating a new pipeline for more females to become speakers at national EMS conferences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document