WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, emboldened by the Supreme Court's affirmation of his health care overhaul, is now embracing the law while campaigning for re-election, just as Republican rival Mitt Romney steps back from it.
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Obama embraces health care law after Supreme Court ruling while Romney inches away from issue
Goal is to reduce costs, improve outcomes
Ned Helms, director of the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice at UNH
While the general public knows little about accountable care organizations, health care policy leaders and the federal government believe they may be one of the keys to transforming the medical and financial dynamics of the country's $2.6 trillion health care system.
"I get frustrated by too much talk about how the Affordable Care Act doesn't deal with health care costs," said Ned Helms, director of the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice at the University of New Hampshire. "That's not the case. We have three programs in the state doing innovative work to deliver better care and cut costs. The goal of ACOs is to develop and replicate the best performing systems in this country not in England or France, but here."
In theory, ACOs are systems of health care providers hospitals, primary care doctors, specialists and others that assume accountability for both the costs and the quality outcomes for a defined population. They have been developing slowly over the past decade but Helms believes they are ready to take off locally and nationally.
For example, a $250,000 private foundation grant led to the launch last year of the N.H. Accountable Care Organization Pilot, a five-year project at five sites throughout the state: Exeter Health Resources, Central New Hampshire Health Partnership in Plymouth, Southern New Hampshire Health System in Nashua, Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Keene, and a North Country consortium of Cottage Hospital, Littleton Hospital and Ammonoosuc Community Health Services.
Helms said the pilot program is focused on a multifaceted approach of changing the way health care is delivered and paid for by moving away from the traditional "fee-for-service," which contributes to the most expensive health care system in the world and with quality and quantity outcomes that do not match the money spent.
"Our system for financing and delivering health care is seriously flawed," Helms said. "It is tremendously important and encouraging that these five systems have decided to work together to make a concerted collaborative effort to reform and improve the system."
Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover belongs to another ACO development organization, the Granite Healthcare Network, which also includes Concord Hospital, Elliot Hospital in Manchester, LRGHealthcare in Laconia and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua.
Helms says collaboration and cooperation are the keys to maximizing the strengths of each hospital, clinic and health care provider as they share costs, treatments and a focus on overall healthier outcomes.
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WASHINGTONPresident Barack Obama, emboldened by the Supreme Court's affirmation of his health care overhaul, is now embracing the law while campaigning for re-election, just as Republican rival Mitt Romney steps back from it.
Obama sees a second chance to sell voters on the issue despite deep skepticism about it from many people. Romney is avoiding answering hard questions about how he would tackle health care, and thus missing the chance to energize voters who oppose the law.
Democrats say the president always planned to stress health care if the court upheld the law. A month after the ruling, he and his team are focused on promoting individual parts of the law that have proved more popular than the sum. The campaign is targeting its efforts on important groups of voters, including women and Hispanics, who, Obama aides say, will benefit greatly once the law takes full effect.
Before the decision, Obama did mention the law in campaign events. But the case he made to voters was hardly vigorous, especially considering the amount of time he dedicated to overhaul during his first year in year in office.
The primary focus of his campaign speeches remains the economy, the race's dominant issue. But the Supreme Court's favorable ruling appears to have freed Obama to speak about the health law more passionately and emphatically than before the case was decided.
His campaign also is running a television advertisement in eight of the most contested states that criticizes Romney for opposing mandatory health insurance coverage for contraception; that provision is in Obama's overhaul. A health care-focused Spanish-language ad is running in Nevada, Colorado and Florida.
"The Supreme Court has spoken," Obama told a cheering crowd at a recent fundraiser in New Orleans. "We are going to implement this law."
During an event near Seattle, Obama said passing the law was "the right thing to do" and he highlighted specific parts of the overhaul that his campaign believes resonate well with voters.
"Young people will be able to stay on their parents' plans till they're 26 years old," Obama said. "Women won't be getting charged more than men, and you'll be getting free preventive care. Seniors will see the cost of their prescription drugs go down. If you don't have health insurance we're going to help you get it."
His campaign has been aggressive in selling the health overhaul to women.
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(HealthDay News) -- Patients with worsening chronic heart failure may find "hospital-at-home" care is a good alternative to treatment in a traditional hospital, Italian researchers report.
An estimated 5 million North Americans suffer from chronic heart failure, a condition in which the heart struggles to pump blood to the body. In the United States, worsening chronic heart failure is the cause of more than 1 million hospital admissions a year, and patients have a 50 percent risk of readmission within six months of discharge, according to the authors of a study published in the Sept. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
But the hospital is often dangerous in itself, the study authors noted.
In the study, Dr. Vittoria Tibaldi and colleagues at the University of Torino, San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Torino, Italy, enrolled patients aged 75 years or older with worsening chronic heart failure. Some were treated at a general medical ward, while others received hospital-at-home care supervised by a doctor. Read more…
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Came across this as a CAP Today commercial message from Cleveland Clinic entitled "Diagnose Patients Faster with Cleveland Clinic Labs"
| eIHC solutions similar to Clarient it appears with Ventana images and Aperio scanning platform | |
 | |
Incorporating technological advances in digital imaging (eSlides) enhances research, education, and patient care across the street and around the world. Cleveland Clinic Laboratories now offers web-based eSlides of IHC-stained slides to help optimize clinical workflow for IHC. In collaboration with Aperio, a provider and global leader of ePathology Solutions, a secure internet site provides access for clients to read immunohistochemically stained eSlides on a computer monitor anytime, anywhere. When a case is opened, all case, specimen and slide information, as well as controls are conveniently at your fingertips. The service provides access to eSlide conferencing and secure messaging allowing the pathology community to engage in dialog and exchange information. The opportunity to view stained eSlides within 24 hours after the blocks arrive at Cleveland Clinic may help clients follow a staining algorithm rather than requesting batches of stains, some of which may ultimately be unnecessary. For more information, please contact: Cleveland Clinic Laboratories Client Services | |
TO: All University Departments, Colleges and Student Affairs Organizations FROM: New Student Services DATE: August 2, 2012 RE: UA Clicks: Mandatory New Student Event As we all prepare to welcome our newest Wildcats to campus New Student Services would like to take a few minutes to outline the details to our newest event for the incoming class of 2016- UA Clicks. On Friday, August 17th all freshman Wildcats are required to attend UA Clicks. The program provides a mandatory introduction to classroom technologies, academic expectations and information from the Dean of Students Office. A faculty member and current student will facilitate each session. Each student will attend a UA Clicks session based on his or her college. The chart below lists the check-in times and locations. Sessions will run for an hour and fifteen minutes. Attendance will be taken at each event. Students who fail to attend the event will be notified via their UA email account about a make up session that will be taking place on August 25th. College of Letters, Arts and Sciences – No Major Selected, General Studies and Global Studies Check in time at Centennial Hall:7:30 – 8:15am Eller College of Management Check in time at Centennial Hall:9:30 – 10:15am College of Science Check in time at Centennial Hall:11:30am – 12:15pm Colleges of Architecture, Humanities, Education, Fine Arts & Social and Behavioral Sciences Check in time at Centennial Hall:1:30 – 2:15pm Colleges of Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy (pre-pharmacy) Check in time at Social Sciences 100: 8:00 – 8:45am College of Engineering Check in time at Social Sciences 100: 10:00 – 10:45am Department of Physiology (College of Medicine) Check in time at Social Sciences 100: 12:00 – 12:45pm College of Agriculture and Life Science Check in time at Social Sciences 100: 2:00 – 2:45pm Please encourage all students to attend this event. If you have any questions concerning the event please let us know. Wildcat Welcome: Web: welcome.arizona.edu Stefanie Basij Senior Coordinator, Orientation and Welcome University of Arizona Office - 520.621.1270 sbasij@email.arizona.edu
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A new analysis has found that doing away with PSA (prostate specific antigen) testing for prostate cancer would likely cause three times as many men to develop advanced disease that has spread to other parts of the body before being diagnosed. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study suggests that PSAtesting and early detection may prevent approximately 17,000 men each year from having such advanced prostate cancer at diagnosis.
PSA testing has come under fire recently as a potentially ineffective screen for prostate cancer. Last year a government panel reviewed the available evidence and concluded that PSAtesting has little or no benefit and that doctors are finding and treating non-aggressive cancers that are not likely to cause symptoms or be lethal. Therefore, many men may be experiencing serious treatment side effects such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction for no reason.
To see what might happen if PSA testing were abandoned, Edward Messing, MD, of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and his team looked at information from the years immediately before routine PSA testing was done (1983-1985) and compared it to the current era of widespread PSA testing (2006 to 2008). The information for the analysis came from the nation’s largest cancer registry, the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The researchers were particularly interested in the records of patients who had advanced prostate cancer that had already spread to other parts of the body at the time of diagnosis. These cases are generally incurable and always cause significant symptoms very quickly if left untreated.
The investigators found that approximately 8,000 cases of prostate cancer had already spread to distant sites (i.e. – metastases) at the time of diagnosis in the United States in 2008 (the most recent SEER year). Next, they designed a mathematical model that used pre-PSA incidence rates of metastatic disease from the mid-1980s to estimate the number of such advanced cases that would be expected to occur in 2008 if PSA screening had not been done. They predicted the number would be approximately 25,000, which is about three times greater than the number actually observed.
“Our findings are very important in light of the recent controversy over PSA testing,” said Dr. Messing. “Although there are trade-offs associated with the PSA test and many factors influence the disease outcome, our data clearly indicate that not doing the PSA test will result in many more men presenting with far advanced prostate cancer. Almost all men with clinically apparent metastases at initial diagnosis will die from prostate cancer,” he added.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the male population. In 2012 an estimated 241,740 new cases will be diagnosed and 28,000 deaths will occur. Prognosis depends on whether the cancer has spread, and the degree to which the cancer cells are abnormal.
Article: “Prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer and the risk of overt metastatic disease at presentation: analysis of trends over time.” Emil Scosyrev, Guan Wu, Supriya Mohile, and Edward Messing. CANCER; Published Online: July 30, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.27503).
Author Contact: Leslie Orr of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s public relations office at Leslie_Orr@urmc.rochester.edu or +1 (585) 275-5774.
CANCER is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Cancer Society integrating scientific information from worldwide sources for all oncologic specialties. The objective of CANCER is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information among oncologic disciplines concerned with the etiology and course of human cancer. CANCER is published by Wiley and can be accessed online at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cancer.
Roper Industries Buys Sunquest for $1.4B, Reports 8% Leap in 2Q Profit
After reporting stronger year-over-year quarterly earnings, Roper Industries (ROP: 99.45, -0.19, -0.19%) said it is buying privately-held diagnostic and laboratory software maker Sunquest Information Systems for $1.4 billion in cash.
The Sarasota, Fla.-based medical and scientific imaging software developer said the acquisition of Tucson, Okla.-based Sunquest, a leader in labs software, will help its medical software platforms benefit from an aging population and expansion of anatomic pathology.
"We continue to transform the enterprise with the addition of Sunquest," Roper CEO Brian Jellison said in a statement. “We expect Sunquest to benefit in all economic environments from very favorable market forces.”
Sunquest and its products will continue to operate under current brand names. The deal, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close within 30 days.
Roper, meanwhile, reported on Monday net earnings of $115 million, or $1.15 a share, up 8% from a year ago. Revenue climbed 4% to $725 million, led by an 8% increase in orders to $763 million.
Analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll were looking for earnings of $1.15 a share on higher sales of $747 million.
"We achieved record second quarter revenue and earnings, as our businesses continued to execute well in the current uncertain economic environment,” Jellison said.
Shares of Roper ticked 7% higher Monday to a new all-time high
(Reuters) Jul 23 - A former lab technician faces charges in connection with a hepatitis C outbreak that reportedly infected dozens of patients at a New Hampshire hospital, authorities said.
David Michael Kwiatkowski, 32, is charged with obtaining controlled substances by fraud and tampering with a consumer product, U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas said this week.
The outbreak at the Exeter Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Unit is believed to have infected some 30 people with the disease, considered the most serious of hepatitis strains, authorities said. Hepatitis C can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis, and kills more people each year than HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The evidence gathered to date points irrefutably to Kwiatkowski as the source of the hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital," Kacavas said. "With his arrest, we have eliminated the menace this 'serial infector' posed to public health and safety."
Kwiatkowski, who worked in the lab until the investigation launched in May, has hepatitis C and is accused of stealing syringes of the pain medication Fentanyl intended for patients. Authorities say he would then inject himself with the drug, then replace it in the tainted syringe with saline solution, which would then be injected into the patient, Kacavas said.
The investigation included testing some 1,100 patients from as far back as October 2010 before Kwiatkowski was identified as a suspect.
"It is deeply disturbing that the alleged callous acts of one individual can have such an impact on so many innocent lives. As a result of his alleged actions, people in our community, who in many cases are the friends and neighbors of the 2,300 people who work here, now face the challenge of a potentially chronic disease," said Kevin Callahan, President and CEO of Exeter Hospital.
Kwiatkowski worked at the hospital in Exeter, New Hampshire, since April 2011 and had been diagnosed with hepatitis C for a year before that, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Hampshire.
Originally from Michigan, Kwiatkowski worked as a traveling contract medical technician in six other states, which has prompted CDC officials and the U.S. Attorney's office to check into potential public health threats in those states.
Kwiatkowski was arrested on Thursday at a hospital in Massachusetts, where he was being treated for an undisclosed illness. He was expected to be taken into federal custody in New Hampshire upon his discharge from the hospital, authorities said.
The tampering charge carries a 20-year prison sentence, and the controlled substance charge carries up to four years.
Hepatitis C afflicts more than 4 million Americans. Up to 85% will develop chronic infection. Of those, 75% will get chronic liver disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.
I received some feedback, e-mails, questions, comment and death threats about my recent posting entitled "94% of Pathologists Agree Digital Pathology Will Become Common Practice"
One in particular I have extracted from a LinkedIn message board in response to my feed to the group. If you are a member of this particular group you may have seen this. If not, to protect the innocent, I will leave the respondents name anonymous. His comments are in plain text with my opinion in italics and/or bold.
"This is a very interesting, yet misleading headline.
This is not one-size-fits all.
I think that when one reads this headline, it is our impression that digital pathology will replace the standard microscope and H&E slides. Not a chance, in my opinion, in the next few years. I have replied on this topic many times before. This is NOT, however, stating that digital pathology will not be adopted."
-- Of course the title is misleading. And interesting. Not as misleading as "Dewey Defeats Truman", "Mission Accomplished" or "New Coke Better Than Old Coke" but I appreciate you calling my little blog post title a "Headline" nonetheless. Trying to promote content here so I used this title as opposed to "6% of those surveyed say chances of digital pathology adoption equal to Cubs chances of winning the World Series (NEVER)". After Steve Bartman I may lose some friends on da North Side. Anyways, you read the piece and commented so the headline had some attraction which is what a blogger needs - catch those 2 or 3 minutes out of your day to read what I write among all the other things you want and have to do including reading legitimate news sources.
If the headline read "Digital Pathology to Replace Microscope in 10 years" that might be misleading and completely inaccurate, in my opinion. I actually think it will become part of common practice but not replace common practice. Perhaps 20 or 40% of work will integrate or involve digital pathology but not selling my stock in wax, glass or microscope companies just yet so I think we can agree on this.
"One has to look at the APPLICATION of digital pathology. Let's look first at routine pathology. Digital is a LONG way off. Why?....here are some thoughts.
1. It can't compete with routine H&E for in expense. Digitizing slides just adds expense.
2. Digital can't replace the routine H&E. The slide still has to be produced. (unlike radiology which eliminated the need for film)
3. The "look and feel" of a slide still has not been replicated by digital.
4. It's still more reliable to store a physical glass slide for 10 years than a digital file.
5. I still can look at an H&E slide with a microscope that uses a mirror for illumination, and it won't take any power to run a computer (the ULTIMATE green solution)."
-- I agree with many points made here. Scanning adds costs. A nickel H&E may result in a 90 cent image that has to be acquired, labelled, archived, stored, backed up and eventually perhaps disposed of. Have made this argument before - unlike radiology which starts with digital CT and MR images that initially were printed on pieces of plastic for viewing on light boxes and "hot lamps" analagous to those used by Roentgen himself, pathology, tissue, histology is well founded in physical analogs as mentioned above in terms of wax, glass and stain after the tissue have been collected, heated, cooled, baked, fried and stained. The cost issue I think does go out the window a bit if we speak to the points you make below about looking at something 1000 miles away. This helps costs:benefit ratio business case argument. More below on this.
-- "Look and feel" best used by interior decorators, not physicians. As far as imaging is concerned, Kodak use to make film, lots of film and now they don't and they are still bankrupt. I still try to shoot some hobby photos with film. Takes weeks to get it ordered and longer to get it developed. Have to send to Atlanta. Nearest place from Charlotte to send film to be developed. Doesn't anyone use 110 or 35 mm anymore? Anyways, look and feel overrated and this will be improved. I like the grainy nature too of good old black and white film and a long f/stop but I can do some much more with digital.
-- And this is the analogy (no pun intended), like radiology, we are going to see so many more deliverables with digital, just as radiology has with 3D imaging and the like that we can do with 2-dimensional pink and blue stained images (or bichrome IHCs).
-- "Slide storage" and "reliable" are not usually words I put in the same sentence. Take the case from last week the patient wants sent to a medical school pathology department and the slides "are not in file". Or the slides are in the file room, but misfiled. Or the slides are not filed. Granted, most of the time it works. Digital would be no less reliable, perhaps more secure and perhaps most importantly, not only stored, but sharable, to your points below. Rent and expense of slide file room versus 100 TB of server space in terms of costs over 3 or 5 years? With wind and solar energy running the factories and powering our homes and businesses, costs of either would be very low.
"Now....for specialty uses....Digital beats glass...
1. Send an image a 1000 miles away for a consultation.
2. Send an image of an IHC or FISH for analysis from a 1000 miles away.
3. any permutation of the above."
-- Could not agree more. One of the two most tangible ROIs for digital pathology, today, remain, tele-pathology, tele-consultation, tele-IHC, virtual consultation, virtual IHC, tele-peer review, tele-whatever, remote screen share, image host, same slide, same time. No substitute for this in medicine and pathology. And with Pathology 2.0 - the power of the cloud to harness collective intelligence. The other tangible use case/application for digital pathology is image analysis. FDA cleared algorithms and CPT codes for reimbursement.
"There are also some other applications that simply cannot be done on an old H&E slide that is easy with digital (if there are any companies out there interested...let me know). At this point, they will remain un-published."
-- When the times comes I welcome you to publish your thoughts here.
"Let me know where you think I am going wrong. I would like to hear your thoughts..."
-- Thanks for the thoughtful comments and dialogue.
 |
| The Malloch Rare Book Room at the New York Academy of Medicine. |
Another job alert just in from the wonderful New York Academy of Medicine! Full details follow:
Title: Administrative Assistant
Division: LibraryThe Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health at the New York Academy of Medicine is looking for an energetic, motivated and highly organized Administrative Assistant. The Assistant will report to the Center Director, be responsible for the day to day administration of the Center and provide support to the Director and other staff members in the delivery of programs and activities.
The Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health is NYAM’s newest Center, and this position offers an outstanding opportunity for an administrator looking to develop the range and depth of his or her skills and expertise. The role will suit an individual who is keen to take on new challenges. The Administrative Assistant will be offered the opportunity to develop specialized skills as needed by the Center. Candidates with an interest in developing public programming and using social media to build audiences are particularly welcome.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Manage the day to day administration of the Center
- Provide administrative support for the Director, and other department members when appropriate, including coordinating schedules and managing calendars
- Assist in research, preparation and follow-up of funding proposals
- Organize meetings for internal and external participants
- Maintain office budgets and invoicing requests
- Help plan events and programming
- Coordinate arrangements for speakers and workshop and seminar participants
- Organize and maintain filing systems and other records
- Help manage the online presence of the Center
Qualifications
Required
- 3-5 years of related administrative experience
- Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills
- Attention to detail, accuracy and consistency in executing tasks
- Problem solving skills and ability to work independently
- Ability to manage many projects in fast-paced environment and meet deadlines
- Ability to quickly learn and apply new skills
- Excellent computer and web skills including Microsoft Office Suite
- Good grammatical, writing, proofreading, and editing ability
- Ability to interact with internal and external individuals at all levels in a professional manner
Desirable
- Familiarity with database software
- Experience using social media
- An interest in history, medicine, health, or policy issues.
Experience
Bachelor’s degree preferred or equivalent.
To Apply
Please email a resume and cover letter to hr@nyam.org.
Please include "Administrative Assistant” in subject line.
For more information, visit our website: http://www.nyam.org.
The New York Academy of Medicine is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.The New York Academy of Medicine advances the health of people in cities. An independent organization since 1847, NYAM addresses the health challenges facing the world's urban populations through interdisciplinary approaches to policy leadership, education, community engagement and innovative research.
Drawing on the expertise of diverse partners worldwide and more than 2,000 elected Fellows from across the professions, our current priorities are
To create environments in cities that support healthy aging
To strengthen systems that prevent disease and promote the public's health
To implement interventions that eliminate health disparities
Summary and DescriptionMission of the Institution
The New York Academy of Medicine advances the health of people in cities. An independent organization since 1847, NYAM addresses the health challenges facing the world's urban populations through interdisciplinary approaches to policy leadership, evaluation, education, community engagement and innovative research.
Drawing on the expertise of diverse partners worldwide and more than 2,000 elected Fellows from across the professions, our current priorities are
• To create environments in cities that support healthy aging
• To strengthen systems that prevent disease and promote the public's health
• To implement interventions that eliminate health disparitiesThe Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health
The New York Academy of Medicine Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health promotes the scholarly and public understanding of the history of medicine and public health and the history of the book. The Center is made up of the Library, Rare Book and Historical Collection and Gladys Brooks Conservation Laboratory. The Center aims to develop connections between an interdisciplinary community of scholars, educators, clinicians, curatorial and conservation professionals, and public audiences.
The NYAM Library opened its collections to the general public in 1878, and remains the only independent research library in NYC offering access to medical and health information for members of the public. The Research Library has a collection that includes over 500,000 volumes, 275,000 portraits and illustrations and around 400,000 pamphlets. The collection comprises primary and secondary materials in the history of medicine, public health, science and other health-related disciplines. The collection is supported by an extensive reference collection of medical bibliography, biography, biographical dictionaries, dictionaries and library catalogues, as well as books on the history of books and printing.
The Center’s Rare Book and Historical Collections include a rare book collection of approximately 35,000 volumes. Books from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries are a particular strength, as are materials related to the history of medicine in the City of New York.
The Gladys Brooks Book and Paper Conservation Laboratory was established in 1982 for the express purpose of caring for the NYAM collections. In addition to its preservation mandate, the Lab also plays an important role in the training of future generations of conservators through its internship and volunteer programs and offers professional educational opportunities through a robust calendar of workshops and lectures.
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Scott Braun is the Hurricane Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission principal investigator and a research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Scott studies hurricanes from the inside out. HS3 is a five-year mission specifically targeted to investigate hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean basin.
In his role as Principal Investigator, Scott leads a diverse team of hurricane and instrument scientists to design and conduct experiments using NASA's two Global Hawk unmanned aircraft to understand better the meteorological conditions that favor storm formation and often lead to the development of major hurricanes.
The campaign is set to take to the sky this September from Wallops Island, Va. Scott recently answered some questions about the HS3 mission:
Q: What is the biggest difference between past NASA hurricane field campaigns and HS3? Will the two Global Hawks have different instruments onboard?
A: The key differences from previous NASA hurricane field campaigns is that HS3 is a multi-year (2012-2014) rather than single year effort.It will utilize two of the unmanned Global Hawk aircraft flying from the U. S. east coast rather than one Global Hawk flying from the west coast as was the case during the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) campaign in 2010. (For information about GRIP, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/GRIP).
Three of the instruments flying on the HS3 mission had flown in GRIP, but on two separate aircraft. Now they will fly together on one Global Hawk (called the over-storm aircraft) to observe the inner-core region of hurricanes. The second Global Hawk (called the environmental aircraft) will be equipped with instruments that were not part of previous campaigns and will sample the large-scale environment of storms to see if conditions are favorable for storm formation and intensification.
Q: How will the mission work? Every time a hurricane is approaching, will the Global Hawk fly to meet it? How far and how long the planes will fly?
A: We will not be flying every storm, but will select storms that are likely to yield the best science. We are in the field for only five weeks and have science flight hours for only about 10-11 flights. Depending on how we use the flight hours, we could do five flights each for two storms or two flights each for five storms, or something like that.
A lot will depend on the storms that occur and whether we think they are events from which we have a lot to learn. In previous campaigns with manned aircraft based in a specific location, we had to wait for storms to come close to the U.S.
Because the Global Hawks can fly for up to about 26-28 hours and have a range of more than 12,000 miles, we can reach anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean basin, so we can either choose to spend a smaller amount of time over a storm in the Central Atlantic or spend a great deal more time over storms in the Western Atlantic, Caribbean, or Gulf of Mexico.
Continue reading here:
Interview With Scott Braun About NASA's Upcoming Hurricane Campaign
After an 8 1/2-month voyage through space, NASA's souped-up Mars spacecraft zoomed toward the red planet for what the agency hopes will be an epic touchdown.
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After an 8 1/2-month voyage through space, NASA's souped-up Mars spacecraft zoomed toward the red planet for what the agency hopes will be an epic touchdown.
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PASADENA, Calif. — NASA's huge Mars rover Curiosity is closing in on the Red Planet, and the Martian weather should be all clear for the robot's nerve-wracking landing Sunday night (Aug. 5), scientists say.
Excerpt from:
Weather on Mars Looks Great for Huge Rover Landing Sunday: NASA
PASADENA, Calif. — Two NASA Mars orbiters will be ready and waiting to send home news of the Curiosity rover's landing attempt Sunday night (Aug. 5) — and one may even snap a photo of the daredevil maneuver.Â
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NASA Spacecraft Have Front-Row Seats to Daring Mars Rover Landing
Home News Politics Loading
Published: 8/4/2012 - Updated: 9 hours ago
BY CASEY SUMNER BLADE STAFF WRITER
Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate James Gray teamed up with gay-marriage advocates today to endorse a ballot initiative that would define marriage in Ohios Constitution as a union of two consenting adults.
About 15 supporters of "marriage equality" and the Libertarian Party attended a news conference outside the Lucas County courthouse, where Mr. Gray praised the proposed amendment, which supporters plan to put on the 2013 general election ballot -- provided they can gather the necessary signatures.
Its a question of liberty and commitment, said Mr. Gray.
The vice presidential candidate also took the opportunity to criticize President Obama's handling of the issue.
President Obama came out in support of gay marriage, but then he calls it a state issue. What does that mean? It means he doesnt have to do anything about it, he said. Its shallow.
Ian James, the co-founder of FreedomOhio, the organization proposing the amendment, also spoke to thank the Libertarian Party for their support. Weve found a wonderful working relationship with the Libertarian Party, he said. Its a match made in heaven.
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Home News Politics James Gray, Libertarian candidate for vice president, endorses a ballot initiative to define marriage in Ohio as 'a union of two consenting adults.' He spoke at a rally Saturday. THE BLADE/ZACK CONKLE Enlarge Loading
Published: 8/5/2012 - Updated: 5 minutes ago
BY CASEY SUMNER BLADE STAFF WRITER
Libertarian party vice presidential candidate James Gray teamed up with same-sex marriage advocates Saturday to endorse a ballot initiative that would define marriage in Ohio's Constitution as "a union of two consenting adults."
About 15 supporters of gay marriage and the Libertarian party attended a news conference outside the Lucas County Courthouse, where Mr. Gray praised the "Freedom to Marry" amendment on behalf of himself and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico.
"Unlike Mitt Romney or President Obama, Governor Johnson and I believe the right to marry who we choose is a constitutionally protected right," Mr. Gray said. "Governor Johnson and I are proud to lend our support, and urge the good people of Ohio to put their state on the side of equality and against government being in the business of deciding who can marry whom."
Mr. Gray also criticized President Obama's treatment of the issue.
"President Obama came out in support of gay marriage, but then he calls it a state issue. What does that mean? It means he doesn't have to do anything about it," he said. "It's shallow."
Ian James, co-founder of Free- domOhio, the organization proposing the amendment, also spoke to supporters at the event.
"Ohioans know marriage helps committed couples take care of each other and their families," he said. "Marriage matters because it's a public declaration of two adults' love and commitment for one another."
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Though Houston boasts an esteemed medical center, the city is also home to a large low-income population with limited access to health care.
Brent Benoit, the new president of the Houston Bar Association, hopes to tackle the issue with the creation of a legal clinic for those whose legal problems complicate their getting health care.
Benoit recently talked to the Chronicle about the planned clinic, which will be run through the association's Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program and offer assistance with everything from settling insurance disputes to securing proper legal documentation.
Edited excerpts follow.
Q: What prompted the creation of this clinic?
A: I think it was just an appreciation that we have individuals that are falling between two communities, medical and legal. We have individuals who aren't able to get care occasionally because they have these issues. For example, they have Medicare, Medicaid or insurance issues. I have had conversations with in-house lawyers in the medical center hospitals who have expressed that this problem occurs at various hospitals. They have individuals who come with legal issues that are complicating their access to health care. Of course, hospitals are not situated to provide that kind of legal assistance. The clinic will be designed to try to help individuals who are impoverished, who are having some legal obstacle to accessing the health care system.
Q: What types of cases do you envision taking?
A: Those obstacles could be anything from insurance reimbursement or eligibility issues, anything from Medicare and Medicaid eligibility issues or other issues with those programs. It could be legal documentation problems. For example, somebody goes to the hospital and they have a procedure done, and there is some dispute about whether the procedure is covered or whether there is coverage for a specific aspect of their care, or they need to have it covered in order to be able to do it because they don't have means to pay for the procedure absent that. Another thing is, for example, someone has a very serious health issue that requires a serious procedure and, in order to feel comfortable doing it, needs to have someone able to make decisions for them should they become incapacitated. They really need a physician's directive. That normally requires the assistance of an attorney, and they may not have access or ability to pay an attorney to draft such a document. Or we may have someone who is terminally ill that does not have estate-planning documents. We would use this clinic to help them deal with that aspect of their illness by providing estate planning documents.
Q: When will the clinic open?
A: We are in the process of trying to figure that out. One of our challenges is we need to find the right space where we can have the clinic. Right now the Medical Center space is at a premium, so we are trying to work that out right now. We hope to finalize that in the near future. We wanted to be near or in the medical center or near a place where people access health care because we would like for them to be able to not have to go to wildly different places to get the assistance they need.
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More soldiers seek treatment for behavioral health issues Posted On: Saturday, Aug. 4 2012 11:02 PM By Rose L. Thayer Killeen Daily Herald
Demand for outpatient behavioral health care has more than doubled at Fort Hood in the past five years, according to information from Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.
Data comparing fiscal year 2007 to 2011 show that across the board, demand has risen and Darnall is looking into a variety of programs and expansions to meet the need, said Lt. Col. Sharette Gray, chief of behavioral health for the hospital.
"We're continuing to expand," she said. "We are definitely expanding more because of the need and because of soldiers being back."
Between the many different programs, the department of behavioral health, which includes social work, is averaging 3,000 patient encounters a week, she said, with the department of social work seeing the biggest rise. In-patient beds show the slowest increase numbers, rising 46 percent.
This increase is reflective of the entire military. The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center reported the number of visits for outpatient mental health treatment almost doubled, from just under 1 million in 2007 to about
1.89 million in 2011.
Gray said most of the soldiers at Fort Hood seeking help have been deployed between three to five times and have a wide range of behavioral issues for which they are seeking help.
Easier access
To meet the growing demand, Darnall is hiring providers, as well as integrating new care models across post, such as the Embedded Behavioral Health Model, which attaches providers to units at the brigade level.
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