Nicholas van Hoorn

Nicholas van Hoorn (c. 1635 in Vlissingen – buried 24 June 1683, in Isla Mujeres) was a merchant sailor, privateer and pirate. He was born in the Netherlands and died near Veracruz after being wounded on the Isla de Sacrificios. "Nikolaas" or "Klaas" was engaged in the Dutch merchant service from about 1655 until 1659, and then bought a vessel with his savings. With a band of reckless men whom he had enlisted, he became a terror to the commerce of the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire. Later he had several ships in his employment and obtained such notoriety that some governments were willing to employ him against their enemies.
As a privateer.
In 1666 a French minister sent Van Hoorn a commission, empowering him to pursue and capture Spanish vessels. As he was uniformly successful, he amassed enormous sums. After the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, it was expected that he would cease ravaging the American coast - but the French government, while openly disowning their champion, secretly connived at his misdeeds. He made the mistake of pillaging a French ship, but after an unsuccessful attempt to take him was made in 1663, he no longer attacked the French flag.
Learning that several Spanish galleons were waiting in the harbour of Puerto Rico for a convoy, he entered the harbour and offered his services to the governor. He put forward his recent quarrel with the French, and declared that his only chance of safety was in the protection of Charles II of Spain. The governor allowed the galleons to leave port under the protection of Van Hoorn, but, as soon as they were outside the Antilles, they were attacked by the flotilla of the buccaneer, who gained over 2,000,000 livres by the adventure.
As a pirate.
At end of 1682, the "Saint Nicholas", commanded by Nicolas Van Hoorn, arrived in the Caribbean Sea. This vessel, armed (in part) by the commander of Dover Castle, had left England the previous year, intending to trade with the Spaniards in Cadiz then in America. Nicolas Porcio, who was one of the holders of "Asiento de Negros" - a royal licence granting monopoly over the draft of the slaves for the Spanish colonies - had apparently promised to obtain for Van Hoorn the permission to sell him Africans in Spanish America. Said promise could not be fulfilled and Van Hoorn sought alternate employ.
Van Hoorn was then transformed into a true pirate. He plundered the coast of Western Africa expecting to be supplied with slaves, as the depositions of four of his men reveal. These depositions, taken in front of Reginald Wilson, the naval officer of Port Royal, were transmitted by the governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch, to the secretary of the committee for the Trade and the Plantations, William Blathwayt, with his letter of 4 March 1683.
Indeed, before the arrival of Van Hoorn in America, the English colonial authorities had been informed of his piracies in Africa, and - more seriously - the fact that the "Saint Nicholas" had openly broken with its British ship-owners to act on Van Hoorn's own account. Thus, cruising against the forbans of the Antilles on order of the Governor Lynch, Jamaican captain George Johnson fell on Van Hoorn, in December 1682, but could not demand any account nor explanation. The president of the Royal Audience of Santo Domingo indeed prohibited Johnson from any contact with Van Hoorn. The reason was simple: the president retained the "Saint Nicholas", for a flight made from Cadiz by his captain, for whom what remained in African slaves was confiscated. All this made Van Hoorn determined to gain the French part of the Hispaniola Island, to take a commission from its governor Pouançey and to assemble the famous forwarding of Vera Cruz.
Van Hoorn was engaged with Laurens de Graaf and Michel de Grammont in the capture of Veracruz in 1683. After the sacking of Veracruz, the two retreated to Isla de Sacrificios with prisoners where they planned to wait for ransom payments. Impatient that payments did not arrive immediately, Van Hoorn ordered the execution of a dozen prisoners and had their heads sent to Veracruz as a warning. De Graaf was furious; the two argued and then fought a duel. Van Hoorn received a minor wound and was returned to his ship in shackles. The wound soon turned gangrenous and Van Hoorn died shortly thereafter.


Tree-in-bud sign

In radiology, the tree-in-bud sign is a finding on a CT scan that indicates some degree of airway obstruction.The tree-in-bud sign is a nonspecific imaging finding that implies impaction within bronchioles, the smallest airway passages in the lung. The differential for this finding includes malignant and inflammatory etiologies, either infectious or sterile. This includes fungal infections, mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis or mycobacterium avium intracellulare, bronchopneumonia, chronic aspiration pneumonia, cystic fibrosis or cellular impaction from bronchovascular spread of malignancy, as can occur with breast cancer, leukemia or lymphoma. It also includes lung manifestations of autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis.
Histopathologic studies have shown that the tree-in-bud pattern is caused by demarcation of the normally invisible branching course of the peripheral airways, which usually results from bronchioles being plugged or blocked with mucus, pus or fluid. In addition, dilated and thickened walls of the peripheral airways and peribronchitis can make the affected bronchioles more easily visible, as is seen in patients with cystic fibrosis.


Richard Bright (physician)

Richard Bright (28 September 1789 – 16 December 1858) was an English physician and early pioneer in the research of kidney disease. He is particularly known for his description of Bright's disease.
Biography.
He was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, the third son of Sarah and Richard Bright Sr., a wealthy merchant and banker. Bright Sr. shared his interest in science with his son,
encouraging him to consider it as a career. In 1808, Bright Jr. joined the University of Edinburgh to study philosophy, economics and mathematics, but switched to medicine the following year. In 1810, he accompanied Sir George Mackenzie on a summer expedition to Iceland where he conducted naturalist studies. Bright then continued his medical studies at Guy's Hospital in London and in September 1813 returned to Edinburgh to be granted his medical doctorate. His thesis was "De erysipelate contagioso" ("On contagious erysipelas").
During the 1820s and 1830s Bright again worked at Guy's Hospital, teaching, practising and researching medicine. There he worked alongside two other celebrated medical pioneers, Thomas Addison and Thomas Hodgkin. His research into the causes and symptoms of kidney disease led to his identifying what became known as Bright's disease. For this, he is considered the "father of nephrology". He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821.
Bright had a special affection for Hungary and in 1815 he lived in Festetics Castle in Keszthely, where there is a large plaque: “To the memory of the English physician scientist and traveller who was one of the pioneers in the accurate description of Lake Balaton.”
He delivered the Lumleian Lectures in 1837 on "Disorders of the Brain" and the Gulstonian lectures in 1833 on the "Function of the Abdominal Viscera" at the Royal College of Physicians.
Death.
On 11 December 1858, Bright became severely ill due to complications of heart disease and was unable to recover. He died in London aged 69 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. A memorial to him lies within St James's Church, Piccadilly.
Bright had two sons. The younger also became a physician; the elder, James Franck Bright, a historian.
Cultural references.
When asked if he had ever been seriously ill, S.J. Perelman quipped, "Why, yes. I had Bright's disease. And he had mine."
He lived at 11 Saville Row, London, which is now commemorated by a blue plaque. This address was the filming location of the tailor's shop in the "Kingsman" films and the plaque can be seen outside.
Artistic Recognition.
A bust of Bright is held at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.


John Gibbon (psychologist)

John Gibbon (born in Philadelphia on February 12, 1934) was a Psychology professor at Columbia University. He was the son of John Heysham Gibbon. His contributions to scalar timing (1971) and scalar expectancy theory (1977) are considering major theoretical contributions. Together with Russell Church and Warren Meck he published the scalar timing model (1984). He died in Ossining, New York on January 16, 2001.


Federation of State Medical Boards

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) of the United States is a national non-profit organization that represents the 71 state medical and osteopathic boards of the United States and its territories and co-sponsors the United States Medical Licensing Examination. Medical boards license physicians, investigate complaints, discipline those who violate the law, conduct physician evaluations, and facilitate the rehabilitation of physicians where appropriate. The FSMB's mission calls for "continual improvement in the quality, safety and integrity of health care through the development and promotion of high standards for physician licensure and practice."
Based in Euless, Texas and Washington, D.C., the FSMB serves as the national voice for its member boards and is a recognized authority throughout the United States and internationally on issues related to medical licensure and discipline.
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is a three-step (three-part) professional examination for medical licensure that is sponsored by the FSMB and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME).
Current executive members.
The federation is run by a board of directors which is elected by the 71 member state and territorial medical regulatory authorities within the federation.
FSMB executive team as of 2020:
USMLE Examination.
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) must be passed before a physician with a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree can obtain a license to practice medicine in the United States. The USMLE assesses a physician's ability to apply knowledge, concepts, and principles, and to determine fundamental patient-centered skills that are important in health and disease and that constitute the basis of safe and effective patient care. Examination committees composed of medical educators and clinicians from across the United States and its territories prepare the examination materials each year.
Students and graduates of U.S. or Canadian medical school programs accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), leading to the M.D. degree, or by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), leading to the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree, register for Step 1 and Step 2 of USMLE with the NBME. Students and graduates of medical schools outside the United States or Canada register for Step 1 and Step 2 with the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). Graduates of medical schools in and outside the United States and Canada register for Step 3 with the FSMB or with a medical licensing authority in the United States. Each of the three steps of the USMLE examination complements the other; no step stands alone in the assessment of readiness for medical licensure. The USMLE program recommends that for Step 3 eligibility, licensure authorities require the completion, or near completion, of at least one postgraduate training year in a program of graduate medical education accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or the American Osteopathic Association (AOA).
The USMLE was first designed in the late 1980s and introduced during the period 1992 to 1994. The program replaced the NBME Part Examination program and the FSMB's Federation Licensing Examination (FLEX) program, which were the widely accepted medical licensing examination programs at the time in the medical profession. In 2004, a clinical-skills examination was added to Step 2 of the USMLE, and beginning with the medical school graduating class of 2005, students have been required to pass it in order to be licensed. In 2005, a clinical-skills component was also added to the examination program of the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, which physicians with the D.O. degree take to achieve medical licensure in the United States.
In 2009, the FSMB's Board of Trustees adopted a board report on a comprehensive review of the USMLE program. Major recommendations from this strategic review included more explicitly orienting the USMLE examination to support the licensing decisions made by medical boards, transitioning the exam to a competencies schema and emphasizing the importance of scientific foundations of medicine throughout the examination sequence.
Controversies.
USMLE response to COVID.
The USMLE was met with heavy criticism for their lack of adaptability during the COVID pandemic. In light of testing barriers created by COVID-19, students and physicians were upset by the USMLE's refusal to move up the STEP 1 change to pass/fail that they had previously announced in February 2020 would not take until January 2022. The USMLE responded that the "eventual change to Pass/Fail score reporting for Step 1 will impact their stakeholders," implying their stakeholders were not students.
Racial bias of Step 1 scoring.
Research demonstrates some differences in USMLE scores attributable to race and ethnicity, with self-identified Black, Asian, and Hispanic examinees showing score differences when compared with self-identified White examinees. "The mean USMLE step 1 score was significantly greater among white applicants (223) as compared to black and Hispanic applicants (216). Depending on the threshold score, an African American was 3-6x less likely to be offered an interview."
"61% of minority applicants were accepted into an orthopaedic residency versus 73% of White applicants. White and Asian applicants and residents had higher USMLE Step 1. White applicants and matriculated candidates had odds of Alpha Omega Alpha membership compared with Black, Hispanic, and other groups.
One of the recommendations for Step 1 changing to pass or fail was to address racial differences. "Among self-identified racial groups, research shows that white students perform higher on the USMLE than any other group."
The American Academy of Family Physicians and Association of American Medical Colleges supported changing Step 1 to pass or fail to reduce racial bias.
Katsufrakis and Chaudhry comments against Step 1 changes.
In Dec 2018, NBME President Peter Katsufrakis and FSMB President against Humayun Chaudhry spoke against USMLE Step 1 changes in "from Improving Residency Selection Requires Close Study and Better Understanding of Stakeholder Needs":
"If students reduce time and effort devoted to preparing for Step 1, they may indeed devote attention to other activities that will prepare them to be good physicians. This would arguably be an ideal outcome of such a change. However, if students were to devote more time to activities that make them less prepared to provide quality care, such as binge-watching the most recent Netflix series or compulsively updating their Instagram account, this could negatively impact residency performance and ultimately patient safety. We know that assessment drives learning, so another concern resulting from a shift to pass/fail scoring may be a less knowledgeable physician population."
Executive salary.
The USMLE executives received public criticism after their salaries were released after increasing costs for students, showing many executives receiving high six to seven figures. "Former USMLE President Dr. Melnick's compensation increased from $399,160 in 2001 to over $1.2 million in 2016, almost perfectly in parallel with the tripling of USMLE costs." "As of 2016, USMLE President also gets free first-class airfare for himself and his travel partner, as well as a membership to a Philadelphia social club. According to the 2017 Form 990, Schedule J, two lower executives received total compensation over $700,000; another two over $600,000; another three receiving over $500,000; and another six receiving over $400,000...Yet, the total number of test-takers for the USMLE Step 1 has been essentially unchanged for the past 10-15 years."
Pricing.
USMLE was met with criticism when they announced their raising cost for STEP standardized tests.
Kevin MD wrote, "Safeguards are needed to ensure fees for mandatory testing such as the USMLE do not exceed reasonable operating costs, particularly for financially vulnerable medical students."
As of 2020, the USMLE currently charges:
History.
The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution authorizes states to establish laws and regulations protecting the health, safety and general welfare of their citizens. Medicine is a regulated profession in the United States because of the potential harm to the public if an incompetent or impaired physician is licensed to practice.
To protect the public from the unprofessional, improper, unlawful, fraudulent and/or incompetent practice of medicine, each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) has a medical practice act that defines the practice of medicine and delegates the authority to enforce the law to a state medical board. By following up on complaints, medical boards also give the public a way to enforce basic standards of competence and ethical behavior in their physicians, and physicians a way to protect the integrity of their profession. State medical boards also adopt policies and guidelines related to the practice of medicine. However, medical boards sometimes engage in the unethical practice of sham peer review.
The FSMB was founded in 1912 through a merger between the National Confederation of State Medical Examining and Licensing Boards (established in 1891) and the American Confederation of Reciprocating Examining and Licensing Boards (established in 1902). The founding of the FSMB coincides with the national impact of the Flexner Report, which was published in 1910 by the Carnegie Foundation and led to dramatic changes in medical education.
In 1915 the FSMB began publication of the "Monthly Bulletin", the first regular publication since the "Quarterly", which ceased publication after the first volume. The FSMB was unique in that it was the first group to publish the names of disciplined physicians in its "Monthly Bulletin". In 1920 or 1921 the name of the publication was changed to "Federation Bulletin" and publication continued on a monthly basis. The year 1993 saw the development of a new, larger format for the publication, which was called the "Journal of Medical Licensure and Discipline". In 2010, the journal was renamed the "Journal of Medical Regulation".
Since its establishment, the FSMB has initiated and strengthened cooperation among state medical boards and facilitated collaborative efforts between state medical boards and other entities. All 71 medical boards of the United States and its territories, including the 14 state boards of osteopathic medicine, belong to the FSMB. Members of these boards are known as Fellows of the FSMB, so long as they are serving as members of a member medical board and for a period of 36 months thereafter, and many of them have been prominent in the affairs of numerous other major medical organizations in the United States. The FSMB is a parent organization of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). It was a founding member of what was to become the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and remains an associate member of that body.
The FSMB's Chief Executive Officers since the organization's inception have been George H. Matson, (1912), Otto V. Huffman, (1912–1915), Walter L. Bierring, (1915–1961), Stiles D. Ezell, (1961), Harold E. Jervey Jr., (1961–1962, 1977–1984), McKinley H. Crabb, (1962–1977), Bryant L. Galusha, (1984–1989), James R. Winn, (1989–2001), Dale L. Austin, M.A. (2001–2002), James N. Thompson, (2002–2008) and Barbara S. Schneidman, (2009). Humayun Chaudhry began his tenure as President and CEO on October 19, 2009.
Activities.
The FSMB is guided in its actions and activities by its House of Delegates, in which every member board is represented. Its activities include conducting or commissioning research to determine whether an emerging trend in medical practice requires the attention of its member boards; developing and updating policy guidelines to reflect the impact of scientific advances, new technologies and changing cultural attitudes; helping member boards carry out their duties as regulators of the medical profession through educational meetings, programs, and seminars; representing its member boards in a growing number of collaborations as new medical knowledge and new technologies demand work across old boundaries; serving as a national and international spokesperson on issues related to medical regulation and discipline; and conducting outreach to the public around new initiatives and responding to calls from the media, editors and concerned citizens.
The FSMB Foundation (formerly the FSMB Education and Research Foundation) is the philanthropic arm of the FSMB and makes financial grants for education and research projects that support the work of the state medical boards. The Foundation, as a 501(c)(3) organization, can compete for external grant funds and, when appropriate, direct them back to state medical boards in the form of grants that address education and research needs. In April 2006, the FSMB Foundation was awarded a grant to develop online physician education. The "Online Prescriber Education Network" portal now offers 32 available educational courses.
The FSMB Foundation developed "Responsible Opioid Prescribing: A Physician's Guide", a book written by Scott M. Fishman, that translates the FSMB's "Model Policy for the Use of Controlled Substances for the Treatment of Pain" into pragmatic implementation strategies for risk reduction of addiction, abuse and diversion, patient education and monitoring. With assistance from state medical boards, more than 60,000 copies of the book have been distributed to physicians nationwide.
Services.
The FSMB's "Federation Physician Data Center" (FPDC) provides comprehensive information on regulatory actions and other vital information reported against physicians. It offers two services to assist medical boards in their credentialing efforts: the "Board Action Data Bank Search" and the "Disciplinary Alert Service", both of which are considered primary source equivalents by NCQA, URAC and the Joint Commission. The FPDC permits medical boards to view a consolidated national record of disciplinary actions taken against a physician dating back to the early 1960s. Actions by medical boards and governmental agencies include revocation, suspension or denial of license renewal. Through the FPDC's "Disciplinary Alert Service", the FSMB electronically notifies all member boards within 48 hours when any member board reports a disciplinary action against a physician or physician assistant. A similar service advises hospitals and managed care organizations when one of their physicians has been disciplined. The FPDC is routinely consulted by licensing and disciplinary boards; military, governmental and private agencies; and organizations involved in the employment and/or credentialing of physicians. The FPDC also serves state medical boards as a back-up repository, both in hard copy and electronic files, of their disciplinary action data. In case of emergencies or local system failures, member boards can recreate all of their physician discipline files through the FPDC. During the immediate aftermath of the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the staffs of the FSMB and its members boards worked together to expedite medical care for victims while simultaneously protecting the public from dangerous doctors or imposter physicians.
The FSMB's "Federation Credentials Verification Service" (FCVS), created in 1996, provides a permanent repository for the core credentials of physicians and physician assistants. In February 2009, FCVS received its 100,000th physician applicant.
The "Post-Licensure Assessment System" (PLAS) is a joint program of the FSMB and the National Board of Medical Examiners. The PLAS provides comprehensive services to medical licensing authorities for use in assessing the ongoing competence of licensed or previously licensed physicians. Such services benefit state medical boards, hospitals and other organizations interested in ensuring that physicians who are providing patient care are competent to do so.
The FSMB publishes both electronic and print materials to inform member boards, physicians and the public about medical licensing, regulation, discipline and medical trends. The FSMB's quarterly flagship publication, the "Journal of Medical Licensure and Discipline", is not currently indexed by PubMed, as was its predecessor, the "Federal Bulletin." A monthly newsletter, "FSMB Newsline", and a weekly e-mail publication, "BoardNet News", keep member boards and their staff up to date.


Nicholas Grosso

Nicholas Grosso, M.D., is the President of the Centers for Advanced Orthopedics. He has served in the role since 2013 when approximately 130 orthopedic physicians came together to form the Centers for Advanced Orthopedics, which today is the largest private orthopedic group in the United States.
Gross is a Veteran of the United States Army, earning his MD at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and performing his residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  He is a contributor to conversations on migration of orthopedic procedures to outpatient surgery centers as well as alternative payment models.


Elysium Healthcare

Elysium Healthcare is a private provider of mental health services based in Borehamwood, UK. It was launched in December 2016 and combined sites from the portfolio of Partnerships in Care and The Priory Group when they were sold by Acadia Healthcare. It is owned by BC Partners.
It opened the 75 bed Wellesley Hospital at Chelston near Wellington, Somerset in 2017. It cost £20 million to build and will provide medium and low-secure treatment rehabilitation for patients with a broad range of mental health problems. Up to 75 beds at the hospital will be commissioned by NHS England in collaboration with Devon Partnership NHS Trust. The site was previously managed by Partnerships in Care. Elysium Healthcare has taken over ten of their sites.
It bought Badby Park Ltd in April 2017.
It bought up Crossley Manor School in Rainhill from Raphael Healthcare in 2017 and later acquired specialist learning disability and mental health provider Lighthouse Healthcare, based in Derbyshire. Its acquisition of London Care Partnership (Supported Living) Limited in July 2018 brought it to more than 60 homes.
In October 2019 it acquired Chalkdown House in Swindon from the Disabilities Trust. This is a 20-bed, neurobehavioural site for people with a non-progressive acquired brain injury.
In October 2020 Elysium hired JP Morgan to advise on the sale of the business. The price tag is estimated to be circa £900 million.
Performance.
Concerns were raised about the facilities opened in 2017 at Wellesley Hospital in Wellington, Somerset by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) because there was a "high volume" of assaults by patients on staff and other patients.
The Woodhouse Independent Hospital, in Cheadle, which accommodates up to 39 men with learning disabilities, autism, challenging behaviour and patients with sexual offending histories was placed in special measures by the CQC in September 2019. 90% of ward posts were filled by unqualified support workers and there were insufficient qualified nurses. There was excessive reliance on temporary staff.
Rhodes Wood Hospital, another Elysium Healthcare facility, was rated Good by the CQC when it was bought by Elysium Healthcare in 2016, but was judged Inadequate at the 2019 inspection and the CQC started enforcement action in April 2019 as the hospital was failing to provide safe care and treatment to patients.
Several other hospitals acquired by Elysium Healthcare had, by 2019, run into trouble with CQC and the Welsh regulator and have been given warnings, put into special measures or otherwise restricted.


Mark Donowitz

Mark Donowitz is an American physiologist whose research focuses on the gastrointestinal system, gastroenterology, pathophysiology, diarrhea, drugs, and physiology. He currently works at Johns Hopkins University and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.


Vineet M. Arora

Vineet M. Arora is an American medical researcher who is the Herbert T. Abelson Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Scholarship and Discovery at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine. Her research considers clinical medicine and medical education, with a focus on the improvement of the quality of care in teaching hospitals.
Early life and education.
Arora studied biology at Johns Hopkins University and graduated in 1994. She earned her medical degree at Washington University in St. Louis in 1998. She was a medical resident at the University of Chicago, where she specialised in internal medicine. She was chief medical resident when the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education announced duty hours in 2003, and became interested in patient safety. In 2001 she was made a house physician in Oak Park, Illinois.
Research and career.
Arora is an academic physician. She joined the faculty at the University of Chicago School of Medicine in 2005. Her research considers ways to improve the education of medical students and, in turn, improve the quality of the care that physicians deliver to people in hospital. She has studied the sleep that patients get in hospital, and showed that hospitalised patients receive two hours less sleep a night than they would in the outside world. This sleep loss can increase the risk of cardiometabolic challenges, such as high blood pressure. In 2016 Arora launched the Sleep for Inpatients: Empowering Staff to Act (SIESTA) clinical trial, which looks to support frontline staff in improving inpatient sleep. SIESTA is an educational intervention that looks to train healthcare workers in recognising patient's lack of sleep. As well as studying the sleep of patients, Arora has investigated the impact of on-duty napping on the fatigue of mental health workers. As part of the study, Arora studied the patterns of first year medical residents at the Pritzker School of Medicine. The participants wore actiwatches, which recorded movement around hospitals, and were kept on schedules with and without scheduled naps. The medical residents who had scheduled naps reported considerably less fatigue.
Alongside her research on sleep, Arora has worked on improving patient handovers; emphasising the need for effective communication, making it clear who the most ill patient is, the development of standardised strategies and improve written and verbal handoffs. In the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine, Arora pointed out that “In business and restaurants, they have to get the order right or you won't go back... and in medicine we have a culture of errors,”. She has argued that whilst technology can be a great tool to improve a handover, over-reliance can cause significant errors. In verbal handovers, departing physicians have the opportunity to share their clinical judgements, as well as identifying their most in-need patients.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Arora called for governors to implement social distancing measures and stay at home orders, as well as providing healthcare workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) and appropriate healthcare. In May 2020 it emerged that Vitamin D can reduce complications amongst patients with coronavirus disease. She investigated the impact of Vitamin D treatment and testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Academic service.
Arora serves as Assistant Dean and Associate Chief Medical Officer at the University of Chicago. She is on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine. An advocate for equity in healthcare, Arora joined the Time's Up healthcare movement in 2019. She has campaigned for an end to the gender pay gap; where men receive considerably more than women for equal work. In an analysis of 10,000 physician faculty members at twenty four medical schools in the United States, researchers identified that women surgeons earn $44,000 less than their male counterparts. In 2018 Arora was named the University of Chicago Associate Chief Medical Officer for the clinical learning environment. In 2020 she was made the Herb T. Abelson Professor of Medicine.


Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

The Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP) is an academic and professional society in the United States that was established to encourage the development and advancement of clinical child and adolescent psychology through integration of its scientific and professional aspects. The division promotes scientific inquiry, training, professional practice, and public policy in clinical child and adolescent psychology as a means of improving the welfare and mental health of children, youth, and families.
In the service of these goals, the Society promotes the general objectives of the American Psychological Association, and is listed as Division 53.
History.
The society first appeared in the American Psychological Association as a section under the division of clinical psychology (Division 12) in 1962. As research in child development and behavior analysis progressed, the need for specialized training for clinical psychology students became more urgent. Conferences were held in the mid-1980s onward to discuss the material needed to treat children. By the next decade, Division 12 considered the possibility of clinical child psychology becoming its own division; and after a vote of the section members, the APA Council created the Division of Clinical Child Psychology (Division 53) in 1999. John Weisz became the first Division President the following year and the division went through a name change the year after that and maintains that title to the present day.


Turi Josefsen

Turi Josefsen (born 1936 in Hammerfest, Norway) is a Norwegian-American businesswoman. She was Vice-President of United States Surgical Corporation (USSC) (headed by her ex-husband, Leon C Hirsch), and CEO of the European division, Auto Suture Europe. In the early 1990s she was the highest-paid woman in corporate America and at one time reportedly the world's highest paid woman CEO. After USSC was taken over by Tyco International she joined the board of WebSurg S.A., a pioneering online surgical training programme.
Josefsen was born in Hammerfest and has invested considerably in the area, including part-funding a new equestrian centre in 2003. She published a book and commissioned a film about the region. Ms. Turi Josefsen is the Founder at JHK Investments LLC and is a Member of Executive and Transaction and Finance Committees
Josefsen has endowed fellowships and chairs in surgery, including a Chair of Surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
Her assistant, Elizabeth Oberg, had a big impact on her economic power by helping Turi Josefsen make the right decisions.


Red Cross Medal of Merit (Serbia)

The Red Cross Medal of Merit was awarded to men and women, Serbian and foreign nationals, in two Classes. Decorations of the Serbian Red Cross Society had the rank of state decorations.
History and Criteria.
The Red Cross Medal of Merit was instituted in 1912, it was awarded by the Board of the Red Cross Society, with the approval of the Chancellor of Royal Orders, for exceptional merit and services rendered to the Serbian Red Cross in time of war or peace, and for care and assistance to the sick and wounded, philanthropy and personal merit. The Medal of Merit was awarded in two Classes (Silver Medal and Bronze Medal). It was first awarded in 1912 during the First Bakan War, In 1933 the awarding of the Bronze Medal ceased and a senior Class of Gold Medal was introduced to replace it.
Appearance.
The front features the emblem of the Red Cross with the inscription "" (For Services to the Serbian Red Cross) and the Coat of Arms of Serbia.
The reverse of the Medal displayed the Maid of Kosovo motive, offering water to the dying knight Pavle Orlović, based on the painting by the Serbian artist Uroš Predić, the scene is based on the central figure of the respective poem, part of the Kosovo cycle in the Serbian epic poetry.


Chinese Swimming Association

The Chinese Swimming Association () is the national federation which oversees aquatic sports in China. It is a national non-governmental, nonprofit sports organization which oversees competition in swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, and open water swimming.
It is affiliated with:


Roland Tomb

Roland Tomb is a Lebanese-French author, bioethicist and dermatologist born in 1958 in Beirut, Lebanon. He has been holding office as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Beirut's Saint Joseph University since 2011. He is the chairperson of the Department of Bioethics at this same university, and is an active member of UNESCO's committees concerned with bioethics.
Early life.
Tomb attended high school in Lebanon the Jesuit institution Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour, graduating in 1976. He pursued his medical studies in Paris, at the Faculty of Medicine Pierre et Marie Curie (part of Sorbonne University), and then obtain his M.D. in 1989 from Louis Pasteur University (today part of the University of Strasbourg). The subject of his thesis, supervised by Pr Edouard Grosshans, was the rediscovery of formerly described skin diseases.
Medical and academic career.
When practicing medicine in Strasbourg, where he became assistant clinical director, also taught and conducted research, directed the allergology clinic for 8 years, and also obtained a DEA (Degree of Profound studies) in pharmacology and pharmacochemistry. Tomb relocated to Lebanon in 1993. He started directing the dermatology department at the Hotel-Dieu de France Hospital in Beirut, and was named professor.In 2011, Tomb was elected Dean of Saint Joseph University's Faculty of Medicine. He was reelected twice to this position for four-year mandates, in 2015 and in 2019. During his tenure as dean, Tomb signed numerous conventions and agreements with French, Swiss and Belgian universities and research centers, concerning academic collaboration and student exchanges. He notably initiated the construction of a simulation center, in collaboration with "Paris Descartes University's ILUMENS."
Tomb is a member and former president of the Lebanese Society of Dermatologists, a member of the Société Française de Dermatologie, and was formerly the vice-president of the Association des Dermatologistes Francophones. He is also a board member of the Lebanese Order of Physicians.
Medical publications.
Tomb is the author or co-author of more than 130 articles in medical journals internationally. In addition, he has contributed to the following collective medical works:
Work in the field of bioethics.
At Saint Joseph University's Faculty of Medicine, Tomb created a diploma in medical ethics and was named Chair of bioethics. He was also the president of the ethics committee of the Hotel-Dieu de France hospital in Beirut, and the president of the ethics committee of the Lebanese Order of physicians.
In 2009, Tomb obtained a Doctorat d'État (Ph.D.) in Life Sciences with a focus on philosophy and bioethics from Aix-Marseilles. The thesis, supervised by Pr Pierre Le Coz, tackled the bioethical stakes of male circumcision. In 2014, he was named rapporteur at UNESCO's intergovernmental bioethics committee. In 2016, he was named a member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee (IGBC), of which he became one of the vice-chairpeople in 2018.In addition, he was a member of the Lebanese National Consultative Committee of Bioethics from 2010 to 2018.
Other endeavors.
Tomb is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Alexis and Anne-Marie Habib Foundation that provides financial educational support for Lebanese youth.He has held minor roles in two films, "Beyrouth Hotel" (2011) and "In the Battlefields" (2004), both by French-Lebanese filmmaker Danielle Arbid.He has studied ancient Oriental languages at the Institut catholique de Paris and the Faculté de théologie protestante de Strasbourg.He also contributed to several history books, among them:
Honors.
On 19 May 2014, Tomb was made Officer of the Lebanese Order of the Cedar.


Ochsner Health System

Ochsner Health System is a not-for-profit health care provider based in southeast Louisiana. Its flagship hospital is Ochsner Medical Center, located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana a short distance from the New Orleans city limits. Ochsner Health System also has various other clinics and medical centers in Greater New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe and other locations across Louisiana.
Adeptus Health reached an agreement with the Ochsner Health System to build and operate emergency rooms in Louisiana under the Ochsner name in September 2016.
Ochsner was founded by Dr. Alton Ochsner.


Electronic Staff Record

The Electronic Staff Record or ESR is an Oracle-based human resources and payroll database system currently used by 586 units of the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales to manage the payroll for 1.2 million NHS staff members. The Electronic Staff Record application is managed by IBM for the NHS.
Implementation.
Starting in 2006, groups of around 50 units were implemented every two months. Implementation of ESR was completed in March 2008 when the last of twelve groups went live.
The implementation of ESR is one of the largest I.T. implementations in the world and replaced 29 payroll systems and approximately 38 human resources systems used throughout the NHS. The NHS is fifth largest employer in the world as of March 2012.
Supported versions of software to access ESR.
The ESR solution is based on Oracle's e-Business suite R12 which is certified to run with most Windows desktop operating systems currently supported by Microsoft. In general Oracle’s certification of third party client operating systems and browser products are aligned to the respective vendor’s lifetime support cycle.
Access to ESR is tested and supported on an ongoing basis against the following versions of software :-
Accepting that user organisations may wish to run more up to date versions of these software components, they are recommended to run at least one “Base” workstation on the supported levels above. The Base workstation should then be used to replicate any ESR access issues, before an access related support call is logged on the ESR Service Desk. The ESR Support Team will then work with the site to resolve the access issue on the Base workstation.


Gemma Ramsay

Gemma Ramsay (also Willis) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera "Neighbours", played by Beth Buchanan. The actress was not sure about a long-term commitment to the serial and initially signed a six-month contract. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 20 June 1990. Gemma was introduced as Madge Bishop's (Anne Charleston) niece. She moves to Erinsborough to live with her aunt, following her mother's death. She is portrayed as intelligent, care free, independent, and someone who will stand up for her friends.
Writers soon established a relationship between Gemma and Matt Robinson (Ashley Paske). Their relationship was problematic following an accident in which Gemma nearly had her leg amputated and the rift with Gemma's father Tom Ramsay (Gary Files), who disapproved of their romance. Gemma's ex-boyfriend Aidan Devlin (Blake Collins) was soon introduced, which ruined her relationship with Matt. They later paired her with Adam Willis (Ian Williams), who later became her husband. Buchanan reprised the role for a brief guest stint in April and August 2019 to facilitate the introduction of her daughter, Roxy Willis (Zima Anderson).
Casting.
In March 1990, a "Neighbours" publicist confirmed that producers were negotiating with Buchanan to join the show. She was apprehensive about committing to the show long-term and was signed to a six-month contract with the possibility of it being extended.
Development.
Gemma arrives in Erinsborough to live with Madge Bishop (Anne Charleston) following the death of her mother. Gemma had already spent time living with other relatives around Brisbane before making the move to Erinsborough to concentrate on her studies. Madge has a spare room and does not mind taking her in but Gemma feels like she is getting in the way. After one month on-screen the actress believed her character lacked direction. Buchanan told Caron James from "TV Week" that "the role of Gemma is pretty much up in the air at the moment, I don't think the writers have decided where they want to go with her yet. In a way, that's good because it gives me a chance to develop the role."
Gemma is characterised as "care free and independent" but is more interested in having a good time rather than studying. But she is intelligent and capable of achieving more than she does. She enjoys playing netball and listening to classical and acid house music. Anthony Hayward wrote in his book "The who's who of soap operas" that Gemma soon settled into the Bishop household and became popular with other residents because of her willingness to stand up for her friends. She was also unafraid to challenge her teachers. Gemma remained unsure about her career aspirations during her time in the series. She thought about nursing, but had an invested interest in environmental science. Gemma's style was bland when she first arrived on-screen. Buchanan told Caroline Westbrook from "TV Hits" that she was "totally different to Gemma" because she was going to high school and dependent on her aunt and uncle. Buchanan also disliked Gemma's dress sense and style. She explained that she hated "probably just about everything in the beginning. For the first six months it was horrendous, and then for the second they tried to vamp up the show a bit. I think the grey school uniform was probably the ugliest thing."
Following her introduction Gemma briefly dated Ryan McLachlan (Richard Norton). Writers soon devised another relationship storyline between her and Matt Robinson (Ashley Paske). The pair were involved in a motorbike crash story in which Gemma nearly had to have her leg amputated. The incident created a rift between Matt and Gemma's father Tom Ramsay (Gary Files), who disapproved of their relationship. In her book "The Neighbours Programme Guide", author Josephine Monroe wrote that Tom "took every opportunity to attack Matt for being irresponsible and unsauitable for his beloeved daughter. He couldn't help wishing that Gemma had never split up with her previous boyfriend." Writers created a dilemma for Gemma and introduced her ex-boyfriend Aidan Devlin (Blake Collins) into the show. Their relationship is marred because Gemma is "confused" by his arrival and Matt is unhappy with the situation. Aidan tries to convince Gemma to give their relationship another chance and Gemma realises she still has feelings for him. Matt becomes so jealous that he accuses her of betraying him. Gemma manages to convince Matt that nothing happened between her and Aidan. Writers used the break down of their relationship as part of Matt's exit story. He decides that he cannot trust Gemma and decides to move to Adelaide. Gemma tried to move by having a brief "fling" with Glen Donnelly (Richard Huggett).
Writers created a new relationship storyline alongside medical student Adam Willis (Ian Williams). Di Stanley from "TV Extra" reported that the character would experience problems with Adam when she discovers he condoned her ex-boyfriend Ryan's drug taking. Stanley revealed that Gemma would pay Adam a "stormy visit" to confront him over the matter. In the lead up to her exit from the series Gemma graduates from high school and becomes a vet. She later receives a job offer in Newcastle and leaves. Adam decides to go to Newcastle to be with Gemma one month later and off-screen they marry and have children. Monroe, who also wrote "Neighbours: The First 10 Years" stated "like many other Ramsay Street teenagers, Adam and Gemma confounded the odds by making a go of things." Buchanan's departure occurred as part of a revamp of "Neighbours" following a decline in ratings. Network Ten's executive John Holmes decided to write out eight characters, including Gemma and then introduced new actors. After Buchanan left the series and went to secure work in the United Kingdom. Of her departure from "Neighbours", Buchanan told "TV Hits" Westbrook that she did not miss being on the show.
Buchanan reprised her role in 2019 to facilitate the introduction of Gemma's daughter, Roxy Willis (Zima Anderson). Gemma returns to ask her sister-in-law, Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou), to care for "wild child" Roxy and end her disorderly behaviour. Gemma draws on Terese's troubled backstory to persuade her into letting Roxy stay. Buchanan reprised the role a few months later, as Gemma returns to help and advise Roxy, who has been having a difficult time.
Storylines.
After the death of her mother, her father struggled to cope and Gemma was sent to stay with relatives in Brisbane, before moving in with her aunt Madge and her husband Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) in Erinsborough. On her arrival, Gemma is reluctant to commit to a relationship, as she has recently broken up with Aidan. She briefly dates Ryan McLachlan before getting together with Matt Robinson. Gemma and Matt are involved in an accident when he takes her for a ride on his new motorbike. They are rushed to hospital and Gemma nearly loses a leg due to the severity of the injury. Gemma forgives Matt, but they break up after Aidan visits, sparking Matt's jealousy. Gemma then has a brief romance with Glen Donnelly, before she falls for student doctor Adam Willis.
After successfully passing her Higher School Certificate, Gemma trains to become a vet and nearly loses her job after protesting against the use of animals in a circus. She then gets a job at a wildlife park, but her confidence is shaken when she is bitten by a monkey. Shortly after, Gemma is offered a job at an animal sanctuary in Newcastle. After saying goodbye to Madge, Harold and Adam, Gemma leaves Ramsay Street. Adam follows her to Newcastle a month later, and they become engaged. They later marry and move to Darwin, near Adam's family.
Gemma returns to Erinsborough to visit her former sister-in-law, Terese Willis. Gemma tells Terese that she and Adam want their daughter Roxy to move to Melbourne. They go to the Waterhole and find Roxy lying on the bar and flirting with Leo Tanaka (Tim Kano). Gemma tells Roxy that she is ruining her life, hanging around with a bad crowd in Darwin and partying all night. Terese offers to look out for Roxy if she decides to move the city, but Gemma asks if Terese can take Roxy in and help her turn her life around. Terese agrees to let Roxy stay for two months, and longer if it works out. Gemma later informs Terese that she and Adam have separated.
Reception.
Ruth Deller of television website Lowculture gave Gemma a 2 out of 5 for her contribution to "Neighbours", during a feature called "A guide to recognising your Ramsays and Robinsons". Deller said "Tom's second daughter (there's also Moira, who was never in the show) Gemma filled a Charlene-sized gap when she moved in with Madge in the early 90s. She went out with two members of the Robinson clan (Glen and Matt), but eventually left to be with goody-goody Adam Willis". The BBC said Gemma's most notable moment was "Being involved in a motorbike accident with Matt Robinson." Dawn Bebe from "BIG!" magazine branded Gemma a "plucky" character and said that Buchanan's "soft Aussie accent" made her one of ""Neighbours" most popular stars".


Steven Nissen

Steven E. Nissen (born 1948) is a cardiologist, researcher and patient advocate. He was chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Joining Cleveland Clinic in 1992, Nissen served as Vice-Chairman of the Department of Cardiology (1993–2002), Section Head of Clinical Cardiology (1992–2000) and Director of the Coronary Intensive Care Unit (1992–1997). Most recently, he served as Medical Director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center (C5), an organization that directs multi-center clinical trials. Nissen still attends in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit periodically throughout the year.
Education.
Nissen graduated high school from the Webb School of California and pursued his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan. He then went on to receive his medical degree from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Davis in Sacramento, thereafter completed his cardiology fellowship at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington.
Imaging technology.
He produced the first images in humans in 1990 and began using IVUS to document the ubiquitous prevalence of coronary artery disease. The technology has been the basis for his research during the last decade and Nissen is currently the principal investigator for several large IVUS atherosclerosis trials.
Advocacy.
Nissen has led a number of inquiries as to the scientific integrity of many medications currently on the market. Starting with linked COX-2 inhibitors, such as Vioxx (rofecoxib) in 2001, Nissen was one of the first physicians to link it to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Three years later Merck pulled Vioxx from the market when additional studies confirmed that daily, long-term use of the drug could increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
A few years later, in 2005, Nissen re-analyzed the data related to the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug Pargluva (muraglitazar), an experimental type 2 diabetes drug. When an U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel charged with reviewing the clinical trial data approved the drug, he immediately began an in-depth analysis.
In 2007, the meta-analysis by Nissen and his co-investigator Kathy Wolksi, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association online on October 20, found that the diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia) produced by GlaxoSmithKline carried high cardiovascular risks.
The FDA issued an alert on May 21, 2007, leading to a warning by the Food and Drug Administration and a sales loss of about 75% for the drug.
The FDA was not made aware of the Nissen meta-analysis results until the day of its publication. In an editorial written in the Wall Street Journal, former FDA deputy commissioner Scott Gottlieb characterized the failure to inform FDA of the results in advance of publication as "upstage the FDA in an attempt to influence public debate." BioCentury editor Steve Edelson said that congressional staffers but not the FDA had been briefed on the study results in advance.
In November 2013, the FDA lifted its earlier restrictions on rosiglitazone after reviewing the results of the 2009 RECORD clinical trial (a six-year, open label randomized control trial), which failed to show heart infarct risks associated with the drug.[7][8]
Research.
In 2003 Nissen led a "Journal of the American Medical Association" study, producing evidence that five weekly infusions of ApoA-I Milano/phospholipids complex, a synthetic form of HDL, can possibly remove significant amounts of plaque from coronary arteries. The lipoprotein enhanced the ability of HDL, or “good” cholesterol to usher fat out of the arteries and into the liver for excretion leading to the purchase of Esperion Therapeutics, the tiny company that had produced recombinant Apo-A1 Milano, by Pfizer for $1.3 billion.
Also in 2005, Nissen published the results of the REVERSAL trial, a head-to-head comparison of the statins atorvastatin (Lipitor) and pravastatin (Pravachol). IVUS images showed that Lipitor had effectively halted the progression of plaque buildup, but coronary disease progressed considerably in those given Pravachol. The study suggested that treatments should aim to lower LDL, or “bad” cholesterol levels as much as possible.
In 2006, Nissen and his co-investigators reported on The ASTEROID trial (A Study to Evaluate the Effect of Rosuvastatin On Intravascular Ultrasound-Derived Coronary Atheroma Burden). The study concluded that intensive use of statins resulting in a decreased LDL and increased HDL can reverse the build-up of plaque in coronary arteries, as measured by IVUS.
Conflict of Interest.
There have been allegations about Nissen's potential conflict of interest.


Jacob Casson Geiger

Dr. Jacob Casson Geiger (18 November 1885 - 7 November 1981) was city director of public health in San Francisco and Oakland, California, and the president of the San Francisco Medical Society in 1935.
Geiger was a native of Alexandria, Rapides Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and was a graduate of Tulane University. For his research in public-health medicine (e.g., malaria and botulism), he received numerous awards from the U.S. and foreign governments as well as several honorary academic degrees. Among others he was made Officer of the Legion of Honor (France), Commander of the Order of Jade (China) and Commander of the Order of Quissam Aloute Cherifien (Morocco).
References.
Max S. Marshall entitled Crusader Undaunted: Dr. J. C. Geiger, Private Physician to the Public (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1958).


Maria Incarnata


Sinus pericranii

Sinus pericranii (SP) is a rare disorder characterized by a congenital (or occasionally, acquired) epicranial venous malformation of the scalp. Sinus pericranii is an abnormal communication between the intracranial and extracranial venous drainage pathways. Treatment of this condition has mainly been recommended for aesthetic reasons and prevention of bleeding.
Signs and symptoms.
Sinus pericranii typically present as soft palpable masses along midline skull, which may fluctuate in size depending on body positioning. Classically, these lesions are not associated with color change of the overlying skin, such as with other vascular lesions such as hemangioma.
Cause.
The nature of this malformation remains unclear. Congenital, spontaneous, and acquired origins are accepted. The hypothesis of a spontaneous origin in the current case of SP is supported by no evidence of associated anomalies, such as cerebral aneurysmal venous malformations, systemic angiomas, venous angioma dural malformation, internal cerebral vein aneurysm, and cavernous hemangiomas.
Mechanism.
Sinus pericranii is a venous anomaly where a communication between the intracranial dural sinuses and dilated epicranial venous structures exists. That venous anomaly is a collection of nonmuscular venous blood vessels adhering tightly to the outer surface of the skull and directly communicating with intracranial venous sinuses through diploic veins. The venous collections receive blood from and drain into the intracranial venous sinuses. The varicosities are intimately associated with the periosteum, are distensible, and vary in size when changes in intracranial pressure occur.
Treatment.
The surgical treatment involves the resection of the extracranial venous package and ligation of the emissary communicating vein. In some cases of SP, surgical excision is performed for cosmetic reasons. The endovascular technique has been described by transvenous approach combined with direct puncture and the recently endovascular embolization with Onyx.


John Chard

Colonel John Rouse Merriott Chard (21 December 1847 – 1 November 1897) was a British Army officer who received the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration for valour "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British armed forces. He earned the decoration for his role in the defence of Rorke's Drift in January 1879 where he commanded a small British garrison of 139 soldiers that successfully repulsed an assault by some 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. The battle was recreated in the film "Zulu" in which Chard was portrayed by Stanley Baker.
Born near Plymouth, Chard attended the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in July 1868. He was involved with the construction of fortifications in the Bermuda Garrison (three years) and at Malta (two years) before he was deployed to southern Africa at the start of the Anglo-Zulu War. At the end of the war he returned to a hero's welcome in England and was invited to an audience with Queen Victoria. After a series of overseas postings he took up his final position in Perth, Scotland. He retired from the army as a colonel in 1897 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died at his brother's home in Somerset later that year.
Early life.
Chard was born at Boxhill near Plymouth on 21 December 1847 to William Wheaton Chard and his wife Jane Brimacombe. He had two brothers and four sisters. His elder brother William Wheaton Chard served with the Royal Fusiliers, rising to the rank of colonel, and his younger brother Charles Edward Chard became rector of a parish church in Hatch Beauchamp, Somerset. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School and Plymouth New Grammar School, and after a period of private tuition he enrolled at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich.
On 14 July 1868 Chard received a commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and continued his training at Chatham for the next two years. He was posted to Bermuda, along with Lieutenant HP Knacker, in 1870 to construct fortifications at the Naval Dockyard near Hamilton and returned to England four years later for his father's funeral. He was then sent to Malta to assist with the improvement of the island's sea defences. He returned to England in 1876 where he was based at Aldershot and Chatham, and was assigned to the 5th Company Royal Engineers.
Rorke's Drift.
On 2 December 1878, the 5th Company Royal Engineers were sent to the Colony of Natal in response to a request from Lord Chelmsford, commander of the British forces in southern Africa, for an additional unit of engineers to assist with preparations for the invasion of the Zulu Kingdom. After their arrival on 5 January, Chard was dispatched with a small group of sappers to repair and maintain the ponts at one of the few crossings of the Buffalo River which ran along the border of Natal and the Zulu Kingdom. A short distance downstream was Rorke's Drift, an isolated mission station used as a staging post for the British invasion force. It consisted of two thatched bungalows about apart—the western building was used as a hospital, and the eastern building had been converted into a storehouse. Garrisoned at the Drift were Chelmsford's quartermaster general, Major Henry Spalding, a company of the 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment of Foot commanded by Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, and a large company of the 3rd Natal Native Contingent (NNC).
Chard's group arrived on 19 January and set up camp near the crossing. On the morning of 22 January, he received an order that his sappers were required at Isandlwana to the east, where Chelmsford had set up an advanced camp for his main invasion column which had marched into Zulu territory two weeks before. However, when he arrived Chard was informed that only his men were required and that he should return to Rorke's Drift. While at Isandlwana, Chard had witnessed a Zulu army approaching the camp in the distance and upon his return to the Drift at about 1 pm, he informed Spalding of the situation. Spalding decided to depart the Drift to hurry British reinforcements en route from Helpmekaar, but before he left, he checked a copy of the Army List which confirmed that Chard was senior to Bromhead. Therefore, Chard, a "notoriously relaxed" man with no combat experience, was unexpectedly placed in command of the small garrison.
Unconcerned by the presence of the Zulus nearby, Chard returned to his tent by the river crossing, but he was soon after disturbed by two NNC officers on horseback who informed him that the camp at Isandlwana had been overwhelmed and annihilated by the Zulus. Returning to the station, Chard found Bromhead and Assistant Commissary James Dalton had already instructed the troops to use mealie bags to construct a defensive perimeter between the storehouse and hospital. Chard consented and by 4 pm the hastily constructed perimeter was complete. Soon afterwards, the Zulu "impi", which contained some 3,000–4,000 men, was sighted advancing on their position. This caused the NNC troops to panic and desert the station, reducing the number of defenders from around 350 to approximately 140 (including 30 sick and wounded). Chard immediately ordered an additional barricade of biscuit boxes to be built across the inner perimeter to provide a smaller fall-back area should the Zulus overwhelm a part of the thinly manned perimeter.
The first waves of Zulu assault were repulsed by British volley fire, but the attackers pushed on relentlessly, particularly along a vulnerable section of the British perimeter by the hospital which became the centre of fierce hand-to-hand combat. With British casualties mounting, Chard ordered his troops to withdraw behind the biscuit boxes, which left the western half of the station in Zulu hands, including the hospital, which was subsequently set alight by the attackers. Once inside, Chard ordered the construction of a redoubt made from a tall pyramid of mealie bags to provide shelter to the wounded and form the last line of defence. The Zulus continued to attack in intermittent waves during the night, but they were illuminated by the burning thatch, which enabled the defenders to spot their advances. By 5 am, the exhausted Zulus had abandoned the attack, and British reinforcements arrived later that morning. Chard counted 351 dead Zulus scattered around the perimeter. The British suffered 17 killed and 10 wounded.
Victoria Cross, later career and death.
Chard remained at Rorke's Drift for several weeks after the battle and assisted with the construction of a new stone perimeter wall. However, conditions at the camp were poor; Chard became ill with fever and was taken to Ladysmith for treatment. Once recovered he was attached to Colonel Evelyn Wood's column for the second invasion of the Zulu Kingdom. Meanwhile, Chard's report of the battle had been dispatched to England and received with enthusiasm by the British press and public. The War Office subsequently promoted Chard to captain and brevet major and awarded him and 10 other defenders of the station with Victoria Crosses, the highest decoration for valour that could be awarded to British troops. The citation for the award was published in the "London Gazette" on 2 May 1879:
Some of Chard and Bromhead's superiors, however, were resentful of the adulation bestowed on the pair. Wood took a particular dislike to his new subordinate. Unimpressed with his temperament and sceptical of his role in the battle, he denounced Chard as a "useless officer" and "a dull, heavy man, scarcely able to do his regular work". Lieutenant General Sir Garnet Wolseley, who thought the desperate defence of the Rorke's Drift was merely a case of "rats [fighting] for their lives which they could not otherwise save" presented Chard with his VC on 16 July. Likely influenced by Wood, he subsequently said of Chard that a "more uninteresting or more stupid-looking fellow I never saw".
Chard was present in the British square during the decisive victory at the Battle of Ulundi and remained in Africa until the end of the war. His arrival back in Portsmouth in October 1879 was greeted with celebration. In addition to a series of presentations and dinners bestowed in his honour, he attended Balmoral Castle to dine with Queen Victoria who was impressed by his modest and unassuming demeanour. Chard returned to duty at Devonport in January 1880 and was posted to Cyprus in December 1881. His brevet majority was substantiated on 17 July 1886 and he returned to England in March 1887 to take up a position in Preston. He was ordered to Singapore in December 1892 and received a promotion to lieutenant colonel. He returned to England in 1896 and took up his final post as Commanding Royal Engineer at Perth, Scotland, and was promoted to colonel on 8 January 1897.
While stationed in Perth, Chard—a lifelong pipe smoker—was diagnosed with cancer of the tongue. He underwent two operations: the second—which took place in March 1897—resulted in the removal of his tongue but despite this it was reported that he could still converse clearly. However, by August it was discovered the cancer was terminal and Chard retired to his brother, Charles', rectory at Hatch Beauchamp, Somerset. After two weeks of "terrible suffering", Chard died on 1 November 1897. He was unmarried.
Legacy.
Chard was buried in the churchyard by the south east transept of the Church of St John the Baptist in Hatch Beauchamp. Among the numerous messages of sympathy and floral tributes was a wreath of laurel leaves sent by the Queen, who had remained in contact with Chard and frequently enquired about his health. The wreath bore the handwritten inscription "A mark of admiration and regard for a brave soldier from his sovereign". In 1899 a stained glass memorial window dedicated to Chard was installed in the south wall of the church's chancel. Another memorial donated by the Royal Engineers was placed in Rochester Cathedral. A display at the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham, Kent, commemorates Chard's leadership at Rorke's Drift and includes the Webley Revolver he used in the battle.
Welsh actor Stanley Baker portrayed Chard in the 1964 film "Zulu" which depicted the defence of Rorke's Drift. Baker acquired Chard's campaign medal and a "cast copy" of his Victoria Cross at an auction in 1972 but they were sold by his family after his death in 1976. However, in 1996 the Victoria Cross was discovered to be the original rather than a copy after its metallic characteristics were compared with the bronze ingot from which all Victoria Crosses are cast. The medal was subsequently acquired by Lord Ashcroft, owner of the world's largest collection of VCs, and is on display at the Imperial War Museum, London.
Chard was commemorated by the South African military with the John Chard Decoration and the John Chard Medal which were awarded to members of the Citizen Force. Instituted by Queen Elizabeth in 1952, the Medal and the Decoration were awarded for 12 years and 20 years service respectively until 2003 when they were superseded by the Medalje vir Troue Diens and the Emblem for Reserve Force Service.


James H. Snook

James Howard Snook (September 17, 1879 – February 28, 1930) was an athlete and veterinarian convicted and executed for murder.
Biography.
Snook was a member of the U.S. Olympic Pistol Team, which won a Gold Medal in the Men's 30 metre team military pistol event at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.
Later, Snook was the head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University. He invented the snook hook, a surgical instrument which is still used in spaying animals.
He also was a founding member of the Alpha Psi veterinary fraternity.
Snook was convicted of murdering Theora Hix, a 24-year-old medical student with whom he had had a three-year sexual affair. Snook claimed at his Columbus, Ohio, trial that he had killed Hix because she was threatening to kill Snook's wife and family, and that he feared she would shoot him. The trial was considered shocking for the sexual activities discussed, including fellatio. The jury took 28 minutes to deliberate before finding Snook guilty, after which he was sentenced to death by electrocution.
Snook was executed on 28 February 1930 at the Ohio Penitentiary, by means of the electric chair. He was buried in Green Lawn Cemetery after a short service at the King Avenue Methodist Church. His tombstone, on Lot 243 of Section 87, omits his last name, reading only "James Howard".


Global Digital Exemplar

The Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) programme is an NHS England initiative to achieve digital transformation in selected exemplar organisations and to create a knowledge sharing ecosystem to spread learning from these exemplars. The programme is to enable "digitally advanced" NHS trusts to share knowledge with other NHS trusts, specifically knowledge gained during the implementation of IT systems, and especially experience from introducing electronic health record (EHR) systems. The GDE project is expected to last two to three and a half years; with the most digitally advanced trusts on the shorter time scale.
Four rounds of exemplars have been announced so far — two waves of acute trust GDEs, and one wave each of ambulance trusts, and mental health trusts. In addition, eighteen acute trust "fast followers" have been partnered with the acute trusts.
The programme involves the investment of £395 million. Each GDE will receive "up to £10 million" to spend on digital projects. The funding must be matched locally, but not necessarily in cash.
Programme elements.
Each Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) received £10 million and their matched Fast Followers (FFs) received £5 million (£5 million for GDEs and £3 million for FFs in mental health); and they were required to secure matched funding internally. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) was chosen as a guide for programme outputs, with GDEs expect to obtain HIMSS Level 7 and FFs, HIMSS Level 5.
The partnerships between GDEs and FFs constitute a formal mechanism to support knowledge transfer. The programme also introduced the idea of "Blueprints", documents describing how to implement digital technologies in healthcare.
Exemplars.
Acute exemplars.
The first twelve exemplars were announced in 2016. A second wave added another four in 2017.
Although NHS England refers to this grouping of exemplars as "acute", a number of the hospitals operated by trusts within this group are specialised hospitals. Examples include, Alder Hey Children's Hospital and Western Eye Hospital.
Fast followers.
There are eighteen acute "fast follower" trusts, each of which has been partnered with an acute GDE.
Ambulance exemplars.
As of July 2018, there are three ambulance trust exemplars.
Mental health exemplars.
There are currently seven mental health trust GDEs.


Rentokil Initial

Rentokil Initial () is a British business services group. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
History.
The Company was founded in 1925 by Harold Maxwell-Lefroy, Professor of entomology at Imperial College, London, who had been investigating ways to kill death watch beetles that had infested Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. Lefroy and his assistant produced an anti-woodworm fluid called "Ento-Kill Fluids" ("ento" coming from the Greek word for insect, ἔντομον entomon). That year he tried to register the name "Entokill", but due to existing trademarks, he chose "Rentokil" instead, and this became the name of his company, Rentokil Ltd. On 14 October 1925, Lefroy was killed in a laboratory when an experiment produced poisonous fumes.
British Ratin.
British Ratin was established in 1927 as a pest control company by its Danish owner Sophus Berendsen A/S; the company used a bacillus developed by a Danish scientist George Neumann to control rats and mice. Demand for pest control services began extending beyond rodent control to insect control. British Ratin made its first acquisition, Chelsea Insecticides Ltd, in 1940. In 1957 British Ratin acquired Rentokil, and the combined businesses continued to use the Rentokil name, becoming Rentokil Laboratories Ltd. in 1960.
Rentokil Group plc.
Rentokil Group plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1969. Sophus Berendsen A/S retained a 50% holding in the group until the late 1990s. For many years Rentokil Initial achieved growth of about 20% each year under the leadership of then CEO, Sir Clive Thompson: during this period Rentokil Initial was voted "Britain's most admired" company.
Rentokil Initial plc.
In 1996, following the hostile takeover of its much larger competitor BET plc, the company became Rentokil Initial. The acquisition included the "Initial" laundry and washroom services business (founded in 1903). The "Initial" name originated as every towel was marked with the customer's initials, which ensured that customers only received their own towels.
Recent history.
Thompson relinquished the CEO role to James Wilde, with Thompson taking up the Chairman's role, in January 2003. Thompson and Wilde both left the company in 2004, when the leadership was transferred to Brian McGowan as Chairman (appointed in 2004) and Doug Flynn as CEO (appointed in 2005). They made a number of structural changes to the company, including the closure of the main offices at Felcourt, near East Grinstead, relocating them to Belgrave House, Victoria, Central London and City Place, Gatwick. They also presided over a succession of profit warnings, mainly as a result of the problematic integration of the 2006 acquisition of Target Express into the existing City Link business.
The Rentokil Tropical Plants business, which had expanded to be an international brand through the acquisition of numerous smaller plant rental companies around the world, was rebranded as Ambius.
In 2006, the Company decided to close its UK Initial laundry business, mainly due to the ageing property and plant that the business operated (which had been part of the BET acquisition) and the high cost of modernisation. That year, the Company also bought Ademco Security Group and planned to expand across Asia. They sold the company in 2010.
The company temporarily left the FTSE 100 index in 2007.
Rentokil strengthened its foothold in the US residential pest control market in 2006, when it acquired the Reading, Pennsylvania-based J.C. Ehrlich Co, Inc., the fourth-largest and largest privately held pest control company in the US. In the following year Rentokil sold the Initial Fire, Electronic Security and manned guarding businesses, previously known as Shorrock, to United Technologies Corporation. However, in 2010, Rentokil Initial acquired Knightsbridge Guarding Ltd and Perception LLP to re-enter the manned security/reception staffing business, to complement the existing cleaning, washroom, Ambius and pest control businesses.
In March 2008 the company came under the leadership of Chairman John McAdam and CEO Alan Brown, who had respectively served as CEO and CFO at ICI: the pair are famous for the breakup and sale of ICI to Akzo Nobel.
In February 2011, the Company acquired the Fumigation & Pest Control, Water Treatment & Hygiene and Fire Safety & Prevention businesses of Santia, formerly Connaught plc, for £5.6m.
In 2012, Rentokil acquired Western Exterminator Company for US$99.6 million, extending its services to the west coast of the US, making Rentokil the third largest pest control company in the USA.
The City Link division had continued to make losses, and although these had reduced following major management/structural changes, the company was disposed of in April 2013 to Better Capital plc for £1.
On 1 August 2013, the company announced that CEO Alan Brown would be stepping down and would be replaced by Andy Ransom on 1 October. Ransom had previously been MD of the company's West region.
On 28 February 2014, the company sold its facilities management business for £250m to Interserve.
On 16 December 2016, the company announced a future joint venture with CWS-boco International GmbH.
In March 2017, the company announced a joint venture with PCI of India to create the largest pest control company in India.
On 21 April 2017, Rentokil was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise - International Trade 2017. This was followed by The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation in 2018, recognising the Company’s leadership position in digital innovation, in particular its RADAR and PestConnect systems. In 2020, a further Queen's Award for Enterprise for Innovation for Lumnia, the world's first commercial range of insect light traps that use LED lighting rather than traditional fluorescent tubes, reducing energy usage by up to 70%.
In 2018, Rentokil Initial plc announced a new partnership with Cool Earth to support its work in Papua New Guinea, protecting around 1,000 acres of rainforest and so preventing the release of at least 228,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the company’s entire carbon footprint.
In 2019, the company announced a new initiative to use unclaimed shareholder dividends and unclaimed shares to fund charitable causes. A new fund, named Rentokil Initial Cares, was established. In the same year, it was awarded Britain's Most Admired Company for Diversity & Inclusion and topped the league table of the UK's Best Workplaces in the private sector, according to data released by the world's biggest job site, Indeed.
Brands.
The company's divisions operate under four global brands: Rentokil, Initial, Steritech and Ambius. Additionally, the company continues to operate local brands under the names of acquired businesses which have a familiar brand name in their markets, such as Western Exterminator.


Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research

History.
The Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) was founded in 1988 as an institution of the foundation Schweizerisches Forschungsinstitut für Hochgebirgsklima und Medizin SFI in Davos, Switzerland. SIAF is located at the Medicine Campus Davos, which opened in 2019. SIAF has been an affiliated institute of the University of Zurich since 1995.
The first director of SIAF was professor Kurt Blaser. Professor Dr. Cezmi A. Akdis has been the director since 2007. As of 2018, he holds the position of Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Allergy" within SIAF. He is included in the group of 1,000 most cited researchers from all scientific disciplines worldwide by Thomson Reuters for the fifth consecutive year.
In 2007, SIAF became a member of the Life Science Zurich Graduate School, a joint postgraduate education program of the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and the University of Zurich. SIAF is an active member of Academia Raetica, the network of scientific institutions in the Canton of Grisons.
SIAF is located at the Medicine Campus Davos, which opened in 2019. The new campus building in Davos Wolfgang has 3’136 square meters of laboratory and office space. The facility is with modern laboratories and equipment, including a biosafety level 3 laboratory.
Research.
SIAF is a member in national and international organizations, such as the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI). SIAF scientists are involved in editorial boards and editorships of notable scientific journals in the field of allergies, asthma, and clinical immunology. SIAF scientists fulfill teaching obligations at the University of Zurich and the University of Salzburg. SIAF organizes the yearly international World Immune Regulation Meeting (WIRM).
SIAF focuses on direct patient-relevant human immunology and cell biology with a series of research projects on immune regulatory aspects and particularly allergen tolerance, regulation of tissue cells and tissue barriers, methods for the detection of tissue barriers, regulatory aspects of noncoding DNA, and development of vaccines.


Association of Reproductive Health Professionals

The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) was a non-profit organization founded in 1963 by Alan Frank Guttmacher. It was a membership association of nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, pharmacists, physician assistants, physicians, researchers, educators, and other professionals. The organization closed in 2019.
According to their mission statement, the organization aimed to "...provide reproductive health services or education, conduct reproductive health research, or influence reproductive health policy. ARHP educated healthcare professionals, policy makers and the public. The organization fostered research and advocacy to improve reproductive health."
The organization was accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.
"Contraception" is the Association's official journal.


Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation

The Bonnie J. Addario a Breath Away from the Cure Foundation (ABAFTC), sometimes styled Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) and after 2019 known as GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer is a foundation created by Bonnie J. Addario in 2005 to eradicate lung cancer through research, early detection, education, prevention and treatment. It is made up of volunteers, people in the medical profession, and lung cancer survivors. The Foundation has three goals: 1) to raise public awareness about the relative lack of attention given to lung cancer in biomedical research, 2) to help lung cancer patients navigate the healthcare system to receive the best available care, and 3) to enlist the aid of physicians and biomedical scientists in transforming cancer research. The Foundation is based in San Carlos, California.
Research funding.
BJALCF provides funding for lung cancer research, early detection, education, prevention and treatment. The Foundation is one of the only private providers of lung cancer research and community outreach programs.
History.
The Foundation was founded by Bonnie J. Addario, a lung cancer survivor, on March 6, 2006, the same day Dana Reeve died from lung cancer. This Foundation was formed in response to the fact that lung cancer is under-funded and under-researched based on the amount of research dollars allocated per death. In 2005, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spent $204 million on breast and cervical cancer research. However, no money was allocated to lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. The lack of funding, coupled with the complexity of the disease, has helped prevent lung cancer from making significant advances in its five-year survival rate. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate has remained at approximately 15% since 1971. The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation set out to change this seeming lack of progress by bringing lung cancer to national attention and establishing the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI), an international endeavor partnering academic institutions and community hospitals to advance treatment.
In 2019 the Foundation merged with the Lung Cancer Alliance to create a new organization known as the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer.
Bonnie J. Addario.
Bonnie J. Addario is the Founder and Chair of the BJALCF. Prior to starting the Foundation, she spent twenty years in the oil industry wherein she rose to a leadership role.


Linnea Ehri

Linnea C. Ehri, Ph.D. is an American psychologist, currently Distinguished Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Biography.
Ehri received her B.S. in Psychology at the University of Washington, Seattle in 1963; her M.A. in Psychology at San Francisco State University in 1966 and her doctorate in Educational Psychology from University of California, Berkeley in 1970. Prior to joining the faculty of The Graduate Center CUNY as a Distinguished Professor in 1991, Ehri was a professor at the University of California, Davis. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, and co-editor of several books on the development of reading.
Ehri has received numerous accolades and awards for her research, including but not limited to the following:
Research.
Although Dr. Ehri has recently received Faculty Emeritus status, she continues to advise students and offer her expertise on literacy development and reading instruction. Recent publications have examined the ways in which children and young adults learning orthographic mapping and spelling.


Seldinger technique

The Seldinger technique, also known as Seldinger wire technique, is a medical procedure to obtain safe access to blood vessels and other hollow organs. It is named after Dr. Sven Ivar Seldinger (1921–1998), a Swedish radiologist who introduced the procedure in 1953.
Uses.
The Seldinger technique is used for angiography, insertion of chest drains and central venous catheters, insertion of PEG tubes using the push technique, insertion of the leads for an artificial pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, and numerous other interventional medical procedures.
Complications.
The initial puncture is with a sharp instrument, and this may lead to hemorrhage or perforation of the organ in question. Infection is a possible complication, and hence asepsis is practiced during most Seldinger procedures.
Loss of the guidewire into the cavity or blood vessel is a significant and generally preventable complication.
Description.
The desired vessel or cavity is punctured with a sharp hollow needle, with ultrasound guidance if necessary. A round-tipped guidewire is then advanced through the lumen of the needle, and the needle is withdrawn. A sheath or blunt cannula can now be passed over the guidewire into the cavity or vessel. Alternatively, drainage tubes are passed over the guidewire (as in chest drains or nephrostomies). After passing a sheath or tube, the guidewire is withdrawn.
An introducer sheath can be used to introduce catheters or other devices to perform endoluminal (inside the hollow organ) procedures, such as angioplasty. Fluoroscopy may be used to confirm the position of the catheter and to manoeuvre it to the desired location. Injection of radiocontrast may be used to visualize organs. Interventional procedures, such as thermoablation, angioplasty, embolisation or biopsy, may be performed.
Upon completion of the desired procedure, the sheath is withdrawn. In certain settings, a sealing device may be used to close the hole made by the procedure.
A modified technique, known as the accelerated Seldinger technique, has also been described where the needle, guidewire, dilator, and sheath are inserted as one unit.
History.
Prior to the description of the Seldinger technique, sharp trocars were used to create lumens through which devices could be passed. This had a high rate of complications. However, with the introduction of the Seldinger technique, angiography became a relatively risk-free procedure, and the field of interventional radiology blossomed.
Building on the work of Seldinger, Charles Dotter and Andreas Gruentzig developed angioplasty.


Petrus Kirstenius

Petrus Kirstenius, latinised form of Peter Kirstein (December 25, 1577 – April 5, 1640, age 62) was a physician and orientalist.
He was born in Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland). He studied medicine at Jena, Basel and was the Principal of a High School in Wrocław. He held the degrees of Doctor of Medicine and Philosophy. Kirstenius was interested in Oriental languages, and founded an Arabic printer of his own publishing an Arabic grammar book. Later he lived in Prussia but was invited by Axel Oxenstierna to become a personal physician of Queen Christina of Sweden and Professor of Medicine at Uppsala University in 1636. Petrus Kirstenius died in Uppsala.
His son Johan Peter Kirstenius (1617–1682) was a fortification officer and court engineer in Sweden.


Hamilton Hartridge

Hamilton Hartridge (7 May 1886 – 13 January 1976) was a British eye physiologist and medical writer.
Hamilton Hartridge FRS was educated at Harrow and King's College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow from 1912 to 1926. He graduated in medicine from St George's Hospital in 1914, serving during the war as an experimental officer at RNAS Kingsnorth. In 1916 he married Kathleen Wilson. After the war he stayed in Cambridge University as lecturer in special senses and senior demonstrator in physiology. He gained a reputation as an ingenious experimenter, constructing, for example, the continuous-flow apparatus for measuring the rates of very fast reactions, as well as working to revise established medical textbooks. From 1927 to 1947 he was professor of physiology at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and from 1947 to 1951 director of the vision research unit of the Medical Research Council. He was president of the Quekett Microscopical Club from 1951 to 1954 and he was elected an Honorary Member in 1952. He was Gresham Professor of Physic.
In 1946 he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures entitled Colours and how we see them.


Hermann Kuhnt

Hermann Kuhnt (14 April 1850 – 31 October 1925) was a German ophthalmologist born in Senftenberg, Brandenburg.
He studied medicine in Bonn, Berlin and Würzburg, and following graduation worked at the anatomy institute in Rostock under Friedrich Sigmund Merkel (1845–1919). Afterwards he became assistant to ophthalmologist Otto Becker (1828–1890) at the University Eye Clinic in Heidelberg. In 1880 he moved to the University of Jena, where in 1881 he was appointed professor of ophthalmology. Around 1892 he began serving as a professor at the University of Königsberg.
From 1870 he was a member of the .
In 1899 with Julius von Michel (1843–1911), he founded the ophthalmic journal "Zeitschrift für Augenheilkunde". The following two eponyms are named after him:


Resource Allocation Working Party

The Resource Allocation Working Party was a group set up within the National Health Service in 1975 to suggest a mechanism whereby resources for secondary care could be matched to need (Gatrell, 2002).
Between 1948 and 1968 NHS financial allocations were essentially based on sequential inflation uplifts. A Regional Health Authority or Teaching Hospital could argue for an increase. The richer parts of the country had better funding in 1948 than the more deprived areas and so the differences between the various regions widened over time. In 1976-1977 there was an almost 30% difference in the revenue allocation between the 14 regions, with the North West having the least and North-East Thames region the most per head of population.
Richard Crossman developed a formula based on population, beds and cases but its fundamental problem was that the formula was partly based on utilisation and current resources. Since utilisation depends on availability of resources which were unequally distributed it could not rectify the problem. When Barbara Castle was Secretary of State for Health in 1972, the problem of regional resource inequality was addressed again. Her Special Adviser Professor Brian Abel-Smith had a particular interest in this problem (on which he had already advised Crossman, whose Special Adviser he had been earlier). He chaired the Advisory Committee to the Social Medicine and Health Services Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital. He drew the attention of the Committee to the problems of resource allocation and encouraged them to consider possible research to rectify this unacceptable situation. They produced a proposal for a complicated randomised controlled trial of different funding formulae, but the Minister, David Owen, rejected it as interesting but politically impossible.
Owen established the Resource Allocation Working Party (RAWP), to examine the possibilities of a better funding formula. It came to the conclusion that Standardised Mortality Ratios were a reasonable indicator of regional variations in health care needs in the acute sector. The Report of the Working Party also emphasised the need to develop and apply positive preventive measures such as promoting changes in smoking habits and improving the environments in which people live and work.
The Royal Commission on the National Health Service drew attention to the inequalities of funding. Expenditure on NHS services in Scotland was £127.10 per head of population, in the NW Thames region £122.38, in the West Midlands £91.52.
The four Metropolitan Thames Regional Health Authorities and most of the London Teaching Hospitals were disadvantaged by, and unhappy about, the new formula. The simplicity and transparency of the formula made it difficult for politicians to manipulate. The idea that mortality should be used to influence the distribution of health resources was questioned on the grounds that most health care is provided for people who do not die. The formula devised by the Resource Allocation Working Party survived until 1989 and did reduce the funding gap between the Northern regions and London. It was replaced by a more complex formula announced in the publication of Working for Patients in 1989,and there have since been further changes and debate, particularly about the relative weighting to be given to old age, which favours more prosperous Southern areas, and deprivation which favours poorer Northern areas.
See also.
Barnett Formula
References.
Gatrell, A.C. (2002) Geographies of Health: an Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell.


Naek L. Tobing

Naek Lumban Tobing (August 14, 1940 – April 6, 2020) was an Indonesian physician, sexologist and author. He wrote "Problems and Solutions" (1994) and "Premarital Sex, Extramarital Sex, and Building Marital Harmony."
Often appearing to fill sexology rubrics in various national magazines and newspapers. In addition, he was often invited as a speaker in a health rubric program related to sexology issues at various television and radio stations throughout Indonesia.
He was born on Samosir Island, Tapanuli. He was married to Marion Aritonang and has 6 children.
He earned a medical degree from The University of North Sumatra in 1966, and psychiatrist degree from The University of Indonesia in 1976. He also earned certified sex educator from The University of Minnesota in 1983.
He died at the Pertamina Central Hospital (RSPP), Jakarta, on April 6, 2020 age 79 due to COVID-19.