BACKGROUND: Increasing emphasis in performance-based payment, public reporting, and quality improvement
(QI) has led to widespread interest in measuring and improving the quality of care. By 2014, hospice programs
will be required to report quality data to the federal government or incur financial penalties. With this increased
interest in quality...
On April 20th, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico malfunctioned leading to a 4.9 million barrel oil spill. The released oil affected marine life, coastal ecosystems, and the economic framework of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf spill spurred research on absorbent materials and engineering...
Most wild animals are concurrently infected with multiple parasite species for most of their lives. These parasite species assemble into rich and diverse communities, with parasites using host tissues for growth and reproduction as well as evolving strategies to evade the host immune system. The net effect of these ecological...
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major crops produced in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, a region known for its wheat production for international export. Wheat production in the region is threatened by diseases such as Cephalosporium stripe and stripe rust. Cephalosporium stripe is a vascular wilt disease of...
Knot Theory: In Imitation of Lewis Thomas is a collection of 14, 1200-word essays written in the style of Lewis Thomas, a physician who regularly contributed to The New England Journal of Medicine. His 1200-word column, "Notes of a Biology Watcher," ran from 1971 - 1980. The resulting compilations collectively...