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Discusses the requirements for becoming an astronaut.

A global effort is ongoing in the scientific community and in the maker movement, which focuses on creating devices and tinkering with them, to reverse-engineer commercial medical equipment and get it to healthcare workers. For these 'low-tech' solutions to have a real impact, it is important for them to coalesce around approved designs.

\"Most people know the story of Balto, the world famous dog who led his dogsled team through a blizzard to deliver a lifesaving serum to the stricken people of Nome, Alaska, in 1925. Balto shot to instant stardom--a company named dog food after him, a famous sculptor erected a statue of him that stands in Central Park to this day, and the dog even starred in his own Hollywood movie. But what happened to Balto after the hoopla died down? With a lively, informative text and humorous, vibrant illustrations, Meghan McCarthy captures the extraordinary life of Balto beyond his days as a celebrity.\"--Amazon.com.

As US Hispanic populations are at higher risk than non-Hispanics for cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes targeted interventions are clearly needed. This paper presents the four years results of the Vida Sana Program (VSP), which was developed and is implemented by a small clinic serving mostly Spanish-speaking, limited literacy population. The eight-week course of interactive two-hour sessions taught by Navegantes, bilingual/cultural community health workers, was delivered to participants with hypertension, or high lipids, BMI, waist circumference, glucose or hemoglobin A1C (A1C). Measures, collected by Navegantes and clinic nurses, included blood chemistries, blood pressure, anthropometry, and an assessment of healthy food knowledge. Most participants (67%) were female, Hispanic (95%), and all were 18 to 70 years of age. At baseline, close to half of participants were obese (48%), had high waist circumference (53%), or elevated A1C (52%), or fasting blood glucose (57%). About one third had high blood pressure (29%) or serum cholesterol (35%), and 22% scored low on the knowledge assessment. After the intervention, participants decreased in weight (-1.0 lb), BMI (-0.2 kg/m2), WC (-0.4 inches), and cholesterol (-3.5 mg/dl, all p<0.001). Systolic blood pressure decreased (-1.7 mm Hg, p<0.001), and the knowledge score increased (6.8 percent, p<0.001). VSP shows promising improvements in metabolic outcomes, similar to other programs with longer duration or higher intensity interventions. VSP demonstrates an important model for successful community-connected interventions.

The story of the practical joke that fooled American radio listeners and made Orson Welles famous.

Epidemics and pandemics are causing high morbidity and mortality on a still-evolving scale exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Infection prevention and control (IPC) training for frontline health workers is thus essential. However, classroom or hospital ward-based training portends an infection risk due to the in-person interaction of participants. We explored the use of Virtual Reality (VR) simulations for frontline health worker training since it trains participants without exposing them to infections that would arise from in-person training. It does away with the requirement for expensive personal protective equipment (PPE) that has been in acute shortage and improves learning, retention, and recall. This represents the first attempt in deploying VR-based pedagogy in a Ugandan medical education context. We used animated VR-based simulations of bedside and ward-based training scenarios for frontline health workers. The training covered the donning and doffing of PPE, case management of COVID-19 infected individuals, and hand hygiene. It used VR headsets to actualize an immersive experience, via a hybrid of fully-interactive VR and 360° videos. The level of knowledge acquisition between individuals trained using this method was compared to similar cohorts previously trained in a classroom setting. That evaluation was supplemented by a qualitative assessment based on feedback from participants about their experience. The effort resulted in a COVID-19 IPC curriculum adapted into VR, corresponding VR content, and a pioneer cohort of VR trained frontline health workers. The formalized comparison with classroom-trained cohorts showed relatively better outcomes by way of skills acquired, speed of learning, and rates of information retention (P-value = 4.0e-09). In the qualitative assessment, 90% of the participants rated the method as very good, 58.1% strongly agreed that the activities met the course objectives, and 97.7% strongly indicated willingness to refer the course to colleagues. VR-based COVID-19 IPC training is feasible, effective and achieves enhanced learning while protecting participants from infections within a pandemic setting in Uganda. It is a delivery medium transferable to the contexts of other highly infectious diseases.

\"The true story of a garbage barge that didn't have a place to dock-- and was one of the events that led to the recycling movement.\"--Provided by publisher.

Background In order for healthcare systems to prepare for future waves of COVID-19, an in-depth understanding of clinical predictors is essential for efficient triage of hospitalized patients. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of 259 patients admitted to our hospitals in Rhode Island to examine differences in baseline characteristics (demographics and comorbidities) as well as presenting symptoms, signs, labs, and imaging findings that predicted disease progression and in-hospital mortality. Results Patients with severe COVID-19 were more likely to be older (p = 0.02), Black (47.2% vs. 32.0%, p = 0.04), admitted from a nursing facility (33.0% vs. 17.9%, p = 0.006), have diabetes (53.9% vs. 30.4%, p<0.001), or have COPD (15.4% vs. 6.6%, p = 0.02). In multivariate regression, Black race (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.0, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-3.9) and diabetes (aOR 2.2, 95%CI: 1.3-3.9) were independent predictors of severe disease, while older age (aOR 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01-1.07), admission from a nursing facility (aOR 2.7, 95% CI 1.1-6.7), and hematological co-morbidities predicted mortality (aOR 3.4, 95% CI 1.1-10.0). In the first 24 hours, respiratory symptoms (aOR 7.0, 95% CI: 1.4-34.1), hypoxia (aOR 19.9, 95% CI: 2.6-152.5), and hypotension (aOR 2.7, 95% CI) predicted progression to severe disease, while tachypnea (aOR 8.7, 95% CI: 1.1-71.7) and hypotension (aOR 9.0, 95% CI: 3.1-26.1) were associated with increased in-hospital mortality. Conclusions Certain patient characteristics and clinical features can help clinicians with early identification and triage of high-risk patients during subsequent waves of COVID-19.

\"The exciting and bizarre true story of the 1904 Olympic marathon, which took place at the St. Louis World's Fair\"-- Provided by publisher.

14 Morrissey-Berru performed her duties by providing religious instruction to her students, preparing her students for participation in Mass, and praying with her students.15 Morrissey-Berru testified that she was committed to providing a faith-based education.16 In 2014, Morrissey-Berru was moved from her full-time position with OLG to a part-time position, which Morrissey-Berru considered a demotion.17 In 2015, OLG declined to renew her contract entirely.18 Morrissey-Berru subsequently filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and, with their approval, a suit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.19 Morrissey-Berru’s claim asserted that OLG had demoted her to a part-time position and then refused to renew her contract the following year in order to replace Morrissey-Berru with a younger teacher, in violation of the anti-discrimination statute.20 Conversely, OLG claimed its decision was due to classroom performance.21 OLG moved for summary judgment due to the ministerial exception, which the lower court granted.22 This decision was reversed by the Ninth Circuit, which evaluated the case under the Hosanna-Tabor framework and concluded that Morrissey-Berru’s religious duties alone were not sufficient to fall within the “ministerial exception.” The late Kristen Biel25 worked for over a year as a teacher at St. James School (“St. James”), another Catholic primary school in Los Angeles.26 Like Morrissey-Berru, Biel taught all subjects to her students, including religion.27 Biel’s educational training included a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and a teaching credential.28 Biel attended a religious conference at St. James that trained teachers to incorporate religion into the classroom.29 Biel was Catholic.30 Biel’s employment agreement also asserted the school’s religious mission and a requirement that teachers uphold the mission and model the Catholic faith.31 Biel complied with these requirements by teaching church doctrines, worshipping with her students, and preparing her students for Mass.32 Biel was evaluated on her fulfillment of the school’s religious mission by St. James’ principal, a Catholic nun.33 After one year at St. James, Biel’s employment contract was not renewed.34 Biel filed charges with the EEOC and brought a suit for discrimination, claiming that St. James refused to renew Biel’s contract because she had requested a leave of absence due to a breast cancer diagnosis and a need for treatment.35 The school asserted that the decision was solely based on Biel’s performance,36 though the Ninth Circuit noted a positive performance evaluation Biel received prior to disclosing her illness.37 St. James obtained summary judgment under the ministerial exception, but the decision was reversed by the Ninth Circuit and a petition for rehearing was unsuccessful.38 The Supreme Court granted certiorari and consolidated Biel’s case with Morrissey-Berru’s.39 II. 44 However, while the Court had established that religious institutions are granted a ministerial exception in the governing of certain employee’s relationships with the institution, whether an individual is considered a minister was unclear. [...]in Our Lady, the Court was confronted with the question of whether Morrissey-Berru and Biel (“respondents”) were in fact ministers of the Catholic Church and therefore barred from seeking adjudication of their employment discrimination claims.45 The Court held that respondents were ministers and reversed the Ninth Circuit’s narrow application of the exception.46 III. PREVIOUS APPLICATION OF THE MINISTERIAL EXCEPTION In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, the Court considered whether Cheryl Perich, a teacher at a Lutheran elementary school fell under the ministerial exception to regulation of employment relationships in anti-discrimination claims.47 The Court used four circumstances to reach its determination: (1) the formal title given to Perich by the institution, (2) the training and formal process of commissioning supporting that title, (3) whether Perich “held herself out as a minister by accepting the formal call to religious service,” and (4) whether Perich’s job duties reflected a role in carrying out the message of the religious institution.48 Given that Perich held the title of “Minister of Religion,” which reflected a significant degree of religious training, held herself out as a minister by accepting a formal call to service, and performed job duties that reflected a role in conveying the Church’s mission, Perich was a minister covered by the ministerial exception.49 In Our Lady, respondents argued that their positions were distinct from Perich’s because neither respondent held a formal title, exhibited the same degree of training as Perich, or held themselves out as a religious leader.50 Respondents asserted that the ministerial exception was meant to be applied using the formal Hosanna-Tabor factors as a framework to assess the ministerial status and the final question of whether an employee’s job duties constituted an important religious function to provide flexibility in the framework.51 Noting the importance of both the First Amendment and anti-discrimination laws,52 respondents requested the Court maintain the “formal indicia” to maintain accountability and transparency, and ensure that the First Amendment is not used as a shield to avoid important anti-discrimination requirements.53 In the cases below, the Ninth Circuit applied the Hosanna-Tabor factors in such manner, assessing each factor, and reasoned that Morrissey-Berru and Biel were not performing such essential functions that they should be deemed ministers of the Church.54 In Biel v. St. James School, the Ninth Circuit noted that an interpretation of the ministerial exception which considers any school employee who teaches religion to be a minister would ignore the underlying constitutional and policy considerations of Hosanna-Tabor.55 “Such a rule