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I'm interested in better understanding the ongoing geological processes that shape St. Louis and the Mississippi Valley region. So far, I've been looking into the history of seismicity in the region, focusing on the fascinating but little known history of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 -- the most devastating earthquakes to have hit the US east of the Rockies. I've also been exploring how St. Louis and surrounding areas are dealing with the possibility of another earthquake occurring in the future. According to one article I read, one of the biggest uncertainties is what would happen to the heavily engineered Mississippi River in the case of another major tremblor. The shaking could break the levees, flooding wide areas along the river and creating cascading effects. The flow of the river might also reverse completely, as occurred during the New Madrid earthquakes.

On these possibilities and the lack of scientific consensus surrounding intraplate seismicity in this zone, see this article in The Atlantic.

On current efforts to create earthquake hazard maps in St. Louis, see this overview on the US Geological Survey site.

For a deeper dive into the history of the New Madrid earthquakes, see this book by historian of science Conevery Bolton Valencius. 

This policy applies to the U.S. healthcare system, all facilities that treat patients. It applies to the managers, staff, and patients at those locations, and those seeking treatment or evaluation, as it helps define the roles and expectations of a specific type of facility.

It is an international program with the following member states/countries and the year that they joined:

"1957: Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Monaco, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Socialist Federal Rep. of Yugoslavia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Viet Nam

• 1958: Belgium, Ecuador, Finland, Iran, Luxembourg, Mexico, Philippines, Sudan
• 1959: Iraq
• 1960: Chile, Colombia, Ghana, Senegal
• 1961: Lebanon, Mali, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• 1962: Liberia, Saudi Arabia
• 1963: Algeria, Bolivia, Côte d'Ivoire, Libya, Syria, Uruguay
• 1964: Cameroon, Gabon, Kuwait, Nigeria
• 1965: Costa Rica, Cyprus, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar
• 1966: Jordan, Panama
• 1967: Sierra Leone, Singapore, Uganda
• 1968: Liechtenstein
• 1969: Malaysia, Niger, Zambia
• 1970: Ireland
• 1972: Bangladesh
• 1973: Mongolia
• 1974: Mauritius
• 1976: Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania
• 1977: Nicaragua
• 1983: Namibia
• 1984: China
• 1986: Zimbabwe
• 1992: Estonia, Slovenia
• 1993: Armenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia
• 1994: The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Marshall Islands, Uzbekistan, Yemen
• 1995: Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 1996: Georgia
• 1997: Latvia, Malta, Moldova
• 1998: Burkina Faso
• 1999: Angola, Benin
• 2000: Tajikistan
• 2001: Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, Serbia
• 2002: Eritrea, Botswana
• 2003: Honduras, Seychelles, Kyrgyzstan
• 2004: Mauritania
• 2005: Chad
• 2006: Belize, Malawi, Montenegro, Mozambique
• 2007: Cabo Verde*
• 2008: Nepal, Palau
• 2009: Bahrain, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Lesotho, Oman
• 2011: Lao People's Democratic Republic, Tonga*
• 2012: Dominica, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago
• 2013: San Marino, Swaziland
• 2014: Bahamas, Brunei Darussalam, Comoros*
• 2015: Djibouti, Guyana, Vanuatu, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados
• 2016: Saint Lucia*, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines*, The Gambia*, Turkmenistan"

Events on the calendar are located in a number of different countries from the above list. The headquarters is in Vienna, Austria.

The Turkish culture associates "epillepsy" with mental retardation, so they usually refer to seizures as 'fainting". This can cause confusion when in a medical setting, as fainting and seizures are two different issues. The stories usually falled into one of five plot categories. The conditions were typically caused by a frightful experience, a childhood fever or injury, no apparent reason, chronic suffering, or an evil eye. These classifications help see trends and learn where improvements can be made.

Miriam Ticktin is an associate professor of anthropology at The New School for Social Research, as well as the Co-Director of Zolberg Institute for Migration and Mobility. This indicates that she writes this article from an anthropologic perspective rather than with a biological or political viewpoint.

Emergency response is the main idea in this article, but specifically that related to nuclear emergencies. An interesting point was made about the confidentiality of the plants and their "trade secrets" of sorts. While being transparent is helpful for safety reasons, it also reduced the profitability of the company, since other companies would be able to use their ideas. EMS knows a lot about respecting privacy through HIPPA, however it is also important to know the layout of important or potentially hazardous buildings within a response district. This would be a necessary compromise to make between the nuclear emergency response team and the nuclear leaders.

The film is mostly about general people in the healthcare system. It takes place at one particular hospital but the cases could all easily take place anywhere. The struggles of the doctors, nurses, staff, patients, and families are applicable anywhere in th ecountry with our less than optimal healthcare system, there is so much more managerial stress on everyone than just making people healthy.