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Seismic St. Louis

Emily Sekine

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. 

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tamar.rogoszinski

The article is published in the Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology. It is meant for clinical oncologists and publishes articles on medical oncology, clinical trials, radiology, surgery, basic research, epidemiology, and palliative care. It was established in 1971 and is the first journal from Japan to publish clinical research on cancer in English. Since 1977, JJCO is a sister-journal to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and is linked through Oxford Journals. 

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Zackery.White

Doctors Without Borders comes with a unique aspect of non-bias for the people they give care. Just as a hospital should have no bias, MSF has no religious affiliation, pays no attention to social classes and does not participate in political battles. This lack of bias allows for the most effect when administering emergency patient care. 

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tamar.rogoszinski
    1. “…large­-scale social forces—racism, gender inequality, poverty, political violence and war, and sometimes the very policies that address them—often determine who falls ill and who has access to care.”
    2. "the holy grail of modern medicine remains the search for the molecular basis of disease."
    3. "In some senses, the model is simple: clinical and community barriers to care are removed as diagnosis and treatment are declared a public good and made available free of charge to patients living in poverty."
    4. "The poor are the natural constituents of public health, and physicians ... are the natural attourneys of the poor."

     

     

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    tamar.rogoszinski
    In response to

    The triages are shown in a flow-chart type of visualization. The rest are on a selection basis. For example, for management algorithms, we are first given the option of: Incident Orientation, Contamination: Diagnose/Manage, Exposure: Diagnose/Manage Acute Radiation Syndrome, and Exposure & Contamination. Clicking one leads you to further flow charts describing the actions that should be taken place. Within those exists more information in order to help healthcare providers make correct, educated decisions on treatment. 

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    tamar.rogoszinski
    1. I first looked up travel to and from Liberia during the Ebola outbreak, since it had been seized. There was a ban, which has since been lifted after, but people coming to and from West Africa are still screened and recommended to visit physicians. As of mid-2015 there wa still a 21 day monitoring period needed. http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2015/05/cdc-downgrades-travel…'
    2. I was interested if there had been any progress on treatment for Ebola, but found that the main form of treatment is supportive care. Doctors are informed to provide IV fluid and ensure that the patient's immune response and other bodily functions are functioning properly. A vaccine is being worked on but has not gone through a trial to prove safety and effectiveness. https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/treatment/index.html
    3. I looked further into the vaccine being produced for Ebola. Currently, there is a combined phase 2 and phase 3 trial occurring in Sierra Leone called STRIVE (Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine against Ebola). The study is unblinded, so patients know whether or not they have received the vaccine. The vaccine is a rVSV-ZEBOV, or recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Zaire ebolavirus vaccine. This vaccine is also being used in phase 2 and phase 3 trials in Guinea and Liberia http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/strive/qa.html

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    Zackery.White

    This article is supported with the following:

    - Anecdotes from survivors whom have experienced the turmoil of living in the remains after Katrina.

    - Showing the disproportional treatment of individuals based on wealth. Those wealthy enough are able to relocate, but those who live in poverty are less likely able to relocate and forced to live in subpar conditions.

    - Showing price gouging done by private companies in order to gain funds from federal funding.