Laws regulating patient care are an essential component of protecting patients and doctors alike. No studies have previously examined what laws exist regarding pelvic examinations in the United States (US). This study systematically reviews and compares regulation and legislation of pelvic examinations in the U.S. and provides a comprehensive resource to educate clinicians, patients, and lawmakers. Each of the fifty States in the U.S. was included. The primary outcome was existence of any pelvic or rectal exam laws. Data was obtained for the type of examination defined within the law, exceptions to the law, to whom the law applied to, the type of consent required, and to whom the consent applied to. Laws were identified from each of the individual state legislative websites. All sections of each law pertaining to pelvic examination were reviewed and organized by state. Descriptive statistics were performed for each of the variables, including frequencies of each amongst the fifty states. State regulation for pelvic examinations varied from no law or regulation to laws pertaining to pelvic, rectal, prostate, and breast examination performed in any context. As of November 22, 2022, there are twenty states (40%) with pelvic examination laws applying to anesthetized or unconscious patients. Thirteen additional states (26%) have proposed pelvic exam laws. Seventeen states (34%) do not have any laws regarding pelvic examinations. Regulation of pelvic examinations has become an increasingly important issue over the past few years in response to growing concerns of patient autonomy and the ethical issues raised by such sensitive examinations. While pelvic examination laws that balance protection for patient autonomy and the needs of caregivers and educators exist in much of the U.S., more work needs to continue in consultation with physicians and health care providers to ensure that all states have reasonable laws protecting the autonomy of patients while also maintaining quality of care.

Healthcare-facility–onset C.difficile LabID events are defined as positive stool samples collected >3 days after hospitalization. Using a definition of >72 hours, we found that 84 of 1013 cases (8.3%) identified as C. difficile LabID events were collected between 48 and 72 hours after admission.

Measurements made by an underwater glider deployed near the Ross Ice Shelf were used to identify the presence of Ice Shelf Water (ISW), which is defined as seawater with its potential temperature lower than its surface freezing point temperature. Properties logged by the glider included in situ temperature, electrical conductivity, pressure, GPS location at surfacings and time. For most of the first 30 recorded dives of its deployment, evidence suggests the glider was prevented from surfacing due to being under the ice shelf. For dives under the ice shelf, farthest from the ice shelf front, ISW layers of varying thicknesses and depth locations were observed; between 2 m thick (centred at 231 m depth) to >93 m thick (centred at >360 m). For dives under the ice shelf, close to the ice shelf front, either no ISW was observed or ISW layers were centred at shallower depths (116–127 m). Thicker ISW layers (e.g. up to 250 m thickness centred at 421 m) were observed for some glider dives in open water in front of the Ross Ice Shelf. No in situ supercooling (water colder than the pressure-dependent freezing point temperature) was observed.

The Welton Member of the Scotch Grove Formation at Shaffton Quarry, near Camanche, Iowa, is about 427 Ma old and contains numerous metaconulariid specimens, many of which are preserved in apex-downward orientation. Some of these show an unusual, splayed, “Maltese cross” configuration. Apex-downward configurations suggest rapid burial, consistent with the soft part preservation known in other taxa from this locality. The abundance of Metaconularia at Shaffton Quarry, and of topotype specimens of M. aspersa, the generic type species, permits evaluation of the degree of individual and intracollectional variation in peridermal ornament. Variation within and among individuals precludes reliance on ornamental differences in species differentiation in most cases. In view of these results we assign all Shaffton specimens to Metaconularia manni (Roy, 1935), and revise Metaconularia based on its type material from Europe and other material from Europe and North America. An exploratory phylogenetic analysis highlights aspects of character distribution within the genus, but the small number of characters states and possible taphonomic influences upon them limit confidence in the clade topology. Subgroups within the genus are characterized by larger, discoidal papillae, and by strong transverse corrugation and sinuous rows of smaller papillae. The genus itself comprises those conulariids with an external ornamentation of simple, round, small papillae, paired internal septae along the midlines, and a thin periderm that was to some degree pliable during life.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, August 1–5, 2004.