In North America, terrestrial records of biodiversity and climate change that span Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 are rare. Where found, they provide insight into how the coupling of the ocean–atmosphere system is manifested in biotic and environmental records and how the biosphere responds to climate change. In 2010–2011, construction at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado (USA) revealed a nearly continuous, lacustrine/wetland sedimentary sequence that preserved evidence of past plant communities between ~140 and 55 ka, including all of MIS 5. At an elevation of 2705 m, the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site also contained thousands of well-preserved bones of late Pleistocene megafauna, including mastodons, mammoths, ground sloths, horses, camels, deer, bison, black bear, coyotes, and bighorn sheep. In addition, the site contained more than 26,000 bones from at least 30 species of small animals including salamanders, otters, muskrats, minks, rabbits, beavers, frogs, lizards, snakes, fish, and birds. The combination of macro- and micro-vertebrates, invertebrates, terrestrial and aquatic plant macrofossils, a detailed pollen record, and a robust, directly dated stratigraphic framework shows that high-elevation ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado are climatically sensitive and varied dramatically throughout MIS 5.

Large-scale sequencing tests, including whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing (WES/WGS), are rapidly moving into clinical use. Sequencing is already being used clinically to identify therapeutic opportunities for cancer patients who have run out of conventional treatment options, to help diagnose children with puzzling neurodevelopmental conditions, and to clarify appropriate drug choices and dosing in individuals. To evaluate and support clinical applications of these technologies, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) have funded studies on clinical and research sequencing under the Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) program as well as studies on return of results (RoR). Most of these studies use sequencing in real-world clinical settings and collect data on both the application of sequencing and the impact of receiving genomic findings on study participants. They are occurring in the context of controversy over how to obtain consent for exome and genome sequencing.

Objective: The Haitian earthquake of January 12, 2010, was a disaster essentially unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere's recorded history. The USNS Comfort departed from Baltimore, Maryland, within 72 hours of the earthquake and arrived in Port-au-Prince harbor on January 19. During the subsequent 40 days, the ship provided one of the largest relief efforts in the US Navy's history.

Methods: The data analyzed included all patients evaluated and treated by the USNS Comfort between January 19 and February 27, 2010. A medical chart with a unique identifier was created for each patient on admission. A patient database was created from these records and used for this analysis.

Results: A total of 872 patients and 185 patient escorts were processed aboard the ship. Ages ranged from younger than 1 day to 89 years: 635 were adults and 237 were children. Of those admitted, 817 of the patients were admitted for longer than 24 hours; the average length of stay was 8.0 days. The need for surgery was substantial: 454 patients went to the operating room (OR) 843 times for 927 cumulative procedures. A total of 58 patients underwent amputations.

Conclusions: Haiti was almost completely reliant on foreign medical teams for trauma care. Analysis of the data illustrates the challenges of triage and treatment in a humanitarian mass-casualty response. The remarkable coordination and cooperation among the Haitian Ministry of Health, nongovernmental humanitarian aid organizations, and the US military highlighted the responders' respective capabilities and demonstrated the importance of collaboration in future disaster response efforts.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6:370–377)

Recent excavations at the Cross Creek site (CA-SLO-1797) on the central coast of California revealed a stratigraphically discrete midden component dating between ca. 8350 and 7700 cal B.C., making it the oldest mainland shell midden on the west coast of North America. A large recovery volume revealed an assemblage dominated by grinding implements (handstones and milling slabs) and crude core and flake tools typical of California's Milling Stone horizon, but the Cross Creek findings extend the antiquity of Milling Stone back to the terminal Pleistocene. The tools and associated faunal remains suggest a gathering economy profoundly different from the terminal Pleistocene big-game hunting of interior North America. This variation is difficult to reconcile as a simple adaptive outgrowth from late Pleistocene hunting and may reflect a separate coastal migration route into the New World.

Silicon carbide is a very attractive material for a variety of applications. Originally considered for use in high power and high temperature electronics because of its large bandgap, designers of MEMS are now considering use of silicon carbide because of its stability at high temperatures, resistance to corrosives, high stiffness, and radiation resistance. However, as with any new structural material, its mechanical properties must be measured for design information. This research measures the elastic modulus, strength, and Poisson's ratio of two different silicon carbides using microtensile testing. One material is a 0.5-1νm thick film from Case Western Reserve University. Preliminary results give an average of 420 GPa for elastic modulus, a strength of 1.2 GPa, and a Poisson's ratio of 0.19. The second material is from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an average thickness of 30 microns. Preliminary results show an elastic modulus of 430 GPa, a strength of 0.49 GPa, and a Poisson's ratio of 0.24. In addition to the most recent results, techniques used to obtain these results, microstructure investigations, and a comparison of the materials are detailed.