The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has identified two important problems with the Medicare+Choice (M+C) program: nationwide geographic inequity in government-financed benefits, and unequal government payments for M+C plans versus fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare in the same market area. MedPAC concludes that both problems cannot be solved simultaneously. We argue that both problems...

T h e testabili ty of a sequential circuit can be i m proved by controlling the clocks of individual storage elements during testing. W e propose several clock control strategies derived f r o m a n analysis of the circuit, i t s S-graph structure, and i ts funct ion. Through examples we show how the number of clocks aflects the circuit’s testability. It i s shown that if certain flip-flops (FF...

BACKGROUND In the running community, a forefoot strike (FFS) pattern is increasingly preferred compared with a rearfoot strike (RFS) pattern. However, it has not been fully understood which strike pattern may better reduce adverse joint forces within the different joints of the lower extremity. PURPOSE To analyze the 3-dimensional (3D) stress pattern in the ankle, knee, and hip joint in runne...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of foot strike patterns and converted foot strike patterns on lower limb kinematics and kinetics at the hip, knee, and ankle during a shod condition. Subjects were videotaped with a high speed camera while running a 5km at self-selected pace on a treadmill to determine natural foot strike pattern on day one. Preferred forefoot group (PFFG, n...

IMPORTANCE The management of cervical esophageal cancer (CEC) is controversial. The advantages of radiotherapy (RT) for CEC are lower rates of acute morbidity and mortality compared with surgery and potential for larynx preservation. The advantage of surgery is that the transposed stomach may function better over the long term than an irradiated esophagus, which tends to become stenotic over ti...

Although Medicare Managed Care (MMC) was introduced as a way to reduce costs, the effect of the program on total Medicare spending is unknown. Current literature has focused on three conflicting sets of findings including spillover effects from managed care which reduce total Medicare spending and positive selection into managed care and overpayments to managed care plans relative to Fee-for-Se...

 This study was carried out to investigate the apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) value of protein, amino acid and energy and body amino acid composition of rainbow trout fed solvent extracted soybean meal (SBM) and full-fat soybean meal (FFS) partly replacing fish meal (FM) in diets. Five iso nitrogenous (average 50.36% crude protein) and energetic (4294 kcal/kg total energy) diets wer...

AIM To analyze cytokine levels and to identify their association with outcome in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with radiotherapy (RT). METHODS Patients with HCC who were treated with RT were eligible for this prospective study. Blood samples were collected before and after RT, and serum cytokine levels including interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor ne...