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State legislator gender and other characteristics associated with sponsorship of child health bills.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the characteristics of state legislators who introduce child health bills. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of all bills introduced in Colorado, Louisiana, and Michigan during the 1997-1998 legislative session. We identified the topic for each bill while blinded to legislator characteristics. The primary study outcome was whether the bill topic related to child health. We also categorized whether the bill was signed into law. We examined associations between the outcomes and characteristics of the sponsoring legislators (gender, political party, terms served, chairpersonship of committees, legislative chamber, membership in the legislature's Black Caucus). RESULTS: During 1997 and 1998, legislators in the 3 study states introduced 9833 bills (1234 in Colorado, 4905 in Louisiana, and 3694 in Michigan). Sixty-five bills (0.66%) related to child health issues. Child health bills comprised a significantly higher proportion of all legislation introduced by female legislators compared with male legislators (1.5% vs 0.5%, P <.001). Of bills introduced by Black Caucus members, 1.4% pertained to child health compared with 0.59% of bills introduced by nonmembers (P <.01). In contrast, 0.23% of bills introduced by committee chairpersons pertained to child health versus 0.96% of bills introduced by nonchair legislators (P <.001). These associations remained statistically significant in multivariate analyses controlling for state effects. Whether child health bills were signed into law was not associated with other legislator characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers valuable insights about the different roles of women, Black Caucus members, and committee chairpersons in the state legislative process regarding children's health.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed2004

Bill colour and correlates of male quality in blackbirds: an analysis using canonical ordination.

Carotenoid-dependent plumage displays are widely assumed to be honest indicators of individual health or quality, which are used as cues during mate choice and/or agonistic signalling. Despite the fact that red, yellow and orange pigmentation of bills is common, and also variable between individuals, comparatively little is known about bill colouration as a condition-dependent trait. Furthermore, many studies of avian colouration are confounded by the lack of objective colour quantification and the use of overly simplistic univariate techniques for analysis of the relationship between the condition-dependent trait and individual quality variables. In this study, we correlated male blackbird bill colour (a likely carotenoid-dependent sexually selected trait) with body/condition variables that reflect male quality. We measured bill colour using photometric techniques, thus ensuring objectivity. The data were analysed using the multivariate statistical techniques of canonical ordination. Analyses based on reflectance spectra of male blackbird bill samples and colour components (i.e. hue, chroma and brightness) derived from the reflectance spectra were very similar. Analysing the entire reflectance spectra of blackbird bill samples with Redundancy Analysis (RDA) allowed examination of individual wavelengths and their specific associations with the body/condition variables. However, hue, chroma and brightness values also provided useful information to explain colour variation, and the two approaches may be complimentary. We did not find any significant associations between male blackbird bill colour and percent incidence of ectoparasites or cloaca size. However, both the colour component and full spectral analyses showed that culmen length explained a significant amount of variation in male blackbird bill colour. Culmen length was positively associated with greater reflectance from the bill samples at longer wavelengths and a higher hue value (i.e. more orange-pigmented bills). Larger males may have larger territories or be better at defending territories during male-male interactions, ensuring access to carotenoid food sources. Future studies should elucidate the relationship between bill colour and behavioural measures such as aggressiveness, territory size, song rate and nest attendance.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Validating billing data for RBC transfusions: a brief report.

BACKGROUND: Administrative data are used often for research, but without validation of their accuracy. The validity of the billing for blood transfusion was assessed in one tertiary-care hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient discharge data were retrieved from a database containing demographics, diagnoses, and charges. There was random selection of 358 patients who were billed for RBC transfusion and 358 who were not, within a 2-month period. The blood bank's transfusion records were reviewed. Sensitivity was defined as the proportion of transfused patients who were billed, and specificity as the proportion of nontransfused patients who were not billed. Patient characteristics were compared by using Wilcoxon's rank sum test and the chi-square test. RESULTS: Sixty-one transfused patients were not billed for the transfusion. No patient was billed without transfusion. Thus, the sensitivity and specificity were 83 percent (95% CI, 79-87%) and 100 percent, respectively. Nine patients who were not issued RBCs were appropriately not billed for RBCs, although the billing record suggests they had a procedure involving transfusion. These patients were called true-negative. The patients not billed were older (58 years vs. 55 years; p = 0.046) and less likely to have commercial insurance (5% vs. 15%; p = 0.035) than billed patients. CONCLUSIONS: The billing for RBC transfusion in one large institution is reassuringly valid. The specificity is excellent, and the sensitivity is higher than that seen in other studies of coding validity.

Adolescent↗