The efficacy of allergen immunotherapy for the treatment of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis with or without seasonal bronchial asthma and anaphylaxis caused by the sting of the hymenoptera class of insects has been clearly demonstrated in numerous well-designed, placebo-controlled trials. Immunotherapy whether by subcutaneous injection of allergen extract or by oral/sublingual routes modifies peri...

Digoxin has been the cornerstone of the treatment of heart failure for more than 2 centuries. Now that newer therapies have been introduced that reduce the mortality rate in heart failure and recent trials have failed to prove the same for digoxin, its use has significantly decreased. But a careful review of the multiple pharmacologic actions of digoxin and closer analysis of the results of rec...

Eye care in Hawai'i has changed dramatically since 1778. The ancient Hawaiians lacked any optical aids and had only the most primitive methods of treatment for their visual problems. During the next 200 years, Island residents benefited from a succession of technical innovations and new professional skills, all introduced from abroad: spectacles, optometry, ophthalmology, contact lenses, cornea...

[1] The instrumental record is too brief for evaluation of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) system and its long-term response to climate forcing. To supplement these data, we use a new reconstruction of December–February Niño-3 sea surface temperatures based on subtropical North American tree-ring records to investigate aspects of ENSO variability over the past six centuries (AD 1408–197...

[1] Ice cores collected in 2000 (ITASE 00-1) and 2005 (WDC05A, WDC05Q) from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS Divide) project site were used to investigate the spatial and temporal variability in accumulation. The ice cores were dated based on annual layer counting of multiple glaciochemical measurements resulting in bottom depth ages for WDC05A, WDC05Q, and ITASE 00-1 of 1775, 1521, an...

Recent climate reconstructions are analyzed specifically for insights into those patterns of climate variability in past centuries with greatest impact on the North American region. Regional variability, largely associated with the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and multidecadal patterns of natural variability, are found to mask the emergen...

The present study analyzes computer performance over the last century and a half. Three results stand out. First, there has been a phenomenal increase in computer power over the twentieth century. Depending upon the standard used, computer performance has improved since manual computing by a factor between 1.7 trillion and 76 trillion. Second, there was a major break in the trend around World W...