Iowa Sex Offender Treatment and Supervision Task Force Report to the Iowa General Assembly, January, 2010

The Sex Offender Research Council was formed as a successor to the Sex Offender Treatment and Supervision Task Force, established to provide assistance to the General Assembly. It will respond to legislative direction to adjust its future plans as laid out in this report. Its plans could be modified to broaden or narrow its scope or to assign different priority levels of effort to its current areas of study. Also, further Council considerations of the recommendations it has already submitted could be called for. In the meantime, it is hoped that the information and recommendations submitted through this report prove helpful.

Iowa Sex Offender Treatment and Supervision Task Force Report to the Iowa General Assembly, January, 2011

The Sex Offender Research Council was formed as a successor to the Sex Offender Treatment and Supervision Task Force, established to provide assistance to the General Assembly. It will respond to legislative direction to adjust its future plans as laid out in this report. Its plans could be modified to broaden or narrow its scope or to assign different priority levels of effort to its current areas of study. Also, further Council considerations of the recommendations it has already submitted could be called for. In the meantime, it is hoped that the information and recommendations submitted through this report prove helpful.

FRAX(®) Bone Mineral Density Task Force of the 2010 Joint International Society for Clinical Densitometry International Osteoporosis Foundation Position Development Conference.

FRAX(®) is a fracture risk assessment algorithm developed by the World Health Organization in cooperation with other medical organizations and societies. Using easily available clinical information and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), when available, FRAX(®) is used to predict the 10-year probability of hip fracture and major osteoporotic fracture. These values may be included in country specific guidelines to aid clinicians in determining when fracture risk is sufficiently high that the patient is likely to benefit from pharmacological therapy to reduce that risk. Since the introduction of FRAX(®) into clinical practice, many practical clinical questions have arisen regarding its use. To address such questions, the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) and International Osteoporosis Foundations (IOF) assigned task forces to review the best available medical evidence and make recommendations for optimal use of FRAX(®) in clinical practice. Questions were identified and divided into three general categories. A task force was assigned to investigating the medical evidence in each category and developing clinically useful recommendations. The BMD Task Force addressed issues that included the potential use of skeletal sites other than the femoral neck, the use of technologies other than DXA, and the deletion or addition of clinical data for FRAX(®) input. The evidence and recommendations were presented to a panel of experts at the ISCD-IOF FRAX(®) Position Development Conference, resulting in the development of ISCD-IOF Official Positions addressing FRAX(®)-related issues.

Strategic Adaptation in Function of Chronicity of Schizophrenic Symptoms During A Fluency Task: An fMRI Study

Background: Language processing abnormalities and executive difficulties are hallmark features of schizophrenia. The objective of this study is to assess the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response at two different stages of the illness (i.e. comparison between adolescents and adults with schizophrenic symptoms) during a fluency task.Methods: BOLD responses during a covert verbal fluency task were compared between 11 psychotic adolescents with schizophrenic symptoms (mean age 16,9 years) and 14 adults with schizophrenia (mean age 33,4 years). fMRI data were analyzed with standard routine of spm5.Results: First, expected activation's network was found for both groups, separately. Secondly, adolescents showed greater activation in left rolandic opercule (BA 48), left angular (BA 39) and right hippocampus compared to adults. Thirdly, adults demonstrated greater activation in presupplementary motor area (BA 6) and in precentral area (BA 4) compared to adolescents.Conclusions: The adolescents seemed to recruit a verbal network (Broca and Wernicke) and memory abilities to perform a fluency task. In contrast, adults seemed to recruit more executive function abilities to perform a similar task. Despite the evolution of schizophrenia, which is known to have a deleterious influence on the prefrontal cortex development, adult patients seemed to be able to recruit such areas to perform a verbal fluency / executive function task.

2013 Elder Abuse Task Force Final Report Pursuant to Senate File 446, Section 50, December 13, 2013

Per the guidance of the Legislative Elder Abuse Prevention and Intervention Interim Committee, a prioritization of the implementation recommendations and proposed legislation are below listed in the order determined in the 2012 Elder Abuse Task Force Report.

Anesthesia prevents auditory perceptual learning.

BACKGROUND: An auditory perceptual learning paradigm was used to investigate whether implicit memories are formed during general anesthesia. METHODS: Eighty-seven patients who had an American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status of I-III and were scheduled to undergo an elective surgery with general anesthesia were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group received auditory stimulation during surgery, whereas the other did not. The auditory stimulation consisted of pure tones presented via headphones. The Bispectral Index level was maintained between 40 and 50 during surgery. To assess learning, patients performed an auditory frequency discrimination task after surgery, and comparisons were made between the groups. General anesthesia was induced with thiopental and maintained with a mixture of fentanyl and sevoflurane. RESULTS: There was no difference in the amount of learning between the two groups (mean +/- SD improvement: stimulated patients 9.2 +/- 11.3 Hz, controls 9.4 +/- 14.1 Hz). There was also no difference in initial thresholds (mean +/- SD initial thresholds: stimulated patients 31.1 +/- 33.4 Hz, controls 28.4 +/- 34.2 Hz). These results suggest that perceptual learning was not induced during anesthesia. No correlation between the bispectral index and the initial level of performance was found (Pearson r = -0.09, P = 0.59). CONCLUSION: Perceptual learning was not induced by repetitive auditory stimulation during anesthesia. This result may indicate that perceptual learning requires top-down processing, which is suppressed by the anesthetic.

Performance in a complex task and breathing under odor exposure.

We investigated the influences of odor exposure on performance and on breathing measures. The task was composed of tracking, short-term memory, and peripheral reaction parts. During rest or while performing the task, 12 participants were exposed to 4 different odors in 2 intensities. The higher intensity of the malodors induced a short-term decrement in mean inspiration flow (Vi/Ti) after stimulus onset and impaired performance in the short-term memory task, as compared with control trials; no effect was found for the positively judged odors. The study suggests that a distractor as simple as a bad smell may pull a person off task, however briefly, and may result in a detriment to performance. Actual or potential applications of this research involve designing or securing tasks in such a way that a brief withdrawal of attention does not have fatal consequences.

Correlation of Locally-Based Performance of Asphalts with their Physicochemical Parameters, Task 1 Report, HR-298, 1988

This is the first report of 6 tasks to be performed in an effort to establish locally-based quality and performance criteria for asphalts, and ultimately to develop performance-related specifications based on simple physicochemical methods. Three of the most promising chemical methods (high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction were selected to analyze 4 different types of samples. The results will indicate the fundamental asphalt property variables that directly affect the field performance in Iowa. The details of the materials and procedures employed are described, and the results of the tests are presented.

Plastic modifications within inhibitory control networks induced by practicing a stop-signal task: an electrical neuroimaging study.

INTRODUCTION: Inhibitory control refers to our ability to suppress ongoing motor, affective or cognitive processes and mostly depends on a fronto-basal brain network. Inhibitory control deficits participate in the emergence of several prominent psychiatric conditions, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or addiction. The rehabilitation of these pathologies might therefore benefit from training-based behavioral interventions aiming at improving inhibitory control proficiency and normalizing the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. The development of an efficient inhibitory control training regimen first requires determining the effects of practicing inhibition tasks. METHODS: We addressed this question by contrasting behavioral performance and electrical neuroimaging analyses of event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded from humans at the beginning versus the end of 1 h of practice on a stop-signal task (SST) involving the withholding of responses when a stop signal was presented during a speeded auditory discrimination task. RESULTS: Practicing a short SST improved behavioral performance. Electrophysiologically, ERPs differed topographically at 200 msec post-stimulus onset, indicative of the engagement of distinct brain network with learning. Source estimations localized this effect within the inferior frontal gyrus, the pre-supplementary motor area and the basal ganglia. CONCLUSION: Our collective results indicate that behavioral and brain responses during an inhibitory control task are subject to fast plastic changes and provide evidence that high-order fronto-basal executive networks can be modified by practicing a SST.

The Governor's Blue Ribbon Transportation Task Force: Implementation Report for Maximizing the Efficient Use of Iowa's Road Use Tax Fund, 1998

This report documents the Iowa Department of Transportation's accomplishments and ongoing efforts in response to 39 recommendations proposed by the Governor's Blue Ribbon Transportation Task Force at the end of 1995. Governor Terry Branstad challenged the Task Force to "maximize the benefits of each dollar spent from the Road Use Tax Fund."

Missouri River Flood Coordination Task Force Report, September 25, 2011

The Missouri River floods of 2011 will go down in history as the longest duration flooding event this state has seen to date. The combination of above normal snowfall in the upper Missouri River basin followed by the equivalent of nearly one year’s worth of rainfall in May created an above normal runoff situation which filled the Missouri River and the six main reservoirs within the basin. Compounding this problem was colder than normal temperatures which kept much of the snow pack in the upper basin on the ground longer into the spring, setting the stage for this historic event.

Report of the Iowa Antibiotic Resistance Task Force, January 24, 2012

On January 29, 1998, a task force was convened by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) to address the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics in Iowa. The purpose of this task force was to evaluate and monitor the prevalence of resistance in Iowa, to monitor the status of the problem, and to develop strategies to diminish the risk to the population of Iowa. The goals of the Iowa Antibiotic Resistance Task Force (IARTF) are to facilitate appropriate use of antibiotics, discourage prescribing practices that promote the development of antibiotic resistance, and decrease the spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms with appropriate prevention and control measures. This group has been meeting since 1998 to accomplish these goals.

Iowa Privacy Task Force Final Report, January 22, 2002

In appointing the Iowa Privacy Task Force, Governor Vilsack sought to obtain the opinions of both average Iowa citizens and businesses and professionals that work with health and financial information. The Governor recognized that the free flow of information is essential to the vitality of the Iowa economy. At the same time, he also recognized the legitimate fears and concerns of Iowa citizens with the potential loss of privacy inherent in the vast new information flows in this new economy. In order to obtain broad and balanced input, the Governor appointed half the members of the Task Force to represent average Iowa citizens. The other half of the Task Force was appointed with representatives of the financial services industry, providers of health care and the health insurance industry. The Task Force was further balanced to represent the different geographic regions of the state and gender. A total of 32 members were appointed to the Task Force.