On the structural and electrical properties of MgFe2O4, MgMn0.2Fe1.8O4, and Mn3O4.

Charge carrier transport via donor/acceptor pairs of similar elements is dominant in n-type MgFe2O4 and p-type Mn3O4 spinels. The temperature-independent activation energy in the form of the nearest neighbor hopping model is applied for Fe2+/Fe3+ pairs of cubic MgFe2O4 spinel in the temperature range of 423-523 K (150-250 °C). At such high temperatures, even for this relatively narrow temperature range, the constant energy barrier deviates to a variable range hopping energy barrier in the case of Mn3O4, due to Jahn-Teller active octahedral sites. Replacing 10 mol% of Fe at octahedral sites with Mn has significantly increased the electron hopping energy barrier and electrical conductivity of MgFe2O4, while keeping the nearest neighbor hopping model dominant. The observed high energy barrier is due to donor/acceptor pairs of different elements (Mn/Fe). Due to a lack of structural distortion, deviation from the nearest neighbor hopping mechanism with temperature-independent activation energy was not observed. Rietveld refined XRD patterns and FT-IR spectra are utilized to support the argument on electrical conductivity mechanisms.

Oklahoma physician needs.

State policy makers, healthcare professionals, and advocates have been asking various iterations of the question, Do we have too many or too few physicians? In order to address this question, a relative-needs analysis was conducted for the state of Oklahoma. Six projection-needs studies were used for comparison with Oklahoma's supply of practicing physicians. This analysis found that Oklahoma did not have a surplus of primary care physicians. While the national average for primary care physicians per 100,000 was 79, Oklahoma's ratio was 68. This analysis also compares not only the number of physicians in Oklahoma per 100,000 population, it also discusses the proportion of primary care physicians in the physician workforce. Primary care physicians were found to be neither oversupplied nor undersupplied in Oklahoma. Oklahoma was found to be closer to national planning model goals than most states in the United States. Because this study combines both allopathic and osteopathic physicians and includes only those physicians in active practice, it is unique in comparison to many other studies concerning physician workforce needs.

A survey of eye and vision care in Oklahoma.

We examined the spectrum of vision care intensity, and the relationships of the three principal providers of vision care in Oklahoma. They were active family and general physicians (MD and DO), ophthalmologists (MD and DO), and optometrists. There were 1,356 surveys mailed to the three groups. We determined that vision care services in Oklahoma appear very accessible, are well distributed and generally affordable. The referral patterns appear to be less than optimal and optometrists are not fully utilized. This added cost and travel time for patients.

The medical education system in Oklahoma.

This paper provides a data base and analysis of the effectiveness of the public medical education system in Oklahoma. It provides the facts from which future decisions for Oklahoma health manpower policies might be developed.

The economic impact of AIDS on Oklahoma hospitals.

This study reviewed data on all patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) reported by 19 hospitals in the state of Oklahoma from January 1, 1981, through August 31, 1988, which represented 68% of the 382 cumulative reported cases in the state to that date. The study results indicate that the average lifetime hospitalization costs of caring for an AIDS patient in Oklahoma was $31,544. As a group, these patients represented a statewide cumulative operating margin loss of negative 14% during the study period. The margin for inpatients was -11%, and the margin for outpatients was -42%. The authors suggest that operating margins will increase as care shifts from inpatient to outpatient settings due to improved community support services or better drug therapy which, while prolonging life span, at the same time may cause serious side effects requiring more inpatient care. At the present time, AIDS patients in Oklahoma are 84% white, homosexual or bisexual males, and 15% are from the minority community. As the profile of Oklahoma's AIDS patients begins to conform to the national pattern, affecting more of the uninsured--drug abusers, their sexual partners, teenagers, and children--it can be anticipated that hospital costs for these patients will increasingly be absorbed by public funds.

Health policy brief: obstetrics in nonmetropolitan Oklahoma.

This brief is a summary of a 68-page analysis of a survey conducted by the Center for Health Policy Research, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Tulsa. There are 9 appendices and 96 data analysis tables in the complete analysis. The survey was conducted in the summer and fall of 1988. Survey instruments were mailed to all Oklahoma obstetricians and family and general practitioners not practicing in Tulsa or Oklahoma counties. There were 300 responses, 274 of which were validated for inclusion into the study. The complete survey will be of interest to some institutions and groups and is available upon request. Customized analysis of the survey variables also is available to interested parties upon request.

Teaching students 'realistic medicine'.

Medical education and ambulatory care are not mutually exclusive to cost effectiveness. Rather they can, and should be, concurrent goals that do not compromise the quality of either product. In order to maximize this opportunity, the mutual cooperation of faculty, administration, and support staff are mandatory. Synergistic efforts result in a superior and relevant product--well-trained, primary care physicians prepared to practice cost effective and quality medicine in the office. Experience at the Medical Center indicates that disinterest or neglect by educators will not influence cost nearly as much as the quality of care and relevance of the educational experience. To do so due to a real or imagined lack of resources is a disservice to patients, community and society, and does not recognize the longer-term fiscal consequences on us all. The institutional challenge to medical schools is to examine the potential for training physicians at sites most resembling the realistic practice of office-based medicine and to then take full advantage of the opportunity. The University of Oklahoma Tulsa Medical Center affords the faculty and students an innovative national model for cost conscious, relevant and transferable primary care medical education programs.