Put some time and effort to the response, at least 100 words 5-7 sentences for each response.

Post 1: (James)

Traveling through a patient's bloodstream would pose many risks to those in the submarine. One of these threats would be the neutrophils that show up first and in great numbers. To typical pathogens, these leukocytes can become overwhelming and can destroy weak invaders. As a highly advanced submarine, it would be startling to encounter them, but we would not have a large problem. Our biggest threat would be the monocytes. Macrophages floating through the bloodstream would easily be able to consume our vessel with one motion. We wouldn't have to worry about the killer T cells since we would not be in the patient for long enough. But if we have to go in a second time, we would quickly become a casualty as the memory cells have already made antibodies against us.

The attack by the monocytes was fast and vicious. The attacker was large and appeared to have no granules. All else we could see was the embodiment of endocytosis as it attempted to gobble us up. We hastily evaded its attacks and continued on our way to the brain.

Other than defensive cells, the immune system would stop us from reaching the brain by antibodies and a system called the blood-brain barrier. To evade the antibodies, the outside of our vessel would be completely smooth as to prevent the antibodies from latching on to us. To get through the blood-brain barrier we would shrink ourselves down to an even more minute scale to slip through the astrocytes and capillaries.

Post 2: (Jackie)

I believe the blood cell that would pose the greatest threat would be the lymphocytes cell. It is composed of the B-cell, T-cell, and natural killer cell. The B-cell destroys foreign pathogens by creating antibodies and binding to the pathogens. The T-cell is stimulated by antigens, it kills virus-infected cells, and it also acts to control immune reactions. When a cell has become infected or cancerous it loses its signal that it shouldn't be killed, therefore the natural killer cell will attack to kill that cell. Because of all of these functions of the lymphocyte cell as soon as it detected the miniaturized submarine, detect it as a foreign object, it will attack.

Another problem to overcome would be the blood clot itself. The clotting is done by the coagulation of the blood which means the clot would be a sticky substance making it very tricky for a miniaturized submarine not to get stuck to it. You also asked how us ladies would feel being the only woman onboard. I think it would mean extra pressure to prove that as a woman I have the same ability to solve, the strength for whatever may arise can be level-headed, not let fear cloud my judgment.

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Post 3: (Mary)

1.) For this discussion, I selected the company (that honestly needs more of a present in our state of Florida) known as Whole Foods Market

2.) https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/viewer?action=view&cik...#

3.) I am interested in this company because I purchase my food from places like Whole Foods, Sprouts and Nutrition S'Mart for vegetarian/vegan food -- it is difficult to acquire a wide variety of plant-based food that ACTUALLY tastes good (Publix seems to only carry Morningstar which is a rubbish line of vegan food).

4.) $ in millions

2017: $322/$1,355 = 0.237 or 0.24

2016: $351/$1,341 = 0.26

5.) This is actually a shocking reveal for me because I have heard that veganism is the fastest growing trend worldwide and I would expect Whole Foods to then gain more customers with the appeal of vegan food... but perhaps Sprouts, a somewhat smaller company, is gaining in on the competition?

Post 4: (Mark)

James Hallsted Module 7 Discussion.

1. Publix

2. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/viewer?action=view&cik...

3. I am interested in Publix because I work for them.

4. Cash Ratio = ( Cash + Cash equivalents) / Total current liabilities.

= $579,925,000 / 1,754,706,000

= .33

5. What I learned is that this is not a bad cash ratio. The company listed $1,876,519,000 in Inventories which is a higher performing asset than cash. It also listed $915,579,000 in short term investments. This too, although not a cash equivalent, is still fairly liquid and is a strong performing asset category that will generate more profits than cash. The company is not holding too much cash, but rather is investing in areas which will have a higher rate of return than cash.

Post 5: (Sandra)

The U.S. Healthcare system, as described in our readings, has much to be desired. Its strengths appear limited and its weaknesses many, given its high cost of $9,255 per person and that approximately 16% of Americans were uninsured in 2014. (Niles, 2016) The implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 was intended to lower cost and provide greater insurance coverage and access to healthcare for all Americans. However, the U.S. Congress repealed the insurance mandate in 2017 and the impact on insurance cost is unknown. Cost containment continues to be the most significant problem with U.S. Healthcare. When compared to other developed countries, the U.S. spends the most, 17.5% of GDP, yet has a higher disease, infant mortality, and obesity rates, as well as lower life expectancy (Niles, 2016, pp. 58, 62).

A recent study published in JAMA (Papanicolas, 2018) highlighted that while the United States spends approximately twice as much as other high-income countries on medical care, utilization rates were largely like those in other nations. This suggests that the high-cost drivers were administrative costs in the U.S. system rather than the system being wasteful or over-utilized. A strength of the U.S. system is its ability to drive admirative costs down and innovate. Federal government initiatives to contain cost and reward performance are having a positive impact on lowering cost and increasing access to care. Best practices are being shared among providers. Delivery mechanisms are changing as technology is implemented and companies merge or find new ways to provide preventive health education and care. Electronic health information exchanges allow for easier integrated patient care. Hospital systems are implementing outreach programs to educate their local populations about the dangers of obesity, smoking, proper nutrition and exercise. While not perfect, the U.S. healthcare system does provide patients with high-quality care.

References

Niles, J. (2016). Basics of the U.S. Health Care System. (3rd, Ed.) Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Papanicolas, I. W. (2018, March). Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1024-1036.

Post 6: (Jennifer)

There is no doubt that our healthcare system in the United States needs improving. After reading chapters one through three of Basics of the U.S. Health Care System, I gained greater insight on the pros and cons of our country’s system. Such as anything, there’s always ways to improve. I will say, the wiliness to improve, is one of our country’s strengths. Unfortunately, wanting to fix something is not enough and that’s one of our downfalls; our government has a diverse amount of people whom may have to be in accordance with the bill in order to pass it. Most often than not, we’ll see politicians being supported by companies who are against certain laws and these politicians will vote for or against. It’s a conflict of interest but it most certainly occurs.

To begin, we’ll start off with a few strengths of our health system. As stated by Niles (2016), the U.S. finished year 2015 with a rate of 9.1% uninsured under 65 years old, which is an all-time low for the United States (p. 1920). According to Niles (2016), most of the uninsured rate is due to the Affordable Care Act. It is said that the rate is expected to decline to 23 million by 2023 which is great. This indicates that insurance will be more affordable to folks and in addition there will hopefully continue to be services to Medicaid for low income families who need it, and Medicare for those over age 65. A lower uninsured rate also mean healthier families nationwide (p. 1955). Another great strength is our ability to make jobs. It is estimated that 10 million jobs will be part of the United States between the years, 2014 to 2024 as indicated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (p. 1921).

The problem areas of our healthcare system will be complex. There are quite a few that stood out while reading in the textbook and one that stood out while reading “Rural Hospitals Innovate to Meet New Health Care Challenges” by Rita Pyrillis. In the text, I learned that the United States is one of the only first world countries whom doesn’t offer universal healthcare to its citizens. In countries such as United Kingdom, healthcare is free to the citizens (p. 1957). Healthcare expenditures are estimated to be aprozimately 17.5 percent of the GDP. The U.S. is spending so much money on its healthcare and according to the Niles, we still rank low in healthcare than in countries who spend less than ours (p.1955). Lastly, according to Pyrillis (2015), rural hospitals are having a difficult time staying in business. Rural hospitals are necessary for those who don’t have access to the main hospitals in case of an emergency. Since the hospitals don’t have much business, they are having to close some down since doctors aren’t attracted to the area and the pain is much lower than in urban neighborhoods.

Identifying issues is the first step, raising awareness is a major help when wanting to change systems.

Niles, N. J. (2018). Basics of the U.S. health care system (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Pyrillis, R. (2015, January 13). Rural Hospitals Innovate to Meet New Health Care Challenges. Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://www.hhnmag.com/articles/3756-rural-hospita...

Post 7: (Professor James) (please respond a Special response to the professor, like thanks for his service and his patient of learning. You know good things)

Hello and welcome to the class. My name is Mr. James William. I hold an MBA in Healthcare Management from Liberty University and a baccalaureate degree in Organizational Leadership from St. Petersburg College. I am currently the Student Support Manager at St. Petersburg College's Allstate Center, but prior to that I spent 11 years working in the health care industry in various roles from Paramedic to Operations Manager for a military troop medical center. I served in the US Army as a Healthcare Specialist (Combat Medic) where I earned my Combat Medic Badge amongst other recognitions.

I am currently working on my second graduate degree. Hopefully, by this time next year, I will have completed a Master of Arts in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

I am originally from Texas and am still a big time University of Texas Longhorns fan. I also enjoy my Tampa Bay teams and attend Rays and Lightning games frequently.

I look forward to meeting each of you throughout this course!