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PubMed1997

University hospital-based drug information service in a developing country.

In 1994, a clinically oriented drug information unit was established at the Tribhuvan University Teaching hospital in Nepal, with a view to providing objective and independent information through a question-answer service and bulletin production. During the first 2 years of its service, the unit received a total of 674 encounters, with an average of 28 inquiries a month (range 13-42): about three-quarters (74.5%) of all the inquiries were from prescribing doctors, including 38.0% from specialist clinicians: about a quarter (24.6%) were related to patient problems. Most (86.8%) of the responses were provided within 24 h of the inquiry. Frequently encountered queries related to: pharmacotherapy of a disease or drug indication(s), adverse drug reactions, drug doses, availability, drug use in pregnancy, ingredient(s) of a proprietary product, precautions for use and drug interactions. Details of the inquiries received and the responses provided by the unit are documented in a standard question-answer form. The unit also carries out proactive dissemination of information through the publication and free distribution of a bimonthly bulletin which includes brief referenced reviews on drug- and therapeutics-related topics. Nepal- or the local situation-related write-ups are now being increasingly included in the bulletin. A users' survey carried out at the end of 1-year service indicated that the question-answer and bulletin production activities of the unit were well-perceived by its target audiences, i.e. the prescribing doctors and postgraduate medical students. Although Medline on CD-ROM and original journal articles available in the hospital library were consulted for answering a few of the questions, the vast majority of them could be adequately handled by consulting a limited number of well-known drug information books. Our experience indicates that in developing countries such as Nepal, where funds are often severely limited, a small-scale drug information centre, serving a local area, can be usefully initiated by a few motivated staff with a modest collection of about a dozen key reference books.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention resources in Liberia: strategy and implications.

The purpose of this preliminary study was to assess the HIV/AIDS prevention needs, services, and resources in Liberia, including the readiness of local providers to conduct HIV/AIDS-related prevention programs based on a set of six key dimensions (prevention needs, knowledge, leadership, environment, risky behaviors, and resources). A valid self-administered qualitative-based health survey, based on a community readiness model, was utilized as the primary data collection source. A cross-sectional design that utilized a convenient sample of key informants such as health coordinators, program directors, and health administrator from both public and private HIV/AIDS-based organizations was used. Furthermore, an extensive review of the National Library of Medicine database of published articles from mid-1980 to 2002 was simultaneously conducted to gauge the extent of scientific publications on HIV/AIDS-related prevention services in Liberia. The findings from this study strongly suggest that Liberia is in a stage of vague awareness, as defined by the Tri-Ethnic Center community readiness framework, regarding HIV/AIDS-related activities, including a significant lack of HIV/AIDS-related resources and scientific publications. Accordingly, there is a critical need to acquire adequate resources and build capacity to implement effective HIV/AIDS-related prevention programming services in order to avert the negative public health consequences associated with HIV/AIDS, including the implementation of relevant evaluation and dissemination strategies. Most importantly, this model has the potential to be utilized in other resource-constraint settings, especially in the developing world, to assess prevention-related resources and programmatic readiness. This is the first published study to evaluate Liberia's HIV/AIDS prevention resources and to systematically document the extent and magnitude of the HIV/AIDS crises in the country.

HIV Infections↗
PubMed2002

Molecular and conventional analyses of microbial diversity in mesophilic and thermophilic upflow anaerobic sludge blanket granular sludges.

The microbial community structure of mesophilic (35 degrees C) and thermophilic (55 degrees C) methanogenic granular sludges was surveyed by using both cultivation-independent molecular approach and conventional cultivation technique in order to address the fundamental questions on the microbial populations, i.e. who are present, where they are located, and what they are doing there. To elucidate the microbial constituents within both sludges, we first constructed 16S ribosomal DNA clone libraries, and partial sequencing of the clones was conducted for phylogenetic analysis. In this experiment, we found a number of unidentifiable clones within the domain Bacteria as well as clones that were closely related with 16S rDNAs of cultured microbes. The unidentifiable clones accounted for approximately 60-70% of the total clones in both mesophilic and thermophilic libraries. 16S rRNA-targeted in situ hybridization combined with confocal laser scanning microscopy was subsequently employed to examine where the uncultured populations were located within sludge granules. Spatial organization of uncultured microbes was visualized in thin-sections of both types of granules using fluorescent oligonucleotide probes, which were designed based on the clone sequences of certain novel clusters. This resulted in the detection of two types of uncultured cells in specific locations inside the granules. Finally, the goal-directed conventional cultivation technique was employed to recover such uncultured anaerobes and uncover their physiology and functions. In this approach, a total of five new species of thermophilic microorganisms were isolated, including several types of syntrophs and a novel sugar-fermenting bacterium. In the previous molecular approaches, all of these isolates were suggested to be significant populations within thermophilic granular sludge, hence obtaining these isolates in pure culture decreased the fraction of unknown clones in the previous thermophilic clone library from 70% to 40%. In conclusion, these approaches successfully revealed biodiversity and spatial organization of microbes of interest in sludge granules, and enlarged the fundamental knowledge of microbial constituents functioning as significant populations in the UASB processes.

Bacteria, Anaerobic↗
PubMed2006

The University of Washington Health Sciences Library BioCommons: an evolving Northwest biomedical research information support infrastructure.

SETTING: The University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center BioCommons serves the bioinformatics needs of researchers at the university and in the vibrant for-profit and not-for-profit biomedical research sector in the Washington area and region. PROGRAM COMPONENTS: The BioCommons comprises services addressing internal University of Washington, not-for-profit, for-profit, and regional and global clientele. The BioCommons is maintained and administered by the BioResearcher Liaison Team. The BioCommons architecture provides a highly flexible structure for adapting to rapidly changing resources and needs. EVALUATION MECHANISMS: BioCommons uses Web-based pre- and post-course evaluations and periodic user surveys to assess service effectiveness. Recent surveys indicate substantial usage of BioCommons services and a high level of effectiveness and user satisfaction. NEXT STEPS/FUTURE DIRECTIONS: BioCommons is developing novel collaborative Web resources to distribute bioinformatics tools and is experimenting with Web-based competency training in bioinformation resource use.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed2006

Tall fescue genomic SSR markers: development and transferability across multiple grass species.

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are highly informative and widely used for genetic and breeding studies. Currently, a very limited number of SSR markers are available for tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and other forage grass species. A tall fescue genomic library enriched in (GA/CT)( n ) repeats was used to develop primer pairs (PPs) flanking SSRs and assess PP functionality across different forage, cereal, and turf grass species. A total of 511 PPs were developed and assessed for their utility in six different grass species. The parents and a subset of a tall fescue mapping population were used to select PPs for mapping in tall fescue. Survey results revealed that 48% (in rice) to 66% (in tall fescue) of the PPs produced clean SSR-type amplification products in different grass species. Polymorphism rates were higher in tall fescue (68%) compared to other species (46% ryegrass, 39% wheat, and 34% rice). A set of 194 SSR loci (38%) were identified which amplified across all six species. Loci segregating in the tall fescue mapping population were grouped as loci segregating from the female parent (HD28-56, 37%), the male parent (R43-64, 37%), and both parents (26%). Three percent of the loci that were polymorphic between parents were monomorphic in the pseudo F1 mapping population and the remaining loci segregated. Sequencing of amplified products obtained from PP NFFAG428 revealed a very high level of sequence similarity among the grass species under study. Our results are the first report of genomic SSR marker development from tall fescue and they demonstrate the usefulness of these SSRs for genetic linkage mapping in tall fescue and cross-species amplification.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Who needs evidence-based health care?

The vast amount of published material in clinical and biomedical sciences, and conflicting results on diagnostic and therapeutic procedures may introduce doubts in decision-making for patient care. Information retrieving skills and the critical appraisal of published literature, together with elaboration of practice guidelines based on epidemiological methodology, form the basis of the trend towards evidence-based health care, which aims to overcome these problems. A survey conducted by questionnaire at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center analyzed which types of information sources are considered most relevant and useful for patient care by a cross-section of physicians with varying degrees of experience. They considered review articles and meta-analyses extremely reliable for information purposes, while for practical patient-care purposes they tended to rely more on the opinions of peers and experts. As the requirements of evidence-based health care may influence the attitudes of clinicians to the published literature and its evaluation, they have implications for medical libraries and information centers. Specifically, information specialists will be called upon more and more to impart information-retrieval and critical appraisal skills to clinicians. The involvement of information specialists in information gathering and selection will provide added value to the expertise and knowledge of in-house experts for decision-making.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1971

A survey of information sources used by psychiatrists.

To study the information sources of psychiatrists, we sent a questionnaire to 400 randomly selected members of the American Psychiatric Association. Seventy-four percent responded. Journals and books (in that order) were the most important information sources. The average number of journals regularly read was 4.3. An average of 9.1 books had been read during the preceding twelve months. Twenty-eight percent of books were obtained through a library. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents use a medical library at least monthly. Important differences were found by type of practice. For example, academicians reported reading almost 19 books the preceding year; private practitioners, 6.4. We conclude that a major aim in the postgraduate education of psychiatrists should be instruction in the use of all information services. In addition, abstracts and an authoritative annual review should help psychiatrists keep up in areas outside their special interest.

Books↗
PubMed2024

Algorithms for the identification of prevalent diabetes in the All of Us Research Program validated using polygenic scores.

The All of Us Research Program (AoU) is an initiative designed to gather a comprehensive and diverse dataset from at least one million individuals across the USA. This longitudinal cohort study aims to advance research by providing a rich resource of genetic and phenotypic information, enabling powerful studies on the epidemiology and genetics of human diseases. One critical challenge to maximizing its use is the development of accurate algorithms that can efficiently and accurately identify well-defined disease and disease-free participants for case-control studies. This study aimed to develop and validate type 1 (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) algorithms in the AoU cohort, using electronic health record (EHR) and survey data. Building on existing algorithms and using diagnosis codes, medications, laboratory results, and survey data, we developed and implemented algorithms for identifying prevalent cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The first set of algorithms used only EHR data (EHR-only), and the second set used a combination of EHR and survey data (EHR+). A universal algorithm was also developed to identify individuals without diabetes. The performance of each algorithm was evaluated by testing its association with polygenic scores (PSs) for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. We demonstrated the feasibility and utility of using AoU EHR and survey data to employ diabetes algorithms. For T1D, the EHR-only algorithm showed a stronger association with T1D-PS compared to the EHR + algorithm (DeLong p-value = 3 × 10-5). For T2D, the EHR + algorithm outperformed both the EHR-only and the existing T2D definition provided in the AoU Phenotyping Library (DeLong p-values = 0.03 and 1 × 10-4, respectively), identifying 25.79% and 22.57% more cases, respectively, and providing an improved association with T2D PS. We provide a new validated type 1 diabetes definition and an improved type 2 diabetes definition in AoU, which are freely available for diabetes research in the AoU. These algorithms ensure consistency of diabetes definitions in the cohort, facilitating high-quality diabetes research.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Early language development and kindergarten phonological awareness as predictors of reading problems: from 3 to 11 years of age.

At the end of Grade 4, 481 children on the Danish island of Bornholm were screened using group tests for sentence reading. For 205 of these children, language and speech data from the speech therapist's screening at age 3 were available, as well as language comprehension and linguistic awareness data from the kindergarten year (age 6) and word decoding measures in Grades 2 and 3. A path analysis revealed significant paths from early language abilities at age 3 through expressive and receptive language in kindergarten via language awareness in kindergarten and word decoding in Grade 2 to sentence reading in Grades 3 and 4. The subgroup of children with parents who had reported a history of reading problems at school entry scored significantly below average on sentence reading in Grade 4. The subgroup of children that were reported to show a very low interest in books and story reading before age 5 also scored low on sentence reading in Grade 4. Statistically significant but weak relationships were also found between parents' educational background, parents' library visits, and number of books at home and the child's reading ability in Grade 4.

Awareness↗
PubMed2003

Information literacy skills of occupational therapy graduates: a survey of learning outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to assess whether recent graduates of the Ohio State University's Occupational Therapy division are applying information-seeking skills they learned as undergraduates, and to seek their advice on ways to improve information-literacy instruction for current and future occupational therapy students. METHOD: A survey was sent to a sample of graduates from 1995-2000. The results were entered into an SPSS database, and descriptive and inferential results were calculated to determine the information-seeking patterns of these recent graduates. RESULTS: A majority of the occupational therapy graduates who responded to the survey prefer to use information resources that are readily available to them, such as advice from their colleagues or supervisors (79%) and the Internet (69%), rather than the evidence available in the journal literature. Twenty-six percent (26%) of the graduates have searched MEDLINE or CINAHL at least once since they graduated. Formal library instruction sessions were considered useful by 42% of the graduates, and 22% of the graduates found informal contacts with librarians to be useful. CONCLUSIONS: Librarians and occupational therapy faculty must intensify their efforts to convey the importance of applying research information to patient care and inform students of ways to access this information after they graduate. In addition to teaching searching skills for MEDLINE and CINAHL, they must provide instruction on how to assess the quality of information they find on the Internet. Other findings suggest that occupational therapy practitioners need access to information systems in the clinical setting that synthesize the research in a way that is readily applicable to patient-care issues.

Computer Literacy↗
PubMed2003

High variability and disomic segregation of microsatellites in the octoploid Fragaria virginiana Mill. (Rosaceae).

The objectives of the present study were to develop microsatellite markers for the wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana, to evaluate segregation patterns of microsatellite alleles in this octoploid species, and assess genetic variability at microsatellite loci in a wild population. A genomic library was screened for microsatellite repeats and several PCR primers were designed and tested. We also tested the use of heterologous primers and found that F. virginiana primers amplified products in cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa Duch. and Fragaria chiloensis. Similarly, microsatellite loci developed from cultivated strawberry also successfully amplified F. virginiana loci. We investigated four microsatellite loci in detail, three developed from F. virginiana and one from cultivated strawberry. A survey of 100 individuals from a population of F. virginiana in Pennsylvania demonstrated high heterozygosities (H(e) or gene diversity ranged from 0.80 to 0.88 per locus) and allelic diversity (12-17 alleles per locus), but individual plants had no more than two alleles per locus. Segregation patterns in parents and progeny of two controlled crosses at these four loci were consistent with disomic Mendelian inheritance. Together these findings suggest that the genome of F. virginiana is "highly diploidized" and at least a subset of microsatellite loci can be treated as codominant, diploid markers. Significant heterozygote deficiencies were found at three of the four loci for hermaphroditic individuals but for only one locus among females in this gynodioecious species.

Alleles↗
PubMed2002

EST analysis in barley defines a unigene set comprising 4,000 genes.

We report the generation of 13,109 EST (Expressed Sequence Tag) sequences from barley as a first step towards the generation of a unigene set for this organism. Sequences were generated from three libraries encompassing 7,568 cDNA clones. Comparisons to nucleic acid and protein sequence databases enabled the assignment of putative functions to the mRNAs. The results of the searches against protein databases were parsed and built into a regularly updated database, available over the World Wide Web. The Stack_Pack clustering system has been applied to survey the level of redundancy, which was calculated to amount to 69%, thus we identified 4,000 different barley genes. To prove the usability of the results of the clustering process for further experiments, we subjected alignments with sequences similar to elongation factor 1 alpha to additional analysis. These sequences represented the largest group with identical putative functions (228 members) and clustering based on the analysis of 3; sequences subdivided the group into five different assemblies. Alignments of the consensus sequences facilitated the development of PCR assays suitable for genetic mapping of four of the different gene-family members, which reside on chromosomes 2H, 4H and 5H, thus demonstrating the suitability of the cluster-results as a basis for in-depth analyses of barley gene families.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

EST-based identification of genes expressed in the liver of adult seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax, L.).

The scarcity of the genomic resources for some fish species, in spite of their commercial interest, could retard the positive effects that modern biotechnology can offer to aquaculture industry. Then an effort should be made to reduce, as far as it concerns genomic resources, the gap that separates farming species from "model organisms". In this paper, we present an EST project in which we performed single pass sequencing on 1229 randomly selected clones from a sea bass cDNA library. The sequences are deposited in the NCBI database with the following accession numbers: from , from , from and from . EST cataloguing and profiling of seabass will set the basis for functional genomic research in this species, but will also serve for comparative and environmental genomics, for the identification of polymorphic markers useful, for example, to survey the disease resistance of fish, for the discovery of new molecular markers of exposure and for the production of micro- and macro-arrays.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Temporal trends in energy intake in the United States: an ecologic perspective.

BACKGROUND: The causes of recent increases in the prevalence of overweight in the United States are perplexing because national survey data do not show clear patterns of change in energy intake or expenditure. OBJECTIVE: Ecologic data regarding the quantities and types of foods and nutrients available in the United States between 1970 and 1998 were reviewed to provide an alternative perspective on trends in energy intake. DESIGN: Literature searches in agriculture, business, and medical library databases were conducted to identify data regarding the quantities and types of foods and nutrients available in the United States between 1970 and 1998. RESULTS: Per capita energy availability estimates from the US Department of Agriculture, US Food Supply Series, indicate that energy availability increased by 15% between 1970 and 1994. Data regarding trends in food purchasing and preparation suggest that Americans are eating more meals outside the home, relying more heavily on convenience foods, and consuming larger food portions. Americans appear, in some cases, to be selecting lower-fat foods over higher-fat alternatives. In addition, availability and sales of reduced-energy and reduced-fat products have increased. CONCLUSION: Consistent with trends in overweight, most of the ecologic data reviewed suggest that energy intake has increased over the past several decades and is likely a major contributor to increases in average body weight.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMed2004

Improving the quality of health care: using international collaboration to inform guideline programmes by founding the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N).

Clinical practice guidelines are regarded as powerful tools to achieve effective health care. Although many countries have built up experience in the development, appraisal, and implementation of guidelines, until recently there has been no established forum for collaboration at an international level. As a result, in different countries seeking similar goals and using similar strategies, efforts have been unnecessarily duplicated and opportunities for harmonisation lost because of the lack of a supporting organisational framework. This triggered a proposal in 2001 for an international guidelines network built on existing partnerships. A baseline survey confirmed a strong demand for such an entity. A multinational group of guideline experts initiated the development of a non-profit organisation aimed at promotion of systematic guideline development and implementation. The Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) was founded in November 2002. One year later the Network released the International Guideline Library, a searchable database which now contains more than 2000 guideline resources including published guidelines, guidelines under development, "guidelines for guidelines", training materials, and patient information tools. By June 2004, 52 organisations from 27 countries had joined the network including institutions from Oceania, North America, and Europe, and WHO. This paper describes the process that led to the foundation of the G-I-N, its characteristics, prime activities, and ideas on future projects and collaboration.

Humans↗
PubMed2006

Large-scale trends in the evolution of gene structures within 11 animal genomes.

We have used the annotations of six animal genomes (Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Ciona intestinalis, Drosophila melanogaster, Anopheles gambiae, and Caenorhabditis elegans) together with the sequences of five unannotated Drosophila genomes to survey changes in protein sequence and gene structure over a variety of timescales--from the less than 5 million years since the divergence of D. simulans and D. melanogaster to the more than 500 million years that have elapsed since the Cambrian explosion. To do so, we have developed a new open-source software library called CGL (for "Comparative Genomics Library"). Our results demonstrate that change in intron-exon structure is gradual, clock-like, and largely independent of coding-sequence evolution. This means that genome annotations can be used in new ways to inform, corroborate, and test conclusions drawn from comparative genomics analyses that are based upon protein and nucleotide sequence similarities.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Evaluating the options for developing databases to support research-based medicine at the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination.

The paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey and user interface review group experiments to determine the value and ease of use of the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) and the NHS Economic Evaluations Database (NEED). The results are interpreted with other recent studies of the use of electronic databases, including the NHS Research Register User Requirements Specification. The study found that most frequent users of the DARE database tend to use the CD-ROM version. Librarians were found to have the greatest awareness of the databases, with relatively low levels of use by operational NHS Staff. Untrained users found the online databases difficult to access and had erroneous perceptions of the database content which were only realised when queries returned unexpected answers. Experienced users of online information systems tended to want more sophisticated search facilities than inexperienced users. Nearly all users in the review groups wanted to access the databases in conjunction with other information sources, such as the Cochrane Library, Medline and the ACP Journal Club, highlighting the need for cross organisational strategies for the dissemination of research-based information.

CD-ROM↗
PubMed2006

Consumer health information for pet owners.

OBJECTIVE: The author studied health information available for veterinary consumers both in print and online. METHODS: WorldCat was searched using a list of fifty-three Library of Congress subject headings relevant to veterinary consumer health to identify print resources for review. Identified items were then collected and assessed for authority, comprehensiveness of coverage, validity, and other criteria outlined by Rees. An in-depth assessment of the information available for feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) and canine congestive heart failure (CHF) was then conducted to examine the availability and quality of information available for specific diseases and disorders. A reading grade level was assigned for each passage using the Flesch-Kincaid formula in the Readability Statistics feature in Microsoft Word. RESULTS/DISCUSSION: A total of 187 books and 7 Websites were identified and evaluated. More than half of the passages relating to FLUTD and CHF were written above an 11th-grade reading level. A limited quantity of quality, in-depth resources that address specific diseases and disorders and are written at an appropriate reading level for consumers is available. CONCLUSION: The library's role is to facilitate access to the limited number of quality consumer health resources that are available to veterinary consumers.

Abstracting and Indexing↗