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Nonprint media as information resources: software and hardware.
Nonprint materials are rapidly becoming important information and learning resource materials for the health science library. Because of their long experience in organizing and utilizing informational materials, libraries represent highly appropriate repositories and sites for utilization of these new materials. Nonprint materials differ from printed materials in several ways, and this may account for the resistance of some librarians to dealing with them. One of the most important differences is that a machine must serve as mediator between the information and the user of nonprint materials. Also, the great variety of formats and machines can confuse the novice. The librarian must learn to deal with these differences in a creative way through a process of cooperation and collaboration with media and educational technology specialists.
Attitude↗
NEW CONCEPTS IN INDEXING.
Recent trends in indexing emphasize mechanical, not intellectual, developments. Mechanized operations have produced indexes in depth (1) of information on limited areas of science or (2) utilizing limited parameters for analysis. These indexes may include only citations or both useful data and citations of source literature. Both keyword-in-context and citation indexing seem to be passing the test of the marketplace. Mechanical equipment has also been successfully used to manipulate EAM cards for production of index copy. Information centers are increasingly being used as control devices in narrowly defined subject areas. Authors meet growing pressures to participate in information control work by preparing abstracts of their own articles. Mechanized image systems persist, although large systems are scarce and the many small systems may bring only limited relief for information control and retrieval problems. Experimentation and limited development continue on theory and technique of automatic indexing and abstracting.
Abstracting and Indexing↗
Clinical trials in pediatrics: The drug delivery dimension.
The medical and drug delivery devices needs of children are quite different and unique when compared to that of adults. The practice of off label use and modification of adult devices for pediatric use is widespread. Attendant risk and adverse effects of such practices are poorly documented. Lack of pediatric age appropriate drug formulations constitutes a major impediment to pediatric drug labeling. While novel drug delivery system can help circumvent some of the pediatric formulations issues, the inherent high cost of development, the small size of the pediatric market, and the ethical dilemma of enrolling children in non-therapeutic clinical trials continue to militate against pediatric drug labeling as well medical devices development. Over the past four decades, major breakthroughs and achievements in basic biomedical science have supplied unprecedented potential information for improving human health. The need for properly designed and conducted pediatric clinical trials along with new drug delivery devices has never been greater. However major issues, like slow transition of promising basic scientific discovery into clinical applications, heavy regulatory burden, limited pediatric pharmacology research infrastructure, spiraling costs of health care, disproportionate governmental funding of basic science research over clinical research, conflicts of interest, and shortage of properly trained clinical investigators and willing study subjects continue to constitute major impediments to pediatric clinical trials clinical trials. This paper will seek to review among other things, the current state of affairs and the structure of the pediatric academic research enterprise along with their relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. Impediments to successful implementation of clinical trials in the academic setting will also be closely examined.
Child↗
Prevention research at the National Institutes of Health.
Prevention of disease and disability and preservation of health are compelling strategies that are endorsed by the public, health care providers, and researchers. Despite this general acceptance of the concept, the "devil is in the details." What can and should be recommended with confidence to the public and health care providers regarding prevention and how can these recommendations be implemented? Prevention programs should be based on durable evidence of efficacy and should assure that the benefits of interventions and changes exceed the risks. The latter is particularly important for population-based primary prevention because many are influenced but fewer may benefit. Prevention research must provide the evidence of benefit and risk. The responsibility of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is to develop the scientific basis for prevention and to train prevention scientists who are responsible for creating this science base. The interpretation and dissemination of information from research studies are important and necessary aspects to assure translation of the science into personal and public health practices. The components of prevention research are investigation of the factors that place individuals and groups at risk of disease and disability; trials of the interventions that can modify this risk; and testing the approaches that can effectively implement beneficial changes. NIH is committed to addressing these endeavors, and its individual Institutes and Centers support a broad portfolio of prevention research. This paper will provide an overview of NIH support, the functional relationships of prevention research within NIH, and background information that can be useful to those interested in research.
Health Education↗
Where is psychology going? Structural fault lines revealed by psychologists' use of Kuhn.
Psychologists' appropriation of language and ideas from Thomas Kuhn's (1962, 1970b) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions reveals deep and contradictory concerns about truth, science, and the progress of the field. The author argues that psychologists, uncomfortably straddling natural and social science traditions, reference Structure for 2 reasons largely overlooked: first, because it presents an intermediate, naturalistic position in the war between relativist and rationalist views of scientific truth, and second, because it presents a psychologized model of scientific change. The author suggests that the history of this mutual influence--psychologists being influenced by Kuhn and vice versa--may usefully inform current practices of psychological science.
Forecasting↗
Science-specialty literatures their legendary contemporary polarity, based on the transmission of information between generations.
Each of fifteen scientific specialty fields was represented by a journal and the percent of "legendary" papers (those with at least one reference twenty-five or more years old) was calculated for each field. Non-legendary papers were designated as "contemporary". A historical divergence was uncovered when the highly legendary field, physiology, was compared with the highly contemporary field, microbiology, both fields being moderately contemporary in 1922. The legendary contemporary field characteristics of a field are useful for estimating libraries' requirements for back holdings and for appraising literature searches.
Bibliographies as Topic↗
AHMII: Agent to Help Microbial Information Integration.
Reproducibility is the key to science. Therefore, the fidelity of organisms, particularly type strains, used in molecular biology must be authenticated before embarking on a series of experiments. In the case of microbes the authentic strain can be obtained from a culture collection. However, tracking down a culture collection that possesses the strain can be an arduous task. With this in mind we have developed a one-stop search engine for bacteria, fungi, yeasts and cell lines that indicates which collections carry the strain of interest. The search agent is named Agent to Help Microbial Information Integration (AHMII) and the URL address is http://www.wdcm.org/AHMII/ahmii.html.
Bacteria↗
Tufts Health Sciences Database: lessons, issues, and opportunities.
The authors present their seven-year experience with developing the Tufts Health Sciences Database (Tufts HSDB), a database-driven information management system that combines the strengths of a digital library, content delivery tools, and curriculum management. They describe a future where online tools will provide a health sciences learning infrastructure that fosters the work of an increasingly interdisciplinary community of learners and allows content to be shared across institutions as well as with academic and commercial information repositories. The authors note the key partners in Tufts HSDB's success--the close collaboration of the health sciences library, educational affairs, and information technology staff. Tufts HSDB moved quickly from serving the medical curriculum to supporting Tufts' veterinary, dental, biomedical sciences, and nutrition schools, thus leveraging Tufts HSDB research and development with university-wide efforts including Internet2 middleware, wireless access, information security, and digital libraries. The authors identify major effects on teaching and learning, e.g., what is better taught with multimedia, how faculty preparation and student learning time can be more efficient and effective, how content integration for interdisciplinary teaching and learning is promoted, and how continuous improvement methods can be integrated. Also addressed are issues of faculty development, copyright and intellectual property, budgetary concerns, and coordinating IT across schools and hospitals. The authors describe Tufts' recent experience with sharing its infrastructure with other schools, and welcome inquiries from those wishing to explore national and international partnerships to create a truly open and integrated infrastructure for education across the health sciences.
Academic Medical Centers↗
Relationships between academic institutions and industry in the life sciences--an industry survey.
BACKGROUND: Despite growing acceptance of relationships between academia and industry in the life sciences, systematic, up-to-date information about their extent and the consequences for the parties involved remains scarce. We attempted to collect information about the prevalence, magnitude, commercial benefits, and potential risks of such relationships by surveying a representative sample of life-science companies in the United States to determine their relationships with academic institutions. METHODS: We collected data by telephone from May through September 1994 from senior executives of 210 life-science companies (of 306 companies surveyed; response rate, 69 percent). The sample contained all Fortune 500 companies in the fields of agriculture, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals; all international pharmaceutical companies with sales volumes similar to those of the Fortune 500 companies; and a random sample of non-Fortune 500 companies in the life sciences drawn from multiple commercial and noncommercial directories. Both the survey instrument and the survey methods resembled those of our 1984 study of 106 biotechnology companies, allowing us to assess the evolution of relationships between academia and industry over the past decade. RESULTS: Ninety percent of companies conducting life-science research in the United States had relationships involving the life sciences with an academic institution in 1994. Fifty-nine percent supported research in such institutions, providing an estimated $1.5 billion, or approximately 11.7 percent of all research-and-development funding received that year. The agreements with universities tended to be short-term and to involve small amounts, implying that most such relationships supported applied research or development. Over 60 percent of companies providing support for life-science research in universities had received patents, products, and sales as a result of those relationships. At the same time, the companies reported that their relationships with universities often included agreements to keep the results of research secret beyond the time needed to file a patent. From 1984 to 1994, the involvement of industry with academic institutions has increased, but the characteristics of the relationships have remained remarkably stable. CONCLUSIONS: After more than a decade of sustained interaction, universities and industries seem to have formed durable partnerships in the life sciences, although the relationships may pose greater threats to the openness of scientific communication than universities generally acknowledge. However, industrial support for university research is much smaller in amount than federal support, and companies are unlikely to be able to compensate for sizable federal cutbacks.
Biology↗
Developing an international consensus on DDT: a balance of environmental protection and disease control.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants provides a framework for international action on 12 persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals of global concern. While production and use of most of the listed chemicals will shortly be eliminated, there is widespread agreement that DDT will continue to be needed for disease vector control. Science played a key role in informing policy makers from developed and developing countries who drafted the DDT provision of the convention. This paper examines both the science and the politics that contributed to an international consensus on DDT.
Consensus↗
Consumer health information and the not-for-profit health agency.
Driven by increasing consumer demand, not-for-profit health agencies are responding by providing accurate, current information about the disorders they deal with. A case history of the information service at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the role of the health sciences librarian in the development of such information centers is described. The librarian, as information provider in the health agency setting, obtains professional advisory support, thus assuring delivery of the most responsible information to the constituency represented by the organization. An overview of the decision-making process for development of such a service is provided, including a description of the Cuadra STAR integrated online system. This system offers an infinite number of databases with immediate access to cross database searching of pertinent internal files and standard library records. A random survey of consumers, based on questioning repeat callers, has indicated an overwhelmingly positive response to this service.
Community Participation↗
Providing drug information to health professionals and consumers: role and responsibility of the pharmaceutical manufacturer.
There is no law requiring any pharmaceutical firm to maintain a drug information center for their products. The package insert that accompanies the product is all that is legally mandated. Roche and other drug manufacturers provide these services because they believe it is in their own best interest and that of the users of their products to do so. Pharmacists are currently involved in providing drug information in numerous settings, particularly health sciences schools, hospitals, colleges, federal agencies and associations, as well as corporations. To date, they have been frequent users of company drug information services. It is hoped this discussion will stimulate anyone in need of product information to contact the manufacturer. They have the most complete data available on their products and are generally willing to share their information with other drug information services, practitioners and, in a more limited way, consumers.
Drug Industry↗
Development of software tools at BioInformatics Centre (BIC) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
There is burgeoning volume of information and data arising from the rapid research and unprecedented progress in molecular biology. This has been particularly affected by the Human Genome Project which is trying to completely sequence three billion nucleotides of the human genome (1),(1a). Other genome sequencing projects are also contributing substantially to this exponential growth in the number of DNA nucleotides and proteins sequenced. The number of journals, reports and research papers and tools required for the analysis of these sequences has also increased. For this the life sciences today needs tools in information technology and computation to prevent degeneration of this data into an inchoate accretion of unconnected facts and figures. The recently formed BioInformatics Centre (BIC) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) provides access to various commonly used computational tools available over the World Wide Web (WWW)--using a uniform interface and easy access. We have also come up with a new database tool. BioKleisli, which allows you to interact with various geographically scattered, heterogeneous, structurally complex and constantly evolving data sources. This paper summarises the importance of network access and database integration to biomedical research and gives a glimpse of current research conducted at BIC.
Animals↗
Smoking policies in health science schools.
Although cigarette smoking has decreased significantly in the last 25 years in the United States, it continues to be a major contributor to morbidity and premature mortality. All 704 U.S.-accredited health science schools were surveyed to determine the existence and scope of smoking policies, smoking cessation programs, and related activities in these schools. The aim was to encourage health care-related organizations, institutions, and professionals to accept leadership roles in smoking prevention and cessation. Of 517 (73%) respondents, 339 reported some form of smoking policy; however, restriction was primarily prohibited in classrooms and elevators. Vending of cigarettes was reported in up to 17% of schools, and smoking-related illness complaints were reported by 31%. Smoking programs and information were minimally offered. Health science schools must be more aggressive in their approaches to dealing with smoking prevention and cessation, and assume a more proactive leadership role toward achieving a smoke-free environment.
Health Policy↗
Integrated Academic Information Management Systems (IAIMS). Part II. Planning and implementing integrated information services. Integration and outreach: Integrated Academic Information Management Systems (IAIMS) at Maryland.
The University of Maryland Campus for the Professions is now realizing the first benefits of integrated academic information management systems (IAIMS). With the support of the National Library of Medicine, the information Resources Management Division has joined with the Health Sciences Library to plan and to implement change. Within the information utility concept, networked data communications and end-user computing function as the means to integration. Plans call for new 370-based software to extend system capabilities. Mechanisms for outreach ensure that the potential of integration is realized. These mechanisms include technology assisted learning centers, informatics program development, special programs (geriatrics, hypertension pilot), and new applications (conferencing system, voice mail, videodisc development, interinstitutional resource sharing).
Academic Medical Centers↗
Biological sciences in Chile and South America, 1981-1991: a citationist perspective. Output data and specialty area impact trends.
The purpose of this report is to examine the biological sciences in Chile and South America in bibliographic terms -the number of papers each nation published from 1981-1991 and the number of citations to them in the international research literature. The database consists of 34,600 biological science papers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela in the 1981-1991 Science Citation Index files of the Institute for Scientific Information. Twelve specialty areas were selected to represent the biological sciences of special interest to Chile: animal sciences, biochemistry/biophysics, environmental sciences, experimental biology/medicine, immunology, microbiology/cell biology, molecular biology/genetics, neurosciences, pharmacology, physiology, plant sciences, and reproductive sciences. Data are reported on the number of papers in these fields, combined, by authors based in Chile and other South American nations. In addition, time-series trends in the impact (average citations per paper) of Chilean research relative to South America as a whole, overall and in each specialty, are presented and discussed.
Bibliometrics↗
The information revolution reaches pharmaceuticals: balancing innovation incentives, cost, and access in the post-genomics era.
Recent developments in genomics--the science that lies at the intersection of information technology and biotechnology--have ushered in a new era of pharmaceutical innovation. Professor Rai advances a theory of pharmaceutical development and allocation that takes account of these recent developments from the perspective of both patent law and health law--that is, from both the production side and the consumption side. She argues that genomics has the potential to make reforms that increase access to prescription drugs not only more necessary as a matter of equity but also more feasible as a matter of innovation policy. On the production end, so long as patent rights in upstream genomics research do not create transaction cost bottlenecks, genomics should, in the not-too-distant future, yield some reduction in drug research and development costs. If these costs reductions are realized, it may be possible to scale back certain features of the pharmaceutical patent regime that cause patent protection for pharmaceuticals to be significantly stronger than patent protection for other innovation. On the consumption side, genomics should make drug therapy even more important in treating illness. This reality, coupled with empirical data revealing that cost and access problems are particularly severe for those individuals who are not able to secure favorable price discrimination through insurance, militates in favor of government subsidies for such insurance. As contrasted with patent buyouts, the approach favored by many patent scholars, subsidies would take account of, and indeed capitalize on, the institutional realities of health care consumption. These subsidies should, however, be linked to insurance regulation that works to channel innovation in a cost-effective direction by requiring coverage of drugs that provide significant benefit relative to their cost.
Drug Industry↗