Annotated Bibliography: The Reference Desk: Grand Idea or Gone Down the River?

This bibliography is from a panel presentation at the 2017 ACL Conference. The goal of this panel was to explore different rationales or sets of values that illustrated the continuation of the reference desk and reference service as essential to the success of the academic community. We discovered that “what to do with reference” is far from a settled question. We discovered passionate arguments, diverse models, and an array of data. In this current stage of figuring out the value of academic libraries to the campus as a whole and to students in particular, it seemed that there was limited hard data connecting Reference services to how they met students’ needs. How do we make ourselves valuable, important, essential, and useful? Maybe we need to change our model? If so, how do we examine ourselves and our environment appropriately to make this happen? What factors should we examine? Which ones must we keep? What things can we discard or change? When students come to seek assistance, they generally need the short, instant, and personal help, without having to attend a whole training session or class. Individual and personalized guidance for their immediate need is the most important factor for them. How do libraries provide that

Frankofoński postkolonializm z Europy Wschodniej

Artykuł opiera się na ostatnich badaniach, w których toczy się spór dotyczący analizowania literatury pochodzącej z nazwanej tak przez Davida Chioniego Moore‟a „sfery postsowieckiej” pod kątem teorii postkolonialnej. Dowodzi, że uznanie krajów byłej sowieckiej strefy wpływów za posiadające cechy wspólne z byłymi koloniami francuskimi może przynieść twórcze rezultaty. Możliwe, że zainteresowanie studiów literaturoznawczych relacjami pomiędzy Pierwszym a Trzecim Światem pozostawiło lukę w postaci Drugiego Świata, a przynajmniej – pisarzy frankofońskich. Możemy zacząć ją wypełniać, studiując teksty po francusku napisane przez twórców pochodzących z obszarów byłej dominacji sowieckiej. Niniejszy artykuł bada fikcjonalne i teoretyczne prace Julii Kristevej, Agoty Kristof, Milana Kundery, Andreï Makinego i Briny Svit. Ich spojrzenie wykorzystywane jest do zbadania zakresu, w jakim intelektualiści z małych krajów Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej oceniają swoją pozycję jako „postkolonialną” – politycznie i językowo podobną do sytuacji frankofońskich naukowców i pisarzy z Maghrebu, Afryki Subsaharyjskiej lub Antyli.This article draws from recent research that makes an argument for studying literature from what David Chioni Moore calls „the post-Soviet sphere‟ under the rubric of postcolonial theory. It contends that conceiving of countries formerly under Soviet rule as having some characteristics in common with countries once under French colonial rule can yield productive results. It is quite possible that the concentration in literary studies on relations between the First and Third Worlds has left a void with respect to the Second World, at least with respect to francophone writers. We can begin to fill this void by studying texts in French by writers from places formerly under Soviet domination, and this article examines the fictional and theoretical works of Julia Kristeva, Agota Kristof, Milan Kundera, Andreï Makine and Brina Svit. Their insights are used here to explore the extent to which intellectuals from small Central and Eastern European countries find themselves in a „postcolonial‟ position – politically and linguistically – similar to that of francophone scholars and writers from the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa or the Antilles

Early diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection: magnitude of benefit on short-term mortality is greatest in older adults.

BACKGROUND: the number and proportion of adults diagnosed with HIV infection aged 50 years and older has risen. This study compares the effect of CD4 counts and anti-retroviral therapy (ART) on mortality rates among adults diagnosed aged ≥50 with those diagnosed at a younger age. METHODS: retrospective cohort analysis of national surveillance reports of HIV-diagnosed adults (15 years and older) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The relative impacts of age, CD4 count at diagnosis and ART on mortality were determined in Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: among 63,805 adults diagnosed with HIV between 2000 and 2009, 9% (5,683) were aged ≥50 years; older persons were more likely to be white, heterosexual and present with a CD4 count <200 cells/mm(3) (48 versus 32% P < 0.01) and AIDS at diagnosis (19 versus 9%, P < 0.01). One-year mortality was higher in older adults (10 versus 3%, P < 0.01) and especially in those diagnosed with a CD4 <200 cells/mm(3) left untreated (46 versus 15%, P < 0.01). While the relative mortality risk reduction from ART initiation at CD <200 cells/mm(3) was similar in both age groups, the absolute risk difference was higher among older adults (40 versus 12% fewer deaths) such that the number needed to treat older adults to prevent one death was two compared with eight among younger adults. CONCLUSIONS: the magnitude of benefit from ART is greater in older adults than younger adults. Older persons should be considered as a target for HIV testing. Coupled with prompt treatment, earlier diagnosis is likely to reduce substantially deaths in this group

Intralocus Sexual Conflict Diminishes the Benefits of Sexual Selection

Evolution based on the benefits of acquiring “good genes” in sexual selection is only plausible with the reliable transmission of genetic quality from one generation to the next. Accumulating evidence suggests that sexually antagonistic (SA) genes with opposite effects on Darwinian fitness when expressed in the two different sexes may be common in animals and plants. These SA genes should weaken the potential indirect genetic benefits of sexual selection by reducing the fitness of opposite-sex progeny from high-fitness parents. Here we use hemiclonal analysis in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to directly measure the inheritance of fitness across generations, over the entire genome. We show that any potential genetic benefits of sexual selection in this system are not merely weakened, but completely reversed over one generation because high-fitness males produce low-fitness daughters and high-fitness mothers produce low-fitness sons. Moreover, male fitness was not inherited by sons, consistent with both theory and recent evidence connecting this form of SA variation with the X chromosome. This inheritance pattern may help to explain how genetic variation for fitness is sustained despite strong sexual selection, and why the ZW sex chromosome system found in birds and butterflies appears to foster the evolution of extreme secondary sexual characters in males

Misreporting of Patient Outcomes in the South African National HIV Treatment Database: Consequences for Programme Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation.

Background: Monitoring progress toward global treatment targets using HIV programme data in sub-Saharan Africa has proved challenging. Constraints in routine data collection and reporting can lead to biased estimates of treatment outcomes. In 2010, South Africa introduced an electronic patient monitoring system for HIV patient visits, TIER.Net. We compare treatment status and outcomes recorded in TIER.Net to outcomes ascertained through detailed record review and tracing in order to assess discrepancies and biases in retention and mortality rates. Methods: The Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in north-eastern South Africa is served by eight public primary healthcare facilities. Since 2014, HIV patient visits are logged electronically at these clinics, with patient records individually linked to their HDSS record. These data were used to generate a list of patients >90 days late for their last scheduled clinic visit and deemed lost to follow-up (LTFU). Patient outcomes were ascertained through a review of the TIER.Net database, physical patient files, registers kept by two non-government organizations that assist with patient tracing, cross-referencing with the HDSS records and supplementary physical tracing. Descriptive statistics were used to compare patient outcomes reported in TIER.Net to their outcome ascertained in the study. Results: Of 1,074 patients that were eligible for this analysis, TIER.Net classified 533 (49.6%) as LTFU, 80 (7.4%) as deceased, and 186 (17.3%) as transferred out. TIER.Net misclassified 36% of patient outcomes, overestimating LTFU and underestimating mortality and transfers out. TIER.Net missed 40% of deaths and 43% of transfers out. Patients categorized as LTFU in TIER.Net were more likely to be misclassified than patients classified as deceased or transferred out. Discussion: Misclassification of patient outcomes in TIER.Net has consequences for programme forecasting, monitoring and evaluation. Undocumented transfers accounted for the majority of misclassification, suggesting that the transfer process between clinics should be improved for more accurate reporting of patient outcomes. Processes that lead to correct classification of patient status including patient tracing should be strengthened. Clinics could cross-check all available data sources before classifying patients as LTFU. Programme evaluators and modelers could consider using correction factors to improve estimates of outcomes from TIER.Net

The City Lost and Found : nouvelles perspectives sur la représentation urbaine et l’activisme entre 1960 et 1980

Dans les années 1960 et 1970, la ville était en crise. Les bâtiments étaient en proie aux flammes. Des autoroutes gigantesques menaçaient d’éventrer des quartiers animés. Les citoyens descendaient dans la rue pour manifester. Pour résumer la situation, l’avenir de la ville semblait plus qu’incertain. Que l’on consulte les articles du magazine Life ou les rapports municipaux, ces décennies ont été marquées par l’essor de forces menaçant de détruire le tissu social et physique des villes améric..

Defining alcohol-related phenotypes in humans. The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a disease that runs in families and results at least in part from genetic risk factors. The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) is a Federally funded effort to identify and characterize those genetic factors. The study involves more than 1,000 alcoholic subjects and their families, with researchers conducting comprehensive psychological, physiological, electrophysiological, and genetic analyses of the participants. These analyses have identified several traits, or phenotypes, that appear to be genetically determined, such as the presence of alcohol dependence, the level of response to alcohol, the presence of coexisting depression, or the maximum number of drinks a person consumes per occasion. Genetic analyses have identified regions on several chromosomes that are associated with these phenotypes and need to be studied further