Critical librarianship in health sciences libraries: An introduction

The Medical Library Association recently announced its commitment to diversity and inclusion. While this is a positive start, critical librarianship takes the crucial concepts of diversity and inclusion one step further by advocating for social justice action and the dismantling of oppressive institutional structures, including white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. Critical librarianship takes many forms but, at its root, is focused on interrogating and disrupting inequitable systems, including changing racist cataloging rules, creating student-driven information literacy instruction, supporting inclusive and ethical publishing models, and rejecting the notion of libraries as neutral spaces. This article presents examples of the application of critical practice in libraries as well as ideas for applying critical librarianship to the health sciences

Patient characteristics associated with objective measures of digital health tool use in the United States: A literature review.

The study sought to determine which patient characteristics are associated with the use of patient-facing digital health tools in the United States.We conducted a literature review of studies of patient-facing digital health tools that objectively evaluated use (eg, system/platform data representing frequency of use) by patient characteristics (eg, age, race or ethnicity, income, digital literacy). We included any type of patient-facing digital health tool except patient portals. We reran results using the subset of studies identified as having robust methodology to detect differences in patient characteristics.We included 29 studies; 13 had robust methodology. Most studies examined smartphone apps and text messaging programs for chronic disease management and evaluated only 1-3 patient characteristics, primarily age and gender. Overall, the majority of studies found no association between patient characteristics and use. Among the subset with robust methodology, white race and poor health status appeared to be associated with higher use.Given the substantial investment in digital health tools, it is surprising how little is known about the types of patients who use them. Strategies that engage diverse populations in digital health tool use appear to be needed.Few studies evaluate objective measures of digital health tool use by patient characteristics, and those that do include a narrow range of characteristics. Evidence suggests that resources and need drive use

Network modelling for road-based fecal sludge management

Improvements in the collection and treatment of sewage are critical to reduce health and environmental hazards in rapidly urbanising informal settlements. Where sewerage infrastructure is not available, road-based faecal sludge management options are often the only alternative. However, the costs of faecal sludge transportation are often a barrier to its implementation and operation and thus it is desirable to optimise travel time from source to treatment to reduce costs. This paper presents a novel technique, employing spatial network analysis, to optimise the spatiotopological configuration of a road-based faecal sludge transportation network on the basis of travel time. Using crowd-sourced spatial data for the Kibera settlement and the surrounding city, Nairobi, a proof-of-concept network model was created simulating the transport of waste from the 158 public toilets within Kibera. The toilets are serviced by vacuum pump trucks which move faecal sludge to a transfer station, and from there a tanker transports waste to a treatment plant. The model was used to evaluate the efficiency of different network configurations, based on transportation time. The results show that the location of the transfer station is a critical factor in network optimisation, demonstrating the utility of network analysis as part of the sanitation planning process

Creating value through outreach in a hospital setting: a case study from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Library

Background: Hospital libraries must often demonstrate value to users who are not aware of their services. Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) Library aimed to increase patient and staff awareness using innovative outreach methods through our involvement in a Summerfest health fair and a National Medical Librarians Month event. Case Presentation: At 2 hospital events, ZSFG Library staff and volunteers used a gameshow-style approach involving active learning to teach attendees about library resources and services. Across events, there were 300 attendees and 167 in-depth discussions of library resources with the librarian (i.e., meaningful interactions), including 54 demonstrations. After implementing these new outreach efforts, the number of attendees increased by over 240% and meaningful interactions increased by 1,300% from the previous year’s event. Our value analysis indicates an overall positive effect with 14 minutes of total library staff time spent per meaningful interaction. Conclusions: The use of a spinnable wheel for asking participants library-related questions and a television monitor to demonstrate library resources greatly increased the number of attendees and fostered new staff connections, resulting in several in-service trainings and search requests. Future recommendations for outreach events include enlisting the help of volunteers to record attendance data, creating materials in multiple languages, and integrating library involvement into existing hospital events. These recommendations may decrease the amount of library staff time spent in return for each meaningful interaction, creating increased value for less time

Evidence-based information needs of public health workers: a systematized review

Objective: This study assessed public health workers’ evidence-based information needs, based on a review of the literature using a systematic search strategy. This study is based on a thesis project conducted as part of the author’s master’s in public health coursework and is considered a systematized review. Methods: Four databases were searched for English-language articles published between 2005 and 2015: PubMed, Web of Science, Library Literature & Information Science Index, and Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA). Studies were excluded if there was no primary data collection, the population in the study was not identified as public health workers, “information” was not defined according to specific criteria, or evidence-based information and public health workers were not the major focus. Studies included in the final analysis underwent data extraction, critical appraisal using CASP and STROBE checklists, and thematic analysis. Results: Thirty-three research studies were identified in the search, including twenty-one using quantitative methods and twelve using qualitative methods. Critical appraisal revealed many potential biases, particularly in the validity of research. Thematic analysis revealed five common themes: (1) definition of information needs, (2) current information-seeking behavior and use, (3) definition of evidence-based information, (4) barriers to information needs, and (5) public health–specific issues. Conclusions: Recommendations are given for how librarians can increase the use of evidence-based information in public health research, practice, and policy making. Further research using rigorous methodologies and transparent reporting practices in a wider variety of settings is needed to further evaluate public health workers’ information needs

The Emergence of Spanking Among a Representative Sample of Children Under 2 Years of Age in North Carolina

Spanking is common in the United States but less common in many European countries in which it has been outlawed. Being spanked has been associated with child abuse victimization, poor self-esteem, impaired parent–child relationships, and child and adult mental health, substance abuse, and behavioral consequences. Being spanked as a child has also been shown to increase the likelihood of abusing one's own children or spouse as an adult. Spanking of very young children less than two is almost never recommended even among experts that consider spanking as reasonable in some circumstances. Using a cross-sectional anonymous telephone survey, we describe spanking rates among a representative sample of North Carolina mothers of children less than 2 years old and the association of spanking with demographic characteristics. A substantial proportion of mothers admit to spanking their very young children. The rate of spanking in the last year among all maternal respondents was 30%. Over 5% of the mothers of 3-month olds reported spanking. Over 70% of the mothers of 23-month olds reported spanking. Increased spanking was associated with higher age of the child and lower maternal age. With every month of age, a child had 27% increased odds of being spanked. Early spanking has been shown to be associated with poor cognitive development in early childhood. Further, early trauma has been shown to have significant effects on the early developing brain. It is therefore critical that health and human services professionals address the risk of corporal punishment as a method of discipline early in the life of the child. The spanking of very young children may be an appropriate locus for policy and legislative debates regarding corporal punishment

Fast Proton Decay

We consider proton decay in the testable flipped SU(5) X U(1)_X models with TeV-scale vector-like particles which can be realized in free fermionic string constructions and F-theory model building. We significantly improve upon the determination of light threshold effects from prior studies, and perform a fresh calculation of the second loop for the process p \to e^+ \pi^0 from the heavy gauge boson exchange. The cumulative result is comparatively fast proton decay, with a majority of the most plausible parameter space within reach of the future Hyper-Kamiokande and DUSEL experiments. Because the TeV-scale vector-like particles can be produced at the LHC, we predict a strong correlation between the most exciting particle physics experiments of the coming decade.Comment: RevTex4, 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, comments added, version to appear in PL

Differences of size and shape of active and inactive X-chromosome domains in human amniotic fluid cell nuclei

It is a widely held belief that the inactive X-chromosome (Xi) in female cell nuclei is strongly condensed as compared to the largely decondensed active X-chromosome (Xa). We have reconsidered this problem and painted X-chromosome domains in nuclei of subconfluent, female and male human amniotic fluid cell cultures (46, XX and 46, XY) by chromosomal in situ suppression (CISS) hybridization with biotinylated human X-chromosome specific library DNA. FITC-conjugated avidin was used for probe detection and nuclei were counterstained with propidium iodide (PI). The shape of these nuclei resembling flat ellipsoids or elliptical cylinders makes them suitable for both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) analyses. 2D analyses of Xi- and Xa-domains were performed in 34 female cell nuclei by outlining of the painted domains using a camera lucida. Identification of the sex chromatin body in DAPI-stained nuclei prior to CISS-hybridization was confirmed by its colocalization with one of the two painted X-domains. In 31 of the 34 nuclei the area AXi for the inactive X-domain was smaller than the area AXa for the active domain (mean ratio AXa/AXi = 1.9 ± 0.8 SD, range 1.0-4.3). The signed rank test showed a highly significant (P r(Xi) demonstrating a generally more elongated structure of Xa. For 3D analysis a confocal scanning laser fluorescence microscope (CSLFM) was used. Ten to 20 light optical sections (PI-image, FITC-image) were registered with equal spacings (approx. 0.4 m). A thresholding procedure was applied to determine the PI-labeled nuclear and FITC-labeled X-domain areas in each section. Estimated slice volumes were used to compute total nuclear and X-domain volumes. In a series of 35 female nuclei most domains extended from the top to the bottom nuclear sections. The larger of the two X-chromosome domains comprised (3.7 ± 1.7 S.D.)% of the nuclear volume. A mean ratio of 1.2 ± 0.2 SD (range 1.1-2.3) was found for the volumes of the larger and the smaller X-domains in these female nuclei. In a series of 27 male amniotic fluid cell nuclei the relative X-chromosome domain volume comprised (4.0 ± 2.6 S.D.)%. These findings indicate that differences in the 3D expansion of active and inactive X-chromosome domains are less pronounced than previously thought. A current model suggests that chromosome domains consist of a compact core surrounded by loosely coiled outer chromatin fiber loops. The latter fraction may be considerably larger in Xa- as compared to Xi-domains. We suggest that the interactive outlining procedure used in the 2D analyses included the loosely structured domain periphery more accurately, while the threshold algorithm applied to light optical sections delineated the more compact core of the domains, leading to smaller and more similar volume estimates of Xa and Xi. Present limitations of nuclear and chromosome domain volume measurements using confocal laser scanning microscopy are discussed

The Golden Strip of Correlated Top Quark, Gaugino, and Vectorlike Mass In No-Scale, No-Parameter F-SU(5)

We systematically establish the hyper-surface within the tan(beta), top quark mass m_t, universal gaugino mass M_1/2, and vectorlike mass M_V parameter volume which is compatible with the application of the No-Scale Supergravity boundary conditions, particularly the vanishing of the Higgs bilinear soft term B_mu, near to the Planck mass at the point M_F of ultimate F-lipped SU(5) unification. M_F is elevated from the penultimate partial unification near the traditional GUT scale at a mass M_32 by the inclusion of extra F-theory derived heavy vectorlike multiplets. We demonstrate that simultaneous adherence to all current experimental constraints, most importantly contributions to the muon anomalous magnetic moment (g-2)_mu, the branching ratio limit on (b \to s gamma), and the 7-year WMAP relic density measurement, dramatically reduces the allowed solutions to a highly non-trivial "golden strip" with tan(beta) \sim 15, m_t = 173.0-174.4 GeV, M_1/2 = 455-481 GeV, and M_V = 691-1020 GeV, effectively eliminating all extraneously tunable model parameters. We emphasize that the consonance of the theoretically viable m_t range with the experimentally established value is an independently correlated "postdiction". The predicted range of M_V is testable at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The partial lifetime for proton decay in the leading (e+|mu+) pi0 channels falls around 4.6 X 10^34 Y, testable at the future DUSEL and Hyper-Kamiokande facilities.Comment: V2, As accepted for publication in Physics Letters B; 7 pages, 3 figure