Information professionals and copyright literacy: a multinational study

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a multinational survey on copyright literacy of specialists from libraries and other cultural institutions. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a multinational survey of copyright literacy competencies of Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals and those who work in the cultural heritage sector (archives and museums), conducted in 13 countries, namely Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (CR), Finland (FI), France (FR), Hungary (HU), Lithuania (LT), Mexico (MX), Norway (NO), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Turkey (TR), UK and USA in the period July 2013-March 2015. An online survey instrument was developed in order to collect data from professionals regarding their familiarity with, knowledge and awareness of, and opinions on copyright-related issues. Findings: Findings of this study highlight gaps in existing knowledge of copyright, and information about the level of copyright literacy of LIS and cultural sector professionals. Also attitudes toward copyright learning content in academic education and continuing professional development training programs are investigated. Originality/value: This study aimed to address a gap in the literature by encompassing specialists from the cultural institutions in an international comparative context. The paper offers guidance for further understanding of copyright in a wider framework of digital and information literacy; and for the implementation of copyright policy, and the establishment of copyright advisor positions in cultural institutions. The recommendations support a revision of academic and continuing education programs learning curriculum and methods

Clinical Perspectives on Using Remote Measurement Technology in Assessing Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and Depression: Delphi Study

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, and depression are chronic central nervous system conditions in which remote measurement technology (RMT) may offer benefits compared with usual assessment. We previously worked with clinicians, patients, and researchers to develop 13 use cases for RMT: 5 in epilepsy (seizure alert, seizure counting, risk scoring, triage support, and trend analysis), 3 in MS (detecting silent progression, detecting depression in MS, and donating data to a biobank), and 5 in depression (detecting trends, reviewing treatment, self-management, comorbid monitoring, and carer alert). Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the use cases and related implementation issues with an expert panel of clinicians external to our project consortium. Methods: We used a Delphi exercise to validate the use cases and suggest a prioritization among them and to ascertain the importance of a variety of implementation issues related to RMT. The expert panel included clinicians from across Europe who were external to the project consortium. The study had 2 survey rounds (n=23 and n=17) and a follow-up interview round (n=9). Data were analyzed for consensus between participants and for stability between survey rounds. The interviews explored the reasons for answers given in the survey. Results: The findings showed high stability between rounds on questions related to specific use cases but lower stability on questions relating to wider issues around the implementation of RMT. Overall, questions on wider issues also had less consensus. All 5 use cases for epilepsy (seizure alert, seizure counting, risk scoring, triage support, and trend analysis) were considered beneficial, with consensus among participants above the a priori threshold for most questions, although use case 3 (risk scoring) was considered less likely to facilitate or catalyze care. There was very little consensus on the benefits of the use cases in MS, although this may have resulted from a higher dropout rate of MS clinicians (50%). Participants agreed that there would be benefits for all 5 of the depression use cases, although fewer questions on use case 4 (triage support) reached consensus agreement than for depression use cases 1 (detecting trends), 2 (reviewing treatment), 3 (self-management), and 5 (carer alert). The qualitative analysis revealed further insights into each use case and generated 8 themes on practical issues related to implementation. Conclusions: Overall, these findings inform the prioritization of use cases for RMT that could be developed in future work, which may include clinical trials, cost-effectiveness studies, and the commercial development of RMT products and services. Priorities for further development include the use of RMT to provide more accurate records of symptoms and treatment response than is currently possible and to provide data that could help inform patient triage and generate timely alerts for patients and carers

Associations between a polymorphism in the pleiotropic GCKR and Age-related phenotypes: the HALCyon programme.

Background: The glucokinase regulatory protein encoded by GCKR plays an important role in glucose metabolism and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1260326 (P446L) in the gene has been associated with several age-related biomarkers, including triglycerides, glucose, insulin and apolipoproteins. However, associations between SNPs in the gene and other ageing phenotypes such as cognitive and physical capability have not been reported. Methods: As part of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) collaborative research programme, men and women from five UK cohorts aged between 44 and 90+ years were genotyped for rs1260326. Meta-analysis was used to pool within-study genotypic associations between the SNP and several age-related phenotypes, including body mass index (BMI), blood lipid levels, lung function, and cognitive and physical capability. Results: We confirm the associations between the minor allele of the SNP and higher triglycerides and lower glucose levels. We also observed a triglyceride-independent association between the minor allele and lower BMI (pooled beta on zscore = 20.04, p-value = 0.0001, n = 16,251). Furthermore, there was some evidence for gene-environment interactions, including physical activity attenuating the effects on triglycerides. However, no associations were observed with measures of cognitive and physical capability. Conclusion: Findings from middle-aged to older adults confirm associations between rs1260326 GCKR and triglycerides and glucose, suggest possible gene-environment interactions, but do not provide evidence that its relevance extends to cognitive and physical capability

Pharmacological Medical Treatment of Epilepsy in Patients with Dementia : A Systematic Review

Background: Patients with dementia have an increased risk of developing epilepsy, es-pecially in patients with vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. In selecting the optimal an-ti-epileptic drug (AED), the possible side effects such as drowsiness and worsening of cognitive function should be taken into consideration, together with co-morbidities and type of epilepsy. Objective: The current systematic review investigates the efficacy, tolerability, and changes in cognitive function after administration of AED in patients with dementia and epilepsy. Methods: We searched six databases, including MEDLINE and CENTRAL, checked reference lists, contacted experts, and searched Google Scholar to identify studies reporting randomized trials. Studies identified were independently screened, data extracted, and quality appraised by two researchers. A narrative synthesis was used to report findings. Results: We included one study with 95 patients with Alzheimer’s disease randomized to either lev-etiracetam, lamotrigine, or phenobarbital. No significant differences were found for efficacy, but patients receiving levetiracetam showed an improvement in mini-mental state examination scores and had fewer adverse events. Conclusion: High-quality evidence in the form of randomized controlled trials to guide clinicians in choosing an AED in patients with dementia and concomitant epilepsy remains scarce. However, levetiracetam has previously been shown to possibly improve cognition in patients with both mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, is better tolerated in the elderly population, and has no clinically relevant interaction with either cholinesterase inhibitors or NMDA receptor antagon-ists. Registration No: The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database (ID: CRD42020176252)

Modes of variability of Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation estimated by AGCMs

The seasonal mean variability of the atmospheric circulation is affected by processes with time scales from less than seasonal to interannual or longer. Using monthly mean data from an ensemble of Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) realisations, the interannual variability of the seasonal mean is separated into intraseasonal, and slowly varying components. For the first time, using a recently developed method, the slowly varying component in multiple AGCM ensembles is further separated into internal and externally forced components. This is done for Southern Hemisphere 500 hPa geopotential height from five AGCMs in the CLIVAR International Climate of the Twentieth Century project for the summer and winter seasons. In both seasons, the intraseasonal and slow modes of variability are qualitatively well reproduced by the models when compared with reanalysis data, with a relative metric finding little overall difference between the models. The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is by far the dominant mode of slowly varying internal atmospheric variability. Two slow-external modes of variability are related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability, and a third is the atmospheric response to trends in external forcing. An ENSO-SAM relationship is found in the model slow modes of variability, similar to that found by earlier studies using reanalysis data. There is a greater spread in the representation of model slow-external modes in winter than summer, particularly in the atmospheric response to external forcing trends. This may be attributable to weaker external forcing constraints on SH atmospheric circulation in winter