Intentional Synergy: The New Librarian as Co-Learner

Questions abound regarding the changing fate of libraries, and librarians, too, must reconsider their role. New Librarians increasingly find themselves serving not just as human information retrieval systems, but as “safari guides,” leading the curious through an information ecosystem growing explosively. Gone are the days of inscrutable librarians definitively announcing that they had provided all available information on a topic. Today, New Librarians need to cultivate a toolkit of skills and roles surrounding learning and inquiry, parsing new ideas quickly, challenging assumptions, and guiding their communities through the information ecosystem. As a partner, not a service provider, New Librarians shine

One Minute Tips: Take Two! Student Perceptions of Videos Used for Information Literacy Instruction

Digital learning objects are all the rage, but what does the YouTube generation think? We will discuss student perceptions of videos used for information literacy instruction and methods for incorporating short videos into assessable learning activities

A Search For Organic Molecules in Intermediate Redshift DLAs

There has been a renewed interest in searching for diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) due to their probable connection to organic molecules and, thus, their possible link to life in the Universe. Our group is undertaking an extensive search for DIBs in DLAs via QSO absorption-line systems. Six of our DLA targets are presented here. Our equivalent width (EW) limits for the 5780 DIB line strongly suggests that DIB abundance is below the Milky Way expected value or that metallicity plays a large role in DIB strengths.Comment: 3 pages; 2 figures; presented at IAU 199; Probing Galaxies through Quasar Absorption Line

Statins and Exercise Training Response in Heart Failure Patients: Insights From HF-ACTION.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess for a treatment interaction between statin use and exercise training (ET) response. BACKGROUND: Recent data suggest that statins may attenuate ET response, but limited data exist in patients with heart failure (HF). METHODS: HF-ACTION (Heart Failure: A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of Exercise Training) was a randomized trial of 2,331 patients with chronic HF with ejection fraction ≤35% who were randomized to usual care with or without ET. We evaluated whether there was a treatment interaction between statins and ET response for the change in quality of life and aerobic capacity (peak oxygen consumption and 6-min walk distance) from baseline to 3 months. We also assessed for a treatment interaction among atorvastatin, simvastatin, and pravastatin and change in these endpoints with ET. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed for each endpoint, adjusting for baseline covariates. RESULTS: Of 2,331 patients in the HF-ACTION trial, 1,353 (58%) were prescribed statins at baseline. Patients treated with statins were more likely to be older men with ischemic HF etiology but had similar use of renin angiotensin system blockers and beta-blockers. There was no evidence of a treatment interaction between statin use and ET on changes in quality of life or exercise capacity, nor was there evidence of differential association between statin type and ET response for these endpoints (all p values \u3e0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In a large chronic HF cohort, there was no evidence of a treatment interaction between statin use and short-term change in aerobic capacity and quality of life with ET. These findings contrast with recent reports of an attenuation in ET response with statins in a different population, highlighting the need for future prospective studies. (Exercise Training Program to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Individuals With Congestive Heart Failure; NCT00047437)

Digital, Experiential, and Embodied: Reckoning with the Past in Putnam County, Georgia

Digital Humanities in the U.S. has often focused on digital design over how humanities content might be used. Our Georgia Virtual History Project was built from the opposite direction. Rather than simply creating digitized humanities, we are dedicated to exploring the ways in which the digital world can help us construct more robust, place-based scholarship that impacts the lives of those who make and use it. We want our work to exist both online and out in the world, to speak equally to scholars and the general public, and to demonstrate that the humanities are not the purview of the academic elite but rather an essential tool for reaching out and giving voice to traditionally underserved populations.The paper situates the Georgia Virtual History Project within the universe of digital humanities scholarship, then explores a case study of how it works in the real world. By explaining both our project and how it has been used in an economically disadvantaged rural school system, we will present a model that is an attempt to remake public K-12 education—and digital humanities—as an embodied experience.Aux États-Unis, les humanités numériques ont souvent mis l'accent sur la conception numérique plutôt que sur la façon dont le contenu des humanités pourrait être utilisé. Notre projet d'histoire virtuelle en Géorgie a été construit dans la perspective inverse. Plutôt que de simplement créer des humanités numérisées, nous nous consacrons à explorer les façons dont le monde numérique peut nous aider à construire une recherche plus robuste et plus adaptée au milieu qui influe sur la vie des personnes qui la créent et l'utilisent. Nous voulons que notre travail existe à la fois en ligne et dans le monde réel, qu'il s'adresse autant aux chercheurs qu'au grand public et qu'il démontre que les sciences humaines ne sont pas du ressort de l'élite universitaire mais plutôt un outil essentiel pour atteindre et donner la parole aux populations traditionnellement désavantagées.L'article situe le Georgia Virtual History Project dans l'univers de la recherche en humanités numériques, puis explore une étude de cas de son fonctionnement dans le monde réel. En expliquant à la fois notre projet et la façon dont il a été utilisé dans un système scolaire rural économiquement défavorisé, nous présenterons un modèle qui est une tentative de transformer l'enseignement public de la maternelle au lycée — et les humanités numériques — en expérience concrète

Effect of Natriuretic Peptide-Guided Therapy on Hospitalization or Cardiovascular Mortality in High-Risk Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The natriuretic peptides are biochemical markers of heart failure (HF) severity and predictors of adverse outcomes. Smaller studies have evaluated adjusting HF therapy based on natriuretic peptide levels ( guided therapy ) with inconsistent results. Objective: To determine whether an amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)-guided treatment strategy improves clinical outcomes vs usual care in high-risk patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Design, Settings, and Participants: The Guiding Evidence Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure (GUIDE-IT) study was a randomized multicenter clinical trial conducted between January 16, 2013, and September 20, 2016, at 45 clinical sites in the United States and Canada. This study planned to randomize 1100 patients with HFrEF (ejection fraction ≤40%), elevated natriuretic peptide levels within the prior 30 days, and a history of a prior HF event (HF hospitalization or equivalent) to either an NT-proBNP-guided strategy or usual care. Interventions: Patients were randomized to either an NT-proBNP-guided strategy or usual care. Patients randomized to the guided strategy (n = 446) had HF therapy titrated with the goal of achieving a target NT-proBNP of less than 1000 pg/mL. Patients randomized to usual care (n = 448) had HF care in accordance with published guidelines, with emphasis on titration of proven neurohormonal therapies for HF. Serial measurement of NT-proBNP testing was discouraged in the usual care group. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was the composite of time-to-first HF hospitalization or cardiovascular mortality. Prespecified secondary end points included all-cause mortality, total hospitalizations for HF, days alive and not hospitalized for cardiovascular reasons, the individual components on the primary end point, and adverse events. Results: The data and safety monitoring board recommended stopping the study for futility when 894 (median age, 63 years; 286 [32%] women) of the planned 1100 patients had been enrolled with follow-up for a median of 15 months. The primary end point occurred in 164 patients (37%) in the biomarker-guided group and 164 patients (37%) in the usual care group (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.98; 95% CI, 0.79-1.22; P = .88). Cardiovascular mortality was 12% (n = 53) in the biomarker-guided group and 13% (n = 57) in the usual care group (HR, 0.94; 95% CI; 0.65-1.37; P = .75). None of the secondary end points nor the decreases in the NT-proBNP levels achieved differed significantly between groups. Conclusions and Relevance: In high-risk patients with HFrEF, a strategy of NT-proBNP-guided therapy was not more effective than a usual care strategy in improving outcomes. Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01685840

Rationale and design of the GUIDE-IT study: Guiding Evidence Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure.

OBJECTIVES: The GUIDE-IT (Guiding Evidence Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure) study is designed to determine the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of a strategy of adjusting therapy with the goal of achieving and maintaining a target N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level of BACKGROUND: Elevations in natriuretic peptide (NP) levels provide key prognostic information in patients with HF. Therapies proven to improve outcomes in patients with HF are generally associated with decreasing levels of NPs, and observational data show that decreases in NP levels over time are associated with favorable outcomes. Results from smaller prospective, randomized studies of this strategy thus far have been mixed, and current guidelines do not recommend serial measurement of NP levels to guide therapy in patients with HF. METHODS: GUIDE-IT is a prospective, randomized, controlled, unblinded, multicenter clinical trial designed to randomize approximately 1,100 high-risk subjects with systolic HF (left ventricular ejection fraction ≤40%) to either usual care (optimized guideline-recommended therapy) or a strategy of adjusting therapy with the goal of achieving and maintaining a target NT-proBNP level of CONCLUSIONS: The GUIDE-IT study is designed to definitively assess the effects of an NP-guided strategy in high-risk patients with systolic HF on clinically relevant endpoints of mortality, hospitalization, quality of life, and medical resource use. (Guiding Evidence Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure [GUIDE-IT]; NCT01685840)

Potent selective inhibitors of protein kinase C

AbstractA series of potent, selective inhibitors of protein kinase C has been derived from the structural lead provided by the microbial broth products, staurosporine and K252a. Our inhibitors block PCK in intact cells (platelets and T cells), and prevent the proliferation of mononuclear cells in response to interleukin 2 (IL2)