NN/LM NER Healthy Community, Community of Interest Final Report (May 1, 2011 - April 30, 2013)

The NN/LM New England Region’s Communities of Interest (COI) foster emerging roles for librarians in dynamic themes in the provision of health information. Members of Communities of Interests share ideas, knowledge, and experiences to help each other improve their library’s services. The Communities of Interest focus on six themes: eScience, Healthcare Workforce, Health Literacy, Healthy Communities, HealthIT, and Knowledge Management. These themes were identified by the NN/LM New England Region at a Town Hall Meeting as priorities for professional development and collaboration. The Communities of Interest host e-learning programs to keep Network Members up-to-date with trends in the profession. The Healthy Communities COI explores issues related to health information and education outreach to the public in general as well as underserved populations. Topics include planning, implementing, and evaluating community outreach activities, communicating health information to patients and the public, and contributing to your institution to provide community benefit. The COI’s are facilitated by NER staff and led by a Network Member. The Healthy Communities COI is facilitated by Michelle Eberle, Consumer Health Information Coordinator, and led by Deborah Clark, Librarian at Stephens Memorial Hospital. Deborah served as the Leader for Year One and Two. This report summarizes activities from the Community of Interest\u27s first two year

Trends in Observation‐prone Emergency Department Visits Among Michigan Children, 2007–2011

ObjectivesTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, admission of children under observation status in community hospitals has not been examined. The hypothesis of this study was that there has been an increase in observation charge code use over time and variations in the application of observation charge codes across hospital types.MethodsThis was a cross‐sectional analysis of 5 years (2007 through 2011) of administrative claims data from Michigan residents enrolled in Medicaid, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan preferred provider organization, and Blue Cross Network health maintenance organization compiled into a single data set. Emergency department (ED) visits to facilities in Michigan made by children (younger than 18 years) were selected. Observation‐prone ED visits were identified based on the presence of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD‐9‐CM) codes. Counts of observation‐prone ED visits were determined and descriptive statistics were calculated. Changes over time in the proportion of visits with observation charge codes by hospital type were assessed with chi‐square analysis.ResultsThe observation‐prone ICD‐9‐CM codes were identified in 881,622 ED visits made by children to 142 Michigan facilities during the 5‐year study period. Overall, the vast majority of visits (n = 646,499; 91.0%) with the selected ICD‐9‐CM codes resulted in discharge from the ED without associated observation or inpatient charge codes. Among the 64,288 visits that resulted in admission for observation or inpatient care, observation charge codes without inpatient charge codes were applied to 22,933 (35.7%) admissions, observation and inpatient charge codes were applied to 4,756 (7.4%) admissions, and inpatient charge codes without observation charge codes were applied to 36,599 (56.9%) admissions. Hospitals with pediatric ED and inpatient services (Type 1 and Type 2 hospitals) had higher proportions of ED visits that went on to admission for observation or inpatient care (15.9 and 10.7%) than hospitals without pediatric ED services (Type 3 and Type 4 hospitals; 7.2 and 3.7%). The proportion of admissions that had observation charge codes for all hospital types increased over time, most prominently among Type 1 and Type 2 hospitals.ConclusionsThe application of observation charge codes to Michigan children with observation‐prone conditions has increased over time across all hospital types. There is a need to evaluate pediatric observation care in diverse settings to compare the effectiveness of different models.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111217/1/acem12624-sup-0001-DataSupplementS1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111217/2/acem12624-sup-0002-DataSupplementS2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111217/3/acem12624.pd

What Women With Disabilities Write in Personal Blogs About Pregnancy and Early Motherhood: Qualitative Analysis of Blogs.

BackgroundMore than 1 in 10 women of reproductive age identify as having some type of disability. Most of these women are able to become pregnant and have similar desires for motherhood as women without disability. Women with disability, however, face greater stigma and stereotyping, additional risk factors, and may be less likely to receive adequate reproductive health care compared with their peers without disability. More and more individuals, including those with disability, are utilizing the internet to seek information and peer support. Blogs are one source of peer-to-peer social media engagement that may provide a forum for women with disability to both share and obtain peer-to-peer information and support. Nevertheless, it is not clear what content about reproductive health and pregnancy and/or motherhood is featured in personal blogs authored by women with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), spina bifida, and autism.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the information being shared in blogs by women with 4 types of disabilities, namely, SCI, TBI, spina bifida, and autism, about reproductive health, disability, health care, pregnancy, and motherhood; and (2) to classify the content of reproductive health experiences addressed by bloggers to better understand what they viewed as important.MethodsPersonal blogs were identified by searching Google with keywords related to disabilities, SCI, TBI, spina bifida, and autism, and a variety of keywords related to reproductive health. The first 10 pages of each database search in Google, based on the relevance of the search terms, were reviewed and all blogs in these pages were included. Blog inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) written by a woman or care partner (ie, parent or spouse) of a woman with a self-identified diagnosis of SCI, TBI, spina bifida, or autism; (2) focused on the personal experience of health and health care during the prepregnancy, prenatal, antepartum, intrapartum, and/or postpartum periods; (3) written in English; and (4) published between 2013 and 2017. A descriptive and thematic qualitative analysis of blogs and corresponding comments was facilitated with NVivo software and matrix analysis.ResultsOur search strategy identified 125 blogs that met all the inclusion criteria; no blogs written by women with spina bifida were identified. We identified 4 reproductive health themes featured in the blog of women with disabilities: (1) (in)accessible motherhood, (2) (un)supportive others, (3) different, but not different, and (4) society questioning motherhood.ConclusionsThis analysis of personal blogs about pregnancy and health care written by women with SCI, TBI, and autism provides a glimpse into their experiences. The challenges faced by these women and the adaptations they made to successfully navigate pregnancy and early motherhood provide insights that can be used to shape future research

Libraries in New England Working to Develop Healthy Communities and Increase Health Literacy

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region, created Communities of Interests (COIs) for our network members to come together to learn more about health literacy and be a part of cultivating healthy communities. Each Community of Interest offers an e-newsletter and hosts webinars with presentations by experts in health literacy and creating healthy communities. Topics for programs this year included: 10 Easy Ways You Can Contribute to Health Literacy; How to Contribute to Community Benefit at Your Hospital; a MedlinePlus.gov Train-the-Trainer; Clever Evaluation; and a program day on Health Information Equity. Each COI conducted needs assessment at the beginning of the year. An assessment will be conducted at the end of the first year to identify: knowledge gained; how the new information was put into action; and new educational needs. NN/LM NER Community of Interests create a powerful way to bring librarians together who are interested to increase health literacy and contribute to healthy communities

Comparison of Short Chain Volatile Fatty Acids in the Breastmilk of Normal and Overweight/Obese Mothers

INTRODUCTION: Health professionals emphasize the importance of breastfeeding in the development of children up to 6-months of age. It is known that short chain volatile fatty acids (SCVFAs) are a byproduct of nutrient fermentation by gut microbiome. These SCVFAs interact with the gut/brain axis and are known to influence infant development. Therefore, a reflection of maternal gut microbiome could likely be found in breastmilk (BM) due to diffusion of SCVFAs across the gut wall into the blood. Previous research in our laboratory has shown differences in the SCVFA fecal fermentation profile between individuals with normal (N) versus overweight/obese (OWOB) body mass index (BMI). Therefore, our research question is: Is there a difference in the relative amount and diversity of SCVFAs in the BM of N compared to OWOB women? We hypothesized that women of N will have a more diverse SCVFA profile than OWOB women in their BM. BM samples (200 ml) were collected from 44 women (22 N (BMI 22.0) and 22 OWOB (BMI 33.7) p2 while OWOB participants had a pre-gravid BMI of greater than 25.0 kg/m2. To our knowledge, this is the first time that SCVFAs have been quantified in the milk of lactating women using GC with an FID detector. This data supports the argument that the pre-gravid BMI of a mother can correlate to the SCVFA profile of her BM. It is unknown if the concentration observed in the mother’s BM in this study has an influence on the neonate’s gut/brain axis and neurological signals, however, we have demonstrated that the SCVFA profile is more diverse in the N BMI mother. Further research is warranted on the influence of maternal BM SCVFA composition on the growth and neurological development of her infant

Triton 2 (1B)

The goal of this project was to perform a detailed design analysis on a conceptually designed preliminary flight trainer. The Triton 2 (1B) must meet the current regulations in FAR Part 23. The detailed design process included the tasks of sizing load carrying members, pulleys, bolts, rivets, and fuselage skin for the safety cage, empennage, and control systems. In addition to the regulations in FAR Part 23, the detail design had to meet established minimums for environmental operating conditions and material corrosion resistance

Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues

This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. There is no consensus on a definition of “local” or “local food systems” in terms of the geographic distance between production and consumption. But defining “local” based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers’ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Findings are mixed on the impact of local food systems on local economic development and better nutrition levels among consumers, and sparse literature is so far inconclusive about whether localization reduces energy use or greenhouse gas emissions.local food systems, farmers’ markets, direct-to-consumer marketing, direct-to-retail/ foodservice marketing, community supported agriculture, farm to school programs, Farmers’ Market Promotion Program, food miles, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Sorption of metals by extracellular polymers from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa fo. flos-aquae strain C3-40

The sorption of cadmium (II), copper (II), lead (II),manganese (II), and zinc (II) by purified capsularpolysaccharide from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosafo. flos-aquae strainC3-40 was examined by four methods: equilibriumdialysis, metal removal from solution as detected byvoltammetry, metal accumulation by capsule-containingalginate beads, and calorimetry. The polysaccharide's saturation binding capacities for these metals rangedfrom 1.2 to 4 mmol of metal g-1 of capsule, whichcorresponds to 1 metal equivalent per 2 to 4saccharide subunits of the polymer. Competitionbetween paired metals was tested with simultaneous andsequential additions of metal. Cadmium (II) andlead (II), as well as lead (II) and zinc (II), competedrelatively equally and reciprocally for polymerbinding sites. In contrast, manganese (II) stronglyinhibited the binding of cadmium (II) and lead (II), butitself was not substantially inhibited by either theprior or simultaneous adsorption of cadmium (II) or lead (II).The data are interpreted with respect to overlap ofbinding sites and possibilities of altered polymerconformation or solvation. Calorimetric studies oflead (II) and cadmium (II) association reactions withthe polysaccharide suggest that the enthalpies aresmall and that the reactions may be driven by entropy

Childhood IQ and marriage by mid-life: the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan Studies

The study examined the influence of IQ at age 11 years on marital status by mid-adulthood. The combined databases of the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan studies provided data from 883 subjects. With regard to IQ at age 11, there was an interaction between sex and marital status by mid-adulthood (p = 0.0001). Women who had ever-married achieved mean lower childhood IQ scores than women who had never-married (p < 0.001). Conversely, there was a trend for men who had ever-married to achieve higher childhood IQ scores than men who had never-married (p = 0.07). In men, the odds ratio of ever marrying was 1.35 (95% CI 0.98–1.86&#59; p = 0.07) for each standard deviation increase in childhood IQ. Among women, the odds ratio of ever marrying by mid-life was 0.42 (95% CI 0.27–0.64; p = 0.0001) for each standard deviation increase in childhood IQ. Mid-life social class had a similar association with marriage, with women in more professional jobs and men in more manual jobs being less likely to have ever-married by mid-life. Adjustment for the effects of mid-life social class and height on the association between childhood IQ and later marriage, and vice versa, attenuated the effects somewhat, but suggested that IQ, height and social class acted partly independently

Refined Neutron-Star Mass Determinations for Six Eclipsing X-Ray Pulsar Binaries

We present an improved method for determining the mass of neutron stars in eclipsing X-ray pulsar binaries and apply the method to six systems, namely Vela X-1, 4U 1538-52, SMC X-1, LMC X-4, Cen X-3, and Her X-1. In previous studies to determine neutron star mass, the X-ray eclipse duration has been approximated analytically by assuming the companion star is spherical with an effective Roche lobe radius. We use a numerical code based on Roche geometry with various optimizers to analyze the published data for these systems, which we supplement with new spectroscopic and photometric data for 4U 1538-52. This allows us to model the eclipse duration more accurately and thus calculate an improved value for the neutron star mass. The derived neutron star mass also depends on the assumed Roche lobe filling factor beta of the companion star, where beta = 1 indicates a completely filled Roche lobe. In previous work a range of beta between 0.9 and 1.0 was usually adopted. We use optical ellipsoidal lightcurve data to constrain beta. We find neutron star masses of 1.77 +/- 0.08 M_{sun} for Vela X-1, 0.87 +/- 0.07 M_{sun} for 4U 1538-52 (eccentric orbit), 1.00 +/- 0.10 M_{sun} for 4U 1538-52 (circular orbit), 1.04 +/- 0.09 M_{sun} for SMC X-1, 1.29 +/- 0.05 M_{sun} for LMC X-4, 1.49 +/- 0.08 M_{sun} for Cen X-3, and 1.07 +/- 0.36 M_{sun} for Her X-1. We discuss the limits of the approximations that were used to derive the earlier mass determinations, and we comment on the implications our new masses have for observationally refining the upper and lower bounds of the neutron star mass distribution.Comment: 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa