Tox Town: An Internet Introduction to Environmental Health and Toxic Chemicals

Can a web site present environmental health information to the general public in a fun and compelling manner? This was the goal of the National Library of Medicine\u27s Specialized Information Services when it designed Tox Town. By its nature, chemical data is complex and not often perceived by the general public as relevant to their daily lives. However, many common hazardous materials (e.g., asbestos, carbon monoxide, lead, radon) can have profound health effects if encountered in the everyday environment. Enhanced with lively graphics, sound effects, and animation, Tox Town adds interest to learning about connections between chemicals, the environment, and the public\u27s health. This field reports describes the features of Tox Town and discusses how it is being used by educators, students, and the general public

Don’t Leave the Faculty at the Station: Introducing Faculty to Collection Development Grants

In 2012, a collection analysis report was published outlining the results of a year‐long study of the College of William and Mary Library collections comparing it to those of other peer institutions using OCLC’s collection analysis software. As a means to address some of the deficiencies brought out in the report as well as provide outreach and curricular support, the library began to offer collection development grants to college faculty. This has been a fruitful experience to build collaborative efforts with faculty; to fill gaps in the library collections; enhance curricular and faculty research support; and to provide outreach to the faculty community through library liaisons

Evaluated, Removed, and Recycled—The Tale of Two Deaccession Projects Across the Disciplines

How have two midsized public university libraries approached large‐scale weeding projects in their monograph and bound periodical collections? Space is at a premium in academic libraries as new roles combine and compete with traditional ones. How can the collection be refreshed to promote more use? Where will more collaboration and creative spaces be housed? How does a midsized library refine the collection to bring better campus alignment? How should the project begin? Who should be involved in planning? How can campus faculty be included in the deaccessioning process? How is the campus perception of the project handled? What should be kept, what sent off‐site, and what discarded? What do you do with all of those discarded books and journals? How can the libraries work with campus sustainability goals? Do ebooks play a part in what you keep and discard? How are different discipline areas handled when the book is valued differently? Are there useful guidelines like CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation and Weeding) that are applicable

Thymic teratoma presenting as non-immune hydrops fetalis

Teratomas are one of the most frequent tumors in the pediatric population. They occur anywhere along the midline of the body, following the course of the embryonic germ cell ridge. In the mediastinal location, they exert space occupying effects, leading to a myriad of complications, including non-immune hydrops fetalis. We describe a fatal case of an immature thymic teratoma in a neonate presenting with hydrops fetalis. This case emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and surgical intervention in such cases

Thymic teratoma presenting as non-immune hydrops fetalis

Teratomas are one of the most frequent tumors in the pediatric population. They occur anywhere along the midline of the body, following the course of the embryonic germ cell ridge. In the mediastinal location, they exert space occupying effects, leading to a myriad of complications, including non-immune hydrops fetalis. We describe a fatal case of an immature thymic teratoma in a neonate presenting with hydrops fetalis. This case emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and surgical intervention in such cases

The utility of diagnostic selective nerve root blocks in the management of patients with lumbar radiculopathy: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Lumbar radiculopathy (LR) often manifests as pain in the lower back radiating into one leg (sciatica). Unsuccessful back surgery is associated with significant healthcare costs and risks to patients. This review aims to examine the diagnostic accuracy of selective nerve root blocks (SNRBs) to identify patients most likely to benefit from lumbar decompression surgery. DESIGN: Systematic review of diagnostic test accuracy studies. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Primary research articles using a patient population with low back pain and symptoms in the leg, SNRB administered under radiological guidance as index test, and any reported reference standard for the diagnosis of LR. INFORMATION SOURCES: MEDLINE (Ovid), MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, EMBASE, Science Citation Index, Biosis, LILACS, Dissertation abstracts and National Technical Information Service from inception to 2018. METHODS: Risk of bias and applicability was assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool. We performed random-effects logistic regression to meta-analyse studies grouped by reference standard. RESULTS: 6 studies (341 patients) were included in this review. All studies were judged at high risk of bias. There was substantial heterogeneity across studies in sensitivity (range 57%-100%) and specificity (10%-86%) estimates. Four studies were diagnostic cohort studies that used either intraoperative findings during surgery (pooled sensitivity: 93.5% [95% CI 84.0 to 97.6]; specificity: 50.0% [16.8 to 83.2]) or 'outcome following surgery' as the reference standard (pooled sensitivity: 90.9% [83.1 to 95.3]; specificity 22.0% [7.4 to 49.9]). Two studies had a within-patient case-control study design, but results were not pooled because different types of control injections were used. CONCLUSIONS: We found limited evidence which was of low methodological quality indicating that the diagnostic accuracy of SNRB is uncertain and that specificity in particular may be low. SNRB is a safe test with a low risk of clinically significant complications, but it remains unclear whether the additional diagnostic information it provides justifies the cost of the test.National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme grant (project number 09/111/01)

Getting It on Record: Issues and Strategies for Ethnographic Practice in Recording Studios

The recording studio has been somewhat neglected as a site for ethnographic fieldwork in the field of ethno-musicology and, moreover, the majority of published studies tend to overlook the specific concerns faced by the researcher within these contexts. Music recording studios can be places of creativity, artistry, and collaboration, but they often also involve challenging, intimidating, and fractious relations. Given that recording studios are, first and foremost, concerned with documenting musicians’ performances, we discuss the concerns of getting studio interactions “on record” in terms of access, social relations, and methods of data collection. This article reflects on some of the issues we faced when conducting our fieldwork within British music recording facilities and makes suggestions based on strategies that we employed to address these issues