45 research outputs found

    Critical Collection Analysis: Using DH Tools to Contextualize Historical Collecting Patterns within a Political Framework

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    With the growth of digital humanities and a wide range of free and open source analysis tools at our fingertips, librarians have a unique opportunity to use these new tools to critically analyze library collections. Moving beyond usage and budgets, strategies such as text analysis, temporal pattern finding and data visualization offer insights into the structure and content of our collections, which in turn supports evidenced-based decision-making for future acquisitions. At the Claremont Colleges Library, librarians across divisions have been encouraged to learn tools and approaches to Digital Humanities, and apply these principles to our own work and relationships with researchers. This presentation was delivered on Friday, November 4th at the Charleston Conference. It covered: methods for gathering historic acquisitions data; strategies for using Digital Humanities tools to both analyze and communicate findings; an overview of this team\u27s findings on terrorism and collection development at Claremont; and potential future applications for the use of Digital Humanities tools to support collection assessment and development

    Librarians Doing DH: A Team and Project-Based Approach to Digital Humanities in the Library

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    The Claremont Colleges Library embarked on a “learn by doing” Digital Humanities (DH) program and series of team-based projects in order to provide librarians experience working directly with DH methodologies and tools. Drawing from two divisions in the Library, a team of librarians designed an analysis project using DH tools to examine collection development trends on the topic of terrorism. In the process, the team addressed technical obstacles, communication issues and time management techniques that contributed to a productive collaboration. DH can be a catalyst for librarians’ own research beyond serving in a supportive role for the disciplines. With its broad applications for library research, DH has the potential to bridge departmental divides in libraries and promote a culture or environment of experimentation

    The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

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    The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

    Dipeptidyl peptidase-1 inhibition in patients hospitalised with COVID-19: a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial

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    Background Neutrophil serine proteases are involved in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and increased serine protease activity has been reported in severe and fatal infection. We investigated whether brensocatib, an inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidase-1 (DPP-1; an enzyme responsible for the activation of neutrophil serine proteases), would improve outcomes in patients hospitalised with COVID-19. Methods In a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial, across 14 hospitals in the UK, patients aged 16 years and older who were hospitalised with COVID-19 and had at least one risk factor for severe disease were randomly assigned 1:1, within 96 h of hospital admission, to once-daily brensocatib 25 mg or placebo orally for 28 days. Patients were randomly assigned via a central web-based randomisation system (TruST). Randomisation was stratified by site and age (65 years or ≥65 years), and within each stratum, blocks were of random sizes of two, four, or six patients. Participants in both groups continued to receive other therapies required to manage their condition. Participants, study staff, and investigators were masked to the study assignment. The primary outcome was the 7-point WHO ordinal scale for clinical status at day 29 after random assignment. The intention-to-treat population included all patients who were randomly assigned and met the enrolment criteria. The safety population included all participants who received at least one dose of study medication. This study was registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN30564012. Findings Between June 5, 2020, and Jan 25, 2021, 406 patients were randomly assigned to brensocatib or placebo; 192 (47·3%) to the brensocatib group and 214 (52·7%) to the placebo group. Two participants were excluded after being randomly assigned in the brensocatib group (214 patients included in the placebo group and 190 included in the brensocatib group in the intention-to-treat population). Primary outcome data was unavailable for six patients (three in the brensocatib group and three in the placebo group). Patients in the brensocatib group had worse clinical status at day 29 after being randomly assigned than those in the placebo group (adjusted odds ratio 0·72 [95% CI 0·57–0·92]). Prespecified subgroup analyses of the primary outcome supported the primary results. 185 participants reported at least one adverse event; 99 (46%) in the placebo group and 86 (45%) in the brensocatib group. The most common adverse events were gastrointestinal disorders and infections. One death in the placebo group was judged as possibly related to study drug. Interpretation Brensocatib treatment did not improve clinical status at day 29 in patients hospitalised with COVID-19

    Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

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    Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p<0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p<0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p<0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP >5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

    Conquering Entropy

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    Margaret Hogarth has been Electronic Resources Coordinator for University of California, Riverside Libraries since 2004. She also provides reference at the Humanities and Science Libraries. Previously she was Interim Web Coordinator and a Reference and Systems Librarian for California State University, Fullerton. MLIS 1999, San Jose State University and MS Environmenal Studies 2003, CSU Fullerton.Preparing for an ERMS requires extensive planning and coordination of departments, workflow, resources, information, record-keeping systems, and relationships. Clean data, process analysis, and frank evaluation help the process. Feedback from the process can help the organization implement change. Come and see a progress report on UC Riverside’s well-intentioned plan

    Data clean-up and management: a practical guide for librarians

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    Data use in the library has specific characteristics and common problems. Data Clean-up and Management addresses these, and provides methods to clean up frequently-occurring data problems using readily-available applications. The authors highlight the importance and methods of data analysis and presentation, and offer guidelines and recommendations for a data quality policy. The book gives step-by-step how-to directions for common dirty data issues.focused towards libraries and practicing librariansdeals with practical, real-life issues and addresses common problems that all libraries faceoff

    Fixing a Hole: Incorporating Usage Statistics into the Electronic Resource Life Cycle

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    George Boston is Electronic Resources and Serials Librarian and Michael Whang is Head of Web and Internet Services at Western Michigan University Libraries. Margaret Hogarth is Electronic Resources Coordinator and Barbara Schader is AUL for Collections & Scholarly Communications at University of California, Riverside Libraries.This presentation is intended to illustrate how the Western Michigan University Libraries and the University of California, Riverside Libraries gather, store and access statistics, and how they are utilized to develop, manage, enhance and monitor the Libraries collections. Scholarly Stats, COUNTER, SFX and publisher statistics have been used in addition to non-standard metrics in a non-COUNTER compliant format have been integrated to provide actionable data. In addition, WMU will discuss future enhancements for the SUSHI initiative and Verde (direct integration of the usage data within an ERMS) and how the data will be used to enhance the assessment process. UCR has reorganized workflows and staffing with a new AUL in an effort to plug holes in our electronic resource life cycle and decision making. We are utilizing usage data in practical and informative ways in order to make selection, cancellation, and fee-for-service decisions. Did our efforts to build buy-in work? A lively question and answer session will follow the presentations
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