No More Design by Committee: Strategies for Building Lean Mean Web Project Teams

Whether you are implementing a virtual reference service or redesigning the library website, today’s web projects require organizational buy-in and web skill. Even when working well, standing committees don’t always have the skills needed to create a successful website, clear authority, and resources to complete the job. This program and paper presents research study findings about web committees and teams, and proposes an alternate strategy for developing project-focused, skill-driven teams to manage your library’s next web project

Relationship of Self-Reported Asthma Severity and Urgent Health Care Utilization to Psychological Sequelae of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center Among New York City Area Residents

Objective: Posttraumatic psychological stress may be associated with increases in somatic illness, including asthma, but the impact of the psychological sequelae of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on physical illness has not been well documented. The authors assessed the relationship between the psychological sequelae of the attacks and asthma symptom severity and the utilization of urgent health care services for asthma since September 11. Materials and Methods: The authors performed a random digit dial telephone survey of adults in the New York City (NYC) metropolitan area 6 to 9 months after September 11, 2001. Two thousand seven hundred fifty-five demographically representative adults including 364 asthmatics were recruited. The authors assessed self-reported asthma symptom severity, emergency room (ER) visits, and unscheduled physician office visits for asthma since September 11. Results: After adjustment for asthma measures before September 11, demographics, and event exposure in multivariate models posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were a significant predictor of self-reported moderate-to-severe asthma symptoms (OR = 3.4; CI = 1.2–9.4), seeking care for asthma at an ER since September 11 (OR = 6.6; CI = 1.6 –28.0), and unscheduled physician visits for asthma since September 11 (OR = 3.6; CI = 1.1–11.5). The number of PTSD symptoms was also significantly related to moderate-to-severe asthma symptoms and unscheduled physician visits since September 11. Neither a panic attack on September 11 nor depression since September 11 was an independent predictor of asthma severity or utilization in multivariate models after September 11. Conclusions: PTSD related to the September 11 terrorist attacks contributed to symptom severity and the utilization of urgent health care services among asthmatics in the NYC metropolitan area.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40381/2/Fagan_Relationship of Self-Reported Asthma Severity_2003.pd

Low dose intravenous minocycline is neuroprotective after middle cerebral artery occlusion-reperfusion in rats

BACKGROUND: Minocycline, a semi-synthetic tetracycline antibiotic, is an effective neuroprotective agent in animal models of cerebral ischemia when given in high doses intraperitoneally. The aim of this study was to determine if minocycline was effective at reducing infarct size in a Temporary Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion model (TMCAO) when given at lower intravenous (IV) doses that correspond to human clinical exposure regimens. METHODS: Rats underwent 90 minutes of TMCAO. Minocycline or saline placebo was administered IV starting at 4, 5, or 6 hours post TMCAO. Infarct volume and neurofunctional tests were carried out at 24 hr after TMCAO using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) brain staining and Neurological Score evaluation. Pharmacokinetic studies and hemodynamic monitoring were performed on minocycline-treated rats. RESULTS: Minocycline at doses of 3 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg IV was effective at reducing infarct size when administered at 4 hours post TMCAO. At doses of 3 mg/kg, minocycline reduced infarct size by 42% while 10 mg/kg reduced infarct size by 56%. Minocycline at a dose of 10 mg/kg significantly reduced infarct size at 5 hours by 40% and the 3 mg/kg dose significantly reduced infarct size by 34%. With a 6 hour time window there was a non-significant trend in infarct reduction. There was a significant difference in neurological scores favoring minocycline in both the 3 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg doses at 4 hours and at the 10 mg/kg dose at 5 hours. Minocycline did not significantly affect hemodynamic and physiological variables. A 3 mg/kg IV dose of minocycline resulted in serum levels similar to that achieved in humans after a standard 200 mg dose. CONCLUSIONS: The neuroprotective action of minocycline at clinically suitable dosing regimens and at a therapeutic time window of at least 4–5 hours merits consideration of phase I trials in humans in view of developing this drug for treatment of stroke

Relationships between big-five personality factors and Alzheimer\u27s disease pathology in autosomal dominant Alzheimer\u27s disease

Introduction: Changes in personality characteristics are associated with the onset of symptoms in Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and may even precede clinical diagnosis. However, personality changes caused by disease progression can be difficult to separate from changes that occur with normal aging. The Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) provides a unique cohort in which to relate measures of personality traits to in vivo markers of disease in a much younger sample than in typical late onset AD. Methods: Personality traits measured with the International Personality Item Pool at baseline from DIAN participants were analyzed as a function of estimated years to onset of clinical symptoms and well-established AD biomarkers. Results: Both neuroticism and conscientiousness were correlated with years to symptom onset and markers of tau pathology in the cerebrospinal fluid. Self-reported conscientiousness and both neuroticism and conscientiousness ratings from a collateral source were correlated with longitudinal rates of cognitive decline such that participants who were rated as higher on neuroticism and lower on conscientiousness exhibited accelerated rates of cognitive decline. Discussion: Personality traits are correlated with the accumulation of AD pathology and time to symptom onset, suggesting that AD progression can influence an individual\u27s personality characteristics. Together these findings suggest that measuring neuroticism and conscientiousness may hold utility in tracking disease progression in AD

Disparities in Health Care Utilization by Smoking Status – NHANES 1999–2004

The objective of this study was to assess disparities in health care utilization, by smoking status, among adults in the United States. We used 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 15,332 adults. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine the relationship between smoking status (current, former, and never smoker), with health care utilization. After controlling for demographic characteristics, current smokers and former smokers who quit either <2 years or ≥10 years prior to the survey were more likely to have had inpatient admission in the past year than never smokers. Current smokers did not differ from never smokers on whether they had an outpatient visit in the past year. They were, however, more likely than never smokers to have ≥4 outpatient visits. Smokers who quit either <2 years ago or ≥10 years ago were more likely to have had an outpatient visit than never smokers. Former smokers were more likely than never smokers to have ≥4 outpatient visits regardless of when they quit. Our results show that cigarette smoking is associated with higher health care utilization for current and former smokers than for never smokers. Frequent hospitalization and outpatient visits translate into higher medical costs. Therefore, more efforts are needed to promote interventions that discourage smoking initiation and encourage cessation

Quit Attempt Correlates among Smokers by Race/Ethnicity

Introduction: Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature deaths in the U.S., accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths annually. Although smoking prevalence in recent decades has declined substantially among all racial/ethnic groups, disparities in smoking-related behaviors among racial/ethnic groups continue to exist. Two of the goals of Healthy People 2020 are to reduce smoking prevalence among adults to 12% or less and to increase smoking cessation attempts by adult smokers from 41% to 80%. Our study assesses whether correlates of quit attempts vary by race/ethnicity among adult (≥18 years) smokers in the U.S. Understanding racial/ethnic differences in how both internal and external factors affect quit attempts is important for targeting smoking-cessation interventions to decrease tobacco-use disparities. Methods: We used 2003 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) data from 16,213 adults to examine whether the relationship between demographic characteristics, smoking behaviors, smoking policies and having made a quit attempt in the past year varied by race/ethnicity. Results: Hispanics and persons of multiple races were more likely to have made a quit attempt than whites. Overall, younger individuals and those with &gt;high school education, who smoked fewer cigarettes per day and had smoked for fewer years were more likely to have made a quit attempt. Having a smoke-free home, receiving a doctor’s advice to quit, smoking menthol cigarettes and having a greater time to when you smoked your first cigarette of the day were also associated with having made a quit attempt. The relationship between these four variables and quit attempts varied by race/ethnicity; most notably receiving a doctor’s advice was not related to quit attempts among Asian American/Pacific Islanders and menthol use among whites was associated with a lower prevalence of quit attempts while black menthol users were more likely to have made a quit attempt than white non-menthol users. Conclusions: Most correlates of quit attempts were similar across all racial/ethnic groups. Therefore population-based comprehensive tobacco control programs that increase quit attempts and successful cessation among all racial/ethnic groups should be continued and expanded. Additional strategies may be needed to encourage quit attempts among less educated, older, and more addicted smokers

Successional Change in Phosphorus Stoichiometry Explains the Inverse Relationship between Herbivory and Lupin Density on Mount St. Helens

The average nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio (N?P) of insect herbivores is less than that of leaves, suggesting that P may mediate plant-insect interactions more often than appreciated. We investigated whether succession-related heterogeneity in N and P stoichiometry influences herbivore performance on N-fixing lupin (Lupinus lepidus) colonizing primary successional volcanic surfaces, where the abundances of several specialist lepidopteran herbivores are inversely related to lupin density and are known to alter lupin colonization dynamics. We examined larval performance in response to leaf nutritional characteristics using gelechiid and pyralid leaf-tiers, and a noctuid leaf-cutter.Apple JL, Wink M, Wills SE, Bishop JG (2009) Successional Change in Phosphorus Stoichiometry Explains the Inverse Relationship between Herbivory and Lupin Density on Mount St. Helens. PLoS ONE 4(11): e7807. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.000780

The importance of mental health measurement to improve global adolescent health

No abstract available