Annotated Bibliography: The Reference Desk: Grand Idea or Gone Down the River?

This bibliography is from a panel presentation at the 2017 ACL Conference. The goal of this panel was to explore different rationales or sets of values that illustrated the continuation of the reference desk and reference service as essential to the success of the academic community. We discovered that “what to do with reference” is far from a settled question. We discovered passionate arguments, diverse models, and an array of data. In this current stage of figuring out the value of academic libraries to the campus as a whole and to students in particular, it seemed that there was limited hard data connecting Reference services to how they met students’ needs. How do we make ourselves valuable, important, essential, and useful? Maybe we need to change our model? If so, how do we examine ourselves and our environment appropriately to make this happen? What factors should we examine? Which ones must we keep? What things can we discard or change? When students come to seek assistance, they generally need the short, instant, and personal help, without having to attend a whole training session or class. Individual and personalized guidance for their immediate need is the most important factor for them. How do libraries provide that

Acetaminophen poisoning: an update for the intensivist

Acetaminophen overdose is common and can result from deliberate/nonstaggered or accidental/staggered ingestion. Patients presenting within 24 h of an acetaminophen overdose can safely be managed on medical wards. Early management of nonstaggered overdose is guided by the plasma acetaminophen concentration, whereas management of accidental/staggered ingestion is guided by ingested dose. Ingested dose and time from ingestion to presentation are important prognostic factors in accidental/staggered ingestion. Acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure (ALF) requires meticulous supportive care in an intensive care unit (ICU), with early identification and transfer of patients who are likely to require liver transplantation to a specialist liver centre. The modified King's College Hospital criteria (incorporating lactate into the traditional criteria) represent the best tool for identifying patients who require transplantation

Prolonged N-acetylcysteine therapy in late acetaminophen poisoning associated with acute liver failure – a need to be more cautious?

Since the 1970s, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has shown proven efficacy as an antidote for acetaminophen (APAP) poisoning and APAP-induced liver failure for early presenters. The current evidence of benefits of NAC for late presenters is controversial because of the poor understanding of the mechanism of late toxicity. In the previous issue of Critical Care, Yang and colleagues use a mouse model to demonstrate that NAC in doses similar to those used therapeutically to treat APAP poisoning in humans impairs liver regenerative capacity and that the effect is more pronounced when administered for a longer duration. Studies based on cell cultures support this evidence. Cytokine and growth factor signalling pathways are recognised to be involved in the process of liver regeneration and apoptosis. This research paper generates several issues related to the future management of APAP-induced liver failure and research into the mechanism of toxicity, especially of late toxicity

Risk versus regulation: an update on the state of e-cigarette control in Australia

E-cigarettes are increasingly common around the world, particularly among youth. Ingestion of nicotine-containing e-liquid, while relatively rare, is the major toxicological risk associated with their use. Current Australian regulation has nicotine for use in e-cigarettes listed as a dangerous poison in Schedule 7, with its supply or sale illegal in all states and territories, while regulation on the sale of e-cigarettes and accessories varies by state. However, with increasing evidence that e-cigarettes produce far fewer toxic by-products than their combustible counterparts perhaps it is time to review this regulation

Reducing the drag: creating v formations through slow scholarship and story

Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition (Scott-Maxwell, 1979). We are three women working across two Australian universities. Frustrated at the deadening, withering nature and containment of the neoliberal university, and inspired by the wisdom of slow scholarship and the cooperative reciprocity inherent in the V formations adopted by groups of flying birds to boost vital energy, our chapter encapsulates our efforts to ‘care for self and others’ and ‘count what others don’t’. It follows our attempts to resist the insidious, diminishing drag of metric-based audits and managerialism. Having joyfully discovered we have ‘outgrown’ narrow academic containers of measurement, comparison, and productivity, we are responding to our longing to connect and to ‘be’ differently in academia. Our resistance is characterised by efforts to listen and converse in meaningful ways, ways that speak our lives into the academy. For over a year we have been initiating conversations with a trusted group of colleagues and acquiring responsive, personal and aesthetic ways to address and reconcile our personal/professional lives. Inviting the reader into our deliberate storying and de-storying of our lived experience whilst practicing a politics of care, collaboration and authenticity, we are subverting what it means to be productive and accountable and what it means to be an academic. And in so doing we are seeding new and fruitful ways of working. We are unearthing our individual and collective voice, and creating and expanding safe spaces for scholarly, professional and personal disclosure and meaning-making

Efficiency of respirator filter media against diesel particulate matter: a comparison study using two diesel particulate sources

Diesel engines have been a mainstay within many industries since the early 1900s. Exposure to diesel particulate matter (DPM) is a major issue in many industrial workplaces given the potential for serious health impacts to exposed workers; including the potential for lung cancer and adverse irritant and cardiovascular effects. Personal respiratory protective devices are an accepted safety measure to mitigate worker exposure against the potentially damaging health impacts of DPM. To be protective, they need to act as effective filters against carbon and other particulates. In Australia, the filtering efficiency of respiratory protective devices is determined by challenging test filter media with aerosolised sodium chloride to determine penetration at designated flow rates. The methodology outlined in AS/NZS1716 (Standards Australia International Ltd and Standards New Zealand 2012. Respiratory protective devices. Sydney/Wellington: SAI Global Limited/Standards New Zealand) does not account for the differences between characteristics of workplace contaminants like DPM and sodium chloride such as structure, composition, and particle size. This study examined filtering efficiency for three commonly used AS/NZS certified respirator filter models, challenging them with two types of diesel emissions; those from a diesel generator and a diesel engine. Penetration through the filter media of elemental carbon (EC), total carbon (TC), and total suspended particulate (TSP) was calculated. Results indicate that filtering efficiency assumed by P2 certification in Australia was achieved for two of the three respirator models for DPM generated using the small diesel generator, whilst when the larger diesel engine was used, filtering efficiency requirements were met for all three filter models. These results suggest that the testing methodology specified for certification of personal respiratory protective devices by Standards Australia may not ensure adequate protection for respirator users against DPM under all circumstances of diesel generated particles

Are respiratory protection standards protecting worker health against ultrafine diesel particulate matter emissions? An Australian perspective

Poster presentation made at the 20th ETH-Conference on Combustion Generated Nanoparticles, 13-16 June 2016, Zurich, Switzerland. Aim: Ultrafine diesel engine emissions are known to cause adverse health impacts including lung cancer, cardiovascular and irritant effects (World Health Organisation 2012). Respiratory protective devices are commonly used to mitigate worker exposure to many hazardous contaminants, especially in heavy industry such as mining and refining. Current standards to evaluate penetration through respirator filter media may not consider ultrafine particles due to the diameter of the challenge aerosol and the detection limit of the instrument (Eninger et al. 2008). Nor do they test penetration at flow rates representative of moderate to heavy work rates. Research is currently being undertaken at the University of Wollongong, Australia, to develop a method to measure penetration through respirator filter media using diesel emissions, rather than the standard challenge aerosol of NaCl, at flow rates consistent with moderate to heavy work rates. Methods: Emissions from a Detroit D706 LTE diesel engine were fed into an experimental chamber which was purpose built for the study. Penetration through a range of commonly used respirator filters in Australian workplaces was determined by particle count at diameters ranging from 5.6 - 560nm, using an Engine Emissions Particle Sizer (EEPS). Penetration was also measured by mass of Elemental Carbon, using NIOSH 5040. Flow rates were as designated in AS/NZS 1716 (Standards Australia International Ltd & Standards New Zealand 2012) and ISO DIS 16975 - 1.2 Work Rates 2 and 3 (ISO 2015), consistent with moderate to heavy work rates. Results and Conclusions: A method has been developed and validated and a pilot study completed. Initial findings indicate penetration exceeded standards specified limits for filtering efficiency for a number of filters for the size range \u3c50 \u3enm, when measured as a function of particle count. Penetration through the filters was found to increase as flow rate increases. These results differed from the penetration by mass of elemental carbon through the respirator filters, using a paired samples t-test at a significance level of 0.05. This research is relevant as it has been postulated that ultrafine particles may contribute to adverse cardiovascular mortality and morbidity associated with diesel engine emissions (Martinelli, Olivieri & Girelli 2013) hence it is important to determine if these smaller size particles are penetrating through respirator filter media and may be inhaled by workers

Physical activity levels of Reception children in the North-East of England: a cross-sectional analysis of seasonal, daily and hourly variation.

Children’s early years are a key time for development, with research suggesting that engaging in physical activity (PA) can have positive health effects. The aim of this study was to describe the cross-sectional PA levels, PA guideline compliance, and how PA varies according to temporal, demographic, and anthropometric factors in Reception children in the North-East of England. Accelerometer measured PA data was recorded and processed according to time spent in sedentary behaviour (SB), light, moderate, moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and total PA and analyses were performed according to individual and environmental variations. 265 children provided valid PA data (defined as 8 hours of wear time on three days). 51% of the sample were boys. Children engaged in 261.6 minutes/day of SB, 99.5 minutes/day of MVPA and 271.6 minutes/day of light PA. Significant differences were observed according to season, day of the week, time of the day, sex, socioeconomic status, age, and body mass index-z (BMI-z). This study found that on average, 4–5-year-old children in the North-East of England met the UK PA guidelines. However, there were temporal, sex and socioeconomic differences in PA, highlighting opportunities to promote PA at schools and at home