Exploring publishing patterns at a large research university: Implications for library practice

pre-printObjective - The research project sought to explore the value of data on publication patterns for decision-making regarding scholarly communications and collection development programs at a research-intensive post-secondary institution, the University of Utah in the United States. Methods - Publication data for prolific University of Utah authors were gathered from Scopus for the year 2009. The availability to University of Utah faculty, staff, and students of the journals in which University of Utah authors published was determined using the University of Utah Libraries' catalogue; usage was estimated based on publisher-provided download statistics and requests through interlibrary loan; and costs were calculated from invoices, a periodicals directory, and publisher websites and communications. Indicators of value included the cost-per-use of journals to which the University of Utah Libraries subscribed, a comparison of interlibrary loan costs to subscription costs for journals to which the University of Utah Libraries did not subscribe, the relationship between publishing venue and usage, and the relationship between publishing venue and cost-per-use. Results - There were 22 University of Utah authors who published 10 or more articles in 2009. Collectively, these authors produced 275 articles in 162 journals. The University of Utah provided access through library subscriptions to 83% of the journals for which access, usage, and cost data were available, with widely varying usage and at widely varying costs. Cost-per-use and a comparison of interlibrary loan to subscription costs provided evidence of the effectiveness of collection development practices. However, at the individual journal title level, there was little overlap between the various indicators of journal value, with the highest ranked, or most valuable, journals differing depending on the indicator considered. Few of the articles studied appeared in open access journals, suggesting a possible focus area for the scholarly communications program. Conclusions - Knowledge of publication patterns provides an additional source of data to support collection development decisions and scholarly communications programming. As the estimated value of a journal is dependent on the factor being studied, gathering knowledge on a number of factors and from a variety of sources can lead to more informed decision-making. Efforts should be made to expand data considered in areas of scholarly communications and collection development beyond usage to incorporate publishing activities of institutionally affiliated authors

Publishing Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship

While most issues of the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) contain one or two case studies, the JMLA editorial team is pleased to note that the current issue contains six case studies, highlighting a wide range of library-driven initiatives to support health sciences research and education

Human Inborn Errors of Immunity: 2019 Update on the Classification from the International Union of Immunological Societies Expert Committee.

We report the updated classification of Inborn Errors of Immunity/Primary Immunodeficiencies, compiled by the International Union of Immunological Societies Expert Committee. This report documents the key clinical and laboratory features of 430 inborn errors of immunity, including 64 gene defects that have either been discovered in the past 2 years since the previous update (published January 2018) or were characterized earlier but have since been confirmed or expanded upon in subsequent studies. The application of next-generation sequencing continues to expedite the rapid identification of novel gene defects, rare or common; broaden the immunological and clinical phenotypes of conditions arising from known gene defects and even known variants; and implement gene-specific therapies. These advances are contributing to greater understanding of the molecular, cellular, and immunological mechanisms of disease, thereby enhancing immunological knowledge while improving the management of patients and their families. This report serves as a valuable resource for the molecular diagnosis of individuals with heritable immunological disorders and also for the scientific dissection of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying inborn errors of immunity and related human diseases

Human Inborn Errors of Immunity: 2019 Update of the IUIS Phenotypical Classification.

Since 2013, the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) expert committee (EC) on Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI) has published an updated phenotypic classification of IEI, which accompanies and complements their genotypic classification into ten tables. This phenotypic classification is user-friendly and serves as a resource for clinicians at the bedside. There are now 430 single-gene IEI underlying phenotypes as diverse as infection, malignancy, allergy, autoimmunity, and autoinflammation. We herein report the 2019 phenotypic classification, including the 65 new conditions. The diagnostic algorithms are based on clinical and laboratory phenotypes for each of the ten broad categories of IEI

The Otterbein Miscellany - June 1974

https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/miscellany/1002/thumbnail.jp

Finding Water Scarcity Amid Abundance Using Human–Natural System Models

Water scarcity afflicts societies worldwide. Anticipating water shortages is vital because of water’s indispensable role in social-ecological systems. But the challenge is daunting due to heterogeneity, feedbacks, and water’s spatial-temporal sequencing throughout such systems. Regional system models with sufficient detail can help address this challenge. In our study, a detailed coupled human–natural system model of one such region identifies how climate change and socioeconomic growth will alter the availability and use of water in coming decades. Results demonstrate how water scarcity varies greatly across small distances and brief time periods, even in basins where water may be relatively abundant overall. Some of these results were unexpected and may appear counterintuitive to some observers. Key determinants of water scarcity are found to be the cost of transporting and storing water, society’s institutions that circumscribe human choices, and the opportunity cost of water when alternative uses compete

Natural history and outcomes in paediatric RASopathy-associated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Aims: This study aimed to describe the natural history and predictors of all-cause mortality and sudden cardiac death (SCD)/equivalent events in children with a RASopathy syndrome and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Methods and results: This is a retrospective cohort study from 14 paediatric cardiology centres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. We included children <18 years with HCM and a clinical and/or genetic diagnosis of a RASopathy syndrome [Noonan syndrome (NS), NS with multiple lentigines (NSML), Costello syndrome (CS), cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFCS), and NS with loose anagen hair (NS-LAH)]. One hundred forty-nine patients were recruited [111 (74.5%) NS, 12 (8.05%) NSML, 6 (4.03%) CS, 6 (4.03%) CFCS, 11 (7.4%) Noonan-like syndrome, and 3 (2%) NS-LAH]. NSML patients had higher left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) gradient values [60 (36–80) mmHg, P = 0.004]. Over a median follow-up of 197.5 [inter-quartile range (IQR) 93.58–370] months, 23 patients (15.43%) died at a median age of 24.1 (IQR 5.6–175.9) months. Survival was 96.45% [95% confidence interval (CI) 91.69–98.51], 90.42% (95% CI 84.04–94.33), and 84.12% (95% CI 75.42–89.94) at 1, 5, and 10 years, respectively, but this varied by RASopathy syndrome. RASopathy syndrome, symptoms at baseline, congestive cardiac failure (CCF), non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT), and maximal left ventricular wall thickness were identified as predictors of all-cause mortality on univariate analysis, and CCF, NSVT, and LVOT gradient were predictors for SCD or equivalent event. Conclusions: These findings highlight a distinct category of patients with Noonan-like syndrome with a milder HCM phenotype but significantly worse survival and identify potential predictors of adverse outcome in patients with RASopathy-related HCM

The diffusion of financial supervisory governance ideas

Who is watching the financial services industry? Since 1980, there have been multiple waves of thought about whether the ministry of finance, the central bank, a specialized regulator or some combination of these should have supervisory authority. These waves have been associated with the convergence of actual practices. How much and through what channels did internationally promoted ideas about supervisory 'best practice' influence institutional design choices? I use a new dataset of 83 countries and jurisdictions between the 1980s and 2007 to examine the diffusion of supervisory ideas. With this data, I employ Cox Proportional Hazard and Competing Risks Event History Analyses to evaluate the possible causal roles best practice policy ideas might have played. I find that banking crises and certain peer groups can encourage policy convergence on heavily promoted ideas

Climate Change Meets the Law of the Horse

The climate change policy debate has only recently turned its full attention to adaptation - how to address the impacts of climate change we have already begun to experience and that will likely increase over time. Legal scholars have in turn begun to explore how the many different fields of law will and should respond. During this nascent period, one overarching question has gone unexamined: how will the legal system as a whole organize around climate change adaptation? Will a new distinct field of climate change adaptation law and policy emerge, or will legal institutions simply work away at the problem through unrelated, duly self-contained fields, as in the famous Law of the Horse? This Article is the first to examine that question comprehensively, to move beyond thinking about the law and climate change adaptation to consider the law of climate change adaptation. Part I of the Article lays out our methodological premises and approach. Using a model we call Stationarity Assessment, Part I explores how legal fields are structured and sustained based on assumptions about the variability of natural, social, and economic conditions, and how disruptions to that regime of variability can lead to the emergence of new fields of law and policy. Case studies of environmental law and environmental justice demonstrate the model’s predictive power for the formation of new distinct legal regimes. Part II applies the Stationarity Assessment model to the topic of climate change adaptation, using a case study of a hypothetical coastal region and the potential for climate change impacts to disrupt relevant legal doctrines and institutions. We find that most fields of law appear capable of adapting effectively to climate change. In other words, without some active intervention, we expect the law and policy of climate change adaptation to follow the path of the Law of the Horse - a collection of fields independently adapting to climate change - rather than organically coalescing into a new distinct field. Part III explores why, notwithstanding this conclusion, it may still be desirable to seek a different trajectory. Focusing on the likelihood of systemic adaptation decisions with perverse, harmful results, we identify the potential benefits offered by intervening to shape a new and distinct field of climate change adaptation law and policy. Part IV then identifies the contours of such a field, exploring the distinct purposes of reducing vulnerability, ensuring resiliency, and safeguarding equity. These features provide the normative policy components for a law of climate change adaptation that would be more than just a Law of the Horse. This new field would not replace or supplant any existing field, however, as environmental law did with regard to nuisance law, and it would not be dominated by substantive doctrine. Rather, like the field of environmental justice, this new legal regime would serve as a holistic overlay across other fields to ensure more efficient, effective, and just climate change adaptation solutions

InterMEL: An international biorepository and clinical database to uncover predictors of survival in early-stage melanoma

We are conducting a multicenter study to identify classifiers predictive of disease-specific survival in patients with primary melanomas. Here we delineate the unique aspects, challenges, and best practices for optimizing a study of generally small-sized pigmented tumor samples including primary melanomas of at least 1.05mm from AJTCC TNM stage IIA-IIID patients. We also evaluated tissue-derived predictors of extracted nucleic acids’ quality and success in downstream testing. This ongoing study will target 1,000 melanomas within the international InterMEL consortium.Medicin