Library support for an academic medical center's institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC)

Building a communication network between an academic medical center’s library and its Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) can lead to specialized reference services that aid institutions in meeting the information requirements of the Animal Welfare Act

Library Toolkit : pathophysiology--dentistry

A case study describing the creation of a library toolkit for a pathophysiology course for Columbia dental students

Design of Linear and Cyclic Mutant Analogues of Dirucotide Peptide (MBP82–98) against Multiple Sclerosis: Conformational and Binding Studies to MHC Class II

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system. MS is a T cell-mediated disease characterized by the proliferation, infiltration, and attack of the myelin sheath by immune cells. Previous studies have shown that cyclization provides molecules with strict conformation that could modulate the immune system. Methods: In this study, we synthesized peptide analogues derived from the myelin basic protein (MBP)82⁻98 encephalitogenic sequence (dirucotide), the linear altered peptide ligand MBP82⁻98 (Ala91), and their cyclic counterparts. Results: The synthesized peptides were evaluated for their binding to human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR2 and HLA-DR4 alleles, with cyclic MBP82⁻98 being a strong binder with the HLA-DR2 allele and having lower affinity binding to the HLA-DR4 allele. In a further step, conformational analyses were performed using NMR spectroscopy in solution to describe the conformational space occupied by the functional amino acids of both linear and cyclic peptide analogues. This structural data, in combination with crystallographic data, were used to study the molecular basis of their interaction with HLA-DR2 and HLA-DR4 alleles. Conclusion: The cyclic and APL analogues of dirucotide are promising leads that should be further evaluated for their ability to alter T cell responses for therapeutic benefit against MS

The association between clinician-based common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE) and patient-reported outcomes (PRO): a systematic review

Symptomatic adverse events (AEs) are monitored by clinicians as part of all US-based clinical trials in cancer via the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) for the purposes of ensuring patient safety. Recently there has been a charge toward capturing the patient perspective for those AEs amenable to patient self-reporting via patient-reported outcomes (PRO). The aim of this review was to summarize the empirically reported association between analogous CTCAE and PRO ratings

Evaluating the Impact of Mediated Literature Searches at a Comprehensive Cancer Center

Research informationists at a comprehensive cancer center sought to evaluate the impact and value of mediated literature searches in support of their users' work activities. An assessment tool was identified in the literature and modified by the investigators to solicit feedback from library users and identify the major reason(s) why scientists and health care professionals request literature searches, how they use the resulting information, and the impact that the results may or may not have on their research or patient care/decision-making activities. Survey results were qualitatively analyzed, and future avenues of outreach and promotion of mediated literature search services were identified

Assessing the Health Science Information Needs of Unaffiliated Health Professionals and Using Training on Openly-Available Search Tools and Resources to Provide Solutions

An institute for Family health located in Manhattan, the Bronx, and the Mid-Hudson Valley. It operates 15 full-time and 9 part-time health centers as well as employ ~66 physicians, NPs, social workers, health educators, and nursing staff. The aims of this project is to determine the medical literature and training needs of IFH personnel, develop generic licensing agreements and develop reference and education services for the IFH staff. IFH services serves of 72,000 patients and provides 225,000 patient visits annually. They also provide care regardless of ability to pay

Electronic consent in clinical care: an international scoping review

Objective Digital technologies create opportunities for improvement of consenting processes in clinical care. Yet little is known about the prevalence, characteristics or outcomes of shifting from paper to electronic consenting, or e-consent, in clinical settings. Thus questions remain around e-consent’s impact on efficiency, data integrity, user experience, care access, equity and quality. Our objective was to scope all known findings on this critical topic.Materials and methods Through an international, systematic scoping review, we identified and assessed all published findings on clinical e-consent in the scholarly and grey literatures, including consents for telehealth encounters, procedures and health information exchanges. From each relevant publication, we abstracted data on study design, measures, findings and other study features.Main outcome measures Metrics describing or evaluating clinical e-consent, including preferences for paper versus e-consenting; efficiency (eg, time, workload) and effectiveness (eg, data integrity, care quality). User characteristics were captured where available.Results A total of 25 articles published since 2005, most from North America or Europe, report on the deployment of e-consent in surgery, oncology and other clinical settings. Experimental designs and other study characteristics vary, but nearly all focus on procedural e-consents. Synthesis reveals relatively consistent findings around improved efficiency and data integrity with, and user preferences for, e-consent. Care access and quality issues are less frequently explored, with disparate findings.Discussion and conclusion The literature is nascent and largely focused on issues that are immediate and straightforward to measure. As virtual care pathways expand, more research is urgently needed to ensure that care quality and access are advanced, not compromised, by e-consent