Can Student Assistants Effectively Provide Chat Reference Services? Student Transcripts vs. Librarian Transcripts

To determine if undergraduate student information desk assistants were effectively staffing the library\u27s chat reference service, librarians at Bowling Green State University embarked on a chat transcript analysis project, comparing the performance of librarians to student assistants. Although student desk assistants generally did not perform as well as librarians, it was concluded that with a renewed emphasis on continual oversight and training, students were a very viable option for staffing a chat reference service

Reaching Additional Users with Proactive Chat

Despite a general decline in recent years in academic libraries’ reference desk statistics, research indicates that library users continue to have complex research questions but are largely unaware that librarians are waiting and ready to assist them. The challenge for librarians is to connect with users at their point of need. At Bowling Green State University, we are making a move in this direction with proactive (pop-up) chat widgets embedded within our library Web pages, catalog, and databases. Since implementation, the number of chat reference questions received has more than doubled, helping us reach additional users from on-and off-campus

Changing Practices of Undergraduate Business Teaching at BGSU

This report will discuss the findings and recommendations of a study of the changing teaching needs of undergraduate business faculty at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). This local project was conducted by BGSU librarians in the 2018-19 academic year as part of a national study coordinated by Ithaka S+R in conjunction with other institutional-level studies throughout the country. Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit research and consulting organization that works with academic communities, will produce an overarching report on supporting the changing practices of undergraduate teaching in the field of business

Tobacco Use: Prevention, Cessation, and Control

Practice Center (RTI-UNC EPC) systematically reviewed the evidence on (a) the effectiveness of community- and population-based interventions to prevent tobacco use and to increase consumer demand for and implementation of effective cessation interventions; (b) the impacts of smokeless tobacco marketing on smoking, use of those products, and population harm; and (c) the directions for future research. Data Sources: We searched MEDLINE®, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Applied Health (CINAHL), Cochrane libraries, Cochrane Clinical Trials Register, Psychological Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts from January 1980 through June 10, 2005. We included English-language randomized controlled trials, other trials, and observational studies, with sample size and followup restrictions. We used 15 Cochrane Collaboration systematic reviews, 5 prior systematic reviews, and 2 meta-analyses as the foundation for this report. Review Methods: Trained reviewers abstracted detailed data from included articles into evidence tables and completed quality assessments; other senior reviewers confirmed accuracy and resolved disagreements. Results: We identified 1,288 unique abstracts; 642 did not meet inclusion criteria, 156 overlapped with prior reviews, and 2 were not published articles. Of 488 full-text articles retrieved and reviewed, we excluded 298 for several reasons, marked 88 as background, and retained 102. Evidence (consistent with previous reviews) showed that (a) school-based prevention interventions have short-term (but not long-term) effects on adolescents; (b) multicomponent approaches, including telephone counseling, increase the number of users who attempt to quit; (c) self-help strategies alone are ineffective, but counseling and pharmacotherapy used either alone or in combination can improve success rates of quit attempts; and (d) provide training and academic detailing improve provider delivery of cessation treatments, but evidence is insufficient to show that these approaches yield higher quit rates. Recent evidence on the following topics was insufficient to change prior review findings: (a) effectiveness of population-based prevention interventions; (b) effectiveness of providerbased interventions to reduce tobacco initiation; (c) effectiveness of community- and providerbased interventions to increase use of proven cessation strategies; (d) effectiveness of marketing campaigns to switch tobacco users from smoking to smokeless tobacco products; and (e) effectiveness of interventions in populations with comorbidities and risk behaviors (e.g., depression, substance and alcohol abuse). No evidence was available on the way in which smokeless tobacco product marketing affects population harm. Conclusions: The evidence base has notable gaps and numerous study deficiencies. We found little information to address some of the issues that previous authoritative reviews had not covered, some information to substantiate earlier conclusions and recommendations from those reviews, and no evidence that would overturn any previous recommendations

Das unterschätzte Potenzial hoher Fallzahlen - Stärken und Limitierungen des Mikrozensus am Beispiel von Fertilitätsanalysen

"Aufgrund der hohen Fallzahlen (688.931 Personen in 2012) ist das Potenzial des Mikrozensus (MZ) für demografische und familiensoziologische Analysen groß, zudem inhaltlich durch die Erhebung der Geburten von Frauen noch gestiegen. Der Beitrag hat zum Ziel, methodische Hintergründe, Limitierungen und Potenziale des MZ am Beispiel von Fertilität systematisch aufzuzeigen. Die Analyse von Antwortverweigerungen zeigt, dass die Art der Befragung einen starken Einfluss hat, deren Verzerrungen durch Imputationen deutlich reduziert werden konnten. Die Limitierungen sind v.a. das Querschnittsdesign sowie die fehlenden Daten zur Kinderzahl von Männern und zur Binnenmobilität. Die hohen Fallzahlen des MZ ermöglichen tiefenscharfe Differenzierungen bezüglich Sozialstruktur, Paritäten und Zeitverläufe, was anhand von Konfidenzintervallen diskutiert wird. Drei Forschungsdesigns, die die Analysepotenziale nutzen, werden vorgestellt: Dendrogrammanalysen ermöglichen gruppenspezifische Differenzierungen nach fünf Ebenen und zeigen so ein detailliertes Muster der Kinderlosigkeit. Der Verlauf von Paritätsmustern im Kohortenvergleich verdeutlicht die je nach beruflicher Bildung unterschiedlichen Verläufe. Die Analysen zur altersspezifischen Häufigkeit von Erstgeburten ermöglichen, Trends von nachholenden Geburten für verschiedene Bildungsgruppen zu identifizieren." (Autorenreferat)"Due to a large number of cases (688.931 persons in 2012) the German Microcensus has a huge potential for analyses in demography and family sociology. Content is further improved by the new voluntary question on biological children of women. This paper aims to systematically assess the methodological background as well as limitations and potentials of the Microcensus using the example of fertility data. The analyses of nonresponse show that the way of questioning has a strong impact. The related bias could, however, be reduced by imputations. The main limitations are the cross-sectional design and missing data on the children of men and internal migration. The potential of the high case numbers of the Microcensus is systematically discussed by analyzing confidence intervals: It allows for in-dept differentiations for analyzing social structure, birth parities and time patterns. Finally, we discuss three research designs which are able to use this potential: Dendrogram analyses allow group differentiations for up to five levels and thus reveal detailed patterns of childlessness. Parity patterns by cohorts illustrate differences by occupational education. Third, the age-specific analyses of first births among several cohorts allow for identifying trends of recuperation which differ considerable between educational groups." (author's abstract

Nur wenn alle Voraussetzungen passen: der Forschungsstand zu Kinderreichtum

Im 20. Jahrhundert ist Kinderreichtum - also die biologische Elternschaft von drei oder mehr Kindern - zu einer Ausnahme geworden und geht immer weiter zurück. Welche Erkenntnisse über die Verbreitung von Kinderreichtum in verschiedenen Teilen der Gesellschaft gibt es? Was ist bekannt über die Determinanten und Mechanismen, die es wahrscheinlicher oder unwahrscheinlicher werden lassen, dass Eltern viele Kinder bekommen? Das Paper stellt diese Fragen in den Mittelpunkt und gibt einen Überblick über die aktuelle Forschungslage zu diesem Thema. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die sozio-demografischen Determinanten von Kinderreichtum wie zum Beispiel Bildung, Erwerbssituation, Einkommen oder Wohnsituation gelegt. Hinzu kommt die Bedeutung der eigenen Herkunftsfamilie, insbesondere der Geschwisterzahl als Vorbild. Als entscheidende Voraussetzung, um kinderreich zu werden, erweist sich ferner ein eng getakteter Lebenslauf, in dem zwischen Ereignissen wie Partnerfindung, erster und zweiter Geburt nur wenig Zeit vergeht. Das Paper benennt Forschungslücken, beispielsweise bei der Frage, welche Charakteristika von Kinderreichen eher Ursachen und welche eher Folgen von Kinderreichtum sind. Auch wird darauf hingewiesen, dass zu wenig zwischen Kinderreichtum im hier verstandenen Sinne und Mehrkindfamilien im Sinne eines Zusammenlebens mit vielen (nicht unbedingt eigenen) Kindern im Haushalt unterschieden wird.This paper investigates the state of research on large families, defined as biological parenthood of three or more children. However, in the literature this topic is often not clearly distinguished from that of large families, in the sense of three or more children living together with parents in a social sense as a family. Therefore also the state of research cannot distinguish these two topics. The parenthood of three or more children has become an exception in the 20th century and is further declining over recent birth cohorts. Among the women born 1972 (in Germany) only 16.2 % had three or more children. A large share of the research deals with the specific characteristics of large families, compared to families with one or two children, partly deducing determinants of a third child from these characteristics. A particular focus lies on the socio-economic situation of the parents, represented in terms of education, employment situation, income and poverty, since here a deprivation is identified and problematized frequently. Related to this field, for instance health and housing space are also addressed relatively frequently. Another part of the literature is explicitly asking about the determinants of the transition to having a third child. Hereby for example the role model of the family of origin, a subjective family orientation, religiosity, a non-employed woman but also a first and a second child of the same sex turn out to be supportive influences. All in all there is a deficit of research that presents longitudinal analyses, that includes a couple perspective and that detects causalities and mechanisms behind the cross-sectional correlations

Screening for Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force

Importance: Many adverse health outcomes are associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Objective: To review primary care-relevant evidence on screening adults for OSA, test accuracy, and treatment of OSA, to inform the US Preventive Services Task Force. Data Sources: MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and trial registries through October 2015, references, and experts, with surveillance of the literature through October 5, 2016. Study Selection: English-language randomized clinical trials (RCTs); studies evaluating accuracy of screening questionnaires or prediction tools, diagnostic accuracy of portable monitors, or association between apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and health outcomes among community-based participants. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Two investigators independently reviewed abstracts and full-text articles. When multiple similar studies were available, random-effects meta-analyses were conducted. Main Outcomes and Measures: Sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC), AHI, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores, blood pressure, mortality, cardiovascular events, motor vehicle crashes, quality of life, and harms. Results: A total of 110 studies were included (N = 46 188). No RCTs compared screening with no screening. In 2 studies (n = 702), the screening accuracy of the multivariable apnea prediction score followed by home portable monitor testing for detecting severe OSA syndrome (AHI ≥30 and ESS score >10) was AUC 0.80 (95% CI, 0.78 to 0.82) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.77 to 0.90), respectively, but the studies oversampled high-risk participants and those with OSA and OSA syndrome. No studies prospectively evaluated screening tools to report calibration or clinical utility for improving health outcomes. Meta-analysis found that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) compared with sham was significantly associated with reduction of AHI (weighted mean difference [WMD], -33.8 [95% CI, -42.0 to -25.6]; 13 trials, 543 participants), excessive sleepiness assessed by ESS score (WMD, -2.0 [95% CI, -2.6 to -1.4]; 22 trials, 2721 participants), diurnal systolic blood pressure (WMD, -2.4 points [95% CI, -3.9 to -0.9]; 15 trials, 1190 participants), and diurnal diastolic blood pressure (WMD, -1.3 points [95% CI, -2.2 to -0.4]; 15 trials, 1190 participants). CPAP was associated with modest improvement in sleep-related quality of life (Cohen d, 0.28 [95% CI, 0.14 to 0.42]; 13 trials, 2325 participants). Mandibular advancement devices (MADs) and weight loss programs were also associated with reduced AHI and excessive sleepiness. Common adverse effects of CPAP and MADs included oral or nasal dryness, irritation, and pain, among others. In cohort studies, there was a consistent association between AHI and all-cause mortality. Conclusions and Relevance: There is uncertainty about the accuracy or clinical utility of all potential screening tools. Multiple treatments for OSA reduce AHI, ESS scores, and blood pressure. Trials of CPAP and other treatments have not established whether treatment reduces mortality or improves most other health outcomes, except for modest improvement in sleep-related quality of life

Hormone Therapy for the Primary Prevention of Chronic Conditions in Postmenopausal Women: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force

Importance: Postmenopausal status coincides with increased risks for chronic conditions such as heart disease, osteoporosis, cognitive impairment, or some types of cancers. Previously, hormone therapy was used for the primary prevention of these chronic conditions. Objective: To update evidence for the US Preventive Services Task Force on the benefits and harms of hormone therapy in reducing risks for chronic conditions. Data Sources: MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and trial registries from June 1, 2011, through August 1, 2016. Surveillance for new evidence in targeted publications was conducted through July 1, 2017. Study Selection: English-language randomized clinical trials reporting health outcomes. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Dual review of abstracts, full-text articles, and study quality; meta-analyses when at least 3 similar studies were available. Main Outcomes and Measures: Beneficial or harmful changes in risks for various chronic conditions. Results: Eighteen trials (n = 40 058; range, 142-16 608; mean age, 53-79 years) were included. Women using estrogen-only therapy compared with placebo had significantly lower risks, per 10 000 person-years, for diabetes (-19 cases [95% CI, -34 to -3]) and fractures (-53 cases [95% CI, -69 to -39]). Risks were statistically significantly increased, per 10 000 person-years, for gallbladder disease (30 more cases [95% CI, 16 to 48]), stroke (11 more cases [95% CI, 2 to 23]), venous thromboembolism (11 more cases [95% CI, 3 to 22]), and urinary incontinence (1261 more cases [95% CI, 880 to 1689]). Women using estrogen plus progestin compared with placebo experienced significantly lower risks, per 10 000 person-years, for colorectal cancer (-6 cases [95% CI, -9 to -1]), diabetes (-14 cases [95% CI, -24 to -3), and fractures (-44 cases [95% CI, -71 to -13). Risks, per 10 000 person-years, were significantly increased for invasive breast cancer (9 more cases [95% CI, 1 to 19]), probable dementia (22 more cases [95% CI, 4 to 53]), gallbladder disease (21 more cases [95% CI, 10 to 34]), stroke (9 more cases [95% CI, 2 to 19]), urinary incontinence (876 more cases [95% CI, 606 to 1168]), and venous thromboembolism (21 more cases [95% CI, 12 to 33]). Conclusions and Relevance: Hormone therapy for the primary prevention of chronic conditions in menopausal women is associated with some beneficial effects but also with a substantial increase of risks for harms. The available evidence regarding benefits and harms of early initiation of hormone therapy is inconclusive

Application of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry Method for Analysis of Metformin Hydrochloride in Marketed Tablet Dosage Form

The first line drug given for monotherapy for diabetes mellitus type 2 is metformin hydrochloride, which is a biguanide antihyperglycemic drug. The aim of this research was to develop, validate, and apply the Fourier Transform Infrared spectrophotometry method to identify and determine metformin hydrochloride in marketed tablet dosage form. This research included preparation of standard, analysis of samples, and validation of method. The specific wavenumber obtained for qualitative analysis was 1645.68 cm–1 and 1574.8 cm–1. The specific area obtained for quantitative analysis with a single baseline ranged from 1701.53 cm–1 to 1535.66 cm–1. All metformin hydrochloride marketed tablet dosage forms were analyzed and met all of the qualitative and quantitative requirements. The methods met the requirements of method validation for accuracy with a percentage of recovery of 100.22 %, precision with relative standard deviation of 0.48 %, linearity with a correlation coefficient of 0.9992, limit of detection of 11.17 mg per mL, limit of quantitation of 33.84 mg per mL, and good specificity results. In this study, the Fourier Transform Infrared spectrophotometry method was successfully developed and validated for application in identification and determination of metformin hydrochloride in marketed tablet dosage form

Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for major depressive disorder: review of systematic reviews

This study aims to summarise the evidence on more than 140 pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options for major depressive disorder (MDD) and to evaluate the confidence that patients and clinicians can have in the underlying science about their effects