User information seeking behaviour: Perceptions and reality. An evaluation of the WHO Labresources Internet portal

Evaluation on Internet portals is a key component of any online resource development. Understanding user information seeking behaviour and user perceived behaviour is essential to obtain the full picture of user needs, online activities and draw lessons to improve the design of Internet portals to better meet user expectations. This article discusses the evaluation of a WHO Internet portal: the Labresources website. The evaluation investigates user satisfaction with the resource, usability, demographic information about users and how well they could complete specific tasks using the website and compared this with the actual online behaviour revealing a number of discrepancies. An online questionnaire was advertised on the Labresources website during the period 25 November 2005 to 20 February 2006. As the site caters to English and French speakers, the questionnaire was made available in both languages. It consisted of two sections – the first section required the participant to complete three tasks using the website whereas the second section tested user satisfaction, information needs and appropriateness of the content. Weblogs data were compared with the questionnaire results to compare user perceived and actual online behaviour. Twenty one respondents completed the online questionnaire from a total of 18 countries. This was out of a potential 60 website users among whom the questionnaire was promoted. In general, respondents were satisfied with the website layout and navigation. 61.9% of respondents listed WHO among their top 5 and a third listed the Labresources website. The number of sessions where users browse (146) the information resources is almost three times more than the number of users who search (52) the resources. Weblogs revealed most interesting results with differences between what users reported doing when completing tasks and how easy they perceived the tasks and what they actually did. Twelve respondents completed at least one task. Of the remaining nine respondents, three did visit the Labresources website from the link in the questionnaire but did not go on to complete the tasks. Only one of the twelve who completed a task reported it being difficult. Three of the respondents who didn't complete a task reported the tasks to be difficult but only one of these actually followed the link to begin the tasks in the questionnaire. This article described an evaluation study investigating user perceived and actual behaviour at the WHO Labresources Internet portal. Although the questionnaire results demonstrated general satisfaction with the resource, a combination of a weblog evaluation with the questionnaire revealed a clearer picture of the user perception of and satisfaction with the website compared to their actual activity when completing the set tasks

Lessons learned from evaluation of the use of the National electronic Library of Infection

The National electronic Library of Infection (NeLI: http://www.neli.org.uk) in the UK is a freely available portal to key evidence and guidelines in the infectious disease field. This paper discusses 5 years of evaluation of the pilot library and how this evaluation informed design of the new library website. The importance of combining qualitative and quantitative evaluation is highlighted and the results of web access logs analysis, free text search query analysis and an online user survey are compared. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned for future development and evaluation of this Internet digital library

Ontological Principles of Disease Management from Public Health Perspective: a Tuberculosis Case Study

Formal ontological representation of clinical conditions and disease management is a key methodology ensuring that the complex knowledge of disease treatment, control and prevention can be represented, stored and accessed in the most appropriate way to help the medical professionals in their decision making. This is of particular importance for the public health domain where the concern is about the affect of the disease on populations rather than individuals.The existing evidence-based knowledge can best be used by professionals if incorporated into care pathways (formal or informal) which relate the sequence of actions necessary for accurate management of diseases to the progression of the illness and treatment. Therefore, there is a need for an ontological framework to be built around care pathways in order to allow the professionals to access the most relevant information at the time of making a decision. In this paper we will illustrate a Tuberculosis (TB) care pathway, as developed at City University, and show how a formal ontological representation can, in principle, serve the needs of information retrieval around this particular disease

Data triangulation in a user evaluation of the sealife semantic web browsers

There is a need for greater attention to triangulation of data in user-centred evaluation of Semantic Web Browsers. This paper discusses triangulation of data gathered during development of a novel framework for user-centred evaluation of Semantic Web Browsers. The data was triangulated from three sources: quantitative data from web server logs and questionnaire results, and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews. This paper shows how triangulation was essential in validation and completeness of the results, and was indispensable in ensuring accurate interpretation of the results in determining user satisfaction

Brugada syndrome and fever: genetic and molecular characterization of patients carrying SCN5A mutations.

OBJECTIVE: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is characterized by ventricular tachyarrhythmias leading to sudden cardiac death and is caused, in part, by mutations in the SCN5A gene encoding the sodium channel Na(v)1.5. Fever can trigger or exacerbate the clinical manifestations of BrS. The aim of this work was to characterize the genetic and molecular determinants of fever-dependent BrS. METHODS: Four male patients with typical BrS ST-segment elevation in V1-V3 or ventricular arrhythmias during fever were screened for mutations in the SCN5A gene. Wild-type (WT) and mutant Na(v)1.5 channels were expressed in HEK293 cells. The sodium currents (I(Na)) were analysed using the whole-cell patch clamp technique at various temperatures. Protein expression of WT and mutant channels was studied by Western blot experiments. RESULTS: Two mutations in SCN5A, L325R and R535X, were identified. Expression of the two mutant Na(v)1.5 channels in HEK293 cells revealed in each case a severe loss-of-function. Upon the increase of temperature up to 42 degrees C, we observed a pronounced acceleration of Na(v)1.5 activation and fast inactivation kinetics. Cardiac action potential modelling experiments suggest that in patients with reduced I(Na), fever could prematurely shorten the action potential by virtue of its effect on WT channels. Further experiments revealed that L325R channels are likely misfolded, since their function could be partially rescued by mexiletine or curcumin. In co-expression experiments, L325R channels interfered with the proper function of WT channels, suggesting that a dominant negative phenomenon may underlie BrS triggered by fever. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic background of BrS patients sensitive to fever is heterogeneous. Our experimental data suggest that the clinical manifestations of fever-exacerbated BrS may not be mutation specific

B-cell receptor-driven MALT1 activity regulates MYC signaling in mantle cell lymphoma.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a mature B-cell lymphoma characterized by poor clinical outcome. Recent studies revealed the importance of B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling in maintaining MCL survival. However, it remains unclear which role MALT1, an essential component of the CARD11-BCL10-MALT1 complex that links BCR signaling to the NF-κB pathway, plays in the biology of MCL. Here we show that a subset of MCLs is addicted to MALT1, as its inhibition by either RNA or pharmacologic interference induced cytotoxicity both in vitro and in vivo. Gene expression profiling following MALT1 inhibition demonstrated that MALT1 controls an MYC-driven gene expression network predominantly through increasing MYC protein stability. Thus, our analyses identify a previously unappreciated regulatory mechanism of MYC expression. Investigating primary mouse splenocytes, we could demonstrate that MALT1-induced MYC regulation is not restricted to MCL, but represents a common mechanism. MYC itself is pivotal for MCL survival because its downregulation and pharmacologic inhibition induced cytotoxicity in all MCL models. Collectively, these results provide a strong mechanistic rationale to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of targeting the MALT1-MYC axis in MCL patients

Effects of typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs on gene expression profiles in the liver of schizophrenia subjects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although much progress has been made on antipsychotic drug development, precise mechanisms behind the action of typical and atypical antipsychotics are poorly understood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed genome-wide expression profiling to study effects of typical antipsychotics and atypical antipsychotics in the postmortem liver of schizophrenia patients using microarrays (Affymetrix U133 plus2.0). We classified the subjects into typical antipsychotics (n = 24) or atypical antipsychotics (n = 26) based on their medication history, and compared gene expression profiles with unaffected controls (n = 34). We further analyzed individual antipsychotic effects on gene expression by sub-classifying the subjects into four major antipsychotic groups including haloperidol, phenothiazines, olanzapine and risperidone.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Typical antipsychotics affected genes associated with nuclear protein, stress responses and phosphorylation, whereas atypical antipsychotics affected genes associated with golgi/endoplasmic reticulum and cytoplasm transport. Comparison between typical antipsychotics and atypical antipsychotics further identified genes associated with lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function. Analyses on individual antipsychotics revealed a set of genes (151 transcripts, FDR adjusted p < 0.05) that are differentially regulated by four antipsychotics, particularly by phenothiazines, in the liver of schizophrenia patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Typical antipsychotics and atypical antipsychotics affect different genes and biological function in the liver. Typical antipsychotic phenothiazines exert robust effects on gene expression in the liver that may lead to liver toxicity. The genes found in the current study may benefit antipsychotic drug development with better therapeutic and side effect profiles.</p

Impact-ED - A New Model of Digital Library Impact Evaluation

This paper presents Impact-ED, a new model for digital library impact evaluation. The model draws on assumptions from the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Sense-Making Model. The paper discusses the current shortfalls of digital library impact evaluation and presents an alternative. Knowledge and attitude are put forward as potential measures of impact and different methods are triangulated and data linked to provide a comprehensive picture of the impact of the library at the time of use. The model shows how the digital library is being used to benefit users in their work, how it is changing their knowledge and attitudes and how the information found is used in real-time in the real world. It is being tested in the healthcare domain on the National Resource for Infection Control (www.nric.org.uk) but is expected to be transferable to other domains as further work will prove