Annual Report on changes in Veterinary Academic Libraries 2017

This research chronicles the current state of academic veterinary libraries and documents recent changes across the international academic veterinary library community. Specifically, on an annual basis, it gathers evidence from veterinary colleague libraries to document any closing and merging of academic veterinary libraries, to compile all evidence and descriptive information concerning changes in space, collections, reporting relationships and librarian assignments. Beginning in 2016, a survey is sent to each academic veterinary library accredited, approved or conditionally approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council or the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education. Aggregated survey results will be published and made available through the Texas A&M institutional repository. The intent is to make longitudinal data available for use in benchmarking and trend analysis.This research annually surveys the state of academic veterinary libraries, documenting changes across international academic veterinary libraries. It gathers evidence and descriptive information concerning changes in space, collections, services, reporting relationships and staffing

Compiling the evidence to chronicle the state of the international veterinary library landscape

Objective: This research, in progress at the time of this abstract, surveys the current state of academic veterinary libraries and documents recent changes across the international academic veterinary library community. Specifically, it will gather evidence from veterinary colleague libraries that are listed in the international veterinary libraries directory, maintained by the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association, to document any closing and merging of academic veterinary libraries, to compile all evidence and descriptive information concerning changes in space, collections, reporting relationships and librarian assignments. Methods: Principal investigators developed an online survey, administered using Qualtrics, to gather data from current and recently retired veterinary librarians. Additionally, Qualtrics provides standard reporting and analysis tools. The survey is scheduled for distribution in January 2015. Responses will be compiled and analyzed during the spring. Results will be shared with participants and other colleagues. The survey will be repeated triennially using the 2015 survey as a benchmark. Results from the separate surveys and trends analyses across multiple survey iterations will be provided as longitudinal data increases

Short-term affective consequences of specificity of rumination about unresolved personal goals

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordBackground and Objectives Rumination is a form of repetitive thinking that has been associated with both helpful and unhelpful consequences for mood and self-regulation. It has been suggested that the specificity of ruminative thought content may be one factor that determines whether state rumination about personal goals is adaptive. The present study tested the hypothesis that state rumination about unresolved personal goals is associated with unhelpful affective consequences only when rumination is low in specificity. Methods We measured the extent and specificity of uninstructed rumination following the cueing of resolved and unresolved personal goals using a 30-minute go/no-go task with thought probes. Changes in state positive and negative affect from before to after cueing goals, and before to after rumination during the go/no-go task were assessed. ResultsCueing unresolved goals resulted in a significant increase in negative affect, and subsequent affective recovery during the go/no-go task. Cueing unresolved goals resulted in more goal-focused rumination than cueing resolved goals. When ruminative thoughts were low in specificity, rumination mediated the association between goal discrepancies and negative affect: greater rumination about unresolved goals significantly impaired affective recovery and perpetuated negative affect. Limitations The findings await replication in clinical populations, where rumination is more commonly associated with unhelpful outcomes. Conclusions Greater levels of goal-focused rumination were associated with unhelpful affective consequences only when rumination was low in specificity. Specificity of thought content may be an important determinant of whether goal-focused rumination has helpful or unhelpful effects

Negative affect and ruminative self-focus during everyday goal pursuit

Models of self-regulation propose that negative affect is generated when progress towards goals is perceived to be inadequate. Similarly, ruminative thinking is hypothesised to be triggered by unattained goals (Martin & Tesser, 1996). We conducted an experience-sampling study in which participants recorded their negative affect, ruminative self-focus, and goal appraisals eight times daily for one week. Negative affect and ruminative self-focus were each associated with low levels of goal success and (with the exception of sadness) high levels of goal importance. As predicted, the combination of low goal success and high goal importance was associated with the highest levels of negative affect, and this interaction was marginally significant for ruminative self-focus. Decomposition of the ruminative self-focus measure revealed that the success by importance interaction was significantly associated with focus on problems but not focus on feelings. Findings did not differ for individuals reporting high versus low levels of depressive symptoms or trait rumination. These results suggest that self-regulatory models of goal pursuit provide a useful explanatory framework for the study of affect and ruminative thinking in everyday life

The missense of smell: functional variability in the human odorant receptor repertoire.

Humans have ~400 intact odorant receptors, but each individual has a unique set of genetic variations that lead to variation in olfactory perception. We used a heterologous assay to determine how often genetic polymorphisms in odorant receptors alter receptor function. We identified agonists for 18 odorant receptors and found that 63% of the odorant receptors we examined had polymorphisms that altered in vitro function. On average, two individuals have functional differences at over 30% of their odorant receptor alleles. To show that these in vitro results are relevant to olfactory perception, we verified that variations in OR10G4 genotype explain over 15% of the observed variation in perceived intensity and over 10% of the observed variation in perceived valence for the high-affinity in vitro agonist guaiacol but do not explain phenotype variation for the lower-affinity agonists vanillin and ethyl vanillin

Randomised trials comparing different healthcare settings : an exploratory review of the impact of pre-trial preferences on participation, and discussion of other methodological challenges

BACKGROUND: We recently published a systematic review of different healthcare settings (such as outpatient, community or home) for administering intravenous chemotherapy, and concluded that performing conventionally designed randomised trials was difficult. The main problems were achieving adequate trial accrual rates and recruiting a study population which adequately represented the target population of interest. These issues stemmed from the fact that potential participants may have had pre-trial perceptions about the trial settings they may be allocated; such preferences will sometimes be strong enough for patients to decline an invitation to participate in a trial. A patient preference trial design (in which patients can choose, or be randomised to, an intervention) may have obviated these recruitment issues, although none of the trials used such a design. METHODS: In order to gain a better understanding of the broader prevalence and extent of these preference issues (and any other methodological challenges), we undertook an exploratory review of settings trials in any area of healthcare treatment research. We searched The Cochrane Library and Google Scholar and used snowballing methods to identify trials comparing different healthcare settings. RESULTS: Trial accrual was affected by patient preferences for a setting in 15 of the 16 identified studies; birth setting trials were the most markedly affected, with between 68 % and 85 % of eligible women declining to participate specifically because of preference for a particular healthcare setting. Recruitment into substance abuse and chemotherapy setting studies was also notably affected by preferences. Only four trials used a preference design: the proportion of eligible patients choosing to participate via a preference group ranged from between 33 % and 67 %. CONCLUSIONS: In trials of healthcare settings, accrual may be seriously affected by patient preferences. The use of trial designs which incorporate a preference component should therefore strongly be considered. When designing such trials, investigators should consider settings to be complex interventions, which are likely to have linked components which may be difficult to control for. Careful thought is also needed regarding the choice of comparator settings and the most appropriate outcome measures to be used

Predicting fitness to practise events in international medical graduates who registered as UK doctors via the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) system: a national cohort study

Background International medical graduates working in the UK are more likely to be censured in relation to fitness to practise compared to home graduates. Performance on the General Medical Council’s (GMC’s) Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) tests and English fluency have previously been shown to predict later educational performance in this group of doctors. It is unknown whether the PLAB system is also a valid predictor of unprofessional behaviour and malpractice. The findings would have implications for regulatory policy. Methods This was an observational study linking data relating to fitness to practise events (referral or censure), PLAB performance, demographic variables and English language competence, as evaluated via the International English Language Test System (IELTS). Data from 27,330 international medical graduates registered with the GMC were analysed, including 210 doctors who had been sanctioned in relation to at least one fitness to practise issue. The main outcome was risk of eventual censure (including a warning). Results The significant univariable educational predictors of eventual censure (versus no censures or referrals) were lower PLAB part 1 (hazard ratio [HR], 0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.98 to 1.00) and part 2 scores (HR, 0.94; 0.91 to 0.97) at first sitting, multiple attempts at both parts of the PLAB, lower IELTS reading (HR, 0.79; 0.65 to 0.94) and listening scores (HR, 0.76; 0.62 to 0.93) and higher IELTS speaking scores (HR, 1.28; 1.04 to 1.57). Multiple resits at either part of the PLAB and higher IELTS speaking score (HR, 1.49; 1.20 to 1.84) were also independent predictors of censure. We estimated that the proposed limit of four attempts at both parts of the PLAB would reduce the risk in this entire group by only approximately two censures per 5 years in this group of doctors. Conclusions Making the PLAB, or any replacement assessment, more stringent and raising the required standards of English reading and listening may result in fewer fitness to practice events in international medical graduates. However, the number of PLAB resits permitted would have to be further capped to meaningfully impact the risk of sanctions in this group of doctor

Living on the edge: precariousness and why it matters for health

The post-war period in Europe, between the late 1940s and the 1970s, was characterised by an expansion of the role of by the state, protecting its citizens from risks of unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and food insecurity. This security began to erode in the 1980s as a result of privatisation and deregulation. The withdrawal of the state further accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis, as countries began pursuing deep austerity. The result has been a rise in what has been termed ‘precariousness’. Here we review the development of the concept of precariousness and related phenomena of vulnerability and resilience, before reviewing evidence of growing precariousness in European countries. It describes a series of studies of the impact on precariousness on health in domains of employment, housing, and food, as well as natural experiments of policies that either alleviate or worsen these impacts. It concludes with a warning, drawn from the history of the 1930s, of the political consequences of increasing precariousness in Europe and North America

“Should I stay or should I go now?” : A qualitative study of why UK doctors retire

Funding information Our thanks go to the University of Aberdeen Development Trust and the British Medical Association (Scotland) for funding this work. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our thanks to all those doctors who participated in the study. Our thanks also to the BMA (Scotland) for distributing the invitation to take part in the study to their members. No patients or any members of the public were involved in this study.Peer reviewedPostprintPostprin