Online Deaf Resources: Deaf Artists, Deaf and WW II, and Deaf Theatre

NTID, a college at RIT, has freely available Deaf related resources related to Deaf Art, Deaf History and Deaf Theatre. Discussion will center around how librarians can support the development of Deaf curricula through content related research, copyright awareness and more

Sculptures in the Air: ASL Poetry and Literature Collections at RIT/NTID Deaf Studies Archive, Rochester, NY

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Libraries is digitizing 61 videotapes held in the RIT/NTID DSA that document the ASL literature movement in Rochester from 1970-2011. These videotapes represent the largest collection of rare U.S. ASL Literature to be made publically accessible. Preservation digital copies will be made and stored, and access to digital copies provided for use by scholars and the general public. This collection will be universally accessible: it will be captioned, voiced, transcribed and/or signed. The once “hidden” work of this pioneering and under-represented group will be made public for the first time, broadening access to the cultural heritage of this diverse group little known outside of the Deaf community and enriching interdisciplinary studies in linguistics, poetry, performing arts, and cinema. This project can shape a new understanding of libraries’ important role in modeling best practices for accessible sharing of online videos through the Council of Library and Information Resources (CLIR) grant

Finding Hidden Treasures: Research Help in the Library and Archives

At the 2009 Deaf History International Conference, Ulf Hedberg spoke on the preservation of Deaf materials. The objective was to promote the preservation of Deaf materials by individuals, institutions, and organizations and to encourage the donation of Deaf materials to libraries, archives, museums, or organizations. In this chapter our objective is to identify the numerous resources at the Gallaudet University Library Deaf Collections and Archives and the Rochester Institute of Technolo-gy’s (RIT) Wallace Library, which are now on the Internet. The resources discussed here contain biographical materials that relate to this book’s theme of telling Deaf lives. Since the year 2012, when the Eighth Deaf History International conference was hosted, was the three-hundredth anniversary of the Abbé de l’Épée’s birth, several de l’Épée resources are identified. Many of the materials mentioned from the Gallaudet Univer-sity Library Deaf Collections and Archives were made accessible online thanks to a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation

4CPS-389 Governance of clinical trials between health needs, access to care, innovation and sustainability in the COVID-19 pandemic era

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Implementing a simple pharmacovigilance program to improve reporting of adverse events associated with biologic therapy in rheumatology: Preliminary results from the Calabria Biologics Pharmacovigilance Program (CBPP)

Introduction: Post-marketing surveillance activities (namely pharmacovigilance) are crucial to favor the early detection of unexpected adverse events (AEs) and/or serious adverse reactions (SAEs). Indeed, spontaneous reporting of AEs has been demonstrated to underestimate the number of events in different clinical settings. Aim of the present study is to report the preliminary data of a Regional (Calabria, Italy) Pharmacovigilance Program (CBPP) aimed at improving AEs' reporting associated with biologics use in rheumatology. Materials and methods: We developed a simple, cost-effective pharmacovigilance program based on regular training sessions for physicians (stimulated reporting), periodical phone calls by a clinical pharmacologist aimed at identifying new events and stimulating self-awareness and encouraging reporting to the physician during the subsequent follow-up visit for minor AEs. To test this approach, all consecutive patients undergoing treatment with one biologic agent at eight rheumatology centers during a two-years period were invited to participate. Collected AEs were compared to the number of AEs spontaneously reported for the same molecules in the same centers before starting the protocol. Results: During the study period, 399 patients (245 females; mean age: 58 \ub1 11 years) were started on treatment with biologics for active RA (n = 211, 52.9%), PsA (n = 119, 29.8%) or AS (n = 69, 17.3%) at eight rheumatology centers. A total of 125 AEs (31.3%) and 9 SAEs (2.3%) were reported during the two-years study period. In the control cohort (comprising 368 consecutive patients started on treatment with bDMARDs during a two-years period before CBPP study) only 42 (11.4%) AEs and no SAEs were reported (p < 0.0001). The most common AEs were injection site reactions and skin disorders. Conclusions: In conclusion, our study provides further evidence of a critical role of active pharmacovigilance in detection, reporting and analysis of AEs in rheumatology

Simultaneous quantitative determination of NG, NG-dimetyl-L-arginine or asymmetric dimethylarginine and related pathway\ue2\u20ac\u2122s metabolites in biological fluids by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry.

BACKGROUND: Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous nitric oxide (NO) formation inhibitor, has emerged as a promising biomarker of NO-associated endothelial dysfunction in cardiovascular diseases as well in chronic renal failure. The interest in potentially fundamental role of this metabolite, in basic and clinical research, led to the development of numerous analytical methods for the quantitative determination of ADMA and dimethylarginines in biological systems, notably plasma, serum and urine. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to present a simple, fast and accurate UPLC-tandem-MS-based method for the simultaneous determination and quantification of arginine, ADMA, SDMA, NMMA, homo-arginine and citrulline. This method is designed for high sample throughput of only 10 \u3bcL of human plasma, serum or urine. METHODS: The analysis time is reduced to 1.9 min by an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography run coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI) in the positive mode tandem mass spectrometry detection. RESULTS: The method was validated in plasma, serum and urine. Correlation coefficients (r(2)) of the calibration curves in all matrices considered ranged from 0.9810 to 0.9993. Inter- and intra-assay precision, accuracy, recovery and carry-over were evaluated for validation. The LOD was 0.01 \u3bcM for all compounds in water, plasma and serum and 0.1 \u3bcM in urine. The LOQ was 0.05 \u3bcM for ADMA, SDMA, NMMA and H-Arg and 0.5 \u3bcM for Arg and Cit in water, plasma and serum; while in urine was 0.1 \u3bcM for ADMA, SDMA, NMMA and H-Arg and 0.5 \u3bcM for Arg and Cit. The precision was ranged from 1% to 15% expressed as CV% and the accuracy (bias %) was <\ub17% for all added concentrations with the exception of NMMA (-10%). ADMA mean plasma levels, measured in healthy adults and newborns, were in accord with literature data published: (M\ub1SD) 0.56\ub10.10 \u3bcM and 0.84\ub10.21 \u3bcM, respectively, showing that ADMA levels in plasma decreased with age. In serum we have similar data (0.54\ub10.18 \u3bcM and 1.14\ub10.36 \u3bcM), while in neonatal urine ADMA was 11.98\ub17.13 \u3bcmol mmol(-1) creatinine. CONCLUSIONS: Data from calibration curves and method validation reveal that the method is accurate and precise. The fast run time, the feasibility of high sample throughput and the small amount of sample required make this method very suitable for routine analysis in the clinical setting

Diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration: A survey of pharmacoutilization and cost in Calabria, Italy

The aged population is constantly growing, thus fostering an increase in age-dependent diseases. Among these, diabetic retinopathy (DR) along with age-related macular degeneration entails progressive vision loss. Since such conditions are associated with the proliferation of novel vessels, their pharmacotherapeutic management consists of the intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs, able to hinder the driving of vascular proliferation prompted by vascular endothelial growth factor. The humanized anti-vascular endothelial growth factor monoclonal antibody ranibizumab provided evidence for efficacy in several trials, hence earning approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for therapeutic use in all the stages of DR. Due to the lack of epidemiologic and pharmacoeconomic evaluation in the local Calabria Region context, the present retrospective observational study focused on prevalence of DR and age-related macular degeneration, treatment and cost of therapy with ranibizumab in 870 patients arriving to clinical observation at the "Mater Domini" University Hospital in Calabria, Italy from January 2014 to June 2017. Data were extracted from the database of ophthalmology ward and subjected to statistical analysis. The results suggest that the most frequent retinal diseases are age-related macular degeneration and DR and that the use of ranibizumab has been decreasing over the 4-year study period together with the associated cost per patient which was similar for both disorders. Therefore, appropriateness of treatment with drugs other than ranibizumab needs to be assessed in this setting and deep monitoring of pharmacologic treatment for retinal diseases is necessary to prevent or delay visual acuity decrease and complete vision loss. Study procedures were performed in accordance with the "Mater Domini" University Hospital ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentatio