Sustaining Collection Value: Managing Collection/Item Metadata Relationships

Many aspects of managing collection/item metadata relationships are critical to sustaining collection value over time. Metadata at the collection-level not only provides context for finding, understanding, and using the items in the collection, but is often essential to the particular research and scholarly activities the collection is designed to support. Contemporary retrieval systems, which search across collections, usually ignore collection level metadata. Alternative approaches, informed by collection-level information, will require an understanding of the various kinds of relationships that can obtain between collection-level and item-level metadata. This paper outlines the problem and describes a project that is developing a logic-based framework for classifying collection-level/item-level metadata relationships. This framework will support (i) metadata specification developers defining metadata elements, (ii) metadata librarians describing objects, and (iii) system designers implementing systems that help users take advantage of collection-level metadata.Institute for Museum and Libary Services (Grant #LG06070020)published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

L'oxygénothérapie hyperbare dans le traitement de la paralysie cérébrale : arnaque ou traitement approprié?

L'oxygénothérapie hyperbare (OTH) consiste à soumettre un patient à des taux de pression plus élevés que la pression atmosphérique normale et de lui faire respirer 100 % d'oxygène. Cette approche a été mise à l'essai pour le traitement de nombreuses conditions médicales avec succès dans certains cas alors pour d'autres sa validité reste encore à démontrer. Dans le cas de la paralysie cérébrale son utilisation a soulevé de nombreuses controverses et les études conduites jusqu'alors n'ont pas encore convaincu tous les membres de la communauté scientifique et ce, malgré certains effets positifs mis en évidence. Une récente étude qui a montré des améliorations notables chez des enfants atteints de paralysie cérébrale (PC) traités avec de l'air légèrement pressurisé, de même que chez ceux traités avec un protocole standard pour l'oxygénothérapie hyperbare (l'OTH), est invoquée pour nier l'efficacité de l'OTH. Des considérations politiques et économiques, plutôt que purement scientifiques, jouent un rôle important dans cette controverse. Des recherches systématiques supplémentaires sont requises, mais entre-temps, comme les effets thérapeutiques de cette approche semblent plus importants que ceux des thérapies actuellement acceptées dans le traitement de la paralysie cérébrale, les enfants atteints de cette condition ne devraient pas se faire refuser l'accès à l'OTH.Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) consist of subjecting a patient to elevated atmospheric pressure while the patient breathes 100% oxygen. This approach is considered the accepted treatment of choice for a number of medical conditions with success. In certain other conditions, the efficacy is still yet to demonstrated. In the case of cerebral palsy, the utilization of HBO has raised a number of controversial issues in the studies conducted. It has yet to convince the members of the scientific community at large. This unfortunately has been interpreted as negative despite the positive reproducible evidence. Until now, the Canadian government has had reservations concerning the efficacy of this treatment for cerebral palsy. Elsewhere, in the United States and in Quebec there is a certain interest. Specific events in the eyes of some, lead us to believe that the reticence to recognize Hyperbaric oxygen therapy as an effective treatment of cerebral palsy is more based on politics and economics rather than on the science that is available to support its use

Induction of an Immature T-Cell Phenotype in Malignant Helper T Cells by Cocultivation With Epidermal Cell Cultures

The possible inductive effect of epidermal cells on T-cell maturation has been examined employing an in vitro co-cultivation technique. Mononuclear cells from 6 patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and from 12 healthy volunteers were studied. In the 6 CTCL patients, all showed an expansion of the helper T-cell subpopulation and in one patient with leukemic CTCL, there was almost complete replacement of peripheral blood mononuclear cells by malignant cells with a helper T-cell phenotype. Epidermal cells derived from normal human skin were cultured to confluent monolayers, and were cocultivated with the mononuclear cells from CTCL patients or normal controls for 48h at a density of 106/ml. Following cocultivation, the surface phenotype of the cells from the 12 healthy volunteers and 5 of the patients with CTCL showed no significant phentotypic change. In the patient with leukemic CTCL, however, the surface phenotype of the malignant T cells had changed, with the acquisition of the T6 antigen by the majority of the cells. Cells cocultivated in medium alone and with human fibroblast monolayers showed no change in surface phenotype. The malignant T cells from the leukemic CTCL patient failed to react in a mixed lymphocyte culture to lymphocytes from 2 different healthy donors, and showed no phenotypic change following culture with these lymphocytes, indicating that the phenotypic change seen was not due to allogeneic stimulation

Rapid construction of a dendritic cell vaccine through physical perturbation and apoptotic malignant T cell loading

We have demonstrated that adherence and release of monocytes from a plastic surface drives their differentiation into immature dendritic cells (DC,) that can mature further during overnight incubation in the presence of apoptotic malignant T cells. Based on these results, we sought to develop a clinically, practical, rapid means for producing DC loaded with malignant cells. A leukapheresis harvest containing the clonal, leukemic expansion of malignant CD4(+ )T cells was obtained from the blood of patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL). CTCL cells were purified with a CD3-magnetic bead column where CD3 engagement rendered the malignant T cells apoptotic. The monocyte fraction was simultaneously activated by column passage, re-added to the apoptotic CTCL cells and co-cultured overnight. CTCL cell apoptosis, DC differentiation and apoptotic malignant T cell ingestion were measured by immunostaining. The results demonstrate that as monocytes passed through the column matrix, they became activated and differentiated into semi-mature DC expressing significantly increased levels of class II, CD83 and CD86 (markers associated with maturing DC) and reduced expression of the monocyte markers CD14 and CD36. Apoptotic malignant T cells were avidly engulfed by the phagocytic transitioning DC. The addition of supportive cytokines further enhanced the number of DC that contained apoptotic malignant T cells. Functional studies confirmed that column passaged DC increased class II expression as shown by significantly enhanced stimulation in mixed leukocyte culture compared to control monocytes. In addition, DC loaded with apoptotic CTCL cells stimulated an increase in the percentage and absolute number of CD8 T cells compared to co-cultivation with non-loaded DC. After CD8 T cells were stimulated by DC loaded with malignant cells, they mediated increased apoptosis of residual CTCL cells and TNF-α secretion indicating development of enhanced cytolytic function. We report a simple one-step procedure where maturing DC containing apoptotic malignant T cells can be prepared rapidly for potential use in vaccine immunotherapy. Ready access to both the DC and apoptotic cells provided by this system will allow extension to other malignancies through the addition of a variety of apoptotic tumor cells and maturation stimuli

Short-term and medium-term survival of critically ill patients with solid tumours admitted to the intensive care unit:A retrospective analysis

OBJECTIVES: Patients with cancer frequently require unplanned admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Our objectives were to assess hospital and 180-day mortality in patients with a non-haematological malignancy and unplanned ICU admission and to identify which factors present on admission were the best predictors of mortality. DESIGN: Retrospective review of all patients with a diagnosis of solid tumours following unplanned admission to the ICU between 1 August 2008 and 31 July 2012. SETTING: Single centre tertiary care hospital in London (UK). PARTICIPANTS: 300 adult patients with non-haematological solid tumours requiring unplanned admission to the ICU. INTERVENTIONS: None. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES: Hospital and 180-day survival. RESULTS: 300 patients were admitted to the ICU (median age 66.5 years; 61.7% men). Survival to hospital discharge and 180 days were 69% and 47.8%, respectively. Greater number of failed organ systems on admission was associated with significantly worse hospital survival (p<0.001) but not with 180-day survival (p=0.24). In multivariate analysis, predictors of hospital mortality were the presence of metastases (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.08 to 3.59), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) Score (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.13) and a Glasgow Coma Scale Score <7 on admission to ICU (OR 5.21, 95% CI 1.65 to 16.43). Predictors of worse 180-day survival were the presence of metastases (OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.57 to 5.06), APACHE II Score (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.13) and sepsis (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.09 to 3.38). CONCLUSIONS: Short-term and medium-term survival in patients with solid tumours admitted to ICU is better than previously reported, suggesting that the presence of cancer alone should not be a barrier to ICU admission

The effect of cellulose nanocrystals on latex and adhesive properties in emulsion- based polymer nanocomposites

Pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) adhere quickly and firmly to surfaces with the application of light pressure, and can be removed without leaving a residue. Their mechanical performance is measured by tack, peel strength and shear strength. A balanced combination between the three mechanical performance measurements depends on the specific end-use application and is challenging to achieve. This is particularly so when replacing solvent-based technologies with more sustainable, water-based (i.e., emulsion polymerization) technologies. PSAs synthesized using emulsion polymerization tend to have a lower shear strength due to poor gel network formation. As a result, conventional emulsion-based PSAs suffer from the inability to increase certain adhesive properties (e.g., tack and peel strength) while simultaneously increasing shear strength. Nanomaterials are often used in polymer composites to improve polymer properties (e.g., tensile strength). They are particularly effective in low quantities (e.g., \u3c2 \u3ewt.%) because of their high surface area. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a “green alternative” to common nanomaterials and are isolated from natural cellulose. CNCs have been used more commonly, in the past, as rheological modifiers and interface stabilizers.[1] Because CNCs form colloidally stable dispersions in water, they can be incorporated/processed in water-based systems, eliminating the need for organic solvents.[2] The most common method to produce CNCs is through acid hydrolysis with sulfuric acid; this process preferentially degrades the disordered cellulose regions and leaves behind the crystalline CNCs with grafted anionic sulfate half ester groups.[1] The resulting nanoparticles are whisker-shaped and have a high aspect ratio.[3] CNCs provide composite material reinforcement in the range of other nanomaterials. In the past, CNCs have been blended with polymers and significant strength improvements were noted.[4] Our studies demonstrate how to incorporate CNCs in a nanocomposite using an in situ semi-batch emulsion polymerization protocol.[5] PSA nanocomposite films were generated for a broad variety of copolymer systems including monomers such as iso-butyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, 2-ethyl hexyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, styrene and vinyl acetate. In all cases, the monomer composition of the reaction formulations was manipulated to achieve a suitable range of polymer glass transition temperatures. CNC loadings were varied from 0 to 0.5 to 1 wt.% (based on monomer weight). The addition of CNC was shown to significantly and simultaneously increase tack, peel strength, and shear strength.[6] References [1] Dufresne, A., Nanocellulose, De Gruyter, Saint Martin D’Heres Cedex, France 2012. [2] Flauzino Neto, W. P., Mariano, M., da Silva, I. S. V., Silvério, H. A., Putaux, J.-L., Otaguro, H., Pasquini, D., Dufresne, A., Carbohydr. Polym. 2016, 153, 143. [3] Moon, R. J., Martini, A., Nairn, J., Simonsen, J., Youngblood, J., Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 3941. [4] Rajisha, K. R., Maria, H. J., Pothan, L. A., Ahmad, Z., Thomas, S., Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 2014, 67, 147. [5] Dastjerdi, Z., Cranston, E. D., Dubé, M. A., Macromol. React. Eng., 2018, in press. [6] Dastjerdi, Z., Cranston, E. D., Dubé, M. A., Int. J. Adh. Adh. 2018, 81, 36-42

A Heteroscedastic Uncertainty Model for Decoupling Sources of MRI Image Quality

Quality control (QC) of medical images is essential to ensure that downstream analyses such as segmentation can be performed successfully. Currently, QC is predominantly performed visually at significant time and operator cost. We aim to automate the process by formulating a probabilistic network that estimates uncertainty through a heteroscedastic noise model, hence providing a proxy measure of task-specific image quality that is learnt directly from the data. By augmenting the training data with different types of simulated k-space artefacts, we propose a novel cascading CNN architecture based on a student-teacher framework to decouple sources of uncertainty related to different k-space augmentations in an entirely self-supervised manner. This enables us to predict separate uncertainty quantities for the different types of data degradation. While the uncertainty measures reflect the presence and severity of image artefacts, the network also provides the segmentation predictions given the quality of the data. We show models trained with simulated artefacts provide informative measures of uncertainty on real-world images and we validate our uncertainty predictions on problematic images identified by human-raters

Community pharmacy-based opiate substitution treatment and related health services: a study of 508 patients and 111 pharmacies

Background and aims&nbsp; Community pharmacies have a central role in the provision of opiate substitution therapy (OST) for drug misusers, offering accessible, additional health services within recovery-oriented systems of care. However, little is known about the patients receiving OST, availability and uptake of related services and associated pharmacy characteristics. We aimed to describe OST in terms of patients, pharmacies and services within the UK&rsquo;s largest health authority, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Scotland.&nbsp; Methods&nbsp; Patients completed semi-structured questionnaires and pharmacists provided summary statistics relating to OST provision.&nbsp; Results&nbsp; Responses from 508 patients receiving OST from 111 participating pharmacies revealed an established patient population, with 89% (449/507) aged 30years or above and 80% (387/484) attending the same pharmacy for 1year or more. Methadone was the main form of OST (96% (487/508), with 97% (491/504) receiving supervision. Within pharmacies, OST consumption was supervised in one of four main areas: consultation room, dispensing hatch, quiet/private area or over the counter. Location of supervision was considered suitably private by 96% of patients. Positive staff attitudes, privacy and the provision of additional health services were key factors influencing choice of pharmacy. Additional health services were offered to 75% of patients and included information provision (43%), signposting to other health care providers (72%) and a Scottish service offering free advice and medicines for minor ailments (74%).&nbsp; Conclusion&nbsp; Patients and pharmacists have developed working relationships, enabling access to multiple services associated with health gain and harm reduction. Further development of enhanced services in community pharmacies is merited