Determining the Data Needs for Decision Making in Public Libraries

Library decision makers evaluate community needs and library capabilities in order to select the appropriate services offered by their particular institution. Evaluations of the programs and services may indicate that some are ineffective or inefficient, or that formerly popular services are no longer needed. The internal and external conditions used for decision making change. Monitoring these conditions and evaluations allows the library to make new decisions that maintain its relevance to the community. Administrators must have ready access to appropriate data that will give them the information they need for library decision making. Today’s computer-based libraries accumulate electronic data in their integrated library systems (ILS) and other operational databases; however, these systems do not provide tools for examining the data to reveal trends and patterns, nor do they have any means of integrating important information from other programs and files where the data are stored in incompatible formats. These restrictions are overcome by use of a data warehouse and a set of analytical software tools, forming a decision support system. The data warehouse must be tailored to specific needs and users to succeed. Libraries that wish to pursue decision support can begin by performing a needs analysis to determine the most important use of the proposed warehouse and to identify the data elements needed to support this use. The purpose of this study is to complete the needs analysis phase for a data warehouse for a certain public library that is interested in using its electronic data for data mining and other analytical processes. This study is applied research. Data on users’ needs were collected through two rounds of face-to-face interviews. Participants were selected purposively. The phase one interviews were semi-structured, designed to discover the uses of the data warehouse, and then what data were required for those uses. The phase two interviews were structured, and presented selected data elements from the ILS to interviewees who were asked to evaluate how they would use each element in decision making. Analysis of these interviews showed that the library needs data from sources that vary in physical format, in summary levels, and in data definitions. The library should construct data marts, carefully designed for future integration into a data warehouse. The only data source that is ready for a data mart is the bibliographic database of the integrated library system. Entities and relationships from the ILS are identified for a circulation data mart. The entities and their attributes are described. A second data mart is suggested for integrating vendor reports for the online databases. Vendor reports vary widely in how they define their variables and in the summary levels of their statistics. Unified data definitions need to be created for the variables of importance so that online database usage may be compared with other data on use of library resources, reflected in the circulation data mart. Administrators need data to address a number of other decision situations. These decisions require data from other library sources that are not optimized for data warehousing, or that are external to the library. Suggestions are made for future development of data marts using these sources. The study concludes by recommending that libraries wishing to undertake similar studies begin with a pre-assessment of the entire institution, its data sources, and its management structure, conducted by a consultant. The needs assessment itself should include a focus group session in addition to the interviews

Paediatrics : how to manage scabies

This narrative review addresses scabies, a highly contagious, pruritic infestation of the skin caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei var hominis. Scabies is a common disorder that has a prevalence worldwide estimated to be between 200 and 300 million cases per year. Infestation is of greatest concern in children, the elderly, immunocompromised people and resource-poor endemic populations at risk of chronic complications. A diagnosis of scabies involves a clinical suspicion, a detailed targeted history, clinical examination and contact tracing. Dermoscopy and microscopy, where available, is confirmatory. Due to its infectivity and transmissibility, the management for scabies requires a multimodal approach: topical antiscabetic agents are the first line for most cases of childhood classic scabies and their contacts, which must also be identified and treated to prevent treatment failure and reacquisition. Environmental strategies to control fomite-related reinfestation are also recommended. Oral ivermectin, where available, is reserved for use in high-risk cases in children or in mass drug administration programmes in endemic communities. The prevention of downstream complications of scabies includes surveillance, early identification and prompt treatment for secondary bacterial infections, often superficial but can be serious and invasive with associated chronic morbidity and mortality. Postscabetic itch and psychosocial stigma are typical sequelae of the scabies mite infestation. The early identification of patients with scabies and treatment of their contacts reduces community transmission. Although time consuming and labour intensive for caregivers, the implementation of appropriate treatment strategies usually results in prompt cure for the child and their contacts. Here, we provide a summary of treatments and recommendations for the management of paediatric scabies

Candidate Genes for Expansion and Transformation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells by NUP98-HOX Fusion Genes

BACKGROUND: Hox genes are implicated in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) regulation as well as in leukemia development through translocation with the nucleoporin gene NUP98. Interestingly, an engineered NUP98-HOXA10 (NA10) fusion can induce a several hundred-fold expansion of HSCs in vitro and NA10 and the AML-associated fusion gene NUP98-HOXD13 (ND13) have a virtually indistinguishable ability to transform myeloid progenitor cells in vitro and to induce leukemia in collaboration with MEIS1 in vivo. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: These findings provided a potentially powerful approach to identify key pathways mediating Hox-induced expansion and transformation of HSCs by identifying gene expression changes commonly induced by ND13 and NA10 but not by a NUP98-Hox fusion with a non-DNA binding homedomain mutation (N51S). The gene expression repertoire of purified murine bone marrow Sca-1+Lin- cells transduced with retroviral vectors encoding for these genes was established using the Affymetrix GeneChip MOE430A. Approximately seventy genes were differentially expressed in ND13 and NA10 cells that were significantly changed by both compared to the ND13(N51S) mutant. Intriguingly, several of these potential Hox target genes have been implicated in HSC expansion and self-renewal, including the tyrosine kinase receptor Flt3, the prion protein, Prnp, hepatic leukemia factor, Hlf and Jagged-2, Jag2. Consistent with these results, FLT3, HLF and JAG2 expression correlated with HOX A cluster gene expression in human leukemia samples. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion this study has identified several novel Hox downstream target genes and provides important new leads to key regulators of the expansion and transformation of hematopoietic stem cells by Hox

Gene profiling of the erythro- and megakaryoblastic leukaemias induced by the Graffi murine retrovirus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Acute erythro- and megakaryoblastic leukaemias are associated with very poor prognoses and the mechanism of blastic transformation is insufficiently elucidated. The murine Graffi leukaemia retrovirus induces erythro- and megakaryoblastic leukaemias when inoculated into NFS mice and represents a good model to study these leukaemias.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To expand our understanding of genes specific to these leukaemias, we compared gene expression profiles, measured by microarray and RT-PCR, of all leukaemia types induced by this virus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The transcriptome level changes, present between the different leukaemias, led to the identification of specific cancerous signatures. We reported numerous genes that may be potential oncogenes, may have a function related to erythropoiesis or megakaryopoiesis or have a poorly elucidated physiological role. The expression pattern of these genes has been further tested by RT-PCR in different samples, in a Friend erythroleukaemic model and in human leukaemic cell lines.</p> <p>We also screened the megakaryoblastic leukaemias for viral integrations and identified genes targeted by these integrations and potentially implicated in the onset of the disease.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Taken as a whole, the data obtained from this global gene profiling experiment have provided a detailed characterization of Graffi virus induced erythro- and megakaryoblastic leukaemias with many genes reported specific to the transcriptome of these leukaemias for the first time.</p

The Storyteller\u27s Trance in the Turn of the Screw

An examination of the presence and effect of the storyteller\u27s trance on the narrators and their audience in The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898). Thank you to Professor Sarah Ensor for advice and encouragement

Implementing an Osteoporosis Screening and Treatment Protocol for Patients with Fragility Fractures

Osteoporosis is a global health concern that can be identified and treated with appropriate screening and medical management. The number of fragility fractures that occur will continue to rise with an aging population and is a key predictor of osteoporosis. However, many patients with fragility fractures do not receive the recommended post-fracture care. Poor bone health places patients at increased risk for secondary fracture and has serious emotional, physical, and financial consequences (Kanis et al., 2021). Understanding the benefit of identifying osteoporosis and preventing secondary fractures in an orthopedic clinic has proven advantageous in optimizing bone health and reducing fracture risk. This paper describes a project that includes researching the current evidence-based practice for implementing an osteoporosis screening and treatment protocol for patients presenting to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Department Hand Service. The project aimed to close the post-fracture treatment gap, promote bone health optimization by applying secondary fracture prevention efforts, positively impact patient care while reducing health-care costs

Molecular characterisation of translocations involving chromosome band 1p36 in acute myeloid leukaemia / Christopher Slape.

"October 2002"Bibliography: leaves 159-198.xiv, 198 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm.This thesis describes the mapping of the breakpoints of three different chromosome rearrangements, all involving 1p36, in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients, and an investigation into the molecular outcomes of these rearrangements.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Medicine, 200