Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

PhD

dissertationThe increasing problem of Type II diabetes among Navajo people prompts this study in transcultural nursing. Among the Navajo people today, the prevalence of diabetes ranges between 10 and 20 percent, or about two to four times the national rate of five percent. Literature about the pathophysiology and epidemiology of diabetes is abundant; however, sociocultural studies of American Indian people's experience with the phenomenon of diabetes are few and have not been previously described. In this descriptive and exploratory research, transcultural nursing and sociocultural theories serve as a framework to identify Navajobeliefs and practices. It is argued that an understanding of cultural beliefs and practices about diabetes is necessary in order for nurses and other health care providers to offer efficacious and effective health care. This study takes place in a small community on the Navajo reservation. Proper steps were followed to seek permission for the study and to protect individual and community confidentiality. A modified ethnography using methods of semistructured interviews, participation, and observation in community activities, and field note taking is the methodology for data collection. In addition, this writer serves as a key informant, being a member of the Navajo Tribe and speaking the language. Content analysis of interviews and field notes is undertaken to develop themes associated with beliefs and practices concerning diabetes. Diabetes is viewed as a gestalt illness experience by Navajos, while it is viewed as a pathological entity by providers. Decision-making concerning health care utilization and compliance involves more complexity than is viewed by health care providers. Lack of understanding between patients and providers is a major factor contributing to many concerns expressed by both sets of informants. Recommendations are made to alleviate some misunderstandings between patients and providers, where diabetes is concerned. Increasing patient participation in learning situations, emphasizing preventive education among younger population, increasing nursing involvement at the community level, returning to more traditional methods of health promotion by running and eating more native foods, and effecting change at the tribal government and trading post levels are some specific recommendations made

Diversity in the College of Nursing: Whats Up?

Lecture presentations hosted by the College of Nursing featuring faculty, graduate students, nursing professionals, and allied health experts. Each lunchtime lecture is devoted to a timely topic examining the training, research and scholarly needs of the nursing community.Lecture

Surveillance for Health Behaviors of American Indians and Alaska Natives—Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2000–2006

BACKGROUND. The authors compared estimates for cancer risk factors, use of cancer screening tests, health status indicators, and access to care for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) in the US and for AI/ANs in 6 Indian Health Service regions. METHODS. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data were aggregated from the years 2000 through 2006 and were used to calculate weighted prevalence estimates by gender for key variables except demographic variables. RESULTS. Compared with NHWs, AI/ANs had lower prevalence estimates for income, educational attainment, insurance coverage, and access to personal healthcare providers. AI/ANs in Alaska and NHWs had similar estimates for diabetes (approximately 6%); however, the prevalence was nearly twice as high among AI/ANs in the other regions. The prevalence of obesity was higher for AI/ ANs (29.6%) than for NHWs (20.9%). The prevalence of binge drinking was higher among AI/AN males (24.9%) than among AI/AN females (8.5%). Heavy drinking was more prevalent among NHW females (5.3%) than among AI/AN females (3.5%). AI/ANs were more likely to be current smokers (31.1%) than NHWs (22.8%). The prevalence of AI/ANs who never smoked ranged from 31.5% in Alaska to 56.9% in the Southwest. In 5 of the 6 regions, AI/AN females had lower prevalence estimates of both Papanicolaou and mammography testing than NHW females. The use of colorectal cancer screening tests was more common among NHWs (53.8%) than among AI/ANs (44%). CONCLUSIONS. Although cancer health disparities persist among AI/ANs, the current analysis indicated that variation in the prevalence of their chronic disease risk factors may be obscured when national data are not examined by smaller geographic areas such as regions

Cancer Control Research Training for Native Researchers: A Model for Development of Additional Native Researcher Training Programs

Although Native populations suffer a disproportionate cancer burden, studies of risk reduction for cancer incidence among Native peoples have not been strongly supported by federal or private funding sources, and few published data are available to assess the success of cancer control efforts among Native community members. Furthermore, cancer etiologic investigations and cancer control studies in Native populations have not commonly included Native researchers in principal roles. This lack of involvement is related primarily to the low numbers of Native researchers who have adequate training and experience to address Native cancer problems. Although numerous social and biological scientists who have Native status are engaged in productive research careers, the encouragement that has been offered Native students to formulate career goals devoted to cancer etiology or cancer control in Native peoples has had limited success. To address cancer-related challenges adequately and to implement successful cancer control programs in Native communities, more well-trained, culturally competent researchers are required. The Native Researchers’ Cancer Control Training Program (NRCCTP) was designed to address this need. The present essay provides a description of our training program and a summary of the NRCCTP from 1995 to the present