Using History to Study Information Seeking Behavior

has focused on approaches that provide a snapshot in time of what is going on in a household. This poster explores the use of history to examine changes over time in both information questions and information sources used in the prosecution of everyday life activities in America. The study is based on identifying endogenous and exogenous forces to the activity at hand, and seeing how these forces cause change. A secondary question raised in this poster is the largely unexamined belief that the Internet has played an exceptional role in changing the nature of everyday information seeking behavior in America. The case of 100 years of car buying in America is used as a particular example, drawn from a larger study of nine everyday American activities

Appendices for Chapter 3: “Urban Legends and Rumors Concerning the September 11 Attacks”

This file contains two appendices providing “data” for Chapter 3: “Urban Legends and Rumors Concerning the September 11 Attacks” in William Aspray and James W. Cortada, From Urban Legends to Political Fact-Checking: Online Scrutiny in America, 1990-2015 (Cham, Switzerland: Springer, forthcoming late 2019, History of Computing Series). These appendices were not published in the book, but there is are citations in the book to this file in case the interested reader wants to examine this data

Early renal impairment affects hormonal regulators of calcium and bone metabolism and Wnt signalling and the response to vitamin D supplementation in healthy older adults

Bone and renal metabolism are regulated by common factors and there is extensive cross-talk between these organs (the ‘renal-bone-axis’). Ageing is associated with physiological changes including reduced bone mass, renal function and tissue sensitivity to regulatory hormones, impacting the renal-bone axis. We aimed to investigate the influence of estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) on plasma concentrations of vitamin D metabolites, Wnt signalling and bone metabolism in a dose ranging vitamin D3 RCT (12,000IU, 24,000IU, 48,000IU/month for 1 year; n=379, >70 y) with a baseline eGFR >30 ml/min/1.73m2. Participants were categorised on basis of eGFR (≥60 or <60 ml/min/1.73m2) based on 5 commonly used algorithms for eGFR. Differences between eGFR categories were tested with ANCOVA. Before supplementation commenced, a lower eGFR was associated with significantly higher concentrations of c-terminal and intact Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 (cFGF23; iFGF23), intact Parathyroid Hormone (iPTH) and Sclerostin (SOST) and lower Klotho, 1,25-dihydroxy Vitamin D (1,25(OH)2D) and Dickkopf-related Protein 1 (DKK1) concentrations. Differences between eGFR groups in 25-hydroxy Vitamin D (25(OH)D), 24,25-dihydroxy Vitamin D (24,25(OH)2D) and iPTH were only detected with eGFR based on Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and Modification in Diet for Renal Disease (MDRD-4) algorithms. Differences in Bone Mineral Density and Content (BMD; BMC) and bone turnover markers were detected only with Cockcroft-Gault (CG). Pre- and post- supplementation comparisons showed differences in the response to supplementation by eGFR group. Plasma 25(OH)D, 24,25(OH)2D, 1,25(OH)2D and DKK1 increased and iPTH and C-terminal telopeptide (CTX) decreased in both groups. Plasma iFGF23, bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and Procollagen 1 intact N-terminal Propeptide (PINP) increased and phosphate decreased only in the group with eGFR ≥60 ml/min/1.73m2. Findings were largely consistent across all eGFR algorithms. Post-supplementation, cFGF23, iFGF23, iPTH and SOST remained significantly higher in the lower eGFR group. Plasma 1,25(OH)2D and Klotho did no longer differ between eGFR groups. This was found for all eGFR algorithms, with the exception of iPTH and iFGF23, which were not significantly different with eGFR based on CG. Differences in BMD and BMC were detected with CKD-EPI-creatinine and MDRD-4 but not GC. This study showed that even a moderate decline in eGFR is associated with alterations in vitamin D metabolism, Wnt signalling and bone turnover markers. Renal function influenced the response to vitamin D supplementation. Supplementation increased Vitamin D metabolites in the group with moderate renal impairment to concentrations comparable to those found in the group with normal renal function. However, although CTX decreased, an increase in bone formation markers was not found in the group with eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73m2. In conclusion, vitamin D supplementation had beneficial effects on markers of the renal-bone axis in older people with both normal and impaired renal function

Vitamin D supplementation for 12 months in older adults alters regulators of bone metabolism but does not change Wnt signalling pathway markers

Vitamin D status and supplementation regulates bone metabolism and may modulate Wnt-signalling. We studied the response of hormonal regulators of bone metabolism, markers of Wnt signalling and bone turnover and BMD and BMC in a randomised vitamin D intervention trial (12,000IU, 24,000IU, 48,000IU/month for 1 year; men and women >70y; n=379; ISRCTN35648481). Associations with total and free 25(OH)D concentrations were analysed by linear regression. Baseline vitamin D status was (mean ± SD) 25(OH)D: 40.0 +/- 20.1 nmol/L. Supplementation dose-dependently increased total and free 25(OH)D concentrations and decreased plasma phosphate and PTH (all p<0.05). The PINP:CTX ratio, cFGF23 and iFGF23 significantly increased with no between-group differences, while Klotho was unchanged. 1,25(OH)2D and PINP significantly increased in the 24 and 48,000IU groups. SOST, OPG, RANKL, BMD, BMC and CTX remained unchanged. Subgroup analyses with baseline 25(OH)D<25nmol/L (n= 94) provided similar results. Baseline total and free 25(OH)D concentrations were positively associated with 1,25(OH)2D, 24,25(OH)2D (p<0.001), DBP (p<0.05), BMD and BMC (P<0.05). Associations with PTH (p<0.001), cFGF23 (p<0.01) and BAP (p<0.05) were negative. After supplementation, total and free 25(OH)D concentrations remained positively associated only with 24,25(OH)2D (p<0.001), DBP (p<0.001) and negatively with eGFR (p<0.01). PTH and SOST were significantly associated only with free 25(OH)D. There were no significant relationships with BMD and BMC after supplementation. The decrease in PTH and increase in PINP:CTX ratio suggest a protective effect of supplementation on bone metabolism although no significant effect on BMD or pronounced changes in regulators of Wnt signalling were found. The increase in FGF23 warrants caution due to its negative association with skeletal and cardiovascular health. Associations of total and free 25(OH)D with biomarkers were similar and known positive associations between vitamin D status and BMD were confirmed. The change in associations after supplementation might suggest a threshold effect

The early mathematical education of Ada Lovelace

Ada, Countess of Lovelace, is remembered for a paper published in 1843, which translated and considerably extended an article about the unbuilt Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computer designed by the mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage. Her substantial appendices, nearly twice the length of the original work, contain an account of the principles of the machine, along with a table often described as ‘the first computer program’. In this paper we look at Lovelace's education before 1840, which encompassed older traditions of practical geometry; newer textbooks influenced by continental approaches; wide reading; and a fascination with machinery. We also challenge judgements by Dorothy Stein and by Doron Swade of Lovelace's mathematical knowledge and skills before 1840, which have impacted later scholarly and popular discourse

Fighting Diabetes with Information: Where Social Informatics Meets Health Informatics

This abstract sets out a research agenda for information scientists and technologists interested in the interrelationships among patients, health care providers, and information technology. Using the complex and costly diagnosis of diabetes as a vehicle for exploration, this work suggests addressing a set of problems that will improve the lives of patients, their families, and friends, as well as making the provision of diabetes care more effective and cost efficient. Information technology tools and methods are used, but with sensitivity to the social and organization complexities of health care. I-Schools graduates, with their interdisciplinary mindset, social science methodologies, and familiarity with IT and its applications can increase the success rate of IT interventions in health care. Topics include public health and community informatics, knowledge dissemination, information alerts, decision support, clinical guidelines, health literacy, patient, pharmacy, and laboratory feedback systems, interface design, reminder systems, consumer informatics, and privacy and security issues

Women and underrepresented minorities in computing: a historical and social study

https://scholar.colorado.edu/cuathors/1094/thumbnail.jp