Medical Librarianship in Nigeria--a review of the literature and comments on some problems and prospects.

The literature of medical librarianship of Nigeria is reviewed. The staff structure of Nigerian univeristy libraries and, in particular, of the medical libraries attached to them is restrictive, unprogressive, and unconducive to the development of medical librarianship in Nigeria. These medical libraries should cease to be administered and regarded as just unavoidable appendages of the main university libraries. They should be independent, full-fledged libraries of their own, recognixed as full academic departments of their respective colleges or faculties, with their heads being in no way inferior in status to other heads of academic departments.The granting of faculty status to Nigerian unviersity librarians should go the whole way and let the principle of multiple professorships be applied to the staff structure of unviersity libraries. Efforts are being made to effect bibliographic organization of Nigerian medical literature. A national library of medicine for Nigeria, however, humble its beginning, should be established.     

A description of the catalog division project at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia Library.

This paper describes the procedures used at the Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia to divide its ninety-year-old dictionary card catalog. The division was necessitated by overcrowding, obsolete subject headings, and lack of a complete authority list which resulted in like materials being scattered throughout the catalog under several headings. Two catalogs were created: the historical-biographical catalog, representing all works published before 1950 and all works of historical or biographical nature; and the current catalog, containing all works published from 1950 on, excepting historical or biographical materials. The 1950- catalog was further divided into name and subject catalogs, and the subject section was revised according to MeSH. The project was completed in about two years. As a result, searching time has been much reduced, and the library is able to take advantage of the annual revisions of MeSH to update the subject catalog.     

Bakhtin Applied: Employing Dialogism to Analyze the Interplay of the Ideologies of Individualism and Community Within the Discourse of Alcoholics Anonymous

An ongoing debate regarding the nature of therapeutic communities concerns the extent to which these communities reinforce the ideologies of individualism and community. This article engages this discussion through a process of social text analysis informed by the dialogism theory of Russian philosopher and literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin. Dialogism seeks to understand the multiple voices interpenetrating particular utterances, revealing an emergent social construction of meaning. Applying this approach to examples of discourse from a prominent therapeutic community, Alcoholics Anonymous, illustrates how meaning in the discourse of this movement can be understood to emerge among the interplay between the ideologies of individualism and community as expressed within the movement's narrative practice.     

Scholarly communication trends — voices from the vortex: a summary of specialist opinion

The views of specialists (academics, librarians, publishers and information scientists) on trends in scholarly communications were canvassed by means of structured questions. A greater commonality of views was found than might have been expected.     

Effects of purposeful soccer heading on circulating small extracellular vesicle concentration and cargo

BackgroundConsidering the potential cumulative effects of repetitive head impact (HI) exposure, we need sensitive biomarkers to track short- and long-term effects. Circulating small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) (<200 nm) traffic biological molecules throughout the body and may have diagnostic value as biomarkers for disease. The purpose of this study was to identify the microRNA (miRNA) profile in circulating sEVs derived from human plasma following repetitive HI exposure.MethodsHealthy adult (aged 18–35 years) soccer players were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups: the HI group performed 10 standing headers, the leg impact group performed 10 soccer ball trapping maneuvers over 10 min, and the control group did not participate in any soccer drills. Plasma was collected before testing and 24 h afterward, and sEVs were isolated and characterized via nanoparticle tracking analysis. Next-generation sequencing was utilized to identify candidate miRNAs isolated from sEVs, and candidate microRNAs were analyzed via quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In silico target prediction was performed using TargetScan (Version 7.0; targetscan.org) and miRWalk (http://mirwalk.umm.uni-heidelberg.de/) programs, and target validation was performed using luciferase reporter vectors with a miR-7844-5p mimic in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T/17 cells.ResultsPlasma sEV concentration and size were not affected across time and group following repetitive HI exposure. After 24 h, the HI read count from next-generation sequencing showed a 4-fold or greater increase in miR-92b-5p, miR-423-5p, and miR-24-3p and a 3-fold or greater decrease in miR-7844-5p, miR-144-5p, miR-221-5p, and miR-22-3p. Analysis of quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that leg impact did not alter the candidate miRNA levels. To our knowledge, miR-7844-5p is a previously unknown miRNA. We identified 8 miR-7844-5p mRNA targets: protein phosphatase 1 regulatory inhibitor subunit 1B (PPP1R1B), LIM and senescent cell antigen-like domains 1 (LIMS1), autophagy-related 12 (ATG12), microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta (MAP1LC3B), integrin subunit alpha-1 (ITGA1), mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1), glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), and mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (MAPK8).ConclusionCollectively, these data indicate repetitive HI exposure alters plasma sEV miRNA content, but not sEV size or number. Furthermore, for the first time we demonstrate that previously unknown miR-7844-5p targets mRNAs known to be involved in mitochondrial apoptosis, autophagy regulation, mood disorders, and neurodegenerative disease.     

Health education for Somali Bantu refugees via home visits

Background: Somali Bantu refugees, with unique health information needs, created challenges for health and social service providers. Objectives: A service innovation was developed (i) to raise awareness, especially among local health and social service providers, about the Bantu refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and their information needs and (ii) to deliver needed health information, emphasizing child health, to the Bantu mothers in their homes. Methods: The project consisted of: (i) a community conference targeting local health and social service providers, describing the refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and information needs. (ii) Focus groups conducted with members of the Bantu population elicited additional information needs. (iii) Curriculum was developed based on identified needs, and (iv) the curriculum was delivered to the refugees in their homes. A clinical informationist and MP3 technology enhanced the project. Findings: Conference attendees’ evaluation responses indicated improved understanding of Bantu culture. Focus groups’ identification of health information needs provided a framework for the health education curriculum. A project website made educational materials available to other healthcare providers. Conclusions: The project raised awareness of the Bantus’ presence, culture, and information needs. Identification of other unmet needs demonstrated that additional support for refugees is required.     

Extending validity evidence for multidimensional measures of coaching competency

This study extended validity evidence for multidimensional measures of coaching competency derived from the Coaching Competency Scale (CCS; Myers, Feltz, Maier, Wolfe, & Reckase, 2006) by examining use of the original rating scale structure and testing how measures related to satisfaction with the head coach within teams and between teams. Motivation, game strategy, technique, and character building comprised the dimensions of coaching competency. Data were collected from athletes (N = 585) nested within intercollegiate men's (g = 8) and women's (g = 13) soccer and women's ice hockey (g = 11) teams (G = 32). Validity concerns were observed for the original rating scale structure and the predicted positive relationship between motivation competency and satisfaction with the coach between teams. Validity evidence was offered for a condensed post hoc rating scale and the predicted relationship between motivation competency and satisfaction with the coach within teams.