Nursing and Allied Health Resources–Patron Driven Acquisition,a Pilot at The University of Alabama Libraries

This article is a report of a session presented by Mangala Krishnamurthy and Connie Stovall (a contributor to the presentation) of the University of Alabama Libraries at the 2015 North American Serials Interest Group conference. A patron-driven acquisition (PDA) pilot project was initiated in fall 2013 at the University of Alabama (UA) Libraries mainly serving the Nursing and Allied Health subject areas. Since the Capstone College of Nursing at UA offers an online Doctor of Nursing Practice program and partners with two other schools in the UA system, UA Libraries collaborated with the other libraries in the University System. The project uses Rittenhouse’s R2 Digital Libraries’ PDA module as the basic platform. The Capstone College of Nursing liaison discussed in detail the selection, management, assessment, promotion, and communication part of the project in addition to second year plans for the project.     

舌尖碰上美利坚

两年前，美国奢侈品闪购网站GILT惊现被北美华人誉为“生命中最重要的女人”--陶碧华，20万瓶老干妈辣酱以11.95美元两瓶限时抢购的价格和不菲的运费被美国人抢购一空。这个顶级辣酱被奢侈品网站编辑描述为“有着成熟凤梨和腌渍鱼干的芳香……余味是种干净的温暖”，“干妈”也被翻译成高大上的“教母”。从此以后，好事的华人开始琢磨起来哪年雨水充足，会是老干妈最好的年份……     

Metabolic Bone Profile of Healthy Adult North Indian Population from Chandigarh Urban Bone Epidemiological Study (CUBES)

We aimed to estimate metabolic bone profile in a large cohort of healthy, adult Indian population to generate reference standards of serum calcium, phosphate and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), 25 (OH) Vitamin D and iPTH, and also to find out the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in healthy population. Apparently healthy people in the age group of 20–80 years, residing in the union territory of Chandigarh were chosen. Fasting samples for serum calcium, phosphate, albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), 25 (OH) D and iPTH were collected and were processed on the same day. We recruited 930 healthy subjects from different subsectors of Chandigarh. Final analysis was done for 915 subjects. Out of this, 530 (58%) were women and 385 (42%) were men. The study participants were divided into two groups, less than and more than 50 years for the men and pre and post-menopausal for the women. The serum calcium, phosphate, ALP and iPTH were significantly higher in the post-menopausal women compared to the pre-menopausal women. The median plasma 25 (OH) D in men and women was 12.5 ng/mL and 14.3 ng/mL, respectively. 25 (OH) D deficiency was seen in 65.4% of individuals. 25 (OH) D levels co-related negatively with iPTH levels (r = − 0.4, p < 0.0001), and showed an increasing trend with age. We have thus presented metabolic bone profile of healthy, adult north Indian population. These reference values can be used for diagnosis and monitoring of various MBDs. Vitamin D deficiency is still rampant in our population in spite of increasing awareness.     

Circadian periodicity of plasma lipid peroxides and anti-oxidant enzymes in pulmonary tuberculosis

The circadian periodicity of plasma lipid peroxide levels and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were studied in 50 clinically, bacteriologically and radiologically proven fresh cases of pulmonary tuberculosis (age: 21–45 years) and 60 age-matched healthy volunteers with diurnal activity from 06∶00 to about 22∶00 and nocturnal rest. A marked circadian variation in plasma lipid peroxide level was recorded in healthy subjects and pulmonary tuberculosis patients with significant amplitude and acrophase around 16∶21 and 17∶12 respectively. The acrophase tended to be delayed in tuberculosis patients. Furthermore, a statistically significant circadian rhythm was found in SOD, CAT and GPx activities in normal volunteers and pulmonary tuberculopsis patients. SOD and CAT enzyme activity was noted to be maximum at 06∶00 and minimum at 00∶00 in tuberculosis patients. The circadian acrophase for GPx activity was recorded at 16∶15 in normals and around 22∶45 in patients. Moreover, the activity was found to be decreased at all sampling hours during 24-hours sleep-awake period in patients in comparison to healthy counterparts. The MESOR and circadian amplitude also decreased markedly. The decreased activity of measured antioxidant enzymes in pulmonary tuberculosis patients could probably be associated with oxidative stress and/or decreased anti-oxidant defensive mechanism in such patients.     

The significance of context for curriculum development in engineering education: a case study across three African countries

Curriculum reform is a key topic in the engineering education literature, but much of this discussion proceeds with little engagement with the impact of the local context in which the programme resides. This article thus seeks to understand the influence of local contextual dynamics on curriculum reform in engineering education. The empirical study is a comparative analysis of the context for curriculum reform in three different chemical engineering departments on the African continent, located in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. All three departments are currently engaged in processes of curriculum reform, but the analysis shows how the different contexts in which these efforts are taking place exert strong shaping effects on the processes and outcomes for that reform.     

G N Ramachandran’s contributions to medical imaging

G N Ramachandran made several remarkable contributions to biophysics and structural biology over the course of his celebrated career. In a pair of seminal papers in 1971, he also laid the foundation for the technique of ‘Projection Reconstruction’ that has come to revolutionize medical imaging. It is now routinely employed in modern CT (Computed Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans. In this article, we review the salient features of this technique, that allows the ‘reconstruction of an object from its shadows’.