eScholarship@UMMS

Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation (CHICA) is a computer decision support system (CDSS) that interfaces with existing electronic medical record systems (EMRS) and delivers "just in time" patient-relevant guidelines to physicians during the clinical encounter and accurately captures structured data from all who interact with the system. “Delivering Geospatial Intelligence to Health Care Professionals (CHICA-GIS)” (1R01LM010923-01) expands the medical application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by integrating a geographic information system with CHICA. To provide knowledge management support for CHICA-GIS, three informationists at the Indiana University School of Medicine were awarded a supplement from the National Library Medicine. The informationists will enhance CHICA-GIS by: improving the accuracy and accessibility of information, managing and mapping the knowledge which undergirds the CHICA-GIS decision support tool, supporting community engagement and consumer health information outreach, and facilitating the dissemination of new CHICA-GIS research results and services.

Two supplements were awarded to the New York University Health Sciences Libraries from the National Library of Medicine's informationist grant program. These supplements funded research support in a number of areas, including data management and bioinformatics, two fields that the library had recently begun to explore. As such, the supplements were of particular value to the library as a testing ground for these newer services.

This paper will discuss a supplement received in support of a grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (PI: Brian Schmidt) on the role of proteases and peptides in cancer pain. A number of barriers were preventing the research team from maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of their work. A critical component of the research was to identify which proteins, from among hundreds identified in collected samples, to include in preclinical testing. This selection involved laborious and prohibitively time-consuming manual searching of the literature on protein function. Additionally, the research team encompassed ten investigators working in two different cities, which led to issues around the sharing and tracking of both data and citations.

The supplement outlined three areas in which the informationists would assist the researchers in overcoming these barriers: 1) creating an automated literature searching system for protein function discovery, 2) introducing tools and associated workflows for sharing citations, and 3) introducing tools and workflows for sharing data and specimens.

In 2012 the National Library of Medicine awarded several academic medical libraries informationist grants to become embedded with a research team for the purposes of data management. The University of Rochester Medical Center was among those recipients. This article will give background on the research project and team that won the grant, discuss the process of applying for the grant, identify the data management role that the informationist librarians have agreed to work on, how they embedded into the research team, and relay lessons learned thus far in the project.

Informationists at NYU Health Sciences Libraries (NYUHSL) successfully applied for a NLM supplement to a translational research grant obtained by PIs in the NYU School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology titled, “Clinical Management of Cochlear Implant Patients with Contralateral Hearing Aids”. The grant involves development of evidence-based guidelines for post-implant management of patients with bimodal cochlear implants. The PIs are also seeking to acquire new data sets to merge with grant-generated data. In light of the shifting data requirements, and the potential introduction of additional datasets, informationists will evaluate and restructure the data model and data entry tool. Report queries will be refined for the new data model and options for a query tool appropriate for users unfamiliar with query languages will be assessed and implemented. The services offered through this supplement represent the deepest and most detailed data management support offered by NYUHSL to date. The components of the supplement are being analyzed as a pilot of a broader offering of these data management services.

In 2012, the Lamar Soutter Library (LSL), University of Massachusetts Medical School, successfully collaborated with two principal investigators at UMMS, as well as their research team, to receive a supplemental grant from the National Library of Medicine. The award, an “NLM Administrative Supplements for Informationist Services in NIH-funded Research Projects”, was one of eight awarded nationally. It provides funding to support an informationist, or in-context information specialist, who serves the research team by offering expertise in the areas of data and information management.

For 18 months, the informationist is serving as a member of the research team on the grant, “Promoting Breast Cancer Screening in Non-Adherent Women” (R01 CA-132935, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health), working to develop data management tools, providing an in-depth literature review and report on the issues facing researchers and internet technology professionals when building and implementing research tools, assisting with a systematic review on the effectiveness of telephone intervention protocols for preventive screenings, and instructing the members of the team in advanced searching techniques and bibliographic management.

This role serves as a new model of embedded librarianship for the LSL. It also provides opportunities for new services from the Library in the role of data and information management. Further, the acceptance of an informationist into a well-funded research team demonstrates a level of commitment by researchers to receiving research support from the Library that it has not experienced to date. This brief paper describes the study and the accomplishments to date.

With the announcement of the NLM Administrative Supplement Grant, the informationists at the Welch Medical Library found an interested and enthusiastic Principal Investigator (PI) in the Department of Radiology at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Although the PI had not used the services of a Welch informationist before, he was eager to collaborate with an informationist on the grant “Dose-Response in Radionuclide Therapy,” (Parent Grant Number: 5R01CA116477-07) and had self-identified the need for “a literature review by experts” to fulfill his funded work.

Targeted radionuclide therapy is an emerging modality for cancer therapy that involves the delivery of radioactive atoms using carriers that preferentially bind to tumor cells. Such treatment is best implemented with patient-specific dosimetry calculations. This mutually beneficial partnership brings the specialized skill set, knowledge base and expertise of an informationist to the biomedical research team to assist in accomplishing the broader work of improving RPT delivery in metastatic cancer patients.

The informationist will carry out multiple tasks to produce an effective and efficient workflow that facilitates the dissemination of the information to a globally dispersed research team. This collaboration will be evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively, and the important role of the informationist in the success of this project will demonstrate the value of including an informationist in the research team. This demonstrated value will assist Welch Library in continuing to promote the embedded informationist program to other interested researchers throughout the institution.

Libraries have provided services to researchers for many years. Changes in technology and new publishing models provide opportunities for libraries to be more involved in the research enterprise. Within this article, the author reviews traditional library services, briefly describes the eScience and publishing landscape as it relates to libraries, and explores possible library programs in support of research. Many of the new opportunities require new partnerships, both within the institution and externally.

In this video article, Lisa Federer, Research Informationist at the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, describes her experience as a research informationist for a National Institutes of Health-funded research team at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Valerie Florance of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) discusses NLM's support programs to encourage new roles for health sciences librarians, specifically the NLM Administrative Supplements for Informationist Services in NIH-funded Research Projects program.

JESLIB Editor Elaine R. Martin introduces the papers in Volume 2, Issue 1 (2013), which focuses on the role of and the Informationist or Embedded Librarian in the scientific research process. As biomedical science becomes more data intensive, researchers are faced with a range of data management challenges, problems, and needs. Health sciences librarians are ideal partners for offering scientists at their institutions a range of data management services.

Discusses the development and execution of a Leadership Speaker Series by the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Office of Faculty Affairs.

The mission of the Women’s Faculty Committee (WFC), of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), and its clinical partner UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC), is to address the needs of women faculty and to promote the status of women in the UMMS and UMMHC systems. For the past 12 consecutive years, one of the mechanisms by which the WFC identifies, recognizes, and supports accomplished women clinicians, researchers, educators, leaders and mentors of our community, is through an annual awards luncheon.

OBJECTIVE: Several conditions are associated with increased preeclampsia (PE) risk. Whether altered maternal angiogenic factor levels contribute to risk in these conditions is unknown. Our objective was to compare angiogenic biomarker patterns in high-risk pregnancies and low-risk controls.

STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a planned secondary analysis of a 2-center observational study of angiogenic biomarkers in high-risk women. A total of 156 pregnant women with a PE risk factor and 59 low-risk controls were studied. Serial maternal serum samples were collected during 3 gestational windows: 23-27 weeks, 28-31 weeks, and 32-35 weeks. Soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt1), soluble endoglin (sEng), and placental growth factor (PlGF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Geometric mean angiogenic biomarker levels and angiogenic ratio (sFlt1 + sEng):PlGF were compared with low-risk controls for each risk group, at each gestational window.

RESULTS: Gestational biomarker patterns differed in PE risk groups as compared with low-risk controls. Women with multiple gestations had markedly higher sFlt1 and sEng at all gestational windows. Women with prior PE had higher sFlt1 and angiogenic ratio, and lower PlGF, from 28 weeks onward. Women with chronic hypertension had significantly higher angiogenic ratio for all 3 gestational windows, but differences disappeared when women with PE were excluded. Obese and nulliparous women had significantly lower PlGF, but no differences in the angiogenic ratio.

CONCLUSION: High-risk groups have altered angiogenic biomarker patterns compared with controls, suggesting that altered production or metabolism of these factors may contribute to PE risk, particularly in women with multiple gestations and prior PE.

Summary: Provides rapid-access information on the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of vaginismus.

Summary: Provides rapid-access information on the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of Pemphigoid (Herpes) Gestationis.

Report summary: Peru's persistently high maternal mortality ratio, the second highest in South America, dramatically illustrates systemic inequities that ravage the overall society and in turn reflect systematic violations of human rights and vast disparities in the health care system.

Objectives: To determine the impact of a web tool developed to improve health care providers' ability and comfort in caring for a diverse patient population in the hospital setting.

Methods: The pediatric palliative care team including a pediatric oncologist and a nurse practitioner in association with a clinical medical librarian and a hospital-based interpreter, collaborated to create a resource using SpringShare software to create a library guide. The purpose is to provide cultural and palliative care information resources, books, and journal articles to assist health care workers at UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center in caring for children from the diverse cultural backgrounds living in the region. In order to introduce and evaluate the usage of the library guide, we plan to survey Children's Medical Center staff including nurses, residents, attending physicians, and child life staff at baseline and after visiting the library guide. As of this date, the usage of the guide has had over 400 hits per month or 1,200 hits in the last 3 months (libraryguides.umassmed.edu/diversity_guide).

Results: We will be conducting a survey of all children's medical center staff, nurses, and physicians to evaluate the usefulness and impact of this resource.

Conclusions: The results of the survey will be complete in 2013.

Atlas of Anatomy, Second Edition, is an essential resource for anyone studying gross anatomy. Containing over 2,400 full-color illustrations, this atlas guides you step-by-step through each region of the body, helping you master the details of anatomy.

Edited by Anne M. Gilroy, Brian R. MacPherson, Lawrence M. Ross ; based on the work of Michael Schuenke, Erik Schulte, Udo Schumacher ; illustrated by Markus Voll, Karl Wesker.

Citation: Gilroy, A. M., MacPherson, B. R., Ross, L. M., Schünke, M., Schulte, E., & Schumacher, U. (2012). Atlas of anatomy. New York: Thieme.

ISBN-10: 1604067454

ISBN-13: 978-1604067453

Partial preview available via Google Books.

Focuses on the targeted information about anatomy for USMLE success. Includes: a total of 400 USMLE-style review questions with explanatory answers; a streamlined, bullet point format to help you quickly learn essential facts and concepts; 70 tables for quick review of crucial information; more than 450 fully labeled color illustrations.

Citation: Gilroy, A. M. (2013). Anatomy: An essential textbook and review. New York: Thieme.

ISBN-10: 160406207X

ISBN-13: 978-1604062076

A partial preview is available via Google Books.

Summary points:

• In cluster randomized trials (CRTs), the units of allocation, intervention, and outcome measurement may differ within a single trial. As a result of the unique design of CRTs, the interpretation of existing research ethics guidelines is complicated.
• The Ottawa Statement on the Ethical Design and Conduct of Cluster Randomized Trials aims to provide researchers and research ethics committees (RECs) with detailed guidance on the ethical design, conduct, and review of CRTs.
• A five-year mixed methods research project explored the ethical challenges of CRTs. Empirical studies documented the reporting of ethical issues in published CRTs, interviewed experienced trialists, and surveyed trialists and REC chairs. The ethical issues identified were explored in a series of background papers that provided detailed ethical analyses and policy options, and a panel of experts using a systematic process developed a consensus statement.
• The Ottawa Statement sets out 15 recommendations for the ethical design and conduct of CRTs. The recommendations provide guidance on the justification of a cluster randomized design, the need for REC review, the identification of research participants, obtaining informed consent, the role of gatekeepers in protecting group interests, the assessment of benefits and harms, and the protection of vulnerable participants.