University of Tennessee Health Science Center
UTHSC Digital Commons (University of Tennessee Health Science Center)Not a member yet
1172 research outputs found
Sort by
Reverse Zoonosis of Pandemic A(H1N1)pdm09 Influenza Viruses at the Swine/Human Interface
Get PDFThe 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus emerged from the swine population. Despite frequent zoonotic events, swine influenza viruses had not become established in humans previously and little is known about host-barriers which prevent swine influenza viruses from efficiently infecting humans. Thus, the emergence of the H1N1pdm09 viruses in humans and the subsequent reverse zoonoses back to swine offered an extremely valuable opportunity to expand current knowledge. We used our active swine farm surveillance platform in combination with viruses from the USDA surveillance program to look for evidence of interspecies transmission of H1N1pdm09 viruses in the US. We found phylogenetic evidence for multiple human to swine transmission events, all of which were transient suggesting that the human adapted viruses of swine origin had lost some fitness for swine. Based on our phylogenetic analysis we selected representative H1N1pdm09 viruses from the tips of swine and human sub-lineages for further study. Intriguingly, we found that after being re-introduced into the swine population, the human H1N1pdm09 viruses rapidly lost replicative fitness in human cells. Together these data provide support for a model where transmission of viruses from human to swine leads to rapid adaptation for the swine host which comes at the expense of optimal fitness for human
Shaping Librarianship in Graduate Medical Education
Get PDFTITLE: Shaping Librarianship in Graduate Medical Education
OBJECTIVE: To reshape the role of faculty librarian in graduate medical education by establishing relationships and demonstrating the value of health sciences librarians as partners in research and medical education.
METHODS: The librarian previously assigned as a liaison to graduate medical education at a public research institution left the position nearly one year before a successor was hired, and little was known about their activities in this role. This poster illustrates the efforts of two newly hired librarians to define and develop the role of an academic research and education librarian embedded in graduate medical education. The librarians met weekly to discuss strategies and participated in regular meetings and workshops with GME staff, program coordinators, program directors, and medical trainees. One librarian served as a member of the GMEC Research Subcommittee, leading initiatives to establish a social media presence for GME, increase trainee participation in the campus research day, and design a campaign to support residents in turning posters into peer-reviewed publications. Efforts were made to consistently educate trainees and GME colleagues about the librarians’ professional role in instruction and research.
RESULTS: As a result of these efforts, the librarians were invited to teach 25 classes within the first several months in their positions, reaching over 200 residents and fellows. In addition to requests for research consultations and one-on-one or whole class instruction, the librarians also received invitations to a variety of GME and resident life events.
CONCLUSION: By using a two-pronged approach of building relationships while also demonstrating the value of health sciences librarians within graduate medical education, the librarians have had an increasing amount of face-to-face contact with medical trainees. This has resulted in both planned and spontaneous opportunities to educate residents about effective searching, predatory publishing, citation management software, and library resources
Designing a Poster-to-Publication Campaign for Medical Residents
Get PDFTITLE: Designing a Poster-to-Publication Campaign for Medical Residents
OBJECTIVE: To describe the development of a campaign to improve medical residents’ knowledge of the research and publication process while providing support in transforming poster presentations into peer-reviewed publications.
METHODS: Medical residents at a public research university complete poster presentation projects as part of the standard residency curriculum, but few go on to expand upon and publish this research in academic journals. This paper describes the development of a campaign intended to support residents as they expand poster research projects into publishable articles. A needs assessment will be developed to identify gaps in knowledge and other barriers to publication. Existing research support services in place at the university and one hospital site will be reviewed and summarized on a LibGuide. A series of workshops led by librarians and guest experts will be designed to address knowledge gaps and will be scheduled around key university and hospital research events. Participants who attend at least two workshops will receive follow-up emails from the graduate medical education librarian and will be eligible for assignment to an experienced research mentor.
RESULTS: A post-assessment will evaluate the effectiveness of this campaign in increasing the research and publication competency of medical residents. At approximately six and twelve months after the final workshop, the number of resident publications will be compared to the number of resident publications prior to campaign execution.
CONCLUSIONS: Pre- and post-campaign assessments and a poster-to-publication guide will be made available for librarians to adapt for their own institutions
A 10-Year Review of Opioid-Related Deaths at West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center: 2007-2017
Get PDFPrescription opioid deaths have tripled since 1999, and currently opioid overdose kills 115 Americans per day on average (1). Prior to 2014, prescription opioids have been the primary driver of opioid-related mortality. In recent years, the United States has seen a steady decline in the rate of opioid prescription. At the same time, there has been a significant increase in the number of deaths attributed to non-prescription opioids such as heroin, illicitly manufactured fentanyl, and fentanyl analogues. In 2017, among 70,237 drug overdose deaths nationally, 47,600 (67.8%) involved opioids, with increases across age groups, racial/ethnic groups, and county urbanization levels in multiple states (2). The opioid epidemic is especially profound in Tennessee, which had the 3rd highest opioid prescription rate in the country in 2017 and an opioid-related death rate of 19.3 deaths per 100,000 persons, compared to the national average of 14.6 (3).
This retrospective study analyzes autopsy data from West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center (WTRFC) from 2007 to 2017 to gain a better understanding of the effects of the opioid epidemic on West Tennessee and the surrounding areas. Data from opioid-related accidents and suicides were analyzed in order to identify trends in race, age, gender, location, types of opioids, and drug combinations involved in opioid-related deaths
The Discovery and Development of Thienopyrimidines as Inhibitors of Helicobacter pylori
Get PDFThe rate of successful treatment for Helicobacter pylori infections, with the clarithromycin triple therapy, is only 75%. The triple therapy, which consists of a proton pump inhibitor and two broad-spectrum antibiotics such as clarithromycin and amoxicillin, is becoming less effective due to the rise of strains with resistance against these antibiotics. In the search for narrow spectrum drugs for the treatment of H. pylori infections, a high-throughput screen was performed to identify selective compounds against H. pylori. This screen revealed two selective and structurally related thienopyrimidines. Structure-activity relationship of the thienopyrimidines against H. pylori was examined through the synthesis of 27 analogs, efforts that merged elements of the two scaffolds. The resulting leads, including compound 25, demonstrate high potency with an acceptable cytotoxicity profile against the human FaDu cells. Mode of action studies were performed by the generation and sequencing of resistant mutants. These experiments identified H. pylori’s respiratory Complex I as the putative target of the series, with the amino acid changes found in the NuoD subunit. Lead compounds demonstrated efficacy in an ex vivo model but not in the in vivo studies in a H. pylori murine infection model, suggesting further optimization of the pharmacological properties is required for this series. A scaffold hopping exercise was performed to discover novel scaffolds with improved ADME properties. The pyrrolopyrimidine 56 emerged with good anti-H. pylori activity, an improved solubility and is less bound to human plasma protein. Lead optimization efforts are ongoing, to realize proof of concept of this series of compounds in the in vivo efficacy studies
Shaping a future for Library & CME through partnerships
Get PDFThe purpose of this poster is to highlight the value of the partnership between library services and continuing medical education (CME) teams at Northeast Georgia Health System. Successful partnership examples include: 1) case conferences, such as Mortality & Morbidity (M&M) and tumor board, 2) library participation in the CME committee meetings, and 3) literature searches to support CME presentations. As a result, the partnership shows effectiveness by focusing on accountability and team work to accomplish educational goals and objectives set for the system
Shaping the Future of Education for the Medical Library Association
Get PDFObjective: Inform health sciences information professionals about the newly developed structure for educational programming for the Medical Library Association (MLA) based on MLA’s Professional Competencies.
Methods: MLA appointed the Education Steering Committee and six Education Curriculum Committees to develop education content based on the Association’s revised Professional Competencies. The Competencies provide the framework that define the skills to be gained as a result of educational offerings. The Education Curriculum Committees are charged with: 1. Designing and planning curriculum and educational offerings and resources; 2. Providing direction, expertise, and knowledge to creators and instructors of educational offerings with respect to content and instructional design; 3. Reviewing and assessing offerings to ensure they are high quality and current, meet learning outcomes, and have a succession plan. The work of the Curriculum Committees is shaped by the curriculum priorities document set forth by the Education Steering Committee, beginning with a “Bootcamp” that incorporates foundational offerings across the Competencies.
Results: The Education Curriculum Committees suggest topics and speakers for MLA’s monthly webinars and for Continuing Education courses offered at the Association’s Annual Meetings. In the past year, Education Curriculum Committees have engaged with subject matter experts and with professional instructional designers to create online self-paced courses. A middle management symposium, sponsored by the Leadership & Management Education Curriculum Committee, was offered at the MLA 2019 Annual Meeting. Curriculum Committees are exploring other modes for providing educational content, such as podcasts, journal clubs or discussion groups. Existing courses and webinars are tagged with Professional Competencies in MEDLIB-ED, MLA’s continuing education portal.
Conclusions: MLA’s Professional Competencies provide a meaningful framework for planning and organizing educational offerings. Education Curriculum Committees follow the curriculum priorities to plan their work, but also have flexibility to be innovative in suggesting other possible content and methods to support professional development and education for information professionals
We Try to Find Something for Whatever Obstacle Might be in Our Way”: Understanding the Health Information Practices of South Carolina LGBTQ+ Communities
Get PDFObjective: LGBTQ+ people experience health disparities compared to heterosexual, cisgender peers. Individual and systemic barriers produce these disparities. One barrier is informational, as LGBTQ+ people experience challenges when learning about their health needs, navigating the healthcare system, and overcoming obstacles to care. This paper investigates the future of libraries and the health sciences by exploring how they can address these informational barriers.
Methods: This paper reports on ~30 ongoing interviews with LGBTQ+ community leaders from South Carolina (SC) using a semi-structured protocol. The protocol asked participants to discuss their community’s health questions and concerns, how the community addresses them, and the barriers experienced along the way. Qualitative data analysis of interview transcripts and drawings from an information worlds mapping exercise is iterative and inductive. The researchers employ the constant comparative method to generate open codes and then organize them into broader thematic categories.
Results: Findings denote that SC LGBTQ+ communities are keenly aware of their health information needs, however, they perceive a lack of institutional knowledge to address them. Moreover, participants mistrust experts like medical practitioners due to their perceived lack of cultural competence when serving LGBTQ+ communities. In turn, participants orient themselves and their communities through and around barriers to health information and resources via defensive and protective information practices.
Conclusions: Implications suggest that LGBTQ+ people do not view themselves as experiencing deficits regarding how they engage with health-related information. Therefore, it is not the job of librarians to “correct” information practices that they may find to be risky or problematic. Instead, it is their duty to provide systems and services to meet the health needs of LGBTQ+ people, which may include reorienting their own approaches to information provision and assessment. This reorientation can be accomplished by leveraging defensive and protective information practices in which SC LGBTQ+ communities already engage
Using a Search Strategy Tool To Teach Search Strategy Development
Get PDFObjective: To demonstrate how use of a search strategy form together with a health science librarian consult improved student understanding of search strategy.
Methods: Two embedded librarians for pharmacy and public health had separately designed assignments to teach advanced search techniques for their respective students but felt the outcomes were unsatisfactory. To address this, the pharmacy librarian created an exercise for students that would facilitate understanding of the search development process. Students completed a form that walked through the steps of the development process prior to meeting with a research librarian. Students then integrated librarian feedback into the final search strategy to complete the assignment. The public health librarian adopted a modified version of the pharmacy form. These students participated in a librarian led hands-on searching exercise and were encouraged to meet individually with the librarian as they progressed with their own projects.
Results: Both librarians noticed better developed and more robust search strategies and greater understanding of controlled vocabulary. Instead of vague searches, multiple poorly-developed searches, and haphazard article selection, students found additional on-target results more effectively. For the pharmacy cohort, the mandatory librarian session involved more of the students in the search while overall assignment grades improved. For the public health doctoral students, the step-by-step process resulted in an improved understanding of the search process and better designed search strategies. One limitation is that we did not obtain IRB approval in advance of collecting data so cannot report on specifics.
Conclusions: Breaking down the search process into separate steps using the search form seems to have increased the students’ knowledge about using controlled vocabulary and designing robust search strategies. Students that worked with a librarian were more engaged and showed greater understanding. The search form along with hands-on time with a librarian is a winning combination
Fighting Size: The Negotiation for Study Space in the Face of Aging Collections
Get PDFOBJECTIVE Meeting departmental goals and student expectations are a challenge with evolving budgets and changing perspectives on the purpose of library space. Repurposing library space to meet student needs while maintaining appropriate collections is a challenge and an opportunity for librarians and patrons alike. At South College, institutional growth and student demand for study space, both physical space and time, highlighted a need for change within the physical confines of the library department.
METHODS The libraries at the main South College campus and three other campuses underwent extensive remodeling to provide additional study space for students. The institution and Head Librarian reviewed library spaces to determine where changes could be made to accommodate students. At the Nashville campus, the library was relocated to a different floor. In Knoxville and Asheville, physical collections were reviewed and downsized by removing outdated, unused materials. Collection Librarians were charged to shift focus from print to electronic acquisitions. Three locations were remodeled to create additional study areas. Hours were extended, with unstaffed access hours early and late in the day.
RESULTS New study rooms were available at the start of Winter Quarter 2019. Students expressed excitement over additional private study spaces and the libraries have seen an increase in traffic and room usage. Faculty approved of the new study rooms but were concerned about the reduction in physical collections required to make the changes possible. Librarians work with faculty to review collections and provide recommendations for new resources, primarily ebooks or ejournals, to fill gaps in subject areas created by the removal of older materials.
CONCLUSIONS Changing the direction of library acquisitions and primary use of space had a positive impact on student use. Finding a balance between providing access to appropriate resources is a challenge as patrons request immediate, continuous access but decry the loss of physical books