Microarray profiling of mononuclear peripheral blood cells identifies novel candidate genes related to chemoradiation response in rectal cancer.

Preoperative chemoradiation significantly improves oncological outcome in locally advanced rectal cancer. However there is no effective method of predicting tumor response to chemoradiation in these patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells have emerged recently as pathology markers of cancer and other diseases, making possible their use as therapy predictors. Furthermore, the importance of the immune response in radiosensivity of solid organs led us to hypothesized that microarray gene expression profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells could identify patients with response to chemoradiation in rectal cancer. Thirty five 35 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer were recruited initially to perform the study. Peripheral blood samples were obtained before neaodjuvant treatment. RNA was extracted and purified to obtain cDNA and cRNA for hybridization of microarrays included in Human WG CodeLink bioarrays. Quantitative real time PCR was used to validate microarray experiment data. Results were correlated with pathological response, according to Mandard´s criteria and final UICC Stage (patients with tumor regression grade 1-2 and downstaging being defined as responders and patients with grade 3-5 and no downstaging as non-responders). Twenty seven out of 35 patients were finally included in the study. We performed a multiple t-test using Significance Analysis of Microarrays, to find those genes differing significantly in expression, between responders (n = 11) and non-responders (n = 16) to CRT. The differently expressed genes were: BC 035656.1, CIR, PRDM2, CAPG, FALZ, HLA-DPB2, NUPL2, and ZFP36. The measurement of FALZ (p = 0.029) gene expression level determined by qRT-PCR, showed statistically significant differences between the two groups. Gene expression profiling reveals novel genes in peripheral blood samples of mononuclear cells that could predict responders and non-responders to chemoradiation in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Moreover, our investigation added further evidence to the importance of mononuclear cells' mediated response in the neoadjuvant treatment of rectal cancer.

Reasons for deploying an e-reader loan service at the UOC Library

The presentation will focus on the reasons for deploying an e-reader loan service at a virtual university library as a part of an e-learning support system to aid user mobility, concentration of documentary and electronic resources, and ICT skills acquisition, using the example of the UOC pilot project and its subsequent consolidation. E-reader devices at the UOC are an extension of the Virtual Campus. They are offered as a tool to aid user mobility, access to documentary and electronic resources, and development of information and IT skills. The e-reader loan service began as a pilot project in 2009 and was consolidated in 2010. The UOC Library piloted the e-reader loan service from October to December 2009. The pilot project was carried out with 15 devices and involved 37 loans. The project was extended into 2010 with the same number of devices and 218 loans (October 2010). In 2011 the e-reader loan service is to involve 190 devices, thus offering an improved service. The reasons for deploying an e-reader loan service at the UOC are the following: a) to offer library users access to the many kinds of learning materials available at the UOC through a single device that facilitates student study and learning; b) to enhance access to and use of the e-book collections subscribed to by the UOC Library; c) to align with UOC strategy on the development of learning materials in multiple formats, and promote e-devices as an extension of the UOC Virtual Campus, and d) to increase UOC Library visibility within and beyond the institution. The presentation will conclude with an analysis of the key issues to be taken into account at a university library: the e-reader market, the unclear business and license model for e-book contents, and the library's role in promoting new reading formats to increase use of e-collections.

How to manage a virtual library?

Introduction. The Andalusian Public Health System Virtual Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA) was created in June 2006, after being determined by the II Quality Plan in the key process Guarantee the Knowledge Exchange into the Health System which was established by the Strategy IV, Knowledge Management, 2005-2008. It is a government strategy with its own budget and management with the aim of rationalizing the subscriptions into the Andalusian Health System and democratizing the health professional access to qualify scientific information, regardless of the professional workplace. Andalusia is a wide region with more than 8 million inhabitants, more than 90,000 health professionals for 41 hospitals, 1,500 primary healthcare centres, and 12 centres for non-medical attention purposes, and the Virtual Library was created to cover all this Health Services. Before the creation of the BV-SSPA every centre had its own budget and management decisions concerning scientific resources, with the creation of the BV-SSPA both management and budget were centralized. Objectives. With this work we pretend to analyze if the results after these five years have reached the expectations from an economic point of view and determine if really we can offer a benefit to the Andalusian Professional and Society in general. We will demonstrate the following: - The BV-SSPA supposed a cost reduction. It meant cost-effectiveness. - It resulted in Economics of Scale, as we have every year more resources and services investing a minor proportional amount of money. - In terms of Efficiency it implemented more services than the System had before its creation, we a lower budget. Methods. The BV-SSPA was appointed the only intermediary for contracting electronic resources destined to the Andalusian Health System. This had some consequences which should be analyzed: - Hospitals were not allowed to subscribe any resources. - Services offered for the whole System. - A remote access system was created. - Tools to give more visibility to the Public Health System were developed. - Negotiations techniques changed as the BV-SSPA is stronger than individual hospitals. Results. - The amount of 2,431 electronic reviews, 8 data bases and other scientific information resources at the disposal of the Andalusian Health System Professionals and available worldwide requiring only an internet connection. Before the BV-SSPA, 5,267 titles were subscribed by hospital and 2,967 of them were subscribed repeatedly (by two or more hospitals), this represented more than 55%. The rationalization of the subscription investment has been reached. - The establishment of several important scientific services for the whole territory of Andalusia, not only big hospitals. - The use of appropriate tools through a Web 2.0 and Social Media to be acknowledged by most National Health Professionals. Conclusions. It has been demonstrated that the BV-SSPA has become the Central Unit for purchasing, offering librarian services and a reference for users in terms of knowledge management, but from the point of view of business it has also obtained the following results: - Cost-Effectiveness: Its budget for subscriptions is lower than the hospital former one in a 30% and now more electronic resources are available. - Economics of Scale: Near 95,000 health professionals can access this Virtual Library in 2010. Before its creation Professionals for small hospital and Primary Care centres were not able to access to scientific information subscribed by big hospitals. - Efficiency Besides the central electronic purchasing, services were created for the System, without increasing the expenses: - Remote access to all the library resources independent of the user’s location. The BV-SSPA usage increased in a 147% in 2008, when it was installed. - The Document Supply Service implemented in 2009. - The Institutional Repository which contains the whole intellectual, scientific production generated by the Andalusian Public Health Professionals as a result of their healthcare, research or managing activity. - The creation of an application developed by the BV-SSPA to study the Andalusian Health System Scientific Production. - The visibility of the Andalusian Health System reached thanks to the BV-SSPA, through the numerous events in which it participates and organizes such as the 2nd. European National Digital Libraries of Health Conferences and the National Conference of Health Science Information and Documentation held in Cadiz in 2010; and its profile in social media where it can be contacted by citizens and health professionals all over the world. - Negotiation with electronic resource suppliers is much more advantageous as the BV-SSPA is stronger to deal with them thanks to its consolidated budget, its managing independence and its visibility.

The Andalusian Public Health System Virtual Library. Four years on

The Andalusian Public Health System Virtual Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA) set up in June 2006 was determined by the II Quality Plan 2005-2008. It consists of a regional government action with the aim of democratizing the health professional access to quality scientific information, regardless of the professional workplace. Andalusia is a region with more than 8 million inhabitants, with 92,000 health professionals for 41 hospitals, 1,500 primary healthcare centres, and 10 centres for non-medical attention purposes. • To obtain documentary resources for health professionals. • To help citizens to find health information. • To coordinate the Andalusian Health Documentary centres. • To establish strategic agreements with organizations. • To contribute to the Knowledge Management Development • The BV-SSPA acquires in a centralised way, all of the information resources for the whole system. • It offers services for all professionals: o Document Supply Service o Online Learning o User service • Remote access to these resources and services. • Communication and marketing plan to promote the knowledge and use of the BV-SSPA. Presently the BV-SSPA has reached: • The subscription of 2,431 electronic reviews, 8 data bases and other scientific information resources. • The establishment of the Document Supply Service, which focuses all the article orders from and for the Andalusian Public Health System. • The starting up for the online learning platform. • The introduction of the user service and virtual reference service in beta mode. • The use of appropriate tools, as the meta-researcher and the link resolver, which allow the presentation of resources and services in a tidy, easily findable way, through a Web 2.0 page where the user can take part with his contributions and where his offers and suggestion are gathered. • Access to the resources, for the Andalusian Health Professionals worldwide requiring only an internet connection. Andalusian Health Professionals have access to the greatest Health Science Electronic Resources Collection in Spain. The BV-SSPA has become the undisputed medium for the Health Research and Clinical Healthcare in our region, being consolidated as the Knowledge Manager into the Andalusian Public Health System. In 2010, it faces new projects such as the institutional repository creation, HypatiaSalud; the analysis of our research activity; and the drafting of a normalised licence model for the contracting of electronic resources.

Digital inmigrants and digital natives expectation collection in the Andalusian Public Health System Virtual Library: communication with our users

The Andalusian Public Health System Virtual Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA) provides access to health information resources and services to healthcare professionals through its Website. This virtual environment demands higher users’ knowledge in order to satisfy of the need of information of our users, as digital natives as digital immigrants, improving at the same time the communication with all of them. 1. To collect clients' views and expectations according to their nature of digital natives and immigrants. 2. To know our online reputation. A Collecting User Expectation Questionnaire will be built, taking into account the segmentation of the BV-SSPA users’ professional groups of the Andalusian Public Health System. A pilot test will be run to check the survey dimensions and items about practices, attitudes and knowledge of our users. Two Quality Function Deployment (QFD) matrices will enable the BV-SSPA services to be targeted to our digital natives or digital immigrants, according to their nature, finding the best way to satisfy their information needs. We provide feedback on BV-SSPA: users can have the opportunity to post feedback about the site via the 'Contact us' section and comment about their experience. And Web 2.0 is a shop window, providing the opportunity to show the comments; and through time, our online reputation will be built, but the BV-SSPA must manage its own personal branding. Web 2.0 tools are a driver of improvement, because they provide a key source of insight into people's attitudes. Besides, the BV-SSPA digital identity will be analyzed through indicators like major search engine referrals breakdown, top referring sites (non search engines), or top search engine referral phrases, among others. Definition of digital native and digital immigrant profiles of the BV-SSPA, and their difference, will be explained by their expectations. The design of the two QFD matrices will illustrate in just one graph the requirements of both groups for tackling digital abilities and inequalities. The BV-SSPA could deliver information and services through alternative channels. On the other hand, we are developing a strategy to identify, to measure and to manage a digital identity through communication with the user and to find out our online reputation. With the use of different tools from quantitative and qualitative methodology, and the opportunities offered by Web 2.0 tools, the BV-SSPA will know the expectations of their users as a first step to satisfy their necessities. Personalization is pivotal to the success of the Site, delivering tailored content to individuals based on their recorded preferences. The valuable user research can be used during new product development and redesign. Besides positive interaction let us build trust, show authenticity, and foster loyalty: we improve with effort, communication and show.

Positional scanning-synthetic peptide library-based analysis of self- and pathogen-derived peptide cross-reactivity with tumor-reactive Melan-A-specific CTL.

Synthetic combinatorial peptide libraries in positional scanning format (PS-SCL) have recently emerged as a useful tool for the analysis of T cell recognition. This includes identification of potentially cross-reactive sequences of self or pathogen origin that could be relevant for the understanding of TCR repertoire selection and maintenance, as well as of the cross-reactive potential of Ag-specific immune responses. In this study, we have analyzed the recognition of sequences retrieved by using a biometric analysis of the data generated by screening a PS-SCL with a tumor-reactive CTL clone specific for an immunodominant peptide from the melanocyte differentiation and tumor-associated Ag Melan-A. We found that 39% of the retrieved peptides were recognized by the CTL clone used for PS-SCL screening. The proportion of peptides recognized was higher among those with both high predicted affinity for the HLA-A2 molecule and high predicted stimulatory score. Interestingly, up to 94% of the retrieved peptides were cross-recognized by other Melan-A-specific CTL. Cross-recognition was at least partially focused, as some peptides were cross-recognized by the majority of CTL. Importantly, stimulation of PBMC from melanoma patients with the most frequently recognized peptides elicited the expansion of heterogeneous CD8(+) T cell populations, one fraction of which cross-recognized Melan-A. Together, these results underline the high predictive value of PS-SCL for the identification of sequences cross-recognized by Ag-specific T cells.

A directed approach for the identification of transcripts harbouring the spliced leader sequence and the effect of trans-splicing knockdown in Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosomiasis is a major neglected tropical disease caused by trematodes from the genus Schistosoma. Because schistosomes exhibit a complex life cycle and numerous mechanisms for regulating gene expression, it is believed that spliced leader (SL) trans-splicing could play an important role in the biology of these parasites. The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of trans-splicing in Schistosoma mansoni through analysis of genes that may be regulated by this mechanism and via silencing SL-containing transcripts through RNA interference. Here, we report our analysis of SL transcript-enriched cDNA libraries from different S. mansoni life stages. Our results show that the trans-splicing mechanism is apparently not associated with specific genes, subcellular localisations or life stages. In cross-species comparisons, even though the sets of genes that are subject to SL trans-splicing regulation appear to differ between organisms, several commonly shared orthologues were observed. Knockdown of trans-spliced transcripts in sporocysts resulted in a systemic reduction of the expression levels of all tested trans-spliced transcripts; however, the only phenotypic effect observed was diminished larval size. Further studies involving the findings from this work will provide new insights into the role of trans-splicing in the biology of S. mansoni and other organisms. All Expressed Sequence Tags generated in this study were submitted to dbEST as five different libraries. The accessions for each library and for the individual sequences are as follows: (i) adult worms of mixed sexes (LIBEST_027999: JZ139310 - JZ139779), (ii) female adult worms (LIBEST_028000: JZ139780 - JZ140379), (iii) male adult worms (LIBEST_028001: JZ140380 - JZ141002), (iv) eggs (LIBEST_028002: JZ141003 - JZ141497) and (v) schistosomula (LIBEST_028003: JZ141498 - JZ141974).

National Health System Virtual Library Viability Project (Spain)

Introduction: The ICT progress and development are making the set up of virtual libraries easier, with great advantages for users in terms of immediate access to vast amounts of library information, online resources, and services. Most of the Autonomous Spanish Regions are presently working on the establishment of virtual libraries with the aim of optimising economic resources destined to subscribe bibliographic information sources and offering qualified documentary services to Public Health System Professionals. The Ministry of Health and Social Policy, an institution unifying health matters, issued this Project to study the National Health System Virtual Library creation viability, in order to guarantee relevant scientific information access equity. Objectives: - To study the National Health System (NHS) Virtual Library set up viability. - To elaborate the Spanish territory health information resource map. - To identify the appropriate technological model. - To identify the documentary services to be offered. - To identify the more optimum functional, structural model. - To identify the economic model. Method: - To create a chart organization for the project´s management. - To organize Work groups. - To elaborate a standardised survey model for the libraries of the autonomous regions. Results: - Identification of the different Autonomous Region libraries of health models. - Recommendations for the NHS Virtual Library: - Functional, structural model - Technological model - Financial-economic model Conclusions: The fact that the Virtual Library would be an invaluable space for access to quality scientific information, as well as that the minimum services could be offered to every NHS user regardless of geographical situation, is confirmed. Accordingly, we thought about three different models to develop the Virtual Library, depending on this initial analysis, which will allow us to establish the most suitable model for the Spanish National Health System, considering its economic, functional and technological recommendations. It would be necessary to do a study for the NHS Virtual Library Set Up following the recommendations arising from this Project.

Andalusian Health e-Library

The Andalusian Health e-Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA) set up in June 2006 allows health professionals to access the most prestigious resources to facilitate decisiontaking, healthcare, teaching and research activities. It is considered the undisputed medium for health research and clinical healthcare in Andalusia, being consolidated as the Health Knowledge Manager in the region.

Workshop on new strategies and tools for the eHealth library

The Andalusian eHealth Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Publico de Andalucia, BV-SSPA), was created in June 2006. The 42 librarians who already worked for the Health System were integrated within this new system. The annual library meeting has been held every year since then, and in 2013 the EAHIL workshop held in Stockholm was the model to follow.

Negotiation Techniques in a Digital Library

The Andalusian eHealth Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA), created in June 2006 as a strategic action of the Andalusian Government with the aim of becoming the engine for the knowledge management of the health system in the region, has meant a radical change of mind in the way libraries can be managed: - As a regional library, it coordinates the 42 document library centers of the hospital network. - It is an organization in charge of its own budget and management. - It is the only intermediary for contracting health science resources. These factors have empowered the library in its dealings with other organizations such as stakeholders, suppliers, universities, etc. The centralization of the purchasing and the librarian network has made this library strong enough to deal with the economic recession and budgetary problems.

New challenges, new skills for a digital library

The Andalusian eHealth Library (BV-SSPA) was set up in 2006, but the region already had 42 librarians who worked at hospitals or other centers and were in charge of their libraries. The Digital library meant for all of them the availability of a greater amount of scientific resources and also the challenge of adapting to this new environment which brought new tasks and responsibilities to their daily work, and required the development of new skills. The time has arrived to analyze how they have implemented this change and how it has transformed their professional profile within the Andalusian Health System. Nowadays, the Andalusian eHealth Library establishes the librarian’s targets and their work is evaluated according to the fulfillment of these targets. This evaluation is carried out by the director of the BV-SSPA, taking into account the performance related to the general stated targets, as well as their level of commitment to the Digital Library through the performing of specific assigned tasks.

Iowa Library Trustee's Handbook, 2003

Gives trustees a basic understanding of their responsibilities and power.

State Library OF Iowa LSTA Five Year Plan 2003-2007

State Library of Iowa mission statement: The State Library advocates for Iowa libraries and promotes excellence and innovation in library services in order to provide statewide access to information for all Iowans. Statewide vision for library services, developed by representatives of the Iowa library community in 1994: Each Iowan will have equal access to information and ideas in order to participate knowledgeably and productively in a democratic society and to lead an enriched life through lifelong learning. Iowa Library Service Areas and State Library of Iowa Plan of Service FY03-05 mission statement: Helping libraries provide the best possible service to Iowans

State Library of Iowa Annual Report FY2003

Annual report for State Library of Iowa