Public Library Participation in a MedlinePlus Go Local Project: Perceptions of Georgia Librarians and Staff

In an effort to promote public library involvement in Georgia Health - Go Local, a National Library of Medicine initiative to link consumers to health resources in their local areas, staff at a large public library system in south Georgia were trained to enter local records into the Go Local database. Results of two follow-up focus groups indicated that participants were enthusiastic about demonstrating Go Local and MedlinePlus to library users but were not comfortable creating or maintaining Go Local records due to concerns about the relevance of the project, unease with medical terminology, varied levels of computer expertise, and worries about possible liability.     

Developing a Regional Nursing Research Website

Do you know if there are any nurse researchers in the area who are doing research with women who are HIV positive? This question was asked by a doctoral student in a research class. The faculty member responded that she was aware of one researcher who worked with HIV-infected men but that she was not aware of any other ongoing, unpublished work of a nurse researcher in the locality. It became apparent there had to be a way to keep informed and share expertise among regional nurse researchers. Thus, the Washington Area Nursing Research Resources (WANRR) website was conceived in the Fall of 1997.     

Physiological and behavioural effects of imidacloprid on two ecologically relevant earthworm species (Lumbricus terrestris and Aporrectodea caliginosa)

Earthworms play key roles in soils and sub-lethal effects of environmental toxicants on these organisms should be taken seriously, since they might have detrimental effects on higher ecological levels. In laboratory experiments we have assessed sub-lethal effects (body mass change and cast production) of imidacloprid on two earthworm species commonly found in different agricultural soils (Lumbricus terrestris and Aporrectodea caliginosa). After 7 days of exposure in contaminated soil, a significant loss of body mass was found in both species exposed to imidacloprid concentrations as low as 0.66 mg kg^?1 dry soil. These losses ranged from 18.3 to 39% for A. caliginosa and from 7.4 to 32.4% for L. terrestris, respectively. Changes in cast production, a new biomarker previously validated using L. terrestris, was assessed by soil sieving using the recommended mesh size (5.6 mm) for L. terrestris and three different mesh sizes for A. caliginosa (5.6, 4 and 3.15 mm). The 4 mm mesh size proved to be the most suitable sieve size for A. caliginosa. Cast production increased by 26.2% in A. caliginosa and by 28.1% in L. terrestris at the lowest imidacloprid concentration tested (0.2 mg kg^?1 dry soil), but significantly decreased at higher concentrations (equal to and above 0.66 mg kg^?1 dry soil) in both earthworm species after the 7 days exposure experiment. These decreases in cast production ranged from 44.5 to 96.9% in A. caliginosa and from 42.4 to 95.7% in L. terrestris. The EC₅₀ for cast production were 0.84 (L. terrestris) and 0.76 mg kg^?1 dry soil (A. caliginosa), respectively. The detected sub-lethal effects were found close to the predicted environmental concentration (PEC) of imidacloprid, which is in the range of 0.33–0.66 mg kg^?1 dry soil. The biomarkers used in the present study, body mass change and changes in cast production, may be of ecological relevance and have shown high sensitivity for imidacloprid exposure of earthworms. The measurement of changes in cast production should be considered for inclusion in current standard tests.     

PSYCHOTIC PROCESSES IN SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR BY PIRANDELLO

ABSTRACT The play Six Characters in Search of an Author is about madness, its seductiveness, its at times apparent plausibility, its language and its infectiousness. It makes the spectator participate in a psychotic experience. A great deal of disturbance in the audience followed its first performance in 1920 at the Teatro la Valle in Rome. By representing what is ultimately the failure of mental and theatrical representation Pirandello has created a work of art which is a most interesting anticipation and validation of the work on psychotic states of mind of the last few decades. In this paper we explore aspects of the play which are relevant to the work in the consulting room with a group of psychotic or borderline patients whose functioning is evocative of the Six Characters in Search of an Author .