Connecting Rural Public Libraries to LIS Education and Research: The Case of Health Services, Programs, and Partnerships

In our increasingly interdisciplinary field, health professionals, advocates, and researchers frequently look to public librarians as partners. This trend may be particularly important in small and rural communities, where the public library occupies a uniquely important role given the disinvestment in health infrastructure in those communities. How are both current and aspiring small and rural public librarians receiving the education, training, and ongoing support needed to foster and sustain health services and programs with local, regional, and national partners? This panel draws attention to and discusses these issues in three ways: 1. Showcasing connections across three Institute of Museum and Library Services funded projects focused on small and rural public libraries and health; 2. Fostering audience interaction by soliciting questions and feedback prior to the conference; 3. Engaging in dialogue about how LIS educators can form and sustain connections to public librarians, particularly in small and rural communities. Topics the panelists will explore or discuss include, 1. What challenges and opportunities are associated with forming and sustaining partnerships with small and rural librarians, particularly in grant funded projects? 2. How can LIS educators learn from the experiences of rural and small librarians to ensure that LIS graduates have the knowledge and skills to be successful in their communities? 3. What additional work is needed to understand and support small and rural public librarians as catalysts of social justice and health justice

Discussing Health and LIS Research & Education

Interest in the intersection of health research and education and LIS research and education has perhaps never been higher. 2023 opened with a special issue of Library Quarterly on the topic of “Libraries Confronting Pandemic Disinformation,” and on February 2, 2023, Reference Services Review published “Libraries advancing health equity: a literature review,” authored by staff of the National Library of Medicine’s Office of Engagement and Training. It is our goal to accelerate these conversations by facilitating an engaging and collaborative panel in which both the panelists and audience participate in a dialog that highlights our research and our engagement with our students on health and LIS. This non-traditional panel focuses on health research/education and its impacts. The session aims to provide an opportunity for both the organizers and the audience to share their research/teaching and/or research/teaching agendas and engage in conversations and feedback that can contribute to a cohesive understanding as to what we are doing in the domain of health. Panelists will discuss the following in 5–10-minute lightning talks: Beth Bloch. Librarians working with biomedical researchers often help them find literature that is interdisciplinary in design. The findings from a content analysis of articles found in these databases suggest such indexing presents epistemological implications. Most notably, that the terms used by PubMed, when compared to Scopus, better identifies the scientific discipline (e.g., biology, chemistry), as well as experimental methodology used by article authors. Abigail L. Phillips. Empathy and Compassion for Our Students: The Well-Being and Mental Health Needs of Information Studies PhD Students. In this lightening talk, we want to discussion and present upon the ways in which information studies doctoral students take care of their mental health and what supports are needed to improve their well-being. Christine D’Arpa, Deborah Charbonneau, and Sandra Belz. Health Programming in Public Libraries: A Survey of Public Library Directors in Michigan. This brief talk discusses the scope of health programming in public libraries in the state of Michigan. This study has the potential to build a better understanding of the challenges reported by library directors related to efforts to support the health of their communities. Jenny Bossaller, Emily Vardell, and Bobbie Long. Most librarians are aware of vulnerable people who frequent their libraries, including individuals with addictions and mental health issues. Not all people struggling with addictions are visible, though. There is a growing Alcohol Free (AF) movement which encourages people to rethink their relationship with alcohol. Libraries can play a key role in this movement by expanding on their traditional roles as meeting places, information hubs, and literacy circles. After these presentations, the audience will be invited to share their own perspectives, work, and thoughts. Throughout this process, participants will be invited to offer constructive feedback on each contributor’s ideas. Through this process, we hope to create an exciting, interactive session in which both current SIG members and all interested members of the ALISE community will have the opportunity to share research and teaching strategies and potentially find new collaborators

Follicular helper T cells are required for systemic autoimmunity

Production of high-affinity pathogenic autoantibodies appears to be central to the pathogenesis of lupus. Because normal high-affinity antibodies arise from germinal centers (GCs), aberrant selection of GC B cells, caused by either failure of negative selection or enhanced positive selection by follicular helper T (TFH) cells, is a plausible explanation for these autoantibodies. Mice homozygous for the san allele of Roquin, which encodes a RING-type ubiquitin ligase, develop GCs in the absence of foreign antigen, excessive TFH cell numbers, and features of lupus. We postulated a positive selection defect in GCs to account for autoantibodies. We first demonstrate that autoimmunity in Roquinsan/san (sanroque) mice is GC dependent: deletion of one allele of Bcl6 specifically reduces the number of GC cells, ameliorating pathology. We show that Roquinsan acts autonomously to cause accumulation of TFH cells. Introduction of a null allele of the signaling lymphocyte activation molecule family adaptor Sap into the sanroque background resulted in a substantial and selective reduction in sanroque TFH cells, and abrogated formation of GCs, autoantibody formation, and renal pathology. In contrast, adoptive transfer of sanroque TFH cells led to spontaneous GC formation. These findings identify TFH dysfunction within GCs and aberrant positive selection as a pathway to systemic autoimmunity

Primary B-Cell Deficiencies Reveal a Link between Human IL-17-Producing CD4 T-Cell Homeostasis and B-Cell Differentiation

IL-17 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. The development/survival of IL-17-producing CD4 T cells (Th17) share critical cues with B-cell differentiation and the circulating follicular T helper subset was recently shown to be enriched in Th17 cells able to help B-cell differentiation. We investigated a putative link between Th17-cell homeostasis and B cells by studying the Th17-cell compartment in primary B-cell immunodeficiencies. Common Variable Immunodeficiency Disorders (CVID), defined by defects in B-cell differentiation into plasma and memory B cells, are frequently associated with autoimmune and inflammatory manifestations but we found no relationship between these and Th17-cell frequency. In fact, CVID patients showed a decrease in Th17-cell frequency in parallel with the expansion of activated non-differentiated B cells (CD21lowCD38low). Moreover, Congenital Agammaglobulinemia patients, lacking B cells due to impaired early B-cell development, had a severe reduction of circulating Th17 cells. Finally, we found a direct correlation in healthy individuals between circulating Th17-cell frequency and both switched-memory B cells and serum BAFF levels, a crucial cytokine for B-cell survival. Overall, our data support a relationship between Th17-cell homeostasis and B-cell maturation, with implications for the understanding of the pathogenesis of inflammatory/autoimmune diseases and the physiology of B-cell depleting therapies

Inborn errors of immunity: Manifestation, treatment, and outcome—an ESID registry 1994–2024 report on 30,628 patients

The European Society for Immunodeficiencies patient registry (ESID-R), established in 1994, is one of the world’s largest databases on inborn errors of immunity (IEI). IEI are genetic disorders predisposing patients to infections, autoimmunity, inflammation, allergies, and malignancies. Treatments include antimicrobial therapy, immunoglobulin replacement, immune modulation, stem cell transplantation, and gene therapy. Data from 194 centers in 33 countries capture clinical manifestations and treatments from birth onward, with annually expected updates. This report reviews the ESID-R’s structure, data content, and impact. The registry includes 30,628 patient datasets (aged 0–97.9 years; median follow-up: 7.2 years; total 825,568.2 patient-years), with 13,550 cases in 15 sub-studies. It has produced 84 peer-reviewed publications (mean citation rate: 95). Findings include real-world observations of IEI diagnoses, genetic causes, clinical manifestations, treatments, and survival trends. The ESID-R fosters global collaboration, advancing IEI research and patient care. This report highlights the key role of the multinational ESID-R, led by an independent medical society, in evidence-based discovery

Metabolic Alterations in End-Stage and Less Severe Heart Failure — Myocardial Carnitine Decrease

Peer Reviewe