A Thesaurus of Old English

The Thesaurus of Old English (TOE), first published in 1995, had its origins in a body of slips derived from standard dictionaries, principally the Clark Hall and Merritt Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary and the Bosworth-Toller volumes. These slips were made to supply the Glasgow Historical Thesaurus (HT) project (1965–2009) with a firmer idea of the range and totality of Old English vocabulary than available in the OED. In 1976 the decision was taken to deploy the Old English materials as a pilot thesaurus for the HT. With compilation of the slips completed in 1982, researchers were able to begin sorting the slips into groupings based on meaning and to see areas of the HT classification take shape in miniature. The TOE data, absorbed into the larger structure of its parent project, allow us to view English words that disappeared by 1150 alongside those that continued in use.

Collaborating With Student Parents as Participatory Researchers in a Qualitative Study

When embarking on research within a community where little empirical research exists, the inclusion of a structured participant group—such as a steering committee or advisory board—can formalize the participant–research team partnership, increase community buy-in for action items, and reinforce the trustworthiness of research findings. These were among the aims of the multimethod design of the Student Parent Project, a qualitative study to determine the barriers and facilitators of academic achievement and well-being at six community colleges within a large, urban, public university system. The initial step of the study was to create a Student Advisory Board by recruiting one student parent from each of the participating campuses. The Student Advisory Board then met intermittently to review the research approach, data collection instruments, and preliminary findings at different stages. In this article, we describe the process of convening and collaborating with the advisory board and identify key areas in which their participation influenced the study design, findings, and recommendations. Based on lessons learned, we offer recommendations for the design and implementation of a participatory advisory board within qualitative studies.

Understanding low chemoprevention uptake by women at high risk of breast cancer: findings from a qualitative inductive study of women’s risk-reduction experiences

Background Chemoprevention is one of several methods that have been developed to help high-risk women reduce their risk of breast cancer. Reasons for the low uptake of chemoprevention are poorly understood. This paper seeks a deeper understanding of this phenomenon by drawing on women’s own narratives about their awareness of chemoprevention and their risk-related experiences. Methods This research is based on a parent project that included fifty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of African American and White women at elevated risk of breast cancer. This specific study draws on the forty-seven interviews conducted with women at high or severe risk of breast cancer, all of whom are eligible to use chemoprevention for breast cancer risk-reduction. Interviews were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Results Forty-five percent of participants, and only 21% of African American participants, were aware of chemoprevention options. Women who had seen specialists were more likely to be aware, particularly if they had ongoing specialist access. Aware and unaware women relied on different types of sources for prevention-related information. Those whose main source of information was a healthcare provider were more likely to know about chemoprevention. Aware women used more nuanced information gathering strategies and worried more about cancer. Women simultaneously considered all risk-reduction options they knew about. Those who knew about chemoprevention but were reluctant to use it felt this way for multiple reasons, having to do with potential side effects, perceived extreme-ness of the intervention, similarity to chemotherapy, unknown information about chemoprevention, and reluctance to take medications in general. Conclusions Lack of chemoprevention awareness is a critical gap in women’s ability to make health-protective choices. Future research in this field must consider complexities in both women’s perspectives on chemoprevention and the reasons they are reluctant to use it.

Current state of cardiac troponin testing in Duchenne muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy: review and recommendations from the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy expert panel

Cardiac disease is now the leading cause of death in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Clinical evaluations over time have demonstrated asymptomatic cardiac troponin elevations and acute elevations are associated with symptoms and cardiac dysfunction in DMD. Clinicians require a better understanding of the relationship of symptoms, troponin levels and progression of cardiac disease in DMD. As clinical trials begin to assess novel cardiac therapeutics in DMD, troponin levels in DMD are important for safety monitoring and outcome measures. The Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy convened an expert panel of cardiologists, scientists, and regulatory and industry specialists on 16 December 2019 in Silver Spring, Maryland and reviewed published and unpublished data from their institutions. The panel recommended retrospective troponin data analyses, prospective longitudinal troponin collection using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I assays, inclusion of troponin in future clinical trial outcomes and future development of clinical guidelines for monitoring and treating troponin elevations in DMD.

“It's Mainly the Fear of Getting Hurt”: Experiences of LGBT Individuals with the Healthcare System in Lebanon

LGBT people face significant discrimination, social pressures, and legal challenges in Lebanon, yet little is known about their experiences with the healthcare system. We conducted a secondary data analysis study using a qualitative descriptive design and data from the parent project, LebGuide (2016–2017). The data consisted of de-identified one-on-one interviews with 13 LGBT individuals and seven community-based organizations (CBOs). Data were analyzed using content analysis. Themes related to LGBT individuals’ healthcare experiences overlapped between the two groups of participants (LGBT participants and CBO participants) and centered around: anticipation of discrimination, experiences with healthcare providers, experiences with healthcare systems, transgender-specific experiences, and role of CBOs. This study highlights the need for LGBT-inclusive curricula in healthcare educational and training programs. Since most positive healthcare experiences reported by participants were at CBOs, it is important for CBOs to partner with healthcare institutions to introduce an LGBT-affirming culture into the healthcare workplace and the institutional culture of healthcare facilities and systems.

Preventing Egregious Ethical Violations in Medical Practice: Evidence-Informed Recommendations from a Multidisciplinary Working Group

ABSTRACT This article reports the consensus recommendations of a working group that was convened at the end of a four-year research project funded by the National Institutes of Health that examined 280 cases of egregious ethical violations in medical practice. The group reviewed data from the parent project, as well as other research on sexual abuse of patients, criminal prescribing of controlled substances, and unnecessary invasive procedures that were prosecuted as fraud. The working group embraced the goals of making such violations significantly less frequent and, when they do occur, identifying them sooner and taking necessary steps to ensure they are not repeated. Following review of data and previously published recommendations, the working group developed 10 recommendations that provide a starting point to meet these goals. Recommendations address leadership, oversight, tracking, disciplinary actions, education of patients, partnerships with law enforcement, further research and related matters. The working group recognized the need for further refinement of the recommendations to ensure feasibility and appropriate balance between protection of patients and fairness to physicians. While full implementation of appropriate measures will require time and study, we believe it is urgent to take visible actions to acknowledge and address the problem at hand.

Filling the gaps

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the functionality of the WebCorp Linguist’s Search Engine (WebCorpLSE) by comparing it with two other freely-available online data resources: Google and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). In particular, the paper looks at how WebCorpLSE can fill gaps in these sources. It begins by contextualising the WebCorpLSE project in relation to its parent project, WebCorp, and other ‘web as corpus’ initiatives. It then outlines the advantages of WebCorpLSE over Google search, before turning to a comparison of WebCorpLSE with COCA. Comparisons are made by matching extracts of textual and graphical output generated by each system. It is shown that WebCorpLSE provides information not available via the other search mechanisms, and that it can thus, in accordance with Mair’s (2007) argument for a combined approach to diachronic text study, usefully serve not only as a stand-alone tool, but as a complementary resource.