The growing number of transfer students on college and university campuses presents a challenge to academic libraries. For years, these libraries have taught students information literacy skills to enhance their abilities to locate, evaluate, and use information in order to be successful students as well as lifelong learners. At many libraries, both direct from high school and transfer students are taught these skills together, without the recognition that either of them has special or diverse needs. Several studies over the years have concluded that the information needs of transfer students differed from those of their native counterparts and stress the importance for separate instruction. A recent survey of some Ohio academic libraries by the authors revealed that the vast majority of these libraries do not provide separate instruction for transfer students. This article, therefore, calls for a dialogue among librarians to continue to discuss this topic and consider developing instructional programs to meet the needs of transfer students.

The approximation of euglycemia is the most effective means of preventing diabetic complications, which is achieved through effective insulin delivery. Recent reports indicate that insulin phenolic preservatives, which are found in all commercial insulin formulations, are cytotoxic, pro-inflammatory and induce secondary fibrosis. Therefore, we hypothesize that these preservatives induce an inflammatory response at the site of insulin infusion leading to diminished glycemic control and adverse pharmacokinetic outcomes. Insulin degradation by inflammatory cell proteases was quantitated following protease treatment in vitro. A modified murine air pouch model was utilized to evaluate the relative inflammatory responses following infusions of saline, insulin preservatives, and insulin, utilizing the adjuvant irritant thioglycolate. Blood glucose levels were monitored in diabetic mice with and without air pouch irritation. A pharmacokinetic analysis evaluated insulin effectiveness for diabetic mice between these two conditions. Inflammatory cells are significantly present in insulin preservative-induced inflammation, which effects diminished blood glucose control by both insulin uptake and degradation. Insulin containing these preservatives resulted in similar degrees of inflammation as observed with the irritant thioglycolate. These studies imply that the preservative agents found in commercial insulin formulations induce an intense localized inflammatory reaction. This inflammatory reaction may be responsible for the premature failure of insulin infusion devices. Future studies directed at reducing this inflammatory reaction may prove to be an important step in extending the lifespan of insulin infusion devices.

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