The prevalence of male infertility and the availability of new, highly successful therapeutic options make the testing of sperm functional competence mandatory. An objective, outcome-based examination of the validity of the currently available assays was performed based upon the results obtained from 2906 subjects evaluated in 34 prospectively designed, controlled studies. The aim was carried out through a meta-analytical approach that examined the predictive value of four categories of sperm functional assays: computer-aided sperm motion analysis (CASA); induced-acrosome reaction testing; sperm penetration assay (SPA); and sperm-zona pellucida binding assays for IVF outcome. Results demonstrated a high predictive power of the sperm-zona pellucida binding and the induced-acrosome reaction assays for fertilization outcome. On the other hand, the findings indicated a poor clinical value of the SPA as predictor of fertilization and a real need for standardization and further investigation of the potential clinical utility of CASA systems. This analysis points out to limitations of the current tests and the need for standardization of methodologies and provides objective evidence on which clinical management and future research can be based.

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This project was designed to increase the public health nurse's knowledge and use of health science information resources available from the National Library of Medicine's databases through the use of the Grateful Med software program. In 1994, the Tompkins-McCaw Library located on the Medical College of Virginia Campus (MCV) of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) was awarded a Nursing Information Access Grant from the Southeastern/Atlantic Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). This project was a collaboration of the Tompkins McCaw Library, the VCU School of Nursing, and The Virginia Department of Health. Sixty public health nurses received Grateful Med training. Session evaluations were conducted and indicate that although public health nurses received training and had access to health science information resources through Grateful Med, subsequent use of the resources was very limited. Similar to reports on information-seeking behaviors of physicians, public health nurses seek information from colleagues, personal collections, and other resources locally available. Reasons for the project's limited success in changing the health science information seeking and utilization practices of public health nurses are discussed, and potential solutions are proposed.

In June 2000, the Biomedical Library at the University of South Alabama introduced Prospero, an electronic desktop document delivery service. From June 2000 to November 2002, Prospero delivered 28% of interlibrary loan requests and 72% of document delivery requests. In November 2002, the library conducted a user satisfaction survey of the Prospero service. Forty-two surveys were used. Fifteen responses were received from affiliated faculty, staff, and students, who generally expressed satisfaction with the service. Twenty-seven responses were received from unaffiliated users, comprised of medical libraries, individual users, and businesses. Based on the survey results, the library deemed the Prospero service a success. To better support users, the library's Web page was updated to include hardware and software requirements for successful use of the Prospero service, as well as screen shots of the Prospero process.