The Role of Scientific Evidence in Battling COVID-19

COVID-19 is a rapidly evolving situation. Scientists around the world are working to find better ways to detect, treat, and hopefully create a vaccine against COVID-19. Everyday there are news articles out with seemingly contradictory information. Does sunlight kill the virus? Do it survive better in cold climates or warmer areas? Does the  virus last 17 days or just a few hours? Does malaria medicine treat COVID or not? It can be difficult to determine what information is true or how reliable that information may be.

Understanding the scientific method and different types of biomedical evidence can help you better understand what it means when an article says "clinical trials" or "initial results" or "preliminary findings".

Scientific Method

The first step is understanding the scientific method. The scientific method is a broad method of observing the world and scientific phenomenon, asking questions, creating a hypothesis, testing that hypothesis, learning from the results, and most importantly trying again. This creates a feedback loop of information. The more scientists learn, the more questions they can ask, the more theories they can test, and the process starts over again.

Scientific Flowchart, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020

Hierarchy of Evidence 

Scientific evidence can be broken down into tiers or levels designating how much the information has been filtered and reviewed. The levels may vary somewhat field to field, but the underlying principle remains the same. The highest level of evidence includes systematic reviews and meta- analysis, where hundreds, sometimes thousands of research articles are reviewed and compared. This gives a broad overview of what treatments have been used and what their impact is. 

The next level consists of large, well designed cohort studies or randomized control trials. This level looks at large numbers of the population and has well designed methodology to reduce potential biases. Prudent methodology and large study groups typically mean that a study is repeatable and better reflects the general population. For example, clinical trials will start with very few participants and increase in number as the treatment is shown to be safe and effective. Learn more about clinical studies.

The next level down includes, expert opinions, qualitative studies, background information gathering, and expert committees. This level provides essential background information and preliminary information for later studies, but hasn't gone through the same rigor as the other levels of evidence. 

(Hierarchy of Evidence, OHSU Library, 2020) 

This is not to say that one level of evidence is "more important" than another level, but the hierarchy of  the evidence should be considered when evaluating it. Science is continuously learning and improving, and the hierarchy of evidence helps expose potential hypothesis and medical treatments to continuously increasing rigor. 

Reproducibility or Replication 

Another important facet of research is replication studies. The methods sections of scientific papers outline the way experiments are conducted and serve as a guideline for how other scientists can attempt to repeat those studies. Replication is important because flukes happen. Sometimes, life throws curve balls, data becomes skewed, or things just aren't the way they seem. “Replication can increase certainty when findings are reproduced and promote innovation when they are not” (Open Science Collaboration, pg. 943, 2015). Replication is an important step in verifying studies and continuing to learn about scientific phenomena.

Peer Review 

One of the final step of the research process is submitting research articles for publication and undergoing peer review.  An author submits an article and a board of subject experts review and evaluate the research and offer comments for improvement (San Diego State University Library, 2020). There are several types of peer review, but the process is intended to verify the methodology of research, weed out inferior articles, and ensure higher quality science is being published. 

Unpublished research, articles in trade magazines, and white papers, such as conference proceedings, committee reports, or  preprints of research articles, may not have gone through peer review and the editorial process. They may lack that vital step in gaining feedback from peers and making necessary edits. 

Now, the next time you see a news headline citing a new research, you will hopefully have a better understanding of how that research fits into the scientific community as a whole. 

The latest information about COVID-19 can be found through the CDC and the National Institute of Health.

References

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020, January 16). Scientific method. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/science/scientific-method

OHSU Library. (2020, March 23). LibGuides: OHSU Evidence-Based Practice Course for Interprofessional Clinical Teams: Hierarchy of Evidence and Study Design. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://libguides.ohsu.edu/c.php?g=693307&p=4912291

Open Science Foundation. (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science, 349(6251), 943–953. doi: 10.1126/science.aac4716

SDSU Library. (2020). What is Peer Review? Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://library.sdsu.edu/reference/news/what-does-peer-review-mean

Total Eclipse of the Sun - August 21, 2017

On Monday, August 21, parts of the United States will be able to view an uncommon event, a total eclipse of the sun by the moon.  The "path of totality," in which the total eclipse will be visible, is about 70 miles wide, and extends through 14 states from Oregon southeast to South Carolina.

Even if you can’t travel to the path of totality, you *should* be able to see a partial solar eclipse here (weather permitting).  On the Tarleton Stephenville campus, approximately 70% of the sun's surface will be covered by the moon around 1:07 p.m.  The partial eclipse will start about 11:38 a.m. and end about 2:36 p.m.

NASA has lots of great resources - including maps and eye safety tips, as well as the logo at the top of this post - at a special website:  https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

“Corona detail from the 2012 total solar eclipse” / Nicholas Jones / CC BY 2.0

If you miss this eclipse, don't worry - you will have another (and better) chance to see a total solar eclipse in 2024.  On April 8 of that year, most of the Stephenville area *will* be in the path of totality.  You can use this interactive map to find areas on the path:

https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2024Apr08Tgoogle.html  

STEAM in the Archives

Today is Power Up Your Library Day (#poweredlibraries), a day to promote science, technology, arts, and math (STEAM). Working in the archives, you are surrounded by all of these. One of the first duties of archivists is to protect the records we hold. One of the ways we do this is by monitoring the temperature and humidity to ensure there is a stable environment.

Temperature should be between 68°F and 72°F with relative humidity between 40 and 50%. Materials found in archives such as paper, parchment, leather, and wood absorb and give off water has the relative humidity changes. If the humidity and temperature are constantly changing then the materials are continually expanding and contracting. This causes damage to the fibers in the paper. This 30-second video that shows what happens with drastic changes in humidity:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Q0FTVN5hA .

In addition, keeping the relative humidity and temperate in the correct ranges prevents the formation of mold and helps keep pests away. Mold and bugs both like cool damp places.

We use acid free folders and boxes because most modern paper is acidic. The acid in the paper contributes to the deterioration of the paper. We use a special pen to test items to see if they are acidic. We may even use folders buffered with alkaline to help absorb the acid, but not with blueprints, because they are an acidic process and you would end up with blank pieces of paper.

We also use plastic that does not off gas and damage items. Off gassing, is the emission of gas from items that can cause damage to items in archives. This usually comes from “bad plastic” found in some older photo albums. The plastic emits fumes that can damage the photographs themselves. The best way to explain off gassing is, it you have ever noticed a filmy buildup of something on the inside of your car windows and no one smokes in your car, that is off gassing caused by the bad plastic in your car. Finished wood and paint can also cause off gassing.

That is a lot of science and chemistry just dealing with traditional items in the archives. Then there is math, not just counting boxes. When you build an archive or library, you need to consider how much the stuff you are going to put in weighs and build floors that can support the weight. I know of at least one library where the weight of the books was not considered in the design of the library and some of the top floors are empty because of this.

What about the digital collections and electronic files? They have to be preserved just like the paper items. Digitization does help preserve the original object by reducing wear on the object. However, then you have an electronic file that has to be preserved. You need to make sure the file is not corrupted, and that you have the software and hardware to access the file. Sometimes electronic files need to be migrated to different formats so that they can still be accessed, but still look like the original.

Then there is the technology in the collections themselves. Collections can document the history of physics, math, chemistry, video games, art, music, or anything you can think of. By looking at archival collections, you can trace the advancement of various technologies and sciences.

One of my favorite things are maps and the history of cartography. With today’s GPS and satellite technology it made be hard to realize that maps were once made using what we would consider primitive instruments or that navigation would be so difficult. It was not until a clock that could maintain accurate time while at sea on a sailing ship while at sea was invented that sailors could accurately determine their longitude. Early maps of North America often show what today is California as an island. Because of Baja California cartographers thought it was an island. The tip of Florida is often depicted on early maps as a series of small islands because cartographers were unsure about the swamps and marshes. While these maps may not be accurate by today’s standards, they show humanity’s quest for knowledge and the expansion of their horizons.