Chin-up strength tests: does stature matter?

AIM: Many organizations place high value on employee physical fitness and use standardized physical fitness tests (PFT) to quantify it. The chin-up strength test is an example of such a test. Participants' anecdotal reports raise some concern that the latter is inherently biased against tall individuals. A demonstration that tall individuals are less likely than short individuals to achieve maximum score on a chin-up strength test, and modified scoring tables that equalize this likelihood across the stature range are sought. METHODS: A statistical summary of 85 chin-up test outcomes is analyzed for likelihood of maximum scores as a function of stature. Scoring tables modified by reducing the number of chin-ups required for maximum score in a ratio inverse to a fixed power of the stature ratios are introduced. RESULTS: Statistical analysis shows that short individuals are more likely to achieve maximum chin-up test scores (P<0.05). Stature adjusted scoring tables are shown to neutralize this trend. CONCLUSION: Current scoring standards for chin-up strength tests favor short statures. Bias-free chin-up strength tests can be achieved by using stature-adjusted scoring tables. Similar bias problems may exist for other strength tests.

A trial of three commercial document delivery suppliers with strong holdings in biomedicine.

The University of Vermont's Medical Library evaluated the services of three commercial document delivery suppliers with significant holdings in biomedicine. The purpose of the trial was to determine whether journal articles could be procured in less time than routine interlibrary loan without greatly increasing costs. Each supplier offered a quick delivery method employing modern technology at a standard fee. The need to pay copyright royalties at times and a desire to test the possibility of substituting "access" for "collection" also prompted the trial. Results reported include: mean and median delivery times, percentages of requested titles held, and average price per transaction, including copyright fee. The Medical Library continues to use commercial services to augment interlibrary loan.

A comparison of journal coverage in Psychological Abstracts and the primary health sciences indexes: implications for cooperative serials acquisition and retention.

An overlap study was performed to identify important psychology journals that are also of interest to biomedical scientists and health care practitioners. The journal lists of Index Medicus, Hospital Literature Index, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and International Nursing Index were compared with the journal list of Psychological Abstracts. A total of 357 Psychological Abstracts titles were also in one or more of the health sciences indexes. A core list of forty-five titles covered by all of the indexes is presented in the Appendix. Results of the study are discussed vis-à-vis cooperative serials acquisition and retention efforts.

Cooperation strengthens small hospital libraries in a rural area of New England: a five-year experience.

Before 1970, library facilities and services at the small hospitals in rural Vermont were essentially nonexistent. Similar findings were later encountered along the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and in a small area of upstate New York. The Hospital Library Development Services program was established at the University of Vermont's Dana Medical Library to improve these conditions. Financial assistance was received from the National Library of Medicine, and by the end of 1974, thirty-three hospitals had staffed libraries. Earlier that year it has been decided to begin emphasing cooperation among the developing libraries, including the production of union lists and regular meetings of staff members from geographically proximate hospital libaries to plan and implement various activities. An additional one-year award from NLM was received in 1975. Results achieved during and after the period of grant support are reported. Cooperation among hospital libraries is seen as a feasible and beneficial undertaking provided that the participating libraries are internally supported and developing.