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Context: Application of ultrasound (US) to evaluate attainment and morphology of glandular tissue provides a new rationale for evaluating onset and progression of female puberty, but currently no hormone references complement this method. Furthermore, previous studies have not explored the predictive value of endocrine profiling to determine female puberty onset.Objective: To integrate US breast staging with hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal hormone references and test the predictive value of an endocrine profile to determine thelarche.Design Setting and Participants: Cross-sectional sample of 601 healthy Norwegian girls, ages 6 to 16 years.Main Outcome Measures: Clinical and ultrasound breast evaluations were performed for all included girls. Blood samples were analyzed by immunoassay and ultrasensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to quantify estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) from the subpicomolar range.Results: References for E2, E1, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and sex hormone-binding globulin were constructed in relation to chronological age, Tanner stages, and US breast stages. An endocrine profile index score derived from principal component analysis of these analytes was a better marker of puberty onset than age or any individual hormone, with receiver-operating characteristic area under the curve 0.91 (P < 0.001). Ultrasound detection of nonpalpable glandular tissue in 14 out of 264 (5.3%) girls with clinically prepubertal presentation was associated with significantly higher median serum levels of E2 (12.5 vs 4.9 pmol/L; P < 0.05) and a distinct endocrine profile (arbitrary units; P < 0.001).Conclusions: We provide the first hormone references for use with US breast staging and demonstrate the application of endocrine profiling to improve detection of female puberty onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to document first-year undergraduate students' information literacy (IL) skills at a typical university college in Norway. This research is the first of its kind in Norway as previous studies on new students have focused mainly on the literature search. Prior to library instruction a selection of these students completed a survey with questions on the critical evaluation of sources, on plagiarism and on citing sources. Survey questions were designed to reflect the content of the library course in IL. Although most students were confident that they could avoid plagiarism when writing, many had large gaps in their knowledge, and lacked essential skills. Results also show that new students are better at evaluating sources than they are at citing them. Ethical aspects of plagiarism are discussed and comparisons drawn between students coming directly from upper secondary school and those who have some previous higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]