Take a look at Toxie the Cat’s Halloween costume at ToxMystery.

The 2008 MeSH Browser is now available from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2008/MBrowser.html. The 2008 MeSH is also available for download in XML and ASCII formats. The default year in the MeSH Browser http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html remains 2007 MeSH for now, but the page has a link to the 2008 MeSH. In November or December, the default year will change to 2008 MeSH.

For more information on MeSH: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html

The Specialized Information Services (SIS) division of the National Library of Medicine has released a new resource focused on the environmental effects of the California wildfires: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/californiafires.html

The web page includes information on the health effects from fires and exposure to smoke, air quality, environmental cleanup and recovery, animals in disasters and resources in Spanish. Searches of NLM databases, such as MedlinePlus, PubMed, TOXLINE and Tox Town are included for additional information.

USDA announced the launch of a new MyPyramid web site designed specifically for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. The new interactive guidance, found at MyPyramid.gov, provides unique, individualized nutrition guidance to meet the needs of expectant and new moms.
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The National Library of Medicine has released a new resource focused on dietary supplements. The Dietary Supplements Labels Database http://dietarysupplements.nlm.nih.gov includes information from the labels of over 2,000 brands of dietary supplements in the marketplace, including vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, and other specialty supplements.

The database is designed to help both the general public and health care providers find information about ingredients in brand-name products, including name, form, active and inactive ingredients, amount of active ingredient/unit, manufacturer/distributor information, suggested dose, label claims, warnings, percentage of daily value, and further label information.

Links to other NLM resources, such as MedlinePlus and PubMed, are provided for additional health information. In addition, links to related Fact Sheets from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM ), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are also available.

The WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders) system is now supported on Windows Mobile Smartphones, which consist of Windows Mobile devices that do not have a touch screen. The new WISER for Smartphone release is functionally equivalent to the Pocket PC version of WISER, and can be downloaded from http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/.

WISER is a system designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. WISER provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression advice. The system is available as a stand alone application on Windows Mobile devices, Palm OS PDAs, and Windows PCs. A web version of WISER can be accessed from the WISER homepage.

The Medical Library Association (MLA) in cooperation with the American Hospital Association (AHA) Society for Health Care Advocacy (SHCA) has distributed a Web-based Health Information Literacy Survey to hospital administrators and health care providers throughout the country. The survey will help ascertain administrators’ and health care providers’ awareness and understanding of health information literacy, its value in support of patient care, and the role that librarians and libraries can play in promoting health information literacy.

The survey was developed in collaboration with the National Library of Medicine, TAP Consulting, an outside research firm, and MLA’s Health Information Literacy Project Coordinator, Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi.

Hospital administrators and health care providers are encouraged to complete the survey at http://www.assessimpact.com/MLA/mla.cfm

The overall goal of the MLA research project is to increase awareness of health care providers’ knowledge of health information literacy issues as well as the NLM tools and resources for increasing health literacy levels that are available to them and their patients. For an overview of the full project, visit http://www.mlanet.org/resources/healthlit/hil_project_overview.html
A non-active copy of the survey is available for your review at: http://www.zhost.com/mla/adminLong1.html

If you have questions or need further information, please contact Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi at sabrina_kurtz-rossi@comcast.net

Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., Director of the National Library of Medicine has issued the following announcement:

I am pleased to announce that effective Sunday, October 14, 2007, Steven Phillips, M.D., will become the Associate Director for Specialized Information Services (SIS). As you well know, Dr. Phillips is former NLM Deputy Director for Research and Education and also former Acting Associate Director for SIS. Dr. Phillips was previously a member of the NLM Board of Regents, and he served as the Chair in 1997. Over the past eight months, Dr. Phillips has served as a consultant to NLM, providing expertise in support of NLM’s initial efforts to define the requirements for the development of a Disaster Information Management Research Center, a high priority initiative recommended in the NLM Long Range Plan for 2006-2016. Dr. Phillips’ expertise and experience in medical research, clinical practice, organization leadership, and disaster management combined with his direct experience with the NLM provides a unique combination of talent for leading and managing an important Division of NLM. Dr. Phillips will be working collaboratively with the NLM senior leadership team, NIH, other HHS and government agencies, academia and industry to develop the NLM disaster health information and research agenda as well as leading the Division of Specialized Information Services. Dr. Phillips will also be the Chair of the NLM Disaster Information Management Coordinating Committee. Please join me in welcoming him back to the NLM senior leadership team.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Martha Szczur for her outstanding service as the Acting Associate Director for SIS during this interim period. Ms. Szczur performed exceptionally well, providing the high quality leadership, management, and continuity required during this time of transition.

Anne and Kirk Douglas grace the cover of the most recent issue of NIH MedlinePlus Magazine, which highlights prevention, diagnosis,and treatment of one of the leading killers in America — stroke.

Click here to read the Spring 2007 issue of the latest magazine online or for a free subscription: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine.html

If you are coming to SCC/MLA this year, please stop by the NN/LM SCR booth and watch our demos and presentations.  Our booth number is 9.

9:30 am – Customize Your MyNCBI Tools
10:00 am – What’s New in Consumer Health?
10:30 am – What’s New in Spanish?
2:00 pm – REMM: Radiation Event Medical Management
2:30 pm – DOCLINE Update
3:00 pm – Save Time and Money Billing in DOCLINE with EFTS

If you miss a demo or presentation, but would like to know more about any of these products or services, come by our booth and ask us about them. We will be happy to answer your questions.