Do you ever wonder what the odds are that you’ll get the conditions your grandparents had?

The NN/LM SCR is offering the class ABCs of DNA: Unraveling the Mystery of Genetics Information for Consumers at the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, Houston, TX on February 12, 2009.

This class explores basic concepts such as genes and chromosomes and offers an overview of genetic disorders, genetic testing, genetic counseling, and the Human Genome Project. Ethical and legal issues associated with genetic disorders will be covered with regard to privacy, discrimination, and potential legislative impact on medicine and society. A variety of reliable health information resources will be demonstrated. This 4-hour hands-on class is intended for librarians, educators and the general public.

February 12, 2009  –  8:30 am -12:30 pm
Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library
1133 John Freeman Blvd.
Houston, Texas 77030
Street Level Classroom

There is no charge for the class but registration is required.  To register: http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/

This class is part of the Darwin 2009 Houston Celebration sponsored by the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library.

The National Library of Medicine resources PubMed and MedlinePlus can be used to find health literacy information.

To find health literacy information in PubMed:

• Go to PubMed at www.pubmed.gov
• On the left side of the page under PubMed Services click on Special Queries
• Scroll down and under Subjects click on Health Literacy
• Click on MEDLINE/PubMed health literacy search
• To narrow your search, use the Limits tab.  You can limit your search by date, language, etc.

To find health literacy information in MedlinePlus:

• Go to MedlinePlus at http://medlineplus.gov
• Click on Health Topics
• Under Find your topic by first letter click on the letter H
• Scroll down and click on Health Literacy

Another useful resource is BHIC (Bringing Health Information to the Community), an NLM-funded blog with a wealth of health literacy information.

Many people are using the Internet as a diagnostic tool to find information on health conditions, disease symptoms, as well as treatment suggestions.  Microsoft recently published a new study on medical web-searching behavior and how search results from popular Web search engines can affect decision making.

Among other results, the study found that answers retrieved from Internet search engines can often lead users to believe that common symptoms are likely the result of serious illnesses and to increase the anxiety of people who have little or no medical training.

You can access the full article at http://research.microsoft.com/research/pubs/view.aspx?type=Technical%20Report&id=1595

The NN/LM SCR is offering the class ¿No Comprende? Spanish Health Information Resources for English Speaking Librarians on January 7, 2008 at McNeese State University, Frazar Memorial Library, in Lake Charles, LA.  The class will be held from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.  There is no charge for this class.

¿No Comprende? Spanish Health Information Resources for English Speaking Librarians
Do you have a growing Latino population in your community? Do you need to find health information in Spanish fast but don’t know where to look? This 4-hour hands-on class will cover resources for learning basic, library, medical, and Internet Spanish vocabulary. You will also learn to evaluate and identify health websites in Spanish to which you can direct your patrons.  Upon successful completion of this class, each participant will receive 4 hours of continuing education credit awarded by the Medical Library Association.

To register: http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/register.html

If you have any questions, please contact Karen Vargas at 800-338-7657 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX), 713-799-7880, or karen.vargas@exch.library.tmc.edu.

The December issue of NIH News in Health, the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest National Institutes of Health (NIH) research, is now online. In this edition:

Healthy Holiday Gift Ideas: Get Creative, Stay Healthy
We all know how hard it is to stay healthy over the holidays. This year, don’t be part of the problem. Here are some gift ideas to help your family and friends be more, not less, healthy.

Cold Fingers and Toes? It Might Be Raynaud’s
When the temperature drops this winter, it’s normal to feel it most in your fingers, toes, ears and nose. But if your fingers and toes regularly turn bluish or white when the temperature dips even slightly, or if they often feel numb or painful or turn red and tingle when you’re stressed or cold, it may be a sign you have something called Raynaud’s disease.

Health Capsules:
•    Warm Hands, Warm Feelings
•    New Alzheimer’s Book Published
•    Featured Web Site: Herbs at a Glance

Click here to download a PDF version for printing.

Please pass the word on to your colleagues about the NIH News in Health.  A limited number of print copies are available free of charge for display in offices, libraries or clinics.  Just email or call 301-435-7489 for more information.

Schools across the country now have free access to an innovative set of teaching tools designed to increase the understanding of science, health, and diabetes among American Indian and Alaska Native students from kindergarten through the 12th grade. The comprehensive new curriculum, called “Health is Life in Balance,” was launched on November 12, 2008 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

The curriculum, a product of the Diabetes-based Science Education in Tribal Schools (DETS) program, integrates science and Native American traditions to educate students about science, diabetes and its risk factors, and the importance of nutrition and physical activity in maintaining health and balance in life. The project was developed in collaboration with eight tribal colleges and universities and several Native American organizations, with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Indian Health Service (IHS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The rate of diagnosed diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives is two to three times that of non-Hispanic whites. Nearly 17 percent of the total adult population served by the IHS has diagnosed diabetes. After adjusting for population age differences, diabetes rates vary from 6 percent among Alaska Native adults to 29 percent among American Indian adults in southern Arizona. Once seen only in adults, type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in youth, especially in American Indian and other minority populations.

The curriculum units provide accurate, culturally tailored materials and lesson plans for use in more than 1,000 tribal schools on reservations and in public schools that have a sizable number of Native American students. “This curriculum can change perceptions and attitudes about diabetes and empower young people to adopt healthier lifestyles,” said Kelly Acton, M.D., M.P.H, director of the Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention of the IHS, which will oversee distribution to schools.

To order printed copies or CDs of the curriculum free of charge, see the IHS website http://www.ihs.gov/MedicalPrograms/Diabetes/.

Google.org’s Flu Trends (http://www.google.org/flutrends/) tracks when and where questions about flu symptoms are asked all over the country.  They have discovered that a large number of flu-related searches from a particular region may be estimating an outbreak of the flu in that region. In fact, last year Google Flu Trends estimated flu levels one to two weeks earlier than the CDC reported them.

The New York Times: “Google Uses Searches to Track Flu’s Spread”

Google.org: “How does this work?“

A new version of the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Drug Information Portal was released in October. The portal now covers over 16,000 drugs.

http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov

The update includes:

1. Direct searching of drug categories, which are derived from the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH®) Pharmacological Action field http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/mesh/paterms.html

2. Name and category suggestions, to eliminate common spelling errors

3. Phrase parser that assists users in finding drug names within phrases

4. The addition of the MeSH notes, when available, to spell checker results to make selection of a possible answer easier

5. Searches retrieving multiple results now sorted by frequency of citation in PubMed®, from highest to lowest. This tends to show the most commonly used drugs first.

The Drug Information Portal is a free web resource from the NLM that provides an informative, user friendly entry-way to current drug information for over 16,000 drugs. Links to sources span the breadth of NLM, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies. Current information regarding consumer health, clinical trials, AIDS–related drug information, MeSH pharmacological actions, PubMed biomedical literature, and physical properties and structure is easily retrieved by searching on a drug name. A varied selection of focused topics in medicine and drug–related information is also available from displayed subject headings.

The PubMed Special Queries link provides access to a directory of topic-specific PubMed queries, including the following queries related to public health:

Health Literacy - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/health_literacy.html

Health Disparities - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/health_disparities.html

Health Services Research - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/hedges/search.html

Healthy People 2010 - http://phpartners.org/hp/

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched an improved and more accessible version of healthfinder.gov. Healthfinder.gov’s features include links to over 6,000 government and nonprofit health information resources on hundreds of health topics. Information is presented in English and Spanish. The improvements will help users find what they want on those sites. Another new tool offered on the site is myhealthfinder, which provides personalized recommendations for clinical preventive services specific to the user’s age, gender, and pregnancy status.

News Release: http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2008/healthfinderpr.htm