The National Library of Medicine is encouraging the use of the Advanced Search feature in PubMed to search for specific citations.  The search is similar to the Single Citation Matcher and searches for a particular citation using the Author, Journal, Publication Data, Title, Volume, Index, and Pagination fields.

For more information, see: Nahin A. PubMed® Advanced Search Evolves. NLM Tech Bull. 2008 Nov-Dec (365):e6.

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.

The Radiation Event Medical Management System (REMM) can now be downloaded to mobile devices (Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm) with selected key files from the full online version.

REMM provides:

• Guidance for health care providers, primarily physicians, about clinical diagnosis and treatment during mass casualty radiological/nuclear (rad/nuc) events.
• Just-in-time, evidence-based, usable information with sufficient background and context to make complex issues understandable to those without formal radiation medicine expertise.
• Web-based information that is also downloadable in advance, so that it would be available during an event if the internet is not accessible.

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.

Join a demonstration of the Valuing Library Services and Cost Benefit/Return On Investment Calculators on Monday, December 8, 2008 at 2pm Eastern Time, 1pm Central. Barb Jones and Betsy Kelly from the MidContinental Region, NN/LM will reprise their MLA presentation on these tools to enable health science librarians to determine the return on investment and cost benefit of their libraries and services. Come with some numbers to discuss how you can use the online calculators to show the value your library brings to your institution.

To participate, come to this url: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/libraryvalue/

This demonstration will be held via Adobe Connect. If you have not used Adobe Connect before, feel free to log into the site in advance. The system might want to install an Adobe Connect plugin, and if it does, you should allow it. When the meeting begins, the system will normally ask you for your phone number and then call it so that you can hear the audio and participate in the discussion. If the system does not call your phone, join us using this toll-free number: 1-866-548-4716, Participant Code: 243436.

For an advance peek at these great calculator tools, go to http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/calculator.html and http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/roi.html and see how you might be able to express your value in monetary terms!

This session is hosted by the NN/LM Outreach Evaluation Resource Center. If you have any questions, contact Susan Barnes at sjbarnes@u.washington.edu or Cindy Olney at olneyc@coevalmail.com

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 National Library of Medicine (NLM) has a new online tutorial, Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Basics, now available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/online%20learning/index.htm.

The course offers an online introduction to the UMLS and should take users approximately two hours to complete. It is designed for novice UMLS users who have some knowledge of controlled vocabularies and related topics.  It covers some of the material presented in the UMLS Basics one day course taught at the NLM.

To register for the eight hour instructor lead course, go to: http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/register.html.

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 National Library of Medicine (NLM) is accepting applications for its Associate Fellowship program, a one-year training program for recent MLS graduates and librarians early in their career.

In the first half of the year, a formal curriculum offers exposure to library operations, research and development, intramural and extramural research, development and lifecycle of NLM’s web-based products and services and the extensive outreach and education program reaching consumers, special populations, health professionals and librarians. In the second half of the year, Associate Fellows have the opportunity to choose projects based on real-world problems proposed by library divisions and work with librarians and library staff over a six-seven month period. Successful projects have led to peer-review publications and to services that have become a regular part of library operations. (more…)

October is National Medical Librarians Month. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is highlighting five NN/LM SCR funded outreach projects on the NLM National Medical Librarians Month 2008 web page.

• Informing the Health and Future of K-12 Students (Institution: University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center Library, San Antonio TX)
• The Next Step: Finding Cancer Information with MedlinePlus (Institution: Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge LA)
• Partners for Children’s Health (Institution: Laredo Public Library, Laredo TX)
• Promotoras and Libraries: Advancing Online Health Information in San Antonio Underserved Communities (Institution: San Antonio Public Library, San Antonio TX)
• Turning Evidence Into Practice: A Pilot Project (Institution: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health Library, Houston TX)

To read descriptions of these projects, go to: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/lo/profiles08/scr.html

To read a list of featured projects by region, see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/lo/profiles08/