MEDLINEplusHealth Topics were designed for consumers and are organized alphabetically. For each topic retrieved, a Table of Contents is arranged in easy-to-understand headings.

For most of the topics, MEDLINEplus also includes MEDLINE searches for recent articles prepared by professional searchers at the National Library of Medicine.

How to use:

Go to MEDLINEplus
http://medlineplus.gov/

1. Select Health Topics .
2. If you get in the habit of using the alphabetical topic index you will become familiar with the range of subjects in the database and will be alerted to new subjects as they are added.
3. MEDLINEplus also includes MEDLINE searches prepared by professional searchers at the National Library of Medicine on most of the topics.
   • Click on a letter in the alphabetical list, then click on a topic. In the shaded box below the Contents of this page, you should see "Search MEDLINE for recent articles on [subject]."
   • Click the link to retrieve the MEDLINE search. Click Details to see how the search was constructed. This is a good way to learn how to create your own MEDLINE searches.
   • Limiting the search to review articles is a common strategy in MEDLINE searching.

     The Medical Subject Headings [MeSH] define review articles as:
     published materials which provide an examination of recent or current literature.