On March 28, 2007, MedlinePlus will introduce a number of new features to the Health Topic pages. Highlights include:

• Each page will now display a photograph or illustration.
• A brief summary of each disease or condition will also display at the top of the page. Composed by experienced medical writers and reviewed by NLM staff, the summaries are based largely on NIH and other government information. They are written at an easy-to-read level and include links to related topics. As of March 28th, summaries will appear on about half of English pages. All English and Spanish Health Topic pages will include a summary in the near future.
• Synonyms will appear right under the health topic name.
• A new category, labeled Start Here, will link users to overviews and important information for first-time visitors.
• A centrally-located Table of Contents will divide the MedlinePlus categories into six boxes to show users everything on the page at a glance.

A new program launched by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) encourages practitioners to refer their patients to Genetics Home Reference, a free, user-friendly NLM Web site at http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov. Under this program, doctors can request free “Information Rx” pads, which enable them to write “prescriptions,” pointing patients to the Genetics Home Reference site for information about newborn screening and related genetic disorders. Four of the nation’s most respected medical associations—the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Medical Genetics—have teamed with NLM and NICHD on this initiative. The Information Rx pads can be ordered from the following Web site: http://www.informationrx.org.

Genetics Home Reference includes over 500 topics on genetic conditions and related genes. The site also features an illustrated tutorial that explains the basics of genetics and a glossary of genetics terms. The site is regularly updated by scientific staff and reviewed by external experts.

The press release announcing the Genetics Home Reference InformationRx program is available at: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/nov2006/nlm-20a.htm

Online pharmacy

MAR exhibited at National Women’s Heart Day on Friday, February 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. National Women’s Heart Day, organized by Sister-to-Sister, is an annual women’s health fair with free screenings for personal heart risks. We distributed MedlinePlus fliers and pens and demo’ed MedlinePlus for more than 200 visitors.

Many thanks to our volunteers, Colleen Bradley-Sanders, Archivist, NYU Ehrman Medical Library, and Gloria Willson, Dept. Principal Librarian at Public Health Library,NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene!

Pictured above: Arpita Bose, Outreach & Communications Coordinator, and Sue Hunter, Planning & Evaluation Coordinator, NN/LM, Middle Atlantic Region

February is American Heart Month, and the RML is participating in National Woman’s Heart Day! The Sister to Sister Foundation organizes this annual free health fair, which includes free screenings on heart disease risks.

The RML will be exhibiting at National Women’s Heart Day. We will be talking with attendees about MedlinePlus as an information tool for heart health. Volunteers are welcome! If you would like to join us, please contact Arpita Bose (arpita.bose [at] library.med.nyu.edu or 212-263-4176). If you would like to publicize this event at your institution, you can contact Arpita for a PDF of the event flyer.

National Women’s Heart Day–New York will be held Friday, February 16, 7:30 am to 2:30 pm, at Madison Square Garden.

Since 2002 MedlinePlus has offered two sources of drug information for consumers: the United States Pharmacopeia Drug Information Advice for the Patient (USPDI) and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) MedMaster. On February 1, access to USPDI will no longer be provided through MedlinePlus in an effort to avoid duplicating information. ASHP MedMaster and Natural Standard (herb and supplement information), in both English and Spanish, will comprise the Drugs, Supplements, and Herbal Information section of MedlinePlus. In the future, links will be created to the drug label information from the DailyMed web site.

From Ship to Shore…

Tox Town’s New Port Scene Delivers the Goods on Coastal Environmental Health

What do longshoremen, sunbathers, ship crews, and shrimp lovers have in common? Whether they live on the coast, work in a maritime industry or play on the beach, they can find information about the environment and how it might affect their health at Tox Town’s new Port neighborhood. This imaginary port illustrates drinking water and air quality concerns along with wastewater treatment, shellfish safety, work hazards, sun and surf safety, aquaculture and many other topics. The port also highlights possible locations and descriptions of 26 hazardous chemicals.

Tox Town, http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov, uses neighborhood scenes - the Port, City, Town, Farm, and US-Mexico Border region - along with color, graphics, sounds and animation to add interest to learning about connections between chemicals, the environment and the public’s health. Each scene focuses on unique environmental health concerns. There are 16 new locations to explore in the Port: beaches, shipyards, algae blooms, coastal brownfields, fuel tanks and pipelines, shipping centers, cruise ships, marinas, nuclear power plants, shellfishing, fish farms, storms and floods, urban and industrial runoff, septic systems, cesspools, and wastewater treatment facilities.

Tox Town’s target audience is the interested public, plus high school, college and graduate students, and educators (see the link on the home page For teachers). Tox Town also has a growing number of resources en español.

Librarians interested in promoting classroom use of Tox Town and other National Library of Medicine (NLM) resources may find these useful:

Resources for Science Teachers – Classroom Resources from NLM. Introduces NLM web resources useful in Biology, Chemistry, Genetics, Earth Science, and Environmental Science courses. Also includes resources on the history of medicine, information on health careers, and Spanish-language resources.

• 38 PowerPoint slides with script
• Color handout, one page, double sided
• Trifold brochure

Tox Town

• 27 PowerPoint slides with script introducing Tox Town to teachers and students
• Video and transcript for a general audience. This 2-minute video file is 20 megabytes and uses Windows Media Player.

Tox Town® is a project of the Specialized Information Services Division of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Promotional materials and Tox Town images for Web sites and publications are listed at http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/clipart.html. Please send your comments or questions on Tox Town to tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov.

Now you can bulk order copies of the MedlinePlus Magazine! Minimum number of copies is 25 at a cost of $1 per copy. Order now!

A recent online ABC News column urging patients to educate themselves regarding their condition recommends MedlinePlus as one place to start.  Read the article