Highlights of the November - December 2002 issue of the NLM Technical Bulletin
HSRR Database Now Available!
The newly released Health Services and Sciences Research Resources (HSRR) database is available on the NLM website at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/hsrr_search. The database was developed by the National Information Center on Health Services Research & Health Care Technology (NICHSR). The HSRR database contains descriptions of research datasets, instruments, indices, and software applications that are employed in health services research, and often used in the social and behavioral sciences to assess data variables and data collection methodologies.
The database is designed to search all tools (datasets, instruments, and software) as a default. In addition, each type of tool may be searched separately or browsed by title or source. Any word or phrase may be searched in over thirty fields. Most records include links to PubMed searches that retrieve citations about the tools.
New Design and Organizational Structure for MEDLINEplus
A new design and organizational structure was introduced with the November 21, 2002, release of MEDLINEplus. The changes resulted from usability testing, customer feedback, and advances in Web design standards. The new features include:
- A three-column home page with links to featured MEDLINEplus content
- New secondary banners and top navigation bar
- New search engine from RecomMind
- "Contact Us" link at the top of every page
Additionally, the seven major MEDLINEplus categories are now available as tabs. Also, search results are grouped into separate folders for Health Topics, Medical Encyclopedia, Drug Information, and News.
Spanish MEDLINEplus has been redesigned similarly to the English site, however; it retains the current three categories in the left column and has no health news at present. Spanish news is expected in 2003. No URLs for either MEDLINEplus version were changed as a result of the redesign.
What's New for 2003 MeSH
A total of 1250 new descriptors were added to MeSH in 2003. The new subheading "ethics" was also added, which is used with techniques and activities for discussion and analysis with respect to human and social values. The publication type "Electronic Journals" was deleted. The 2003 MeSH also includes greatly expanded terminology for plants, crustaceans, and microorganisms associated with notifiable diseases. The A1 tree (body regions) was completely revised, and a new tree, A17 (integumentary system), was created to include descriptors previously in other A categories, such as hair, nails, and sweat glands.
Several changes to age group descriptors were made in 2003. The term "adolescence" was replaced by "adolescent." Also, the "adolescent" and "infant" branches of the tree were removed from the "child" branch, and made "siblings" to "child." In addition, descriptors for population and patient groups were separated from those for age groups.
Daily Updates Resume in MEDLINE
NLM resumed daily updates of newly MeSH-indexed citations on November 26, 2002, including the backlog of citations indexed since October 30 with 2003 MeSH, but not yet added to PubMed. In addition, PubMed began using 2003 terminology in the MeSH translation tables and MeSH Browser on November 26, 2002.
Tox Town Website Launched
Tox Town, produced by NLM's Division of Specialized Information Services, was launched on October 7, 2002. Tox Town provides environmental health information about hazards that may be present in a particular town location, such as a school. Links to selected Internet resources about the various environments are also included. In the first release, Tox Town provides information on eight chemicals and eleven locations in an imaginary small town. Future plans for the site include adding more chemicals and new scenes, such as an urban community and a farming region.
Chemical and environmental information in Tox Town comes primarily from resources available in TOXNET and MEDLINEplus, as well as other authoritative sources. Chemical descriptions for Tox Town were reviewed by NLM toxicology staff. For further information about Tox Town, please contact Cindy Love, SIS Office of Outreach and Special Populations, cindy_love@nlm.nih.gov, or send comments to: tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov.