Update on NLM Consumer Resources

MEDLINEplus, http://medlineplus.gov

2002 saw the introduction of three new features to MEDLINEplus. These include MedMaster drug information from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists; MEDLINEplus en español (with health topics, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, and interactive tutorials); and "Go Local" links on MEDLINEplus health topic pages that link to information about health services in North Carolina. The MEDLINEplus home page was redesigned and a new search engine was introduced in November. See MEDLINEplus Milestones (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/milestones.html) for more information and links to press releases. Some of the topic pages (in addition to frequently requested topics) that have been popular at exhibits over the past year:

• Lists of interactive tutorials grouped by Tests and Diagnostic Procedures, Surgery and Treatment Procedures (see the Interactive Health Tutorials page at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorial.html)
• Links to the Merck Manuals (found on the Databases page at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/databases.html)
• The Warnings, Recalls, and other Drug Information link (found on the Drug Information page)

NLM encourages you to link to MEDLINEplus (http://medlineplus.gov) and to its over 570 health topic pages. When creating a link to MEDLINEplus or to pages on it, NLM asks that you observe the following:

• Do not place any MEDLINEplus pages in a frame.
• Indicate that the page is from MEDLINEplus or the National Library of Medicine.
• If you wish to link to the medical encyclopedia, drug information, or interactive health tutorials, NLM suggests that you link to the 'homepages' of these resources listed below. The homepage URLs are permanent, whereas pages within these resources are updated frequently and their URLs may change.
  • Medical Encyclopedia (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html)
  • Drug Information (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html)
  • Interactive Health Tutorials (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorial.html)

Tox Town: An Interactive Guide to Commonly Encountered Toxic Substances, http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov

Tox Town is a website that provides environmental health information to a general audience. Here you can interactively explore the environment of an ordinary (but imaginary) town.

Tox Town gives information on:

• Everyday locations where you might find toxic chemicals
• Non-technical descriptions of chemicals
• Links to selected, authoritative chemical information on the Internet
• How the environment can impact human health
• Internet resources on environmental health topics

Tox Town uses color, graphics, sounds and animation to add interest to learning about connections between chemicals, the environment, and the public's health.

Tox Town, launched in October 2002, is a project of the Specialized Information Services Division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). NLM invites you to link from your web site to Tox Town at http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov. Send comments or questions on Tox Town to tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov.

And learn about what might be in your neighborhood!  HS

Next Article > >