We are changing the date of Midday in April to shake things up. Actually, the MLA webinar is April 18th, our usual day for the event. Here is the information:

When: Monday, April 23, 2012
1-2PM (Pacific) | 10-11AM (Hawaii) | 1-2PM (Arizona) | 9-10AM (American Samoa) | 6-7AM Tuesday (Guam)
Presentation Title: PubMed Health and MedlinePlus – A Tale of Two Sites
Presenter: Kelli Ham, Consumer Health & Technology Coordinator

Description: PubMed Health is relatively new offering from the National Library of Medicine and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Searching for health topics on a site like Google often brings up a result from PubMed Health, but a result from MedlinePlus may or may not appear. What is the difference between the two sites? This webinar will provide a closer look at PubMed Health and how it compares with MedlinePlus. We will discuss the site’s relevance for medical libraries, health professionals and consumers, and situations when MedlinePlus would be a more appropriate resource.

To register for the session, please go to the Midday at the Oasis registration page. We hope you can join us!

During the month of April, 2012, we are introducing the new webinar training series Navigating the Health Information Maze, developed for community college librarians wishing to hone their skills in medical research, consumer health, mobile technology, and outreach to special populations. One-hour sessions will be conducted every Tuesday in April, 12-1pm PDT, beginning April 3. Instructors include Kay Deeney, Kelli Ham, Stephen Kiyoi, and Lori Tagawa. The sessions will be recorded and made available on the PSR web site for anyone unable to attend. Details about each weekly session, along with a registration link, are available through the webinar web site listed above.

Please share this information widely with any community college librarians who may be interested in attending! Registration is required for participation, and priority will be given to community college librarians located in the Pacific Southwest Region. Stephen Kiyoi will be happy to answer any questions regarding the series.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) have announced the release of a redesigned version of NIHSeniorHealth, the National Institutes of Health consumer health Web site for older adults, initially launched in 2002. The redesign improves usability and modernizes the appearance throughout the site. Changes incorporate user feedback about the site as well as results from usability testing of proposed designs with seniors. The new interface provides easy access from every page to more than 50 Health Topics and 150 videos. There is also a new search feature that allows quick access to health topics, videos, and other senior-related health content. Signing up for NIHSeniorHealth e-mail updates is also available, to find out when a topic is updated or a new topic is released. Another new feature is the capability to bookmark or share content using the new “Share” button. The Health Topics pages are now longer and the content is organized with topic-related subheadings throughout the page. The page organization allows users to navigate between chapters, take topic-related quizzes, find videos on the topic, or explore other health topics. An article in the NLM Technical Bulletin describes further details and includes diagrams of the new interface.

Please explore these recent improvements to NIHSeniorHealth! Feedback is welcomed by using the “Contact Us” link at the top of each page.

The U.S. Census Bureau has just released a 2010 Census brief, The Asian Population: 2010, showing that the Asian population grew faster than any other racial or ethnic group over the last decade, to more than 17 million, more than four times the rate of growth for the U.S. population as a whole. The report noted the population surge for those identifying as Asian, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, of 45.6% from 2000 to 2010, while those who identified as Asian alone grew by 43.3%. The total U.S. population increased by 9.7% from 2000 to 2010. The Asian alone-or-in-combination population grew by at least 30% in all states except Hawaii, which had an 11% increase. Other highlights of the report showed that the states with the highest proportions of the Asian alone-or-in-combination population were in the West and the Northeast. The Asian alone-or-in-combination population represented 57% of the total population in Hawaii. California had the next highest proportion at 15%. For U.S. cities, New York had the largest Asian alone-or-in-combination population with 1.1 million, followed by Los Angeles with 484,000 and San Jose at 327,000. Three other cities — San Francisco, San Diego, and Honolulu — had Asian alone-or-in-combination populations of more than 200,000 people. The ranking was identical for the Asian alone population. The places with a total population of 100,000 or more with the greatest proportion of the Asian alone-or-in-combination population were Honolulu at 68%, and nine California cities; including Daly City (58%), Fremont (55%), Sunnyvale (44%), Irvine (43%), Santa Clara (41%), Garden Grove (39%), Torrance (38%), San Francisco (36%) and San Jose (35%). The rising Asian population was due mainly to immigration arrivals from throughout the Asian Pacific region and Indian subcontinent. Additional information is available from the U.S. Census news release.

NLM has decided to end its support for ToxSeek. For ten years the National Library of Medicine has supported ToxSeek, a research project involving natural language processing and semantic technology. This federated-search engine helped users to search across diverse biomedical and environmental health resources and provided a method for locating information resources on topics related to toxicology and environmental health. Since there are now several comparable alternatives for users needing a federated search, such as Science.gov, NLM will realign the resources to support other mission-critical programs.

ToxSeek will not be available after March 23rd, 2012. Please direct any questions to tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has announced a solicitation for resource grant applications for projects that will bring useful, usable health information to health disparity populations and the health care providers who care for those populations. Access to useful, usable, understandable health information is an important factor during health decisions. Proposed projects should exploit the capabilities of computer and information technology and health sciences libraries to bring health-related information to consumers and their health care providers. Preference will be given to applications that show strong involvement of health science libraries. Because this FOA focuses on providing health information to health disparity populations, institutions with demonstrated commitment to the needs of health disparity communities (including Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and other institutions in rural and socially disadvantaged areas) are encouraged to apply.

Applicants may request up to $100,000 per year in direct costs for 1 – 3 years. This grant program does not cover facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, also called overhead or indirect costs. This one-time RFA has a single application deadline. Only electronic applications are accepted. Letters of intent are due by April 22, 2012, and the application submission deadline is May 22, 2012. Complete details and a link to the electronic application are available from the announcement. The number of awards will be contingent upon NIH appropriations, and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications. NLM intends to fund up to 5 awards, for approximately $500,000.

Version 2.0 for WISER for iPhone/iPod touch is now available for downloading directly from the Apple App Store. The release includes the following two new highly requested features:

• The full implementation of WISER’s Help Identify Chemical capability is now available on the iOS platform, allowing a user to identify a chemical using physical properties of the substance, signs and symptoms of victims of exposure, categorization of the substance, hazard values from NFPA 704 placards, and identification of transportation containers. For the first time, users can now save a help identify search for later recall and freely search the result list using any supported identifier.
• Use WISER’s protective distance mapping feature on your iPhone or iPod touch. Visualize the areas likely to be affected during the first 30 minutes after a substance is spilled or released, on a live map. The Department of Transportation’s Emergency Response Guidebook is the source of WISER’s protective distance data.

Reviews are always appreciated. If you have feedback about the latest WISER enhancements, please consider leaving a comment on the App store!

The latest release of WebWISER has been updated to include protective distance mapping, providing the ability to overlay the protective distance data for a WISER substance on an interactive map.

The following WISER developments are expected in the coming months:

• Universal iOS (iPad) support
• WISER for Android 2.0, which adds Help Identify Chemical and protective distance mapping to this popular platform

The Winter 2012 issue of NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine and March 2012 issue of NIH News in Health are now available online!

NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine is the free, trusted consumer guide to the vast array of authoritative online health and medical information at MedlinePlus.gov. Published four times a year, the magazine showcases the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) latest medical research and healthcare information. In this quarter’s NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine:

• Medicines for Children
• Developing Safe and Effective Medicines for Children
• The Importance of Children in Clinical Trials
• Cokie Roberts Cares about Kids!
• Vision
• Take Steps to Keep Your Sight
• Nutrition and the Aging Eye
• Leading Causes of Blindness
• Understanding Your Vision: The “Imperfect Eye”
• Videos from the National Eye Institute: Eye Diseases
• Detecting and Treating Gout
• Detecting and Treating Gout
• Gout: Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treament
• Gout: Personal Stories
• Gout: History, Research, and Recent NIH–Supported Advances
• True or False: What Do You Know About Gout?
• February Is Women’s Heart Month
• The Heart Truth Campaign Inspires Women’s Heart Health Action

NIH News in Health is the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plays a major role in finding better ways to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent diseases. In this month’s NIH News in Health:

• Halt the Hurt! Dealing with Chronic Pain
• Dry Eyes and Mouth? You May Have Sjögren’s Syndrome
• How Often Should Women Have Bone Tests?
• Mobile App Helps Teens Quit Smoking
• Featured Website: Easy-to-Read Drug Facts

Print subscriptions to both NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine and NIH News in Health are available free of charge.