The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Outreach and Special Populations Branch has funded three innovative outreach projects in information dissemination for family and women’s health by public libraries and information centers. The NLM recognizes public libraries as strategic partners in increasing the awareness and utilization of NLM and National Institutes of Health (NIH) resources, and meeting NLM long range goals of health literacy, informing citizens, and reducing health disparities. All projects have a component on family health, and also target women as the main information gatherer and health decision influencer in the family.

Three libraries were funded, including one in the Pacific Southwest Region:

• Forsyth County Public Library, Winston-Salem, NC
• Petersburg Public Library system, Petersburg, VA
• Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ

The Pima County Public Library’s Heath Initiative Project aims to build capacity for women’s health literacy awareness, including self-health, family health, health care decision making, being the family health care giver; and resources, including those from the National Library of Medicine, for healthy living. The main objective is to support the library’s health literacy initiative and Health Information Literacy team in developing a toolkit that includes sustainable programming, partnerships, and resources for library community engagement.

Congratulations to all the awardees!

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Value Set Authority Center (VSAC), in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), has published the annual update for the 2014 Eligible Hospital Clinical Quality Measure (CQM) Value Sets. The update includes revised value sets to address deleted and remapped codes in the latest terminology versions, as well as new codes for addressing CQM logic corrections and clarifications. The NLM update of the VSAC coincides with the CMS posting of the official updated 2014 Eligible Hospital CQMs.

The value sets provide lists of the numerical values and individual names from standard vocabularies used to define the clinical concepts (e.g. diabetes, clinical visit) used in the CQMs. The content of the VSAC will gradually expand to incorporate value sets for other use cases, as well as for new measures and updates to existing measures. The VSAC offers a Downloadable Resource Table (DRT), accessible from the “Download” tab on the VSAC Web page, that provides prepackaged downloads for the most recently updated and released 2014 CQM Value Sets, as well as to previously released versions. Access to the Value Set Authority Center requires a free Unified Medical Language System® Metathesaurus License. NLM also provides the Data Element Catalog that identifies data element names (value set names) required for capture in Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology, certified under the 2014 Edition of the ONC Standards and Certification Criteria.

The following resources are available to help health care providers and vendors navigate the 2014 CQMs:

• NLM: Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) Provides downloadable access to all official versions of vocabulary value sets contained in the 2014 Clinical Quality Measures.
• AHRQ: United States Healthcare Knowledge Database (USHIK) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s website with 2014 eCQMs and other health information technology resources. This site provides a number of formats for viewing, downloading, and comparing versions of eCQMs and their value sets.
• CMS: Clinical Quality eMeasure Logic and Implementation Guidance v1.3 Guidance for understanding and using the electronically specified Eligible Professional (EP) and Eligible Hospital (EH) Clinical Quality Measures.
• ONC: Clinical Quality Measure Feedback System ONC encourages the EHR technology developer and user communities to provide feedback regarding the implementation, structure, intent, and data elements pertaining to CQMs.
• Questions? Contact NLM Value Set Authority Center Help.

The National Library of Medicine’s WISER for iOS 3.1, a universal app for Apple iOS devices, is now available. It can be downloaded and installed directly from the Apple App Store. Here’s a look at what’s new in this release:

• WISER now fully integrates content from the Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management (CHEMM) website. This integration includes:
  • New hospital provider and preparedness planner profiles
  • Acute care guidelines for 6 known mass casualty agents/agent classes
  • The addition of a wealth of CHEMM reference material
  • The new CHEMM Intelligent Syndrome Tool (CHEMM-IST), a help identify tool designed to diagnose the type of chemical exposure after a mass casualty incident
• Emergency Response Guidebook data is now updated to the ERG 2012; WISER for the iPhone includes a custom ERG 2012 tool

In addition, look for these exciting developments in the coming months:

• WISER for Android 1.1, which includes the same CHEMM integration and ERG 2012 updates detailed above
• Updates to the Windows and WebWISER platforms to include CHEMM integration, ERG 2012 data, and more
• WISER for Android 3.1, which adds Help Identify Chemical and protective distance mapping to this popular platform

WISER is a system designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. It provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances; including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression advice.

Dr. C. Everett Koop died on February 25, 2013, peacefully at his home in Hanover, NH. He was 96. After a 35-year career as an internationally acclaimed pediatric surgeon, during the 1980s Dr. Koop turned a federal office with a minimal budget and staff, the office of the U.S. Surgeon General, into the most authoritative platform from which to educate the nation on matters of health promotion, disease prevention, and emerging health threats, including smoking, domestic violence, disability rights, and, most urgently, AIDS.  Dr. Koop helped the nation face this most fearsome emerging infectious disease. On this and other issues he often surprised supporters and critics alike.  “I had the privilege of working with Dr. Koop, and seeing firsthand his commitment to public health, when as Surgeon General he served on the National Library of Medicine Board of Regents,” said NLM Director Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg. “It is especially fitting that his papers are part of the Library’s online collection, Profiles in Science, given that he was such a strong advocate of health information for the public and the use of the Internet for disseminating it.”

Through NLM’s Profiles in Science Web site, which is dedicated to the lives and works of 20th-century leaders in science, medicine, and public health, visitors may view a selection of the C. Everett Koop Papers, including correspondence, speeches, lecture notes, published articles and editorials, photographs, and audiovisual recordings, illustrating Dr. Koop’s tenure as U.S. Surgeon General, from 1981 to 1989.  Visitors to the site can view, for example, a transcript of Dr. Koop’s press conference announcing the release of his seminal report on AIDS in October 1986, as well as photographs from his career as a pediatric surgeon. Profiles in Science also places Dr. Koop’s accomplishments as Surgeon General in the context of the medical advances, political debates, and cultural developments of the 1980s.  As a special feature of this site, Dr. Koop provided introductions to many of his speeches in which he describes their context, setting, and impact.  The Reports of the Surgeon General, including those authored by Dr. Koop, are also available online through NLM.

Individuals interested in conducting research in the C. Everett Koop Papers are invited to consult the finding aid to the collection and/or contact the National Library of Medicine. In addition, Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Health, has issued a statement on the passing of Dr. Koop.

The latest issue of NIH MedlinePlus Salud is now available! NIH MedlinePlus Salud is the free, trusted consumer guide to the vast array of authoritative online health and medical information at MedlinePlus en español. The National Institutes of Health, the Friends of the National Library of Medicine, and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health publish NIH MedlinePlus Salud to provide Hispanic Americans with a gold standard of reliable, up-to-date health information in a user-friendly format. In this issue you will find information you can use to keep you and your family healthy, on topics including:

• Preventing and Managing Diabetes Complications (Prevenga y maneje las complicaciones de la diabetes)
  • What You Can Do to Help Yourself
  • Tailoring Diabetes Treatment to the Patient
• Healthy Eating (Una alimentación saludable)
  • Chef Lorena Garcia: Learn a Healthier Way to Eat
  • An Easy and Healthy Recipe from Chef Lorena Garcia
• Getting Started the Go4Life Way (Comenzar de la manera Go4Life)
  • The Go4Life Campaign
  • Exercising for Endurance
  • Exercising for Strength
  • Exercising for Balance
  • Exercising for Flexibility
• Living with Asthma (Vivir con asma)
  • What Causes Asthma?
  • Asthma: Diagnosis
  • Asthma: Treatment and Control
  • NIH-Sponsored Research

Elizabeth Blackwell (1700-1758) was the daughter of a successful Scottish merchant and one of the first women to establish herself as a botanical illustrator. Now available from the National Library of Medicine is a “Turning the Pages” virtual version of Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal, a book published in London in parts between 1737 and 1739. Today, this book is widely recognized by scholars and the public alike for its colorful and detailed illustrations of hundreds of medicinal plants. Discover selections from A Curious Herbal online, via iPad App, and in kiosks onsite at the NLM.

Based on the NLM’s copy of A Curious Herbal, which is part of the Library’s large and important collection of rare herbals and other books on plants and natural history, this Turning the Pages project includes 38 curated images from the over 500 plates in the book. Readers will learn about Blackwell’s medicinal uses for plants, such as the white lily which she thought to be “good for all pains of the joints and contracted nerves,” and the grape vine which “strengthens the stomach, helps digestion, comforts ye bowels, and is a great preservative against the plague.”

Blackwell originally conceived of A Curious Herbal to describe and illustrate medicinal plants from the New World because her husband, Alexander, had been sent to debtors’ prison in London, and they had an urgent need to raise funds.  Blackwell selected and studied plant specimens at the Chelsea Physick Garden and drew the plants, while her husband wrote much of the text using his medical training. Launched at the NLM in 2001, Turning the Pages is part of an ongoing collaboration between research engineers at the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications and curators and historians at the NLM’s History of Medicine Division, to help make the NLM’s rare and unique history of medicine collections widely available to the public.

In early March, 2013, NLM will be inviting DOCLINE libraries to participate in a survey on interlibrary loan practices and needs of the health science libraries in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) and Canada. The survey has 30 questions, with an estimated completion time of about 12 minutes. This is your opportunity to help shape resource sharing programs of the future!

NLM initiated this survey to investigate the reasons for the declining use of DOCLINE and current practices of libraries regarding resource sharing. The number of ILL requests entered into DOCLINE has decreased 46% since 2002, while Loansome Doc requests declined 68% in that same period. Your response to this survey is vitally important, and will help NLM to understand the resource sharing needs of librarians in the NN/LM and Canada, and how best to meet those needs now and in the future! The invitation email will be sent via SurveyMonkey to the address of each library’s ILL contact reported in their DOCLINE institution record. If the listed ILL contact has previously opted out of receiving emails from SurveyMonkey, please contact DOCLINE to receive a link to the survey.

On February 28, and March 1, 2013, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will celebrate the sixth annual Rare Disease Day with a 2-day-long celebration and recognition of the various rare diseases research activities supported by the NIH Office of Rare Diseases Research, the NIH Clinical Center, other NIH Institutes and Centers; the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Orphan Product Development; other Federal Government agencies; the National Organization for Rare Disorders; and the Genetic Alliance.

Rare Disease Day was established to raise awareness with the public about rare diseases, the challenges encountered by those affected, the importance of research to develop diagnostics and treatments, and the impact of these diseases on patients’ lives. There are about 7000 rare diseases identified in the United States. About 80 percent of rare diseases are genetic in origin and it is estimated that about half of all rare diseases affect children. Rare diseases can be chronic, progressive, debilitating, disabling, severe and life-threatening. Information is often scarce and research is usually insufficient. People affected face challenges such as delays in obtaining a diagnosis, misdiagnosis, psychological burden, and lack of support services for the patient and family. The goals remain for rare disease patients to obtain the highest attainable standard of health, and to be provided the resources required to overcome common obstacles in their lives.

Rare Disease Day at NIH (RDD@NIH) will be held in the Natcher Auditorium (Building 45) from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 28, and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 1. Attendance is free and open to the public. The event will also be available via live and archived videocast on February 28 and March 1.

For more information about Rare Disease Day, please visit the event’s website. For more information about rare diseases, please visit the NIH Office of Rare Diseases Research and Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD) websites.

The National Library of Medicine Division of Extramural Programs has announced the 2013 NLM Informatics Lecture series showcasing NLM-funded research in biomedical informatics. The program kicks off March 6 when Chunhua Weng, PhD, presents “Bridging the Semantic Gap Between Research Eligibility Criteria and Clinical Data: Methods and Issues.” Dr. Weng is the Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University. Her research centers on developing human-computer collaborative approaches to help clinical researchers make the best use of health information technology. She currently is focusing on problems that include interactive query formulation to assist clinical researchers in interrogating large clinical databases.

On June 5, Graciela Gonzalez, PhD, of Arizona State University, will present “Mining Social Network Postings for Mentions of Potential Adverse Drug Reactions.” The final 2013 lecture, November 13, will be presented by Timothy Cardozo, MD, PhD, of the New York University School of Medicine. He will discuss “A Chemical Biology Network for Personalized Medicine.” The lectures will be held 2-3pm (Eastern) in Balcony A of the Natcher Building (Building 45) on the NIH campus. All three talks will be archived at http://videocast.nih.gov/.

In April 2012, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) published a remarkably illustrated book edited by Michael Sappol, Hidden Treasure, which features rare, beautiful, idiosyncratic, and surprising works in the collection of the world’s largest medical library. NLM selected extraordinary pieces largely unseen by the public from more than 17 million items dating from the eleventh century to the present. Each photograph of an object is accompanied by a brief, but lively, explanatory essay.

Among the treasures featured are charming hand-painted glass “magic lantern slides,” which doctors used to entertain and help cure inmates at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for the Insane (in the 1800s in Washington, D.C.), to surreal views of mechanically sliced cadavers in the photographic anatomical atlas of France’s notorious surgeon Eugène-Louis Doyen. Overall, the book encompasses a staggering variety of worldwide objects from seven centuries.

Download a free e-copy of the book and celebrate the richness of NLM’s collections! Print copies are also on sale at amazon.com and other outlets.