What’s New at NLM, NN/LM and Their Partners - February 2006
NLM
1. NLM has announced another enhancement to MedlinePlus: over 100 herbal and supplement monographs in English and Spanish from Natural Standard. Natural Standard is an evidence-based, peer-reviewed collection of information on alternative treatments. Each monograph includes a table of uses of the supplement based on scientific evidence. The herbal or supplement receives a grade ranging from A (strong scientific evidence for this use) to F (strong scientific evidence against this use) for diseases or conditions it treats. In addition, each monograph provides information on dosing, safety, interactions, and selected references. Many monographs also contain illustrations.
Find natural standard monographs by choosing ‘Drugs & Supplements’ from the MedlinePlus home page. An A-Z list of herbal and supplement links will appear below the alphabetical index to MedlinePlus’s drug information. Search results for natural standard pages will have the label (supplement) following the name of the monograph.
2. Plan de Medicare para medicamentos recetados, aka “Medicare Prescription Drug Plan” has been added to MedlinePlus.gov.
3. Genetics Home Reference saw four additions in the last days of December, 2005:
- amelogenesis imperfecta
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=amelogenesisimperfecta - glutaric acidemia type II
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=glutaricacidemiatypeii - oculocutaneous albinism,
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=amelogenesisimperfecta - Costello syndrome,
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=constellosyndrome
4. WebWISER makes WISER available on the Internet
The National Library of Medicine announced that WISER, the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders, is available on the Web. This new version, WebWISER, joins the existing PDA and desktop (PC) applications. WISER was developed by the Library’s Division of Specialized Information Services.
Explore WebWISER; http://webwiser.nlm.nih.gov/getHomeData.do. WebWISER provides the WISER functionality via the Internet, without downloading software or data to the desktop. It has a consistent look and feel of the WISER for
Windows desktops/laptops and PDAs. WebWISER supports web browsers for both PCs and PDAs, including BlackBerry.
WISER (http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov) is an application designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. It provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including chemical identification support, physical characteristics, human health data, and containment and suppression information.
5. PubMed® Online Training at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmed.html was updated on December 22, 2005.
6. NIH’s Eye Institute adds videos to NIHSeniorHealth.gov, http://nihseniorhealth.gov/videolist.html”
7. NLM has launched a new Skill Kit, Retrieving Citations from a Journal Issue in PubMed that provides search hints, reviews system features, and covers data and indexing issues for NLM databases. It was developed in response to the work of MLA’s Expert Searching Task Force. The goal is to help new searchers learn more about powerful features as well as tips and hints, while reminding more experienced searchers about system capabilities they may not have used in a while.
8. A new version of NLM’s OPAC was released on January 15, 2006. For questions about LocatorPlus, please see the Help and FAQs at http://locatorplus.gov/help.html
9. Visit PubMed Informer, a new online tracking tool that monitors keyword searches for MEDLINE/PubMed. It informs users through several channels:
- Scheduled Email Alerts
- SMS Alerts to mobile phones
- AvantGo Channel downloads for PDAs
- RSS Feeds for readers and browsers
Other features of the PubMed Informer include Search Histories and Archived Articles for each search. Try it out: http://pmi.nlm.nih.gov/
10. Environmental Health Concerns on the Farm is the newest neighborhood for Tox Town, at http://www.toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/ Here, visitors explore a farm to learn about environmental health issues related to agricultural waste, drinking water quality, air pollution, pests, and farm animals. Farms share many of the same environmental health concerns found anywhere in the US, but they also have unique concerns and issues, such as exposure to hazardous agricultural chemicals and toxic gases from animal waste.
11. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has initiated a major revision to the format of prescription drug information, commonly called the package insert, to give healthcare professionals clear and concise prescribing information. The newly designed package insert will provide the most up-to-date information in an easy-to-read format that draws physician and patient attention to the most important pieces of drug information. The new format will also make prescription information more accessible for use with electronic prescribing tools and other electronic information resources. As e-prescription information is updated it will be used to provide medication information for DailyMed — a new interagency online health information clearinghouse that will provide the most up-to-date medication information free to all. This information can be accessed through the National Library of Medicine at http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/ In the future, this new information will also be provided through a website called facts@fda, a comprehensive Internet resource designed to give one-stop access for information about all FDA-regulated products.
NN/LM
1. A new tri-fold search brochure for PubMed’s My NCBI feature has been developed and is now available at: http://nnlm.gov/nnlm/online/pubmed/myncbitri.pdf
2. Funded by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, NN/LM under Contract No. N01-LM-3513, Urban Health Partners’ spotlight on Arabic language health materials may fill a void you are experiencing in locating the information in Arabic. It was developed by Wayne State University’s Shiffman Medical Library and Learning Resources Centers. http://www.lib.wayne.edu/shiffman/urbanhealth/index.html
Partners
1. U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new dietary guidelines highlight variety (eat foods from all food groups), proportionality (eat more whole grains, fruits, veggies, and no- or low-fat dairy products, and fewer saturated or trans fats, sugars, cholesterol, salt, and alcohol), and increased activity. For DHHS’s new book on every day healthy eating and physical activity for life, A Healthier You see: http://www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines/index.html
Later in 2005, the USDA revised its food pyramid, a symbol designed to make the guidelines more understandable. The new “MyPyramid” (found online at http://www.mypyramid.gov/) produces a customized food guide plan based on gender, age, and activity level.
2. The American Society on Aging (ASA) and the CDC have released Food for Life, the newest training module in the Live Well, Live Long program, to help professionals teach older adults to eat more healthfully.’ Live Well, Live Long’ provides education and resources to professionals in the field of aging to help them improve health promotion and disease prevention efforts aimed at older adults. Current and past issues of this newsletter are available on the ‘Live Well, Live Long ‘ website at http://www.asaging.org/cdc/HealthWord.cfm
3. Checklist to Help Businesses Prepare for a Pandemic http://www.dhhs.gov/news/press/2005pres/20051207a.html
The new checklist identifies specific activities that companies can do now to prepare for a pandemic and will also be helpful in other types of emergencies. Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the checklist suggests companies plan how they would forecast employee absences during a pandemic; disseminate information to employees; establish flexible work sites; and establish policies for employees who have been exposed, are suspected to be ill or become ill at the worksite.
4. Public Health Assissments & Consultations from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/ ATSDR’s public health assessments are being converted to Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML) format to make them available to the public over the Internet. Health assessments from October 1994 to present are now available. The public health assessments are organized according to the ATSDR’s geographic
regions where they originated.
5. The Agency for Health Research and Quality has released its 2005 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2006/nhqrdrpr.htm
The reports detail how the quality of health care for Americans has continued to improve at a modest pace, and health care disparities are narrowing overall for many minority Americans. But for Hispanics, disparities have widened in
both quality of care and access to care.
6. Medical Library Association has released http://www.mlanet.org/pdf/resources/oa_primer_mfunk.pdf
Mark E. Funk, AHIP, has developed a beginner’s guide to open access. Open Access—A Primer provides a broad overview, including the history, philosophy, ethics, and economics of open access and several national and international initiatives such as the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Bethesda Principles, and DC Principles.
7. FDA’s Health News for Older Adults and Their Caregivers http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/maturityhealthmatters
This online newsletter focuses on FDA approved products that help people live longer, more productive lives. At http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/maturityhealthmatters/issue1.pdf See page 9 for an elder health crossword puzzle.
