http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/default.html

Adapted by Beth Wescott

The National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health is housed at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. It collects the materials and administers the Maternal and Child Health Library and issues the weekly MCH Alerts.

The MCH Alert is an electronic newsletter that provides timely reference to research findings, policy developments, recently released publications, new programs, and initiatives affecting the maternal and child health (MCH) community. The goal is to make MCH news and policy more accessible to health professionals, policymakers, family advocates, community service professionals, MCH/public health faculty and students, families, and the public.

To subscribe to MCH Alert, send an e-mail message to MCHAlert-request@list.ncemch.org with subscribe in the subject line. You do not need to enter any text in the body of your message; just click send. This e-mail message will be sent to MCH Alert, and you will be automatically subscribed. You will receive confirmation that the subscription is being processed. You will receive your first issue of MCH Alert within 1 week after you send the message.

The May issue of NIH News in Health, the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research, is now online at http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/.

In this issue of NIH News in Health you’ll find:

Frightened of Food: Living with Food Allergies
Imagine what life would be like if you had to constantly check out the ingredients in your favorite foods to make sure your life wasn’t in danger after eating even a tiny bit. For some people with severe food allergies, that’s become their way of life.
full story

Of Air and Asthma: Air Pollution’s Effects
A growing number of Americans are sniffling and suffering with allergies and asthma. If you’re 1 of the 23 million Americans who suffer from asthma, you might get some relief by taking steps to reduce indoor allergen levels and modifying your lifestyle to avoid the ill effects of air pollution.
full story

Health Capsules:

• Keeping Off Lost Weight
• Older Corneas Can Make Good Transplants
• Featured Web Site: Gear Up!

Click here to download a PDF version for printing.

NHLBI Health Information Network
hin@mail.nhlbi-nih.info

High blood pressure (HBP) affects more than 65 million-or 1 in 3-American adults. HBP often has no warning signs or symptoms. Once it occurs, it usually lasts a lifetime. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to heart and kidney disease, stroke, and blindness.

Take the opportunity in May to get your blood pressure checked and learn more about HBP, how it affects the body, and how to control high blood pressure. Here are some resources from the NHLBI that can help you get started.

Educate Patients, Diagnose, and Treat HBP - Materials for Health Professionals

• Check out the Mission Possible Web site’s Activity Ideas page http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/mission/partner/ideas.htm
• Utilize the Pocket Guide to Blood Pressure Management in Children. Available at http://emall.nhlbihin.net/product2.asp?sku=07-5268 for $1.50 each
• Download The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure - Complete Report at http://emall.nhlbihin.net/product2.asp?sku=04-5230
  See the section on Questions To Ask Your Doctor If You Have High Blood Pressure

Take a Look at Materials for Patients and the Public

• Visit HBP Internet sites:
  • Your Guide to Lowering Blood Pressure Web site http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp
  • NHLBI’s Diseases and Conditions Index article on HBP http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/
    Hbp/HBP_WhatIs.html
• Order Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with DASH for $3.50 each at http://emall.nhlbihin.net/product2.asp?sku=06-4082
• Don’t Miss the Recipes for Heart Health starting on page 45. Try vegetarian spaghetti sauce tonight!

Order My Blood Pressure Wallet Card for free for a single copy* at http://emall.nhlbihin.net/product2.asp?sku=03-5068 Additional copies are 25¢ each
See the section on Questions To Ask Your Doctor If You Have High Blood Pressure

http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2008/realmenpr.htm

New National Ad Campaign Features the Theme “Real Men Wear Gowns”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) joined with The Advertising Council to launch a national public service campaign designed to raise awareness among middle-aged men about the importance of preventive medical testing. http://www.ahrq.gov/realmen/watchvideos.htm

Men are 25 percent less likely than women to have visited the doctor within the past year and are 38 percent more likely than women to have neglected their cholesterol tests (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2005). Furthermore, men are 1.5 times more likely than women to die from heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005).

The new campaign encourages men over 40 to learn which preventive screening tests they need to get and when they need to get them. The public service advertising campaign includes television, radio, print and Web advertising, involving ads incorporating family as a key motivating factor for men to take a more active role in preventive health. http://www.ahrq.gov/realmen/

The Bathtub collection consists of fragments found in the old and rare bindings of the NLM’s rare book collection when items were rebound and conserved in the 1940s and 1950s. It is called the “Bathtub Collection” because then-curator Dorothy Schullian took the leftovers of conservation work home and soaked them in her bathtub to retrieve the often interesting bits and pieces of medieval manuscripts and early printed ephemera she found.

Slowly and ploddingly, especially where they had been glued together to form the linings of covers, I have soaked them apart in my bathtub. My knees, I assure you, have suffered, but I have entered a bibliographer’s paradise …” (Dorothy M. Schullian. “Here the Frailest Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 47 (1953))

Please visit the site at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/bathtub/

NLM is also home to numerous genealogical resources for those seeking information about ancestors with medical or health related training. Among these is the AMA Deceased Physicians Card File, a collection of nearly 400,000 index cards created by the AMA between about 1901 and 1969 focusing on everyone in the U.S. who received a medical degree. The cards were updated throughout the physician’s career with information about degrees obtained, licensing, addresses and finally cause of death and sometimes obituary citations and even portraits. Please visit the site at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/genealogy/

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is pleased to announce the solicitation of quotations from organizations and libraries to design and conduct projects that will improve access to HIV/AIDS related health information for patients, the affected community, and their caregivers.

Projects must involve one or more of the following information access categories:

• Information retrieval
• Skills development
• State-of-the-art resources
• Resource development
• Document Access.

Emphasis is placed upon the following types of organizations or arrangements for developing these programs:

• Community-based organizations (CBOs) or patient advocacy groups currently providing HIV/AIDS related serves to the affected community
• Public libraries serving communities in the provision of HIV/AIDS-related information and resources
• Health departments or other local, municipal, or state agencies working to improve public health
• Faith-based organizations currently providing HIV/AIDS-related services
• Multi-type consortia of the above-listed organizations that may be in existence or formed specifically for this project.

Standard Awards are offered for up to $60,000. Express Awards are offered for up to $10,000.

Quotations are due to NLM on Monday, June 16, 2008.

The solicitation for the 2008 AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects is posted at http://www.sis.nlm.nih.gov/hiv/2008aidsrfq.html .

Previously funded AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects are posted at http://www.sis.nlm.nih.gov/outreach/aids_cio_projects.html .

If there are any questions or concerns regarding the Request for Quotations (RFQ) or submission of the proposal, please contact Robin Hope-Williams, the NLM Contracting Officer, at (301) 496-6546 or email to: rhwilli@mail.nih.gov.

The new Hospital Compare website was created through the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), along with the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). The HQA is a public-private collaboration established to promote reporting on hospital quality of care. The HQA consists of organizations that represent consumers, hospitals, doctors and nurses, employers, accrediting organizations, and Federal agencies. http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/

“For the first time, consumers have the three critical elements - quality information, patient satisfaction survey information, and pricing information for specific procedures - they need to make effective decisions about the quality and value of the health care available to them through local hospitals.” The updated information is part of the public health effort to strengthen consumer choice and create incentives to motivate providers to provide better care for all Americans. For fuller coverage, see:http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/03/20080328a.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma08/ma08_my_ncbi_collections.html

The April issue of NIH News in Health, the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research, is now online at http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/. In this issue of NIH News in Health: http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/pdf/NIHNiH%20April08.pdf

When a Medical Emergency Strikes

A Race Against the Clock

If you’re seriously injured, your recovery-and even your life-can depend on how quickly the emergency medical team arrives, what type of treatment you get and how fast they get you to a hospital.

Guard Your Liver: Protect Yourself From Hepatitis Hepatitis can make you feel as if you have the flu, but it’s a completely different disease. Flu is caused by viruses that attack your lungs and respiratory system; hepatitis is a liver disease. Some forms of hepatitis get better on their own. But others can inflict serious liver damage, and may even leave you needing a new liver.

Health Capsules:

• Allergens in Homes Linked to Asthma
• Diet and Metabolic Syndrome
• Featured Web Site: Anabolic Steroid Abuse

The new Health Care Notification Network system was created by Medem of San Francisco, California. It is supported by a group of pharmaceuticals, insurance firms, organizations, and medical centers, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, J and J, as well as the American College of Surgeons, among others (full list at http://www.hcnn.net/docs/HCNNSupporters.pdf). The network will be using email to quickly disseminate time sensitive drug safety alert information to health care professionals.

• HCNN replaces the current, paper-based alerts sent to physicians and other healthcare providers via U.S. mail.
• Alerts include medication recalls, warnings and national public health emergencies.
• HCNN fulfills new FDA guidance for electronic communication of patient safety notification and is supported by medical liability carriers, U.S. medical societies, national patient advocacy groups, health plans and many other national healthcare organizations that are dedicated to improved patient safety.
• HCNN protects healthcare provider privacy. No email addresses will be sold or disclosed to any third parties.

Registration for U.S. physicians and other health care providers is available immediately at http://www.hcnn.net. For more information about the HCNN and online patient safety Alert services, see http://www.hcnn.net.