|
November 29, 2004 [posted]
To help users more easily identify in their inbox PubMed search results sent via e-mail, NCBI will soon change the From line to "Sent by NCBI." In the era of increased SPAM messages this change will provide users with a more recognizable name, NCBI, rather than the current label "Sent by Entrez."
[Editor's Note: This feature was added to PubMed on December 7, 2004.]
top of page
November 29, 2004 [posted]
The 2004AC edition of the UMLS Knowledge Sources was made available to licensees for downloading from the UMLS Knowledge Source Server on October 28, 2004. DVDs will be mailed in late November to UMLS licensees who requested them.
2004AC UMLS release documentation is available in HTML and PDF at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/documentation.html
Metathesaurus
The Metathesaurus now contains more than 1 million concepts and 4.5 million unique concept names from more than 100 source vocabularies.
New sources include the Human Gene Nomenclature (HUGO), mappings from ICPC2 to ICD-10 in English and Dutch, and MedlinePlus HealthTopics.
NLM's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were updated to MeSH 2005. Eight other vocabularies were updated, including Alternative Billing Codes (ALTLINK), ICD-9-CM, and SNOMED CT in English and Spanish.
Rich Release Format (RRF) Browser (beta)
The RRF Browser is a tool that allows users to view and search their customized Metathesaurus subsets. It is included in this release in a test version, with documentation available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/implementation_resources/metamorphosys/RRF_Browser.html. User comments are welcomed.
For more information on the UMLS, including how to register to obtain access to UMLS Knowledge Sources, visit the UMLS Home page at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/
top of page
December 7, 2004 [posted]
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has issued a new Clinical Alert on December 6, 2004:
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stopped early a clinical trial studying whether children with sickle cell anemia at high risk for stroke could at some point after a minimum of 30 months (range 30-91 months) safely stop receiving the periodic blood transfusions that prevent strokes. The study found a return to high risk of stroke in children who stopped receiving the transfusions. The NHLBI is issuing a clinical alert on the study's results to inform physicians who treat children with sickle cell anemia.
The alert advises physicians that stopping transfusions cannot be recommended. The document urges them to carefully discuss with patients and their families the stroke prevention benefits of continuing periodic transfusions as well as the risks of these transfusions, which can include such long-term side effects as iron overload. Management of these side effects should also be discussed, according to the alert.
Links to Clinical Alerts can also be found from these NLM Web sites:
- MedlinePlus features Clinical Alerts as NIH Press Releases on the appropriate
Health Topics page(s).
- As before, PubMed and the
NLM Gateway
have a link to the Clinical Alerts on their side bars. In addition, a featured link
will now be available from their Home Page for ten days after a new alert is issued.
top of page
December 8, 2004 [posted]
You can now use the Send to E-mail feature in the Entrez Journals database to e-mail search results to yourself or to patrons.
top of page
December 14, 2004 [posted]
The NLM will cease publishing the monthly Index Medicus (IM) with the December 2004 edition (Volume 45).
For more information see the article Index Medicus to Cease as Print Publication. NLM Tech Bull. 2004 May-Jun;(338):e2.
NLM will continue to print an annual Medical Subject Headings and the printed List of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE (formerly titled the List of Journals Indexed for Index Medicus). The latter publication is being expanded to include all journals currently indexed for MEDLINE. In addition to the Index Medicus titles, there are about six hundred other journals that were or are associated with collaborating producers who routinely index citations such as the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
Citations in Index Medicus and MEDLINE constitute an invaluable resource, and NLM guarantees they will always be available. The method of access may change, as technology evolves, but the millions of references and abstracts will always be freely accessible to scientists, the health professionals, librarians and the public.
top of page
December 14, 2004 [posted]
The National Library of Medicine just released new versions of the LocatorPlus Tutorial, available from the LocatorPlus homepage at http://locatorplus.gov. Simple and Advanced Search tutorials are also available from the LocatorPlus Simple and Advanced search screens.
These thirteen (13) multimedia presentations were produced with Qarbon.com Inc.'s Viewlet™ technology. They include:
- Search Limits
- Downloading, Emailing, or Printing records
- MARC Authority searches
- Tips for limits, truncation, phrases, and Boolean searching
Viewlets are .SWF files based on Flash 5 technology. They require a Flash 5 (or later) plug-in. You can control the sound by using the volume control on your desktop.
These tutorials are also linked from the NLM Distance Education Program Resources page.
top of page
December 14, 2004 [posted]
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has recently added seven new AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) Evidence Report Summaries to HSTAT on the Bookshelf. HSTAT, Health Services Technology Assessment Texts, is a free, Web-based resource of full-text documents that provide health information and support health care decision making.
Four of the seven additions are AHRQ Evidence Reports:
82. [This link was removed because it is no longer valid] Pharmacologic Management of Heart Failure and Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction: Effect in Female, Black, and Diabetic Patients, and Cost-Effectiveness
90. [This link was removed because it is no longer valid] Strategies for Improving Minority Healthcare Quality
94. [This link was removed because it is no longer valid] Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Cardiovascular Disease
96. [This link was removed because it is no longer valid] Regionalization of Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response
Three of the seven additions are AHRQ Evidence Report Summaries:
103. Pharmacological and Surgical Treatment of Obesity
105. Measuring the Quality of Breast Cancer Care in Women
107. Preventing Violence and Related Health -Risking Social Behaviors in Adolescents
The books in Bookshelf may be searched directly from the Bookshelf site, via links from the Links pull-down menu from relevant PubMed® citations, or through the Entrez Global query feature.
top of page
December 14, 2004 [posted]
As of December 14, PubMed's MEDLINE citations, translation tables, and the MeSH® database have been updated to reflect 2005 MeSH. Now that end-of-year activities are complete, MEDLINE via PubMed may be searched using 2005 MeSH vocabulary. See MEDLINE Data Changes - 2005. NLM Tech Bull. 2004 Nov-Dec;(341):e9 for details on data changes. This article includes links to other relevant MEDLINE and MeSH-related articles. Also on December 14, NLM resumed the daily (Tuesday-Saturday) MEDLINE updates to PubMed (including the backlog of citations indexed since November 17 with 2005 MeSH but not yet added to PubMed).
top of page
December 27, 2004 [posted]
The PubMed Clinical Queries page will be redesigned to provide an improved interface to the specialized PubMed searches for clinicians. The new design will retain the basic functionality currently used, and the search strategies for the queries will not change. The new design will have three search options:
- Search by Clinical Study Category (old name: Clinical Queries using Research Methodology Filters)
- Find Systematic Reviews
including a new option:
- Medical Genetics Searches
The three are displayed as jump links at the top of the page and each has its own query box.
The Medical Genetics Searches were developed in conjunction with the staff
of GeneReviews: Genetic Disease Online Reviews at GeneTests, University of
Washington, Seattle.
[Editor's Note: This feature was added to PubMed on January 4, 2005.]
top of page
December 27, 2004 [posted]
The MeSH Home page has been updated with
the 2005 Introduction to MeSH including:
- New 2005 Medical Subject Headings, Alphabetic List
- Changed Descriptors - 2005
- Deleted Descriptors - 2005
- New 2005 MeSH Headings, by Tree Subcategory
top of page
December 28, 2004 [posted]
Last week the National Library of Medicine® (NLM) randomly began inviting users of PubMed/MEDLINE® to take an online survey that measures customer satisfaction. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), based on research from the University of Michigan, is the leading indicator of customer satisfaction in the United States. To ensure unbiased sampling and analysis, NLM has contracted with ForeSee Results, a private company, to administer the PubMed/MEDLINE ACSI survey.
Users who are selected to receive the survey receive an unobtrusive invitation in their Web browser, which they may accept or decline with a single click. If the user declines, the invitation simply disappears. If the user accepts, a new window pops up, and the user answers questions related to who they are and their level of satisfaction with PubMed/MEDLINE. Users cannot be individually identified by the testing system, so all responses are confidential. The user sampling rate is very low; currently, only seven out of every 1000 users receive the invitation.
NLM will use the results of the survey to identify opportunities to improve services, and to measure the effects on customer satisfaction of any changes made. This survey has been used to measure customer satisfaction for MedlinePlus®. Other government agencies, including FirstGov.gov, NASA, the US Department of State, also use this survey to measure and improve customer service for their sites.
top of page
| 
