Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library Blog

From the 11/17/2009 issue of Chronicle of Higher Education:

Top public and private universities teamed up with members of Congress today to launch a new Web site and related efforts to highlight the role of the multibillion-dollar economic-stimulus legislation in fostering research both on and off campus. The centerpiece of the program is a Web site, ScienceWorksforUs, which uses a map and other means to draw attention to research in all 50 states that is being supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was enacted last February and directed $21.5-billion toward scientific research. The initiative is being sponsored by the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, and the Science Coalition.

This year ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research) is sponsoring THREE competitions – two for undergraduates and a new competition for Master’s level students!

The purpose of these competitions is to highlight the best student research papers using quantitative data.  The objective is to encourage students to explore the social sciences by means of critical analysis of a topic supported by quantitative analysis of a dataset(s) held within the ICPSR archive and presented in written form.

• The winner of each competition receives $1,000 cash and the paper will be published.
• Deadline for submission is January 31, 2010.

More information, submission guidelines, and promotional posters are found by visiting the competition website.

EBSCOhost has released their new interface for mobile users. This application is tailored for the smaller screens of mobile devices. To get started on using your mobile device to access CINAHL Plus and other EBSCOhost databases, review this FAQ and learn about :

• EBSCOhost Mobile features
• how to access the application
• which devices are supported

<submitted by Cathy Brown>

The NIH Manuscript System (NIHMS) web site will be unavailable beginning Friday, November 13 at 12:00 p.m. until Monday, November 16 at 7:00 a.m. (PST) due to scheduled maintenance. During this time previously-submitted manuscripts will be processed, although users will not be able to make new submissions, give approvals, or check the status of current submissions via the NIHS web site.

<submitted by Janet Carter>

Wonder what happened to your PubMed Limits tab or where the Single Citation Matcher went? PubMed at UCLA released its new streamlined interface this fall, relocating some tools, changing display defaults and improving functionality of PubMed.  A Biomedical Librarian will be on hand on November 20, 2009 from noon - 1 p.m. to walk you through the changes and improvements as well as provide tips for optimizing your search and saving you time and to answer your questions. This online class does not require any prior sign up or registration. Simply join online at http://tiny.cc/kMW5T on November 20th at noon.

If you have questions about this session, contact the Biomedical Library via email.

Visit the new Genetics and Genomics subject guide created by the Biomedical Library. This guide includes links to and descriptions of journals, databases, and other tools needed to study these topics. Rate or comment on the guide itself, or contact the Biomedical Library with suggestions for other content to include.

<submitted by Amy Chatfield>

I would like to call your attention to an article from the current New England Journal of Medicine, Lost in Transmission - FDA Drug Information That Never Reaches Clinicians by L. M. Schwartz and S. Woloshin. Keep in mind that DailyMed is providing the latest FDA drug insert information and we are directing all of our UCLA physicians and pharmacists to this important new resource from the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It has over 5000 drugs listed and is adding more all the time.

<submitted by Tania Bardyn>

It appears that the problems with PubMed have been resolved.

From the PUBMED-ALERTS service of the National Library of Medicine:

PubMed is unavailable due to a problem in the NLM computer room. We hope to have this resolved as soon as possible.

<submitted by Paul Camp>

Daming Su, Visiting Librarian, from the Institute of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS) is replacing Dr. Weiyu Fan on the UCLA-CACMS Information Center for East-West Medicine project beginning on November 4, 2009. Join us in welcoming Daming to the Biomedical Library.

<submitted by Tania Bardyn>