Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library Blog

On Tuesday of this week, PubMed at UCLA released a new interface.  If you still have not checked out PubMed’s new look and feel, the Biomedical Library would like to suggest a few Halloween related readings (linked to the new PubMed, of course) that you may enjoy:

Stewart RM, Durnian JM, Briggs MC. “Here’s egg in your eye”: a prospective study of blunt ocular trauma resulting from thrown eggs. Emerg Med J. 2006 Oct;23(10):756-8.

Sandvik H, Baerheim A. [Does garlic protect against vampires? An experimental study]. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 1994 Dec 10;114(30):3583-6.

Breitenbach RA. ‘Halloween diarrhea’. An unexpected trick of sorbitol-containing candy. Postgrad Med. 1992 Oct;92(5):63-6.

Happy Halloween!

<submitted by Rikke Ogawa>

The Cochrane Library, published quarterly, is accessible via the Biomedical Library web site. It is now approaching 20,000 volunteer medical reviewers and has earned a global reputation as the “gold standard” of evidence-based medicine. Every issue includes podcasts on select key Cochrane reviews. The Issue 4, 2009 Cochrane reviews cover studies— including rheumatoid arthritis, bell’s palsy, vitamin B for heart disease, and Chinese herbal medicines for diabetes prevention. 

<submitted by Tania Bardyn>

In celebration of Open Access Week, October 19-24, 2009, the Electronic Green Journal, which recently published its 28th issue, will debut a new interface on the California Digital Library’s eScholarship.

The new interface helps readers discover related content on the eScholarship platform and includes Web 2.0 functionality like creating RSS feeds for articles or journals. Readers will be able to fully take advantage of this new interface when the next issue of the Electronic Green Journal (EGJ) is published in December 2009.

The EGJ is academically sponsored and published semiannually by the UCLA Library and is one of the first peer-reviewed international journals promoting an open access publishing model as presented in Peter Suber’s Open-Access Timeline. Since its inception in July of 1994, the main goal of the Electronic Green Journal has been to assist in international scholarly environmental communication by providing a quality, unbiased, and freely accessible forum for the exchange of environmental information as an alternative to costly, commercially produced scientific journals.

For more information contact:
Maria Anna Jankowska, General Editor, UCLA, Charles E. Young Research Library, Los Angeles, CA, majankowska@library.ucla.edu
Amy J. Chatfield, Book Review Editor, UCLA, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, Los Angeles, California, achatfie@library.ucla.edu

<originally posted to the blog, Open Access Week by Amy Chatfield>

The National Library of Medicine is pleased to announce a redesign of the PubMed interface. While retaining the robust functionality, the interface was simplified to make it easier to use. The changes are outlined in the September/October 2009 NLM Technical Bulletin. Please note that PubMed’s search processing has not changed. The preview version will enable users to try out the new interface and is expected to run for at least two weeks after which PubMed will exist in the redesigned version only.

Current UCLA students, faculty, and staff can meet with biomedical librarians for consultations on using PubMed and MeSH (MEdical Subject Headings). Consultations with librarians can be requested online or by filling out a consultation request form at the Public Service Desk. The National Library of Medicine also makes several online tutorials available.

<submitted by Cathy Brown>

It’s once again time for our weekly feature, “Monday Morning’s Frequently Asked Question (FAQ).” All of these FAQs and their answers can be found on the Biomedical Library web site. Our goal is to make our blog readers more familiar with the Biomedical Library, its services, and policies.

This week’s question is:

“How do I use UCLA-provided databases and electronic resources from off campus?”

UCLA students, faculty, and staff connecting through the campus network, Bruin OnLine dial-up, the campus proxy server, or the campus virtual private network (VPN) can access all resources and services available through this Web site. This includes resources licensed by the UCLA Library or the California Digital Library such as periodical indexing and abstracting databases and full-text publications. Additional information can be found at About Off-Campus Access Privileges.

<submitted by Paul Camp>

EBSCO Publishing added more than 500 clinical calculators to DynaMed, an evidence-based clinical decision support resource. Licensed from MedCalc 3000, these calculators include medical equations, decision support tools, prediction tools, statistics calculators, dose conversion tools, and unit conversion tools. Calculators help to determine the likelihood of a diagnosis, estimate a patient’s risk for a disease, or estimate a given prognosis. The “Calculators” button can be found in the upper right side of the search screen.

 <submitted by Paul Camp>

With the hurricane season upon us and continuing battles with wildfires, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leads federal efforts to provide online health safety information for people in the path of a hurricane or wildfire.

For wildfire information, go to: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/californiafires.html. Learn how to prepare and protect yourself from wildfires, and get information on how the smoke and particulate matter may affect your health.

And for up-to-date information on hurricanes, go to: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/hurricane.html. Here, you can find information on everything from taking care of pets during a storm to food safety for consumers upon returning home after a hurricane.

A complete list of disaster health web link pages can be found at: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/subjectguides.html.

Additionally, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has numerous Web sites that provide information for the general public, emergency planners, and public health professionals. NLM’s Web site, http://medlineplus.gov contain numbers Web pages with easy-to-understand information for the general public, available in English and Spanish.

• Hurricanes http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hurricanes.html
• Floods http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/floods.html

• Disaster Preparation and Recovery http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/disasterpreparationandrecovery.html

En español

• Huracanes http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/hurricanes.html
• Inundaciones http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/floods.html

• Preparativos y recuperación ante un desastre http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/disasterpreparationandrecovery.html

<originally published on the National Library of Medicine’s Web Site>

Elsevier reports that all ScienceDirect links have been fixed and are working properly.

 <submitted by Paul Camp>

ScienceDirect is currently experiencing problems when connecting from UC-eLinks or catalog records. Users encounter this error: “Sorry, your request can’t be processed due to a system problem. Contact the Help Desk if the problem persists. [SD-008]”

Elsevier is working to fix this problem, and currently expect to have it fixed by tomorrow morning.

<originally posted to CDLALERT-L, the CDL Alert List by Alison Ray>

Responding to the recommendation of public advisors, the National Center for Biotechnology and Information (NCBI) recently introduced a system for rapid archiving of articles designed for immediate publication called Rapid Research Notes, RRN.  RRN was prompted by the need for immediate access to research information in spring 2009 surrounding the H1N1 outbreak.  Thus, the first articles to be included are from the PLoS Currents: Influenza collection. More information about RRN and guidelines for submission are available on the About RRN page.

 <submitted by Rikke Ogawa>