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Need Help Getting Started on Your Research?

If your research topic requires a literature search, statistics, reference books, or other major resources, the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) “Subject Guides on Selected Topics” may be the right tool for you. This Web site provides practical, easy-to-use guides that are designed to help you locate information on health statistics, drug information, conference proceedings, and library statistics.

For example, the “Health Statistics and Numerical Data” guide includes major sources of health and general statistics in the U.S., as well as some international resources. The scope of each guide is listed on its home page, so there’s no guessing as to what type of information is included in the guide.

In this guide, you’ll find:

  • PubMed medical subject headings (MeSH) that are useful in searching for statistics. MeSH include biostatistics, epidemiology, and vital statistics, among others.
  • Organizations and agencies that compile statistics. Among the many resources listed is FEDSTATS. FEDSTATS is an online portal that provides access to all types of statistics from more than 100 agencies. Other organizations that provide access to statistical information include the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
  • Organizations and resources that provide anthropometric and reference values.
  • Resources that provide statistics on specific health conditions, health economics, health insurance, hospitals and health statistics, procedures, veterinary medicine, and more.

The resources listed are both online and in print.

For questions or additional help with your research needs, please feel free to contact your school’s liaison librarian, the Falk Library Main Desk at 412-648-8866, or Ask a Librarian.

The guides are accessible from the left side menu of the home page.
The guides are accessible from the left side menu of the home page.

~Jill Foust

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

Data Citing Guidance

Recent guidelines from federal agencies, institutions, and journal publishers encourage researchers to share their raw data. Shared data can be located in places such as repositories or on departmental Web sites, and their use requires the inclusion of a citation in a manuscript’s reference list, as would be done with a journal article or book.

Why cite data?

Citations create an important linkage between papers and supporting data, allowing for verification, replication, and re-use of the data in new studies or a meta-analysis. Similar to journal articles, the number of times that a dataset is cited could be tracked and used to support a researcher’s tenure and promotion, or to illustrate the impact of a research study.

Data citations should be included in your manuscript even when you are the producer of the data. Data can be cited without making the dataset available through open access.

How to Cite Data?

Unfortunately, most of the major style guides do not provide guidance on how to cite data and “data” is not an available reference type in some bibliographic management software tools (EndnoteX6 does have a reference type “dataset”).

The organization DataCite recommends citing data using one of these formats (fields defined below):

Minimal Citation Requirement:
Creator (Publication Year): Title. Publisher. Identifier
Citation Requirement with Optional Fields:
Creator (Publication Year): Title. Version. Publisher. Resource Type. Identifier.

 

  • Creator:  This can be an individual, group, or an organization.
  • Title: Name of the dataset or name of the study resulting in the data, not the name of the resulting journal article.
  • Version: Each iteration should have a unique number.
  • Publication Year: When the data set was published or when it was posted online; not the data creation date.
  • Publisher: Entity that makes the data available for downloading, when applicable. This might be a repository like Dryad, or an institutional repository at an academic institution.
  • Identifier: The DOI (Digital Object Identifier) or other persistent identifier. This could also be a Web site that points to a description of the data and includes a notation regarding accessibility.
  • Resource Type: A one-word description such as image, dataset, software, audiovisual, etc.

For more information on data sharing and repositories, please refer to these recent HSLS Update articles: “Data Management Planning: Data Sharing,” September 2013, and Data Repositories: Meeting Your Research Needs,” February 2014.

For questions, contact the Falk Library Main Desk at 412-648-8866 or Ask a Librarian.

~Melissa Ratajeski

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HSLS Staff News

The HSLS Staff News section includes recent HSLS presentations, publications, staff changes, staff promotions, degrees earned, etc.

News

Nancy Tannery, senior associate director, was elected chair of the Medical Library Association’s Leadership and Management Section. Tannery will serve a three year term as Chair-Elect, Chair, and Past Chair.

Pat Weiss, reference and information technology librarian, has been appointed to the Medical Library Association Lindberg Research Fellowship jury for 2014-15.

Presentations

Rebecca Abromitis, reference librarian, presented “PechaKucha Basics for Presentations,” as an NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region Boost Box Webinar on Feb 11, 2014.

Lydia Collins, consumer health coordinator, NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region, presented “Health Information Resources to Support the School Nurse,” on April 4, 2014, at the Westmoreland County School Nurses Association Spring Meeting, in Greensburg, PA, and “Exploring the National Library of Medicine’s Toybox: Health and Science Resources for Librarians and Educators,” on April 22, 2014, at the Catholic Library Association Annual Conference, in Pittsburgh, PA.

Publications

John Erlen, history of medicine librarian, along with co-author Megan Conway published, “Disability Studies: Disabilities Abstracts,” in The Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal, 9(4): 684-70, 2013.

Melissa Ratajeski, reference librarian, published a review of Learning from Libraries That Use WordPress: Content-Management System Best Practices and Case Studies, by L.M. Kyle, Jones and Polly-Alida Farrington, Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries 11, no. 1  (2014): 55-56.

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

Class Schedule for May 2014

HSLS offers classes on database searching, software applications such as Prezi, bibliographic management, molecular biology and genetics, and library orientations. For more information, visit the online course descriptions.

Classes are held on the first floor of Falk Library (200 Scaife Hall) in Classroom 1 and on the upper floor of the library in Classroom 2. All classes are open to faculty, staff, and students of the schools of the health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. They are also open to UPMC residents and fellows.

No registration is required for any of these classes. Seating for classes is first-come, first-served until the class is full. Faculty, staff, and students of the schools of the health sciences will need a valid Pitt ID or e-mail account to attend these classes. UPMC residents/fellows will need to show their UPMC IDs.

Classes marked with an asterisk (*) qualify for American Medical Association Category 2 continuing education credit.

Class schedules are subject to change. Please consult the online class calendar for the most current information.

FlashClass

FlashClass is a “deal of the week” Groupon-like offer of timely and useful learning. Each week’s offer proposes one or two topics, and you’re invited to sign up to attend a one-hour class the following week. If at least three people sign up, we’ll hold the class. (We’ll notify you either way.)

HSLS CLASSES

EndNote Basics (Falk Library Classroom 2)

Thursday, May 1 9-11 a.m.

Painless PubMed* (Falk Library Classroom 1)

Thursday, May 1 Noon-1 p.m.
Tuesday, May 6 9-10 a.m.
Wednesday, May 14 11 a.m.-noon
Monday, May 19 3-4 p.m.
Friday, May 30 8:30-9:30 a.m.

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS RESOURCES

Genome Browsers 2* (Falk Library Classroom 2)

Wednesday, May 14 1-4 p.m.

Gene Regulation Resources* (Falk Library Classroom 2)

Wednesday, May 28 1-4 p.m.

CUSTOMIZED CLASSES

Customized classes can be developed for your department, course, or other group.

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

New Look for AccessSurgery

AccessSurgeryAccessSurgery has moved to a new platform! The popular online resource provides medical students, surgical residents, and practicing surgeons with quick answers to surgical inquiries from authoritative sources. The content is basically the same and includes surgical textbooks, such as Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery and Zollinger’s Atlas of Surgical Operations. You’ll also find an extensive collection of images and surgical videos, case files, drug information, patient handouts, and more.

New features come with the new platform:

  • Mobile Optimized:
    • The AccessSurgery browser automatically adapts to any mobile device.
  • Personalized Accounts:
    • Use your personalized account to login to AccessSurgery remotely instead of using Pitt’s EZproxy service or UPMC Access.
    • Use your personal account to set up automatic e-mail alerts for search terms.
    • Save images and figures to your computer. Also, download them from AccessSurgery directly into PowerPoint.
  • Streamlined Interface and Functionality:
    • Click on the “Sites” drop-down menu to easily move to other Access resources, such as AccessMedicine.

To create a free personalized account, select Login or Create a Free Personal Account from the University of Pittsburgh drop down box in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

To use AccessSurgery, type AccessSurgery in the search.HSLS box on the HSLS home page  or browse the Databases A-Z list. For questions, contact the HSLS Main Desk at 412-648-8866 or Ask a Librarian.

*Parts of this article were reprinted from the AccessSurgery Web site.

~ Melissa Ratajeski

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

PubMed Links Trial Studies to Systematic Reviews

PubMed users can now go straight from the trial to the systematic review that cites it. This new feature, called a portlet, appears on the right hand side of the abstract display page. For example, the study, “Breast cancer after use of estrogen plus progestin in postmenopausal women,” was cited by five systematic reviews. Links to these systematic reviews are available in the portlet.

PubMedLink2

If the portlet is not showing, it does not necessarily mean that there are no systematic reviews that include the trial.

This new feature helps users follow research through time. Look for this new portlet the next time you are using PubMed.

*Parts of this article were reprinted from the National Library of Medicine

~ Nancy Tannery

 

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

Final Farewell to MD Consult

The HSLS subscription to MD Consult ended in late November 2013. However, we recently discovered that access to the site was never deactivated. We apologize for any confusion, but please note that MD Consult will not be available as of April 30, 2014 (we mean it this time!). For more information on its replacement, ClinicalKey, see the September 2013 HSLS Update article, “Introducing ClinicalKey (and Farewell to MD Consult).”

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

Why Health Literacy Matters

Literacy skills are a stronger predictor of health status than age, income, employment status, education level, and racial or ethnic group. According to a report from the University of Connecticut, “Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy,” low health literacy is estimated to cost $106–$236 billion annually; and in a finding from the 2003 study, “National Assessment of Adult Literacy,” 36% of adults fall into the basic and below basic health literacy level.

Health literacy does not apply only to reading skills. It is much more than a readability number. An expanded definition of health literacy from the “Calgary Charter on Health Literacy” defines health literacy as the ability to find, understand, evaluate, communicate, and use information by both the public and health care personnel.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act stresses how important it is for patients to understand their conditions and treatments in order to make informed decisions. The Institute of Medicine’s discussion paper, “10 Attributes of Health Literate Health Care Organizations,” emphasizes the significance of health literacy to organizations as they prepare for future health care reform. In order for this to be achieved, both health care professionals and patients will need to be health literate. It is especially important for health care professionals to understand the impact health literacy plays in the management of patients with chronic illness.

HealthLiteracyThe National Network of Libraries of Medicine, whose regional medical library for the Middle Atlantic Region is located at the University of Pittsburgh’s Health Sciences Library System, offers an in-person class, “Health Literacy: Its Importance to You.” The class is appropriate for anyone who works with patients in the clinical setting or provides health information to consumers, including health care professionals, health information specialists, public librarians, and those in non-profit organizations who serve the public.

The goals of the class are to:

  • Raise awareness about health literacy (primary goal)
  • Define the meaning of health literacy
  • Identify the various types of literacy
  • Recognize the impact health literacy plays in health care
  • Describe areas of health care delivery that will need to be addressed

The knowledge gained from this class will prepare participants to raise awareness of what health literacy is and to share with your organization or group how important health literacy is to all stakeholders.

To learn more about this class, e-mail Michelle Burda, NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region, Network and Advocacy Coordinator, at mburda@pitt.edu or call 412-624-1589.

~ Michelle Burda

1. B.D. Weiss, Health Literacy: A Manual for Clinicians, 2nd ed., American Medical Association/American Medical Association Foundation, http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/ama-foundation/healthlitclinicians.pdf.

2. “Health Literacy Interventions and Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review: Executive Summary.” March 2011, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD, http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/litupsum.html, full report available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK82434/.

3. M. Kutner, E. Greenberg, Y. Jin, et al, The Health Literacy of America’s Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, [November 17, 2008], (NCES 2006-483), http://eric​.ed.gov/PDFS/ED493284.pdf.

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

Treasures from the Rare Book Room: Tokens from the 17th Century

Numismatists and hobbyists are familiar with historical tokens (coin-like objects with quasi monetary value, issued by a private group or individual). Some tokens served as emergency “money” during the small-change shortage (Civil War tokens), entrance tickets (Roman spintriae), or store cards (merchant tokens), while others commemorated an event, anniversary, place or person (communion tokens).

The “Beard Tax” Token

Tokens are fun to collect and sometimes have fascinating histories. For example, when Tsar Peter the Great wanted to westernize Russian nobility in the 17th century, he imposed on his subjects a prohibition against wearing beards. He found that public officials were willing to part with their beards for a small reward. Seeing the opportunity, Peter enacted a law to force peasants to shave too, but at the same time he gave everyone a way out: you could pay a progressive tax and keep your beard. In return, the payer was given a copper token with the image of a beard and the Russian words for “tax paid.”

Dutch Physician’s Token

Falk Library has an interesting token in its special collections. It was issued by the Hortus Medicus, the botanic gardens of the University of Amsterdam, founded in 1682 by a decree of the Amsterdam City Council. The gardens were planted in 1683. It is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. Hortus Medicus was created to serve as an herb garden for doctors and apothecaries, and to heal the city after the bubonic plague. The first tokens, that granted admission to the garden for physicians, surgeons, and chemists, were sold in 1684. The specimen in our collection is from the first series. It has a clearly visible issue date and the name Hortus Medicus. Under the vase of flowers there is a place to incuse the name of the pass holder (initials H.V.B.). The reverse has an image of a skeleton with a scythe, resting its hand on an hourglass which is positioned on a tomb. The token is made of brass and measures 44 mm (1.25 inches) in diameter.

Click on the image below to rotate the token.

BGGuild2 01

The Dutch physician’s token can be viewed in the Rare Book Room by appointment.

~ Gosia Fort

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication. This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

Classes April 2014

HSLS offers classes on database searching, software applications such as Adobe Photoshop, bibliographic management, molecular biology and genetics, and library orientations. For more information, visit the online course descriptions.

Classes are held on the first floor of Falk Library (200 Scaife Hall) in Classroom 1 and on the upper floor of the library in Classroom 2. All classes are open to faculty, staff, and students of the schools of the health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. They are also open to UPMC residents and fellows.

No registration is required for any of these classes. Seating for classes is first-come, first-served until the class is full. Faculty, staff, and students of the schools of the health sciences will need a valid Pitt ID or e-mail account to attend these classes. UPMC residents/fellows will need to show their UPMC IDs.

Classes marked with an asterisk (*) qualify for American Medical Association Category 2 continuing education credit.

Class schedules are subject to change. Please consult the online class calendar for the most current information.

FlashClass

FlashClass is a “deal of the week” Groupon-like offer of timely and useful learning. Each week’s offer proposes one or two topics, and you’re invited to sign up to attend a one-hour class the following week. If at least three people sign up, we’ll hold the class. (We’ll notify you either way.)

HSLS CLASSES

Adobe Photoshop (Falk Library Classroom 2)

Wednesday, April 30 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

EndNote Basics (Falk Library Classroom 1)

Wednesday, April 16 2-4 p.m.

Painless PubMed* (Falk Library Classroom 1)

Tuesday, April 1 3-4 p.m.
Monday, April 7 8-9 a.m.
Thursday, April 17 4-5 p.m.
Tuesday, April 22 Noon-1 p.m.

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS RESOURCES

Primer Design & Restriction Analysis* (Falk Library Classroom 2)

Wednesday, April 2 1-4 p.m.

Sequence Similarity Searching* (Falk Library Classroom 2)

Wednesday, April 9 1-4 p.m.

Protein Sequence Analysis* (Falk Library Classroom 2)

Wednesday, April 16 1-4 p.m.

CUSTOMIZED CLASSES

Customized classes can be developed for your department, course, or other group.

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

New & Improved: HSLS MolBio Web Site

Are you looking for software to help you make sense of your data? Trying to learn how to use a particular bioinformatics tool? Need a high performance computer for next-generation sequencing? Wishing to brush up on a specific molecular biology topic? The new and improved Web site of the HSLS Molecular Biology Information Service is available 24/7 to help you with all of these questions, and more.

MolBio

HSLS MolBio recently revamped its Web site in order to help users more easily find the resources they want and need to do their research. On the left side of the MolBio home page, you’ll find links to:

  • Bioinformatics software information and registration
  • The hands-on workshop schedule
  • The Postdoc Talks schedule
  • PowerPoint slides and other documents from workshops
  • Video tutorials on a variety of bioinformatics resources
  • Register for the high performance computer located in the HSLS MolBio office suite
  • Our blog, containing the latest news from HSLS MolBio
  • Sign-up for e-mail alerts, Facebook, and Twitter feeds

The search.HSLS.MolBio box on the right side of the home page offers a convenient way to search for:

  • Freely available molecular databases and software tools
  • Experimental protocols
  • Videos of scientific talks and tutorials
  • Recommended articles from Faculty of 1000

In addition, there is a link to contact the HSLS MolBio staff, Ansuman Chattopadhyay, PhD, and Carrie Iwema, PhD, MLS, as well as notification of upcoming classes and their descriptions. Let us know what you think about the changes!

~ Carrie Iwema

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

CDC’s Public Health Image Library

Need an image for a project? Give the Public Health Image Library (PHIL) a try. Produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), PHIL provides a gateway to thousands of public health-related images. The content is organized into hierarchical categories of people, places, and science, and is presented as single images, image sets, and multimedia files.

CDC search

Search Features

PHIL provides both basic and advanced search features. You can also search by type of collection including: influenza, natural disasters, environmental health, bioterrorism, health behaviors, and more.

PHIL uses the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to index the images. Once an image is viewed, click on one of the assigned MeSH terms to retrieve similar images indexed with that term.

Initial search results include thumbnail images. Click on a thumbnail for additional information about that image.

Copyright restrictions

Most of the images in the collection are in the public domain and are free of copyright restrictions. For these images, the CDC requests that you give credit to the supplier or producer of the image. Some images are copyright protected, which means use is restricted and requires permission. Look directly beneath the image and you will see the fair use statement that tells you if the image is in the public domain or copyright protected.

CDC image
Image credit: CDC & James Gathany

*Parts of this article were reprinted from the Public Health Image Library.

~Jill Foust

This information is over 2 years old. Information was current at time of publication.

ACP PIER Becomes ACP Smart Medicine

ACP Smart MedicineSM is peer reviewed clinical information for physicians, internists, residents, nurses and nurse practitioners, medical school faculty, and students. Published by the American College of Physicians, ACP Smart Medicine is a point-of-care, evidence-based, decision support tool providing authoritative and current guidance for quality patient care.

  • Targeted content and STAT!Ref’s powerful search engine ensure you get relevant answers fast.
  • A collection of modules on diseases, screening and prevention, complementary and alternative medicine, ethical and legal issues, and procedures are provided.
  • Bulleted, streamlined structure provides immediate access to hundreds of evidence-based recommendations on diagnosis, therapy, prevention, screening, and more.
  • ACP Smart Medicine is optimized for mobile devices.

To access ACP Smart Medicine, type ACP Smart Medicine in the search.HSLS box on the HSLS home page or browse the Databases A-Z list. For questions, contact the HSLS Main Desk at 412-648-8866 or Ask a Librarian.

*Parts of this article were reprinted from the Smart Medicine Web site.

~ Nancy Tannery