Quick Tour on Searching by Journal in PubMed®

A five-minute Quick Tour, Search for a Journal is now available on the PubMed Online Training page (on the Tutorials link on the PubMed sidebar) and on the Distance Education Program Resources page.

NLM® ChemIDplus Adds New Searching Features

[Editor's Note: This Technical Note is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options [Link removed] page.]

The National Library of Medicine ChemIDplus has added new structure searching features to its Advanced search page:

** "Exact (parent only)" searches for exactly what is drawn or transferred to the structure box, with all the structure's atoms and bonds identical in the retrieved compound.

** "Flex" and "Flexplus" search for records containing a parent structure plus additional components (salts, hydrates, or mixtures with other chemicals).

Example: Searching "Aleve" (naproxen) via "Exact (parent only)" retrieves one record. Searching "Aleve" via "Flex/Flexplus" retrieves nine records (the parent naproxen record, and seven other salts and mixtures of naproxen).

More information about these search features can be found in the Help section of ChemIDplus Advanced [Link removed].

DailyMed Web Site Now Available

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Library of Medicine® (NLM) have signed a memorandum of agreement calling for NLM to receive from the FDA the electronic product labels (often referred to as package inserts) of medications, after the FDA has approved the label. NLM then publishes the labels electronically, and provides them for download.

The DailyMed Web site: dailymed.nlm.nih.gov provides a primary vehicle for access to the labels as well as to other sources and types of information about medications. Links are available for drug topic searches in PubMed® , MedlinePlus®, and ClinicalTrials.gov, as well as a link for reporting an adverse event to the FDA. Information from the Veterans Administration on pharmacologic actions and uses of medications will also be available.

The product labels are prepared in a standardized format that was developed in consultation with the industry and with HL7, a standards development organization. The rule requiring manufacturers to submit their labels electronically in this format went into effect in October 2005. On November 1, the first label was transmitted to NLM for publication. The practice of the FDA is to review and approve each label every year. Thus, over the next 12 months, the Library expects to receive the approved label for every medication on the market.

PubMed® Maintenance for EDATs on Older Citations

On PubMed® records, the Entrez date (EDAT) is the date the citation was added to the database. An exception to this is when we add citations that have a publication date prior to September of 1997. For these records the Entrez Date is set to the Publication Date. This is done because PubMed’s default display of search retrieval is in reverse Entrez date order (last in, first out) and we recognize users' preference to see currently published citations at the top of their retrieval.

There are approximately 300,000 older citations in PubMed that do not follow this exception. We will change the EDAT on these citations to reflect the publication date. The MeSH Date (MHDA) will remain unchanged.

MedlinePlus® Adds Tutorial on Evaluating Internet Health Information

As consumer health information explodes on the Internet, teaching people how to evaluate information for accuracy and authority becomes more and more important. With this in mind, MedlinePlus now features a tutorial on the topic.

Evaluating Internet Health Information is a 16-minute narrated slideshow. The tutorial runs automatically, but you can use the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen to go forward, backward, pause, or start over. Using fictional "good" and "bad" Web sites, the tutorial walks the user though a comparison of the two, pointing out features to look for concerning the information provider, funding source, quality, and privacy. The tutorial uses plain language and narration and is appropriate for users at a broad range of reading levels.

RSS Feeds Available from the NLM Technical Bulletin

The NLM Technical Bulletin is now offering RSS 2.0 (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. RSS is a Web standard for sharing and distributing news and other frequently updated content provided by Web sites. With the Technical Bulletin feed you will be notified when a new article or Technical Note is published on our Web site.

An RSS reader, also called an aggregator, is required to use this service on your computer. There are many RSS readers from which to choose and many are available to download free from the Web. They give you a variety of functions and each has its own advantages. Instructions for adding the Technical Bulletin RSS feed to your reader are available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/rss.html.

UMLS® 2006AA Release, February 2006

The 2006AA edition of the UMLS Knowledge Sources was made available to licensees for downloading from the UMLS Knowledge Source Server on February 13, 2006. Subsequently, the UMLS team discovered an error with MeSH data in four files. A corrected and complete UMLS release was made available on March 2, 2006. DVDs will be mailed in late March to licensees who requested them. Release documentation is available in HTML and PDF at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/documentation.html.

Metathesaurus

The 2006AA Metathesaurus contains more than 1.2 million concepts and 6 million unique concept names from 118 source vocabularies. In the 2006AA release, 22 source vocabularies were updated including HCPCS, Altlink, CPT, and UMDNS.

Rich Release Format (RRF) Browser

The RRF Browser has been integrated into MetamorphoSys. This tool allows users to view and search their customized Metathesaurus subsets. Recent enhancements include expanded search capacity, a tree view for concepts, and linked concept reports. Documentation is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/rrf_help.html.

MRCXT Builder

The MRCXT Builder has been integrated into MetamorphoSys. This tool gives users the ability to create the MRCXT file from information in the MRHIER files. Information on the MRCXT builder can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/mrcxt_help.html.

NOTE: NLM DISCONTINUED MRCXT.RRF (MRCXT) AS OF THE 2006AA RELEASE.

For more information on the UMLS, including how to register to obtain access to UMLS Knowledge Sources, visit the UMLS homepage at //www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/.

New Books Added to NCBI Bookshelf

Four new books from the American Society for Microbiology have been added to the Bookshelf:

Approved Lists of Bacterial Names.
Skerman, V.B.D.; McGowan, Vicki; Sneath, P.H.A., editors
Washington (DC): American Society for Microbiology; c1989.
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?call=bv.View..ShowTOC&rid=bacname.TOC&depth=2

Helicobacter pylori.
Mobley, Harry L.T.; Mendz, George L.; Hazell, Stuart L., editors
Washington (DC): ASM Press; c2001.
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?call=bv.View..ShowTOC&rid=hp.TOC&depth=2

International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (1990 Revision).
LaPage, S.P.; Sneath, P.H.A.; Lessel, E.F.; Skerman, V.B.D.; Seeliger, H.P.R.; Clark, W.A., editors
Washington (DC): American Society for Microbiology; c1992.
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?call=bv.View..ShowTOC&rid=icnb.TOC&depth=2

Polymicrobial Diseases.
Brogden, Kim A.; Guthmiller, Janet M., editors
Washington (DC): ASM Press; c2002.
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?call=bv.View..ShowTOC&rid=pmd.TOC&depth=2

[Editor's note: Three additional books were added to the Bookshelf.]

Priorities in Health
Dean T. Jamison, Joel G. Breman, Anthony R. Measham, George Alleyne, Mariam Claeson, David B. Evans, Prabhat Jha, Anne Mills, Philip Musgrove, editors
Washington (DC): IBRD/The World Bank; 2006
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=pih.TOC

Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors
Alan D. Lopez, Colin D. Mathers, Majid Ezzati, Dean T. Jamison, Christopher J. L. Murray, editors
Washington (DC): IBRD/The World Bank and Oxford University Press; 2006
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=gbd.TOC

Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries 2nd ed.
Dean T. Jamison, Joel G. Breman, Anthony R. Measham, George Alleyne, Mariam Claeson, David B. Evans, Prabhat Jha, Anne Mills, Philip Musgrove, editors
Washington (DC): IBRD/The World Bank and Oxford University Press; 2006
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=dcp2.TOC

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 cross-database search page.

TOXMAP Adds New Chemical and Health Data

[Editor's Note: This Technical Note is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

In response to feedback from users, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has added new chemical and health-related data to its interactive mapping site, TOXMAP.

Released in September, 2004, TOXMAP helps users explore the geographic distribution of certain chemical releases, their relative amounts, and their trends over time. This release data comes from industrial facilities around the United States, as reported annually to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Now, users can also use TOXMAP to find information about Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites and substances. The Superfund program is part of a federal government effort to clean up land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or to the environment.

The substances found at Superfund sites have been designated as causing or contributing to an increase in mortality or in irreversible or incapacitating illness, or posing a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or to the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed. More than 800 substances are currently designated as hazardous, and many more as potentially hazardous.

TOXMAP has also added mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), as well as age and gender data from the US Census, and income data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

TOXMAP links to NLM's extensive collection of toxicology and environmental health references, as well as to a rich resource of data on hazardous chemical substances in its TOXNET databases. The resource also provides fact sheets and summaries about the various chemicals, written by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and EPA progress reports on the Superfund sites.

Since many users may not be experienced in reading maps or understanding map data, TOXMAP provides a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and a Glossary of Terms. Both resources attempt to provide questions/answers to supplement the user's ability to understand the map displays and the data.

More information about TOXMAP can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/toxmap.html.

National Library of Medicine® Resource Update: Enviro-Health Links/Pesticide Exposure

[Editor's Note: This Technical Note is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

A new Web page that addresses the relationship between pesticides and human health has been added to the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Enviro-Health Links. The page provides links to selected Web sites on pesticide exposure, as well as on the treatment and prevention of pesticide poisoning.

In our everyday lives, we all handle many chemicals (including pesticides) that can be toxic if ingested or inhaled. Acute or chronic exposure to pesticides can cause severe and even life-threatening illnesses. The risk of potential injury to a chemical is determined by exposure and toxicity. Without both factors there is no risk. If we take care to limit our exposure and handle these substances safely, we reduce our risk. This Web page provides selected links to help identify and reduce the risk.

NLM also offers other Enviro-Health Links on topics such as:

• Children's Environmental Health
• Indoor Air Pollution
• Outdoor Air Pollution
• Lead
• Arsenic
• NLM Enviro-Health Links

Notice for PubMed® Saved Searches Created with Date Limitations

My NCBI Saved Searches and RSS feeds that were created using a date selected from the old PubMed® Limits screen should be recreated as these old limits are no longer working. Recreate your searches using date limits from the new Limits screen (and delete the old searches). Searchers are reminded that updates are, by definition, citations for recent publications that are new to PubMed and will not include citations for articles published before September 1997. Therefore, date limits are not recommended for strategies used to create My NCBI updates or RSS feeds.

New Default Displays for PubMed®, Journals, MeSH®, and the NLM Catalog

The default displays for Entrez PubMed, Journals, MeSH, and the NLM Catalog for search results that retrieve a single item will change from the Summary display to an expanded view. The view will change to Abstract for PubMed, Full for Journals and MeSH, and Expanded for the NLM Catalog.

PubMed® Limits Page Revised

The new PubMed® Limits page will soon receive two small changes. "Journal Groups" under Subsets will display before "Topics." In the Dates section, the menus for "Published in the Last" and "Added to PubMed in the Last" will be modified by moving the option for entering a specific date or date range to the bottom of the menu and renaming it as, "Specify date range (YYYY/MM/DD)." These changes are being made for clarification and to address more common usage of these options. For more information about the new Limits page, see the article, PubMed® Limits Page Updated. NLM Tech Bull. 2006 Mar-Apr;(349):e2.

Quick Tours on Searching the NLM Catalog

Three new Quick Tours (brief, narrated demonstrations in Flash®) on searching the NLM Catalog are now available via the NLM Catalog Help and the Distance Education Program Resources page. The new Quick Tours cover the following topics:

• Searching by Author in the NLM Catalog (4 min.)
• Searching by Corporate Author or Conference Name in the NLM Catalog (4 min.)
• Searching by Series in the NLM Catalog (3 min.)

The other Quick Tours on The NLM Catalog via Entrez and Using Limits in the NLM Catalog have also been updated.

Importing TOXLINE® Special Citations into Reference Manager®

[Editor's Note: This Technical Note is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

The Division of Specialized Information Services has added an online tutorial designed to guide users with importing TOXLINE® Special (//www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/toxlinfs.html#toxspecial) citations into the bibliographic organizer Reference Manager®. The tutorial is approximately two minutes in length, uses Macromedia's Flash Player®, and is available 24-hours-a-day.

"Importing TOXLINE Special Citations into Reference Manager" can be found at //sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/captivate/toxlinespecialimports.htm.

2004 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Data Released on NLM's® TOXNET®

[Editor's Note: This Technical Note is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

The 2004 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) has been released on TOXNET. The new release (1987-2004) contains 1,553,330 records.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) TRI provides information on the releases of over 600 specific chemicals into the environment as reported annually by industrial facilities around the United States.

NLM's TOXMAP uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore TRI and Superfund Program data.

NLM's TOXNET is a group of databases on hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases.

LactMed: A New Database on Drugs and Lactation from NLM®

[Editor's Note: This Technical Note is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

LactMed, a free online database with information on drugs and lactation, is one of the newest additions to the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) TOXNET® system, a Web-based collection of resources covering toxicology, chemical safety, and environmental health.

Geared to the healthcare practitioner and nursing mother, LactMed contains over 450 drug records. It includes information such as maternal drug levels in breast milk, infant levels in blood, potential effects in breastfeeding infants and on lactation itself, the American Academy of Pediatrics category indicating the level of compatibility of the drug with breastfeeding, and alternate drugs to consider. References are included, as is nomenclature information, such as the drug's Chemical Abstract Service's (CAS) Registry number and its broad drug class.

LactMed was developed by a pharmacist who is an expert in this subject area. Three other recognized authorities serve as the database's scientific review panel. Ancillary resources, such as a glossary of terms related to drugs and lactation, and breastfeeding links are also offered. LactMed can be searched together with TOXNET's other databases in a multi-database environment, to obtain other relevant information about drugs. As a work in progress, LactMed will continue to expand with additional drugs and be enhanced with other substances, such as industrial chemicals and radiation.