NLM® Classification Now Available in PDF Format

The National Library of Medicine Classification 2006 is now available in PDF (Portable Document Format) at //www.nlm.nih.gov/class/terms_cond.html. PDF documents require the use of the Adobe® Acrobat® Reader, which can be downloaded from Adobe's Web site at no charge.

The PDF version can be downloaded in three (3) separate sections:

• Section 1: Introductory Material (includes instructional material, class number changes, and the Table G geographic location table) [179KB]
• Section 2: Schedules [446KB]
• Section 3: Index [2MB]

The National Library of Medicine Classification 2006 PDF was created from 2006 classification data. It will be replaced in approximately six (6) months by the National Library of Medicine Classification 2007 PDF which will be published at the same time as the online NLM Classification 2007. Future PDF versions of the NLM Classification will be published on an annual basis with current classification data.

The HTML version is still available for download at //www.nlm.nih.gov/class/terms_cond.html. The Terms and Conditions of use must be agreed to in order to download classification data available in PDF and HTML formats.

QIS — A New Journal/Citation Subset Value for MEDLINE® Citations

A new value, QIS, has been established for the Journal/Citation subsets which display in the Subset [SB] field of the MEDLINE display format. The new value will be used on citations from non-Index Medicus journals in the field of the history of medicine. The value was established by NLM® because these journals require special processing. QIS is not a subset of Q; however, some journals previously designated as Q are now QIS. The Q subset value is used for citations in the field of the history of medicine and includes records from the former HISTLINE® database. To facilitate searching for history of medicine information, the history [sb] search strategy in PubMed was edited so that it retrieves the QIS citations along with the Q citations.

MEDLINE®/PubMed® Resources Guide Available

A guide linking users to a wide range of MEDLINE/PubMed resources on the NLM Web site is now available. This helpful guide includes sources for news, overviews, data structure and variables, statistics, help and training resources, and more.

New Books Added to NCBI Bookshelf

Three new books have been added to the Bookshelf:

An Introduction to Epilepsy.
Bromfield, Edward B.; Cavazos, José E.; Sirven, Joseph I., editors
Bethesda (MD): American Epilepsy Society; c2006
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=epilepsy.TOC&depth=1

Health, United States, 2005
With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans.
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?call=bv.View..ShowTOC&rid=healthus05.TOC

Mechanosensitivity in Cells and Tissues.
Kamkin, Andre; Kiseleva, Irina, editors
Moscow: Academia Publishing House Ltd.; c2005
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mechano.TOC

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

Antiretroviral Resistance in Clinical Practice.
Geretti, Anna Maria, editor
London: Mediscript Ltd.; c2006
Available from: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?call=bv.View..ShowTOC&rid=antiretro.TOC

Creating a Web Link to the Entrez Databases was added to the NCBI Help Manual.

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.

"Don't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear: the genetics of ear wax" Added to Coffee Break

NCBI's Coffee Break is a collection of short stories and interactive tutorials about recent biomedical discoveries. These snapshots of science are short enough to be enjoyed over a cup of coffee but also give a detailed report on a molecular topic.

The latest Coffee Break, "Don't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear: the genetics of ear wax," describes an exciting genetic discovery made recently in the field of ear wax. To see a complete list of all available Coffee Break reports click on the contents link.

You can read more about Coffee Break in the NLM Technical Bulletin article, Dean L. Take a Coffee Break. NLM Tech Bull. 2003 Nov-Dec;(335):e5.

HSDB Ionizing Radiation Series Added

[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 record for ionizing radiation and a series of specific radionuclide records have been added to NLM's Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB).

Ionizing radiation may result from unstable atomic nuclei or from high energy electron transitions. It includes electromagnetic radiation (e.g., gamma rays and X-rays) as well as particles (e.g., alpha particles, beta particles, high-speed neutrons, high-speed electrons, high-speed protons, etc.)

HSDB is part of the National Library of Medicine's TOXNET system. It focuses on the toxicology of about 5,000 potentially hazardous chemicals, and is enhanced with information on human exposure, industrial hygiene, emergency handling procedures, environmental fate, regulatory requirements, and related areas.

Records are added to HSDB on a scheduled basis. They are peer reviewed by the HSDB Scientific Review Panel of outside experts.

Further information about HSDB can be found in the National Library of Medicine's HSDB Fact Sheet.

AHRQ Evidence Reports Added to NCBI Bookshelf

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has recently added one new AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) Evidence Reports to the HSTAT collection on the Bookshelf. HSTAT, Health Services/ Technology Assessment Text, is a free, Web-based resource of full-text documents that provides health information and supports health care decision making.

125. Manifestations and Management of Chronic Insomnia in Adults

[Editor's note: One additional Report was added to the HSTAT collection.]

126. Effects of Soy on Health Outcomes

Papers of Harold Varmus Added to the NLM's Profiles in Science®

The National Library of Medicine Profiles in Science Web site has been enriched by the addition of the papers of Harold Varmus, M.D., pioneering cancer researcher, former National Institutes of Health Director (NIH), and Nobel Laureate. The Library has collaborated with the University of California, San Francisco Archives and Special Collections to digitize his papers and make them widely available. This brings to twenty the number of notable scientists who have personal and professional records included in Profiles in Science.

In 1989, Varmus and his long time collaborator, J. Michael Bishop, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes."

In 1993, President Clinton nominated Varmus as Director of the (NIH) where he was a familiar figure on his bicycle as he regularly pedaled between home and office. The first Nobel Laureate to head NIH, Varmus strengthened the institution's commitment to basic research while negotiating political controversies over AIDS and stem cell research. In November 1999, he became president and director of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The online exhibition features correspondence, laboratory and lecture notes, research proposals, published articles, and photographs from the Harold Varmus papers at the University of California, San Francisco. Visitors to the site can view, for example, Varmus' schematic depictions of gene control in birds, an extensive exchange of letters regarding the naming of HIV, and a photograph of Varmus receiving the Montgomery County, Maryland bicyclist of the year award.

Improved Location Data in TOXMAP

[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 EPA recently released updated and more accurate TRI location data from its Facility Registry System (FRS). TOXMAP has incorporated these changes, which correct many TRI location inaccuracies in the FRS. Such corrections will continue to be incorporated into TOXMAP as they become available.

See the TOXMAP FAQ about TRI location accuracy for more information. TOXMAP is a Geographic Information System (GIS) from the Division of Specialized Information Services of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) that uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Superfund Program.

Newly Maintained MEDLINE® Now Available in PubMed®

As of December 11, PubMed's MEDLINE citations, translation tables, and the MeSH® database have been updated to reflect 2007 MeSH. Now that end-of-year activities are complete, MEDLINE via PubMed may be searched using 2007 MeSH vocabulary. See MEDLINE® Data Changes - 2007. NLM Tech Bull. 2006 Nov-Dec;(353):e3. and PubMed® Notes for 2007. NLM Tech Bull. 2006 Nov-Dec;(353):e5. for details on data changes. These articles include links to other relevant MEDLINE and MeSH-related articles. On December 12, NLM resumed daily (Tuesday-Saturday) MEDLINE updates to PubMed (including the backlog of citations indexed since November 14 with 2007 MeSH but not yet added to PubMed).

New Version of WISER (2.3) Available

[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 version of WISER (2.3) is now available for download from //wiser.nlm.nih.gov or via WebWISER.

The key updates in this release include:

• Data updated to reflect the latest content of NLM's® Hazardous Substance Data Bank (HSDB)
• New data item: Ionization Potential (see Physical Properties data menu)
• New data item: EPA's Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGL) (see Medical data menu)
• New substances requested by users: Acrylic Acid and Ethyl Methyl Ether
• Improved presentation of ERG 2004 guide pages (not yet on Palm OS)
• Updated and improved NFPA 704 data
• Improved NFPA 704 presentation, including placard displays (not yet on Palm OS)
• Searching and grouping by NFPA 704 hazards in "Help Identify" is now available on the Pocket PC (as well as WISER for Windows and WebWISER)
• Support for non-standard Pocket PC screen sizes and orientations
• Event Tracking (logging) added to WISER for Windows and Pocket PC (see the User's Guide)
• And more! See the README files in the respective downloads

WISER for Windows and Pocket PC require installation of version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework, which will occur automatically, if necessary. This allows for the support of non-standard Pocket PC displays, and a faster, light-weight database engine. Previous versions of .NET are no longer required by WISER and can likely be uninstalled. See the README of the respective downloads for more details.

Coming soon- NLM is currently working on WISER 3.0, which will add functionality related to:

• Substance categorization
• Radiological substance data and tools
• More comprehensive ERG support

NLM® Announces the New Bioethics Information Resources Web Page

NLM announces a new consolidated Bioethics Information Resources Web page. This new easy-to-use electronic resource will assist users, whether they are specialists in the field or researchers or clinicians or the general public, in finding the bioethics information they need by searching NLM databases as well as linking to other Federal government and outside resources. To read more about this new Web page please see the NLM News and Events Announcement.

Health Literacy Search Added to Special Queries

A subject page for health literacy is now available from NLM's® Special Queries resource page (link from PubMed's® blue sidebar). This page provides a PubMed search strategy and selected links to other sources of health literacy information.

The MEDLINE/PubMed health literacy search retrieves citations to English language journal literature. Users are encouraged to use features of PubMed to focus the search or expand it. For example, to focus the search, consider using the PubMed Limits tab. To expand the search, use the Related Articles feature.

For more information on the Special Queries Resource in PubMed see New Special Queries Resource in PubMed®. NLM TechBull. 2005 Mar-Apr; (343):e1. For information about National Library of Medicine grants for "Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy" (new R01 version that joins the R03 and R21 versions), see //grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-07-020.html

Funding Support Web Page Revised

The National Library of Medicine® has updated its electronic resource that explains the various research funding support tags that are searchable in PubMed®.

New NCBI Database of Genotype and Phenotype (dbGaP)

NLM® and the National Center for Biotechnology Information announce the introduction of the Database of Genotype and Phenotype (dbGaP), a new database designed to archive and distribute data from genome wide association (GWA) studies. GWA studies explore the association between specific genes (genotype information) and observable traits, such as blood pressure and weight, or the presence or absence of a disease or condition (phenotype information). See the press release for more information.