Monday, October 20, 2008

Improving the Odds for Title Searching in PubMed

Improving the Odds for Title Searching in PubMed

Searchers often copy an article title from another source then paste it into PubMed for a search. If a phrase in the title matches with an author name it can cause the search to fail. To improve title searching, PubMed now ignores phrases that match with author/investigator names that are made up only of stopwords (e.g., During A, May BE, Just BY). For example, in the search for the title, Prediction of performance level during a cognitive task from ongoing EEG oscillatory activities, the phrase, during a, is ignored and the search retrieves the expected citation. This special effect occurs when the phrase is part of a string of other words, none of which have search tags. When a name is entered by itself, e.g., just by, it is interpreted as a name search. To search for an author name (that matches with stop words) plus other terms, use an author search tag, e.g., just by [au] AND seizure.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so08/so08_pm_title_searching.html

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Library Closed to the Public Sundays and Some Evenings for the Next 5 weeks

The Health Sciences Library will be closed to the public on the following dates and times:

Sunday, Oct. 19
Monday, Oct. 20, 5p-10p
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 5p-10p
Sunday, Oct. 26
Monday, Oct. 27, 5p-10p
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 5p-10p
Sunday, Nov. 2
Tuesday, Nov. 4 (ELECTION DAY HOLIDAY)
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 5p-10p
Sunday, Nov. 9
Tuesday, Nov. 11 (VETERANS' DAY HOLIDAY)
Wed, Nov. 12, 5p-10p
Sunday, Nov. 16
Monday, Nov. 17, 5p-10p

Monday, October 13, 2008

Asian American Health

The Asian American Health web resource, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine, is designed to increase public awareness of the health concerns of these important minority groups, who are major contributors to our society's economy, innovation, and vibrancy. Links are provided to an assortment of documents, web sites, databases, and other resources.

Asian Americans represent a large and rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population. A recent U.S. Census estimate puts their combined numbers at over 11 million people and predicts a better than tripling in population by 2050. They are exceedingly diverse, coming from nearly fifty countries and ethnic groups, each with distinct cultures, traditions, and histories, and they speak over 100 languages and dialects. Asian American diversity extends to socioeconomic indicators, with members found throughout the spectra of poverty to wealth, and illiteracy to advanced education (U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features).

Although Asian Americans in the United States suffer from the same health problems as the population at large, certain illnesses predominate. There is a particularly high rate of liver cancer among Asian Americans, while lung cancer is their leading cause of cancer death. Vietnamese women's cervical cancer rate is five times that of Caucasian women. Asian Americans have among the highest rates of tuberculosis and hepatitis B in the United States. Asian Indians have an unusually high rate of coronary artery disease, and parasitic infections are particularly widespread among Southeast Asian refugees (Cancer Facts on Asians & Pacific Islanders).

http://asianamericanhealth.nlm.nih.gov/