Testing Early Treatments for Alzheimer’s

Scientists now know Alzheimer’s attacks the brain long before people exhibit memory loss or cognitive decline. But the specifics are crucial because so far, drug after drug has failed to effectively treat Alzheimer’s in people who already show symptoms. Many scientists now think the problem may be that the drugs were given too late, when, as Dr. John C. Morris, an Alzheimer’s expert at Washington University in St. Louis, puts it, “there’s a heck of a lot of brain cell damage and we’re trying to treat a very damaged

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/health/09alzheimers.html?_r=1&ref=health

Forget Me Not Initiative
http://www.forgetmenotinitiative.org/

The Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative:
A Proposal to Accelerate the Evaluation of
Pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease Treatments (5/9/10)
http://www.bannerhealth.com/NR/rdonlyres/33B8922D-8B34-4639-B70B-BAD5CDEB92C1/46927/APIsummaryweb2.pdf

New clues found to symptom-free HIV

There's still no vaccine for HIV, but researchers have made inroads in discovering new clues to why a minority of infected people can carry the virus without treatment.

Only about one in 300 people infected appear to have an immune system that can naturally suppress the virus's replication, and thus they carry low levels of the virus, the study said. Specific genetic variations may be responsible for this uncommon response to HIV, this study published in the journal Science found.

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/05/new-clues-found-to-symptom-free-hiv/

http://www.hivcontrollers.org/

Library Closed to Public on Veterans Day, November 11, 2010

The Health Sciences Library will be closed to the public and unstaffed on Thursday, November 11th in observance of Veterans Day .

Early Intervention of Autism

At the Age of Peekaboo, in Therapy to Fight Autism

In the three years since her son Diego was given a diagnosis of autism at age 2, Carmen Aguilar has made countless contributions to research on this perplexing disorder.

Carmen and Saul Aguilar worked with Sally Rogers to help their son Emilio.

She has donated all manner of biological samples and agreed to keep journals of everything she’s eaten, inhaled or rubbed on her skin. Researchers attended the birth of her second son, Emilio, looking on as she pushed, leaving with Tupperware containers full of tissue samples, the placenta and the baby’s first stool.

Now the family is in yet another study, part of an effort by a network of scientists across North America to look for signs of autism as early as 6 months. (Now, the condition cannot be diagnosed reliably before age 2.) And here at the MIND Institute at the University of California Davis Medical Center, researchers are watching babies like Emilio in a pioneering effort to determine whether they can benefit from specific treatments.

By APRIL DEMBOSKY

Published: November 1, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/health/02autism.html?_r=1&ref=health

Randomized, Controlled Trial of an Intervention for Toddlers With Autism: The Early Start Denver Mode

This is the first randomized, controlled trial to demonstrate the efficacy of a comprehensive developmental behavioral intervention for toddlers with ASD for improving cognitive and adaptive behavior and reducing severity of ASD diagnosis. Results of this study underscore the importance of early detection of and intervention in autism.

For UHM users only:
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2095

PMID: 19948568

UC Davis Mind Institute
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/

Library Closed to Public on Election Day, November 2, 2010

The Health Sciences Library will be closed to the public and unstaffed on Tuesday, November 2nd in observance of Election Day .

Madisons Foundation

Madisons Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality and quantity of information available to parents of children with rare, life-threatening diseases, and to facilitating effective communication among parents, physicians and medical experts through:

http://www.madisonsfoundation.org/

How to be a Doctor for Kids
http://www.madisonsfoundation.org/index.php/content/view/16/93/

Kid to Kid
Madison's second book, authored at the age of ten, speaks to other children about what to expect during a hospital stay. Being hospitalized can be a scary thing, and Madison felt it was important to give other children a fellow child's perspective on what they will expect during their visit.
http://www.madisonsfoundation.org/index.php/content/view/19/95/

Surgeons Get Help Counting Sponges

Surgery is tough enough even when everything goes perfectly. But if the surgeon leaves something inside you, well, that's just plain bad.

Those leftovers can lead to infections, pain and other complications. Then there's the possibility of another operation to retrieve the stuff. Now, more operating rooms are being equipped with new gadgets to avoid misplaced equipment.

Some research indicates about 1 in around 1,000 patients undergoing abdominal surgeries wind up with an unintended souvenir. A push to improve quality has put mistakes like those on a list of "never events," errors that just shouldn't happen — ever.

NPR Blogs October 6, 2010
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/10/06/130379163/better-safe-than-sorry-surgeons-get-help-counting-sponges?ft=1&f=1128&sc=tw

L.A. Times October 5, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-sponge-20101005,0,7993203.story?track=rss

Plain Language Medical Dictionaries

Last week, University of Michigan Taubman Medical Library won the MLA Midwest Chapter's Jean Sayre Innovation Award for their Plain Language Medical Dictionary widget at http://www.lib.umich.edu/plain-language-dictionary.

It is based on CDC document, Plain Language Thesaurus for Health Communications, which I found online at http://depts.washington.edu/respcare/public/info/Plain_Language_Thesaurus_for_Health_Communications.pdf

More on how to use this widget is described in Patricia Andersen's blog at http://etechlib.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/plain-language-medical-dictionary-igoogle-gadgets-beyond-google/.

You can easily add to your iGoogle page.

Thanks to the University of Michigan and PF Anderson for this information.

Physician Revives a Dying Art: The Physical

Medical schools in the United States have let the exam slide, Dr. Verghese says, noting that over time he has encountered more and more interns and residents who do not know how to test a patient’s reflexes or palpate a spleen. He likes to joke that a person could show up at the hospital with a finger missing, and doctors would insist on an M.R.I., a CT scan and an orthopedic consult to confirm it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/health/12profile.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage

CAPHIS-Consumer and Patient Health Information Section

CAPHIS
CAPHIS, the Consumer and Patient Health Information Section, is a section of the Medical Library Association, an association of health information professionals with more than 5,000 individual and institution members. MLA fosters excellence in the professional achievement and leadership of health sciences library and information professionals to enhance the quality of health care, education, and research.

http://caphis.mlanet.org/

Brain cancer vaccine promising in test results

An experimental brain cancer vaccine has been found to nearly double the life expectancy of some patients with the most aggressive form of the disease.

This study comes from research at Duke university medical center and M-D Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. Karen Vaneman has one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer -- a glioblastoma, which usually claims its victims within about 15 months after diagnosis.

WebMD Brain Cancer Vaccine video
http://www.webmd.com/video/brain-tumor-vaccine

For UHM users only:

Immunotherapy of Malignant Gliomas Using Autologous and Allogenic Tissue Cells.
PMID: 20879986

http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2095

Brain cancer vaccine doubles survival
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39505662/ns/health-cancer/

Health Daily videos added to Consumer Health Complete

Consumer Health Complete is a comprehensive resource for consumer-oriented health content. It is designed to support patients' information needs and foster an overall understanding of health-related topics. And now they have added an array of 2,286 Health Daily videos from NBC Digital Health Network Medical Video & Animation Collection. The wide ranging topics in the Health Daily feed include such information as diverse as Allergies, Diabetes and Workplace Health.

Consumer Health Complete
For UHM only:
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=54700

CDC Vital Signs-Tobacco Use

CDC Vital Signs offers recent data on the important health
topics of key diseases,conditions, or risk factors. Data is
gathered  from CDC's national monitoring systems to show
progress in important  areas of public health, and the ways
people can increase their health,  prevent or control disease. 

http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/TobaccoUse/Smoking/

http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/pdf/2010-09-vitalsigns.pdf  

Sage Journals free Online Access until October 15, 2010

Register for Free Online Access to all SAGE Journals until October 15, 2010

You’ll then have access to more than 290,000 articles from 560+ journals on SAGE Journals Online—one of the largest and most powerful collections of business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technical, and medical content in the world.

http://www.sagepublications.com/promos/1105082JA.htm?utm_source=SJO&utm_medium=mobileversion&utm_content=viewonline&utm_campaign=1105082JA

Tackling Allergies Can Ease Asthma Suffering

About 4 million to 5 million American children have persistent asthma, and about 90 percent of them also have allergies. Studies have found that treating the allergies can not only make asthmatic children more comfortable, but it can even keep them out of the emergency room.

"For the vast majority of children with asthma, allergies are a very important, if not the most important factor in causing symptoms and determining risk for hospitalizations and emergency room visits," says asthma expert Dr. William Busse of the University of Wisconsin.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125759694

Role of Viral Respiratory Infections in Asthma and Exacerbations
For UHM only:
PMID: 20816549


Mast Cell Phenotype, Location and Activation in Severe Asthma: Data from the Severe Asthma Research Program
For UHM only:
PMID: 20813890

New pill aimed at preventing diabetes

A recent surge in obesity is putting diabetes on track to become one of the country's most feared epidemics. Here at home, the John A. Burns School of Medicine is at the forefront of stopping the illness." They estimate 57 million people in this country have pre-diabetes,” said Dr. Terry Shintani. And many who live in Hawaii are at risk." The pacific islanders, the Asian populations are at very high risk and these rates increase with increasing age,” said Dr. Beatriz Rodriguez, principal investigator. At the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, a clinical trial is underway to stop diabetes before it starts.

Researchers are looking for adults 40-70 years old who have early signs of type 2 diabetes, but are not on any medication." And we're looking for people who are less than 250 pounds,” said Dr. Rodriguez. "We want men and women all races."

Patients who complete the study will receive $400.

Call #692-0908 for more information or visit http://www.yourhealthsite.org.

http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/New-pill-aimed-at-preventing-diabetes/BKKbKH8Aw0GWA4ZmaYlKgA.cspx

AIDSinfo® Launches Mobile Site

AIDSinfo (http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/), a US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) project managed by the National Library of Medicine, now offers a mobile site that allows users to access its resources and information on-the-go. The AIDSinfo mobile site is available at: http://m.aidsinfo.nih.gov.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so10/so10_reprint_nlm_aidsinfo_mobile.html

Sports-related concussion in adolescents

Clinical Report- Sports-related concussion in adolescents
Pediatrics Vol. 126 no. 3 September 2010, pp 597-615
PMID: 20805152

Sport-related concussion is a "hot topic" in the media and in medicine. It is a common injury that is likely under reported by pediatric and adolescent athletes. Football has the highest incidence of concussion, but girls have higher concussion rates than boys do in similar sports. A clear understanding of the definition, signs, and symptoms of concussion is necessary to recognize it and rule out more severe intracranial injury. Concussion can cause symptoms that interfere with school, social and family relationships, and participation in sports.

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;126/3/597

The Biomechanical Properties of Concussions in High School Football.

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2010 Mar 25.
PMID: 20351593

Sport concussion represents the majority of brain injuries occurring in the United States with 1.6 to 3.8 million cases annually. Understanding the biomechanical properties of this injury will support the development of better diagnostics and preventative techniques.

For UHM only:
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2095

CTE is a real risk for football players

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703547.html

Concussion Worries Renew Focus on Football Safety
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130081779&sc=fb&cc=fp

TEDMED 2010

Created by Marc Hodosh and Richard Saul Wurman, TEDMED celebrates conversations that demonstrate the intersection and connections between all things medical and healthcare related: from personal health to public health, devices to design and Hollywood to the hospital. Together, this encompasses more than twenty percent of our GNP in America while touching everyone's life around the globe.

http://www.tedmed.com/what

Cigarette Smoke May Affect Fertility

Smoking may provide an explanation for reduced fertility, results of two studies suggested.

The first, by Claus Yding Andersen, MD, of the University of Copenhagen, and colleagues, found significant reductions in germ and somatic cells in the testes of male embryos from mothers who smoked during pregnancy, possibly related to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in cigarette smoke.

"This effect may have long-term consequences on the future fertility of exposed offspring," the authors wrote online in Human Reproduction.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Smoking/22069

Primary source: Human Reproduction
Source reference:
Mamsen L, et al "Cigarette smoking during early pregnancy reduces the number of embryonic germ and somatic cells" Hum Reprod 2010; DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deq215.

Additional source: Human Reproduction
Source reference:
Hammadeh M, et al "Protamine contents and P1/P2 ratio in human spermatozoa from smokers and non-smokers" Hum Reprod 2010; DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deq226.

U.S. Judge Rules Against Obama’s Stem Cell Policy

The National Institutes of Health issued a notice late Monday on the federal district court injunction blocking the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. The notice confirms the information provided by Dr. Francis Collins last week in a call with the media. The notice states that grant awards that were funded on or before August 23, 2010, are not affected by the preliminary injunction order, and award recipients may continue to expend the funds awarded to them prior to the date of the injunction. However, pending competing and noncompeting continuation hESC awards and contracts are suspended until further notice, and the peer review of all pending competing hESC applications and proposals also are suspended.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-126.html

NIH has ordered the termination of all NIH intramural human embryonic stem cell research. Deputy Director Dr. Michael Gottesman wrote in an email to intramural scientists, "HHS has determined that the recent preliminary injunction ordered by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the matter of Sherley v. Sebelius is applicable to the use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in intramural research projects. In light of this determination, effective today August 27, 2010, all intramural scientists who use hESC lines should initiate procedures to terminate these projects. Procedures that will conserve and protect the research resources should be followed."

The new issue of The New Yorker features an article on Dr. Francis Collins, director of the NIH, and the recent injunction barring federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/06/100906fa_fact_boyer?printable=true#ixzz0y6432cDX

A new supplement released Monday to the September issue of Academic Medicine highlights the innovations in medical education curriculum since 2000. “A Snapshot of Medical Student Education in the United States and Canada” coincides with the centennial anniversary of the landmark Flexner report and examines advances in medical education curriculum at 128 U.S. and Canadian medical schools. In addition to the school reports, articles on the history and future of medical education and how the health care system has affected the development of the medical education system are included from authors such as Lois M. Nora, M.D., J.D., M.B.A., Brian David Hodges, M.D., Ph.D., Barbara Barzansky, Ph.D., Susan E. Skochelak, M.D., M.P.H., and Donald M. Berwick, M.D., M.P.P.
http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2010/100830.htm
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/toc/2010/09001

An article distributed by Bloomberg on Tuesday discussed the impact stimulus funding has had on research and how the ending of such funding is causing some pain.
http://tinyurl.com/27sho62

An editorial in Monday's Chicago Sun Times highlights the University of Chicago's Urban Health Initiative. The editorial states, "...we see some reason to believe the project is making successful inroads in redirecting a significant number of people away from the ER and toward the clinics and community hospitals. If those numbers grow, and if the quality of care at the referral sites is demonstrably high, this project could serve as a model for similar efforts across the nation. We sincerely hope so. Bold efforts such as this are essential if the United States is to get a grip on the spiraling cost of health care."
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/2651142,CST-EDT-edit30.article

The Wall Street Journal on Monday featured an article titled, "Cash-Poor Governments Ditching Public Hospitals." The article reports, "More than a fifth of the nation's 5,000 hospitals are owned by governments and many are drowning in debt caused by rising health-care costs, a spike in uninsured patients, cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and payments on construction bonds sold in fatter times. Because most public hospitals tend to be solo operations, they don't enjoy the economies of scale, or more generous insurance contracts, which bolster revenue at many larger nonprofit and for-profit systems.Local officials also predict an expensive future as new requirements—for technology, quality accounting and care coordination—start under the overhaul, which became law in March."
http://tinyurl.com/268jtd9

from Tony Mazzaschi
AAMC

Library Closed on Labor Day - Mon, Sept 6

The Health Sciences Library will be closed on Monday, September 6, 2010 in observance of Labor Day.

Modified Hours for HSL

The Health Sciences Library has modified hours for 3 dates in September due to staffing issues.

Hours will be from 8:00a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the following dates:

Wed, Sept 1
Mon, Sept 13
Wed, Sept 15

We apologize for the inconvenience.

UH Voyager Server Maintenance Mon 9/6 (Labor Day)

UH Voyager Server Maintenance Mon 9/6 (Labor Day)

Server maintenance will be done on the UH Voyager library catalog system this Monday September 6th (Labor Day Holiday) for approximately 2 hours starting around 5am. This will require the UH Voyager library catalog to be unavailable. In addition, access to all online journals and databases will be unavailable, because this includes maintenance to the proxy server that allows you to login to UH journals and databases.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime

Digital devices deprive brain of needed downtime

The New York Times reports that at the University of California, San Francisco, scientists have found that when rats have a new experience, like exploring an unfamiliar area, their brains show new patterns of activity. But only when the rats take a break from their exploration do they process those patterns in a way that seems to create a persistent memory of the experience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/technology/25brain.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1282932017-5FE6/gPiCwZSjjibtyshjg

The NY Times journalist of the story above was interviewed by NPR's Fresh Air and describes a scientific retreat he was able to attend with scientists studying the brain and gadget use. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129384107

Smoking On Screen Declines, But Half Of Top Films Still Feature Tobacco

Mind if movie stars smoke? Actually, quite a few people do.

Adam Butler/AP

Actor Michael Madsen smokes outside the British premiere of Kill Bill - Vol. 2 in London in 2004.

Foes of smoking say that when larger-than-life celebrities light up on the big screen, it raises the odds that young people will take up the bad health habit.

An advocacy group audited the cameo roles of tobacco in the top-grossing movies going back to 1991 and found the number of smoking scenes has fallen in recent years. But they're still pretty common.

After peaking in 2005, on-screen smoking in the top movies has declined by almost half to 1,935 recorded instances in 2009. All told, 51 percent of the top movies in 2009 didn't show tobacco use at all, the first time a majority, albeit a thin one, of big films have been tobacco-free.

For movies kids are most likely to see (rated G, PG and PG-13), 61 percent were tobacco-free last year.

The findings appear in the latest issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, where you can find lots more details on how the movie watchers cataloged smoking incidents.

You might recall that back in 1998, tobacco companies agreed to stop paying to have their cigarettes placed in movies and such. Since then, antismoking groups have been ratcheting up the pressure on movie makers to eliminate the depiction of smoking in their films.

The movie analysis was funded, in part, by the antismoking American Legacy Foundation and the California Tobacco Control Program.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/08/19/129301401/cigarette-smoking-in-movies-declines-but-half-of-top-films-still-feature-tobacco?ft=1&f=1001

MMWR:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5932a2.htm?s_cid=mm5932a2_w

Local Resources:
http://www.ala-hawaii.org/tobacco.asp

Library Closed for Statehood Day, Fri, Aug 20

The Health Sciences Library and the Medical Education Building will be closed on Friday, August 20th, in observance of Statehood Day.

Normal hours will resume on Saturday, August 21st.

Think Twice Before Eating White Rice?

Think Twice Before Eating White Rice?

According to an article published in Archives of Internal Medicine, eating more white rice raised the risk for type 2 diabetes in a large clinical study, whereas eating more brown rice reduced the risk.

Type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest growing health problems in Americans of all ages. Being overweight or inactive increases your chances of developing the disease. Research suggests that eating more refined foods, including white bread and sugary foods, might also raise the risk.

The new study followed about 200,000 people for up to 22 years. The people who ate at least 5 weekly servings of white rice had a 17% higher risk than those who ate less than 1 serving per month.

On the other hand, people who ate at least 2 servings of brown rice a week had an 11% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who ate less than 1 serving a month.

"We believe replacing white rice and other refined grains with whole grains, including brown rice, would help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes," says study co-author Dr. Qi Sun of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/Aug2010/Capsule1

For UHM users only:
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2095
PMID: 20548009 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Library Catalog Article Requests down Sat/Sun

Due to a software upgrade, you will not be able to log into the Voyager Library Catalog in order to make article and/or book transfer requests from Saturday, Aug 14th through Sunday, Aug 15th.

You will be able to search the Voyager Library Catalog.

Everything should be back to normal by Monday, August 16th. We apologize for the inconvenience.

CDC Report looks at Foods and Foodborne agents associated with Outbreaks in the United States

CDC Report looks at Foods and Foodborne agents associated with Outbreaks in the United States

A total of 1,097 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported in 2007 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a CDC analysis. State investigators reported 21,244 illnesses and 18 deaths as a result of these outbreaks. The report also provides the most recent data on how many illnesses were linked to specific types of foods.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/

http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r100812.htm

NIH Genomic Mapping Study Finds Largest Set of Genes Related to Major Risk Factor for Heart Disease

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/aug2010/nhlbi-04.htm

Scanning the genomes of more than 100,000 people from all over the world, scientists report the largest set of genes discovered underlying high cholesterol and high triglycerides — the major risk factors for coronary heart disease, the nation’s number one killer. Taken together, the gene variants explain between a quarter and a third of the inherited portions of cholesterol and triglyceride measured in the blood. The research, representing scientists from 17 countries, appears in two papers in the Aug. 5 issue of Nature.

For UHM use only:
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2548

Trial of Nature Protocols

Hamilton Library has a trial of Nature Protocols going until September 30, 2010.

Nature Protocols is an interactive online resource for laboratory protocols for bench researchers. Protocols are presented in a 'recipe' style providing step-by-step descriptions of procedures that users can take to the lab bench and immediately apply in their own research. Protocols on the site are fully searchable and organized into logical categories to be easily accessible to researchers.

http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=56321
Access is only for UH Manoa faculty, students, and staff.

Wiley Interscience down Aug 6-8th

Wiley Blackwell e-journals will be going down this weekend from 10 p.m. HST, Friday, Aug. 6 until 6 a.m. HST, Sunday, Aug. 8.

Wiley will be transitioning from its current Wiley Interscience platform to its new Wiley Online Library during the downtime. For more information on new features in Wiley Online Library, visit: http://info.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/view/0/UserServices.html

After the transition, if you encounter any problems accessing Wiley e-journals, please let the Library know (hslinfo@hawaii.edu or 692-0810)

Library closing at 8pm on Wed, 8/4

The Health Sciences Library will be closing to the public at 8pm on Wednesday, August 4th, due to staffing issues.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Android Apps for Medicine

The Software Advice Medical Blog has posted a review of medical apps for Androids.

They looked at over 1,200 “Health” apps in the Android Marketplace and created a list of the best 60 apps organized into 18 categories (such as anatomy, pediatrics, study guides, dictionaries) that were designed specifically for doctors, nurses and students.

So, check it out if you have an Android!

If you have an iPhone, check out our iPhone Medical Apps subject guide.

CDC Survey Finds Nine in 10 U.S. Adults Consume Too Much Sodium

Less than 10 percent of U.S. adults limit their daily sodium intake to recommended levels, according to a new report, "Sodium Intake in Adults – United States, 2005-2006," published today in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The report also finds that most sodium in the American diet comes from processed grains such as pizza and cookies, and meats, including poultry and luncheon meats.

According to the report, U.S. adults consume an average of 3,466 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day, more than twice the current recommended limit for most Americans. Grains provide 36.9 percent of this total, followed by dishes containing meat, poultry, and fish (27.9 percent). These two categories combined account for almost two-thirds of the daily sodium intake for Americans.

http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r100624.htm

NOTICE: Library Website URL change

The Health Sciences Library has had to change its URL due to new UH Web hosting requirements.
Please discontinue using: http://www.hawaii.edu/hslib/

The Library's new URL is:
http:// hslib.jabsom.hawaii.edu

Please update your personal Web bookmarks if necessary and any other affected service or Web based tools.

FYI for now, if you go to the Library's old web address, you will be automatically redirected to our new website.

We encourage users to contact the Library if you should discover any broken links or Web pages that are functioning improperly. We will try to fix them as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Rethinking the way we rank medical schools

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/health/17chen.html?ref=health

The Social Mission of Medical Education: Ranking the Schools

1. Fitzhugh Mullan, MD;
2. Candice Chen, MD, MPH;
3. Stephen Petterson, PhD;
4. Gretchen Kolsky, MPH, CHES; and
5. Michael Spagnola, BA

+ Author Affiliations

1. From George Washington University, Children's National Medical Center, and Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC.

Abstract

Background: The basic purpose of medical schools is to educate physicians to care for the national population. Fulfilling this goal requires an adequate number of primary care physicians, adequate distribution of physicians to underserved areas, and a sufficient number of minority physicians in the workforce.

Objective: To develop a metric called the social mission score to evaluate medical school output in these 3 dimensions.

Design: Secondary analysis of data from the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Masterfile and of data on race and ethnicity in medical schools from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Association of American Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.

Setting: U.S. medical schools.

Participants: 60 043 physicians in active practice who graduated from medical school between 1999 and 2001.

Measurements: The percentage of graduates who practice primary care, work in health professional shortage areas, and are underrepresented minorities, combined into a composite social mission score.

Results: The contribution of medical schools to the social mission of medical education varied substantially. Three historically black colleges had the highest social mission rankings. Public and community-based medical schools had higher social mission scores than private and non–community-based schools. National Institutes of Health funding was inversely associated with social mission scores. Medical schools in the northeastern United States and in more urban areas were less likely to produce primary care physicians and physicians who practice in underserved areas.

Limitations: The AMA Physician Masterfile has limitations, including specialty self-designation by physicians, inconsistencies in reporting work addresses, and delays in information updates. The public good provided by medical schools may include contributions not reflected in the social mission score. The study was not designed to evaluate quality of care provided by medical school graduates.

Conclusion: Medical schools vary substantially in their contribution to the social mission of medical education. School rankings based on the social mission score differ from those that use research funding and subjective assessments of school reputation. These findings suggest that initiatives at the medical school level could increase the proportion of physicians who practice primary care, work in underserved areas, and are underrepresented minorities.

Primary Funding Source: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.

Article and Author Information

• Grant Support: By the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.

• Potential Conflicts of Interest: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M09-2257.

To access the full text article:
For UHM students only

Annals of Internal Medicine
PMID: 20547907 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?jId=1220

New App for Health Hotlines

*NLM Technical Bulletin, May-Jun 2010, NLM Resource Update: New App for
Health Hotlines

The National Library of Medicine® (NLM) Health Hotlines is now available as an app for the iPhone® and iPod Touch®. Health Hotlines is also compatible with the iPad®.

Health Hotlines is a compilation of organizations with toll-free telephone numbers which can assist the public in locating health-related information. It is derived from DIRLINE®, the NLM Directory of Information Resources Online. DIRLINE contains descriptions of almost 9,000 health and biomedical organizations and resources. Some subject areas included in Health Hotlines include AIDS, cancer, diseases and disorders, maternal and child health, aging, substance abuse, disabilities and mental health.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj10/mj10_sis_reprint_health_hotlines.html

Health Sciences Library closing early July 6 (8am -8pm)

The Health Sciences Library will be closing early. The hours will be from 8am-8pm.

Top 10 cancers among men

The Top 10 Cancers Among Men
The 10 most commonly diagnosed cancers among men in the United States in 2006* included cancers of the prostate, lung, colon and rectum, and bladder; melanomas of the skin; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; kidney cancer, mouth and throat cancer, leukemias, and pancreatic cancer. Overall, 708,769 men were told they had cancer and 290,064 men died from cancer in the U.S. in 2006.

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsMenTop10Cancers/

Library Closed July 3-5, 2010

The Health Sciences Library will be closed Saturday, July 3 through Monday, July 5, 2010, as will the entire Medical Education Building, in observance of the Independence Day holiday and as part of the Kakaako Green Days initiative to save energy costs.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Voyager and Online Resources outage Saturday June 26, 2010

The Voyager Library Catalog, online databases, and online journals will be down Saturday, June 26, 2010 from about 6:30am to 8:30am due to a scheduled outage at Hamilton Library.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Diagnosis for Alzheimer's in patients with memory problems.

If the findings of a tiny Philadelphia company hold up, doctors would for the first time have a reliable way to diagnose Alzheimer’s in patients with memory problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/health/research/24scans.html

The findings will be presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2010
July 10-15
Honolulu, Hawaii
http://www.alz.org/icad/overview.asp

NIH Public Access Policy Citation Management Tool

NIH Public Access Policy Citation Management Tool
Beginning July 23, 2010, program directors and principal investigators must use My NCBI’s “My Bibliography” tool to manage their professional bibliographies. They will no longer be able to enter citations manually into eRA Commons.

To ease investigators’ bibliography management, improve data quality, and ensure compliance with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) public access policy, eRA Commons has linked to the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s (NCBI’s) personal online tool, “My NCBI.” Using “My Bibliography,” users can maintain and manage a list of all types of their authored works, such as articles, presentations, and books.

When a new or existing My NCBI account is linked to a Commons account, citations added to My Bibliography will appear automatically in the Commons account. Investigators and their delegates will benefit from My Bibliography’s ability to query the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed and PubMed Central databases, as well as the NIH Manuscript Submission system, and import citation data directly from those sources. Users can access My NCBI from Commons, or they can log in directly to My NCBI using their Commons username and password.

For more information on how investigators should handle the upcoming changes, see notice number NOT-OD-10-103. Read the step-by-step guide for how to set up a “My NCBI” account and access “My Bibliography.”

One in five "Best Doctors" are faculty at JABSOM

UH System Current News One in five "Best Doctors" are on faculty at UH Mānoa's medical school UH System Current News Faculty Members (Clinical Faculty and Full-time Faculty) at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

iPad/iPhone & Android medical app reviews by health care professionals

Medical App Reviews
App Reviews are listed by most recent, with a quick summary and link to the full review. The Reviews are divided into categories as well on the right. Most of the reviews are of iPhone Medical apps, but Android app reviews are labeled as such in the title.
http://www.imedicalapps.com/

Library closing at 8pm on Thur, June 17

The Health Sciences will be closing to the public at 8pm on Thursday, June 17, 2010, due to staffing issues.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Influenza Roundtable Online Videos on CDC-TV

Influenza Roundtable Online Videos on CDC-TV

There are many questions people have about seasonal and the 2009 H1N1 flu. CDC has developed several broadcast quality videos that focus on some of the different topics for which the public is seeking information such as warning signs of the flu, preventing its spread and taking antiviral medications.

Four "Influenza Roundtable" videos were filmed, featuring Dr. Joe Bresee, Chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in CDC's Influenza Division. These videos provide easy to understand answers for the public and provide important public health recommendations and action steps to protect their health and the health of their families.

http://www.cdc.gov/news/2009/11/flu_roundtable/

Library closed for King Kamehameha Day Friday, June 11, 2010

The library will be closed on King Kamehameha Day Friday June 11, 2010. It will reopen under the normal schedule on Saturday June 12.

Researchers Develop Promising Breast Cancer Vaccine

Scientists have made a discovery they say could lead to a vaccine to prevent and cure breast cancer, a common and deadly disease that afflicts millions of women around the world.

The experimental vaccine developed by researchers at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Institute in Ohio was 100 percent effective in preventing breast cancer in a group of mice specially bred to develop the disease. The vaccine, which has been in the works for the past eight years, also stopped the growth of existing tumors.

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/health/Researchers-Develop-Promising-Breast-Cancer-Vaccine--95576869.html

An autoimmune-mediated strategy for prophylactic breast cancer vaccination.
Jaini R, Kesaraju P, Johnson JM, Altuntas CZ, Jane-Wit D, Tuohy VK.
Nat Med. 2010 May 30. [Epub ahead of print]

PubMed
PMID: 20512124
For UHM users only

Healthwise, Big Isle lags behind rest of state

Healthwise, Big Isle lags behind rest of state

Big Islanders live shorter lives and face higher cancer, heart disease and suicide rates compared with the rest of Hawaii, according to a recent report on health on Hawaii Island.

Lack of access to doctors and health information, the economy, behavior and being of certain ethnic backgrounds appear to decrease life expectancy and the overall health of Big Isle residents, said Sharon H. Vitousek, an internal medicine specialist and director of the North Hawaii Outcomes Project, which produced the Community Health Profile 2010 report.

North Hawaii Outcomes Project
http://www.nhop.org/

http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2010/05/26/local/local03.txt

Two new grants from NLM

NLM recently announced two newly-issued grant programs, NLM Information Resource Grants to Reduce Health Disparities and NLM Independent Career Development Award for Biomedical Informatics. Applications for both programs must be submitted through Grants.gov.

The grant program to reduce health disparities solicits applications for projects that will bring useful, usable health information to populations affected by health disparities and the health care providers who care for them. Proposed projects should utilize the capabilities of computer and information technology and health sciences libraries to bring health-related information to consumers and their health care providers. The application deadline is July 14, 2010.

The purpose of the NLM Independent Career Development Award for Biomedical Informatics program is to facilitate the transition of investigators from the mentored to the independent stage of their careers. The award applies to research in clinical informatics, public health informatics or translational informatics. Preference will be given to candidates who received their informatics training at one of NLM’s university-based training programs in biomedical informatics. There are multiple application deadline dates.

Additional information regarding both grant programs is available in this recently published Latitudes article, http://nnlm.gov/psr/newsletter/?p=2883.

Thanks to Alan Carr at UCLA

Testing Link Between Diabetes and Family History

Diet and lifestyle contribute to diabetes, but so does family history. So Australian researchers undertook an unusual experiment: they recruited healthy volunteers from families with and without a history of Type 2 diabetes and overfed them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/health/research/18patt.html?ref=health

A family history of type 2 diabetes increases risk factors associated with overfeeding
D. Samocha-Bonet, L. V. Campbell, A. Viardot, J. Freund, C. S. Tam, J. R. Greenfield and L. K. Heilbronn

Diabetologia
May 2010 online
For UHM only

Library closing at 8pm on Wed, May 19th

The Health Sciences will be closing to the public at 8pm on Wednesday, May 19, 2010, due to staffing issues.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Misdiagnosis common in food allergies

Many who think they have food allergies actually do not. A new report, commissioned by the federal government, finds the field is rife with poorly done studies, misdiagnoses and tests that can give misleading results.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/health/research/12allergies.html?ref=health

JAMA. 2010 May 12;303(18):1848-56.

Diagnosing and managing common food allergies: a systematic review.

Chafen JJ, Newberry SJ, Riedl MA, Bravata DM, Maglione M, Suttorp MJ, Sundaram V, Paige NM, Towfigh A, Hulley BJ, Shekelle PG.

For UHM only cut and paste PMID into PubMed search box
PMID: 20460624

http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2095

H1N1 fact sheet in Asian, Pacific Islander languages

H1N1 fact sheet in Asian, Pacific Islander languages

Thanks to the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, the Get Ready campaign is pleased to provide its fact sheet on H1N1 preparedness in common Asian and Pacific Islander languages.

The health forum translated the Get Ready campaign's popular H1N1 flu preparedness fact sheet (also available in English and Spanish) into 10 languages: Chinese, Chamorro, Chuukese, Japanese, Korean, Marshallese, Samoan, Thai, Tongan and Vietnamese.

http://www.getreadyforflu.org/H1N1api.htm

New cardiology fellowship at the University of Hawaii and Queen's Medical Center

Cardiology demand leads to fellowship at UH, Queen's

A shortage of heart doctors on Oahu has led to a three-year accredited cardiology fellowship under the University of Hawaii and The Queen's Medical Center.The goal of the UH Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program is to recruit, train and retain cardiologists in Hawaii because 80 percent of doctors end up practicing where they trained, according to a news release from Queen's.

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100502_Cardiology_demand_leads_to_fellowship_at_UH_Queens.html

Crude Oil Spills and Human Health

A new page of links to information on "Crude Oil Spills and Human Health" is now available at http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/oilspills.html .

The page has links to information on how the US responds to oil spills, state agencies in the Gulf region that respond to spills, occupational hazards for professionals and volunteers assisting with clean-up, seafood safety and more. The links under "Featured Sites" focus on the latest updates about the recent spill and subsequent controlled burning of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit oil platform. The page will continue to expand as needed.

If you want to stay informed on disaster health information and resources, please consider joining the DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB listserv. About 400 librarians and other informational professionals use this listserv to share ideas and information about disaster health resources, including publications from grey literature sources, webinars, conferences, and training. List members may also post questions, news, announcements, job openings and other content of interest to those involved in disaster information outreach. You can sign up at http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/dimrclistserv.html . The listserv is provided by the National Library of Medicine's Disaster Information Management Research Center. (http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov) For more information, please send me an email at nortone@nlm.nih.gov .

thanks to Elizabeth Norton for this post

Increased efforts needed to reduce smoking and save lives

New CDC Report Says Increased Efforts, High-Impact Strategies Needed to Reduce Smoking and Save Lives

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages all states to implement coordinated, high-impact strategies to end the stall in the decline of U.S. smoking rates—a move that will prevent millions of smoking-related heart attacks, cancers, strokes, and deaths.

http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r100423.htm


Hawaii Tobacco Quit Line
http://www.quitnowhawaii.org/


American Lung Association of Hawaii:Tobacco
http://www.ala-hawaii.org/tobacco.asp

Films on Demand at Hamilton Library

Films on Demand at Hamilton Library
Films on Demand provides streaming access to educational videos in the humanities, social and natural sciences, business and health.

For example:

Diabetes: Sweet Poison in the Blood

26 Minutes

The global statistics are alarming: diabetes kills one person every 10 seconds, and a limb amputation is carried out as a result of the disease every 30 seconds. What can 21st-century medicine achieve...

From Series: Medical Challenges of the 21st Century |

Bacterialand 52 Minutes One day, microbes will eliminate our dirt and garbage, filter our exhaust systems, and help make self-cleaning clothing possible. This program takes viewers on a global journey-from the U.S. to Icelan... Keyhole Surgery: Laparoscopic and Arthroscopic Techniques 30 Minutes This program takes viewers into the fascinating world of laparoscopic and arthroscopic surgery. Looking over the shoulders of several pioneering doctors, we see how once-major operations are being rep...

For UHM users only
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=56186

CDC Report Shows Success in Fighting E. coli O157:H7

CDC Report Shows Success in Fighting E. coli O157:H7

The rate of a severe form of Escherichia coli diarrhea significantly decreased in 2009, reaching the lowest level since 2004, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The incidence of the disease, called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157 infection, also met the national 2010 Healthy People target in 2009. Infection with E. coli O157 is of particular concern because in 5 percent to 10 percent of cases the infection causes kidney failure and it can be especially dangerous for children and the elderly.

The data were collected through CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, known as FoodNet, the most complete and up-to-date source of information about trends in foodborne illnesses in the United States. FoodNet conducts active surveillance for nine pathogens commonly transmitted through food, and leads studies designed to help health officials better understand how foodborne diseases are impacting Americans. Annual data are compared with data from the previous three years and with data from the first years of surveillance (1996-1998) to analyze trends and measure progress.

http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r100415b.htm

Online Drug Information

Health Sciences Library provides you with the following drug information:
Online Databases (For UHM use only):
Access Medicine
eMedicine
MDConsult/FirstConsult
Natural Standard (Alternative Meds)
UpToDate (On Campus Access Only)



From NLM:
DailyMed
DailyMed provides high quality information about marketed drugs. This information includes FDA labels (package inserts). This Web site provides health information providers and the public with a standard, comprehensive, up-to-date, look-up and download resource of medication content and labeling as found in medication package inserts. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) provides this as a public service and does not accept advertisements.

Track Medicare Hospital Spending

New U.S. Gov Online Database Lets Users Track Medicare Hospital Spending

HHS has launched a new Web site, called CMS Dashboard, that allows consumers to track Medicare hospital spending for the 25 most expensive conditions, Modern Healthcare reports.
The Web site also lets users compares Medicare hospital spending by state. The site's data are based on more than 40 million hospital admissions and will be updated monthly.


http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/4/7/new-hhs-web-site-lets-users-track-medicare-hospital-spending.aspx

http://www.cms.gov/Dashboard/10_CMSDashboardBETA.asp#TopOfPage

Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals

Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals

To help public health professionals in their roles as health information providers and health literacy promoters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a free "Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals Online Training" program. The purpose of this training is to educate public health professionals about limited health literacy and how to address this issue in a public health context.

The web-based course may be accessed 24/7 by any computer with Internet access. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. Continuing education credit is available for a variety of health professionals, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and health education specialists. To access the training program, visit http://www2a.cdc.gov/TCEOnline/registration/detailpage.asp?res_id=2074.

For a link to CDC's and other HHS agencies' health literacy sites, visit the AHRQ's Health Literacy and Cultural Competency Resource Links at: http://www.ahrq.gov/browse/hlitres.htm.

GE & Science Prize for Neurobiology and Life Scientists

The Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology acknowledges the increasingly active and important role of neurobiology in advancing our understanding of the functioning of the brain and the nervous system -- a quest that seems destined for dramatic expansion in the coming decades. This international prize, established in 2002, encourages the work of promising young neurobiologists by providing support in the early stages of their careers. It is awarded annually for the most outstanding neurobiological research by a young scientist, as described in a 1,000-word essay based on research performed during the past three years.

The winner of the Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology is awarded US$25,000 and publication of his or her essay in Science. The essay and those of up to three finalists are also published on Science Online. The award is announced and presented at a ceremony at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Eppendorf provides financial support to help enable the grand prize winner to attend the meeting.

How can you help? Download and print this PDF flyer, and help spread the word to young scientists.

http://www.sciencemag.org.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/feature/data/prizes/eppendorf/

The GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists

Dedicated to rewarding brilliance

The GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists exists to recognize and reward outstanding Ph.D. graduate students from around the world in their work within the field of molecular biology.

The brainchild of GE Healthcare and Science/AAAS, the prize seeks to foster visionary thought and research by supporting scientists at the onset of their careers. To this end, we hope that you will use this Web site as a forum for the sharing and gathering of experiences and views. We believe that the dynamic interchange of ideas is essential to breakthrough scientific advancement and by tapping into brilliant ideas, we will build better realities.

http://www.gescienceprize.org/

Library Opens Late on Sat, 4/3 - 12p-5p

Due to a scheduled water outage for the JABSOM Kakaako campus on the morning of April 3, the Health Sciences Library will open at noon.

Health Sciences Library Saturday, April 3 hours will be 12pm - 5pm.

The Medical Education Building itself will open at its regular time.

We apologize for the inconvenience.