Author: Xiaomei Gu

May 12 2016

Great but Hidden: PubMed’s New Diet, Food, and Nutrition Explosion

Posted on by Xiaomei Gu

By Eric Rumsey, Janna Lawrence and Xiaomei Gu

As we have written, NLM made a great improvement in introducing the new explosion for Diet, Food, and Nutrition. Before that was introduced this year, each of the three elements in the explosion had to be searched separately because they were not in the same explosion. So we strongly endorse the new explosion!

Although it is less difficult to search for nutrition articles now, there is still a problem. The term mapping feature of PubMed does not work for the word “nutrition,” which is certainly a common way to search for the broad subject comprised by the new explosion.

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Image 1. Search Details for Heart Attack.

In most cases in PubMed, if the user searches a word or term that’s synonymous with the appropriate MeSH term, the system will automatically include the MeSH term in the search. An example of this is searching for the term heart attack (without quotes).

As shown in Image 1, PubMed automatically maps the word to the appropriate MeSH term – “myocardial infarction” [MeSH Terms]. (To see Search details, on the PubMed search results screen, scroll down to the “Search details” box, in the right side-bar). Another example of PubMed’s automatic mapping is cancer, which maps to neoplasms [MeSH Terms].

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Image 2. Search Details for Nutrition.

A search for the word nutrition retrieves several phrases and MeSH terms, seen in the Search details in Image 2. But this does not include the new explosion Diet, Food, and Nutrition, which would retrieve many more relevant articles than these terms do.

There are two conceivable ways that NLM could address this problem. The first is to change the name of the explosion to Nutrition, so that mapping the word would not be necessary. The second solution is to make the word nutrition map to the new explosion. We encourage NLM to consider these options, so that the full power of the new explosion can be released!

Feb 24 2016

New Resource: The Medical Letter (site license) and its Mobile App

Posted on by Xiaomei Gu

Hardin Library for the Health Sciences now has a site license for the Medical Letter at http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/MedLetter.  Medical Letter can also be found on the Health Sciences Resources A-Z http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/az.php .

The Medical Letter’s home page shows the current issue of The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics.

  • To view full text articles and to find the  Download PDF link, click on the title of the article.
  • Use the navigation links on the left side of the screen to access other contents, including previous issues, continue education (CME/CE), Drugs for Parasitic Infections, and The Handbook of Antimicrobial Therapy.

Note that the library also has print copies of the Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, Drugs for Parasitic Infections, and Handbook of Antimicrobial Therapy. Search InfoHawk Catalog  for more information.

medical letter homepage

The library’s site license also allows access to the Medial Letter mobile app.

  1. Go to http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/MedLettermedical letter app
  2. Click the Mobile Apps link under Products on the left side of the screen.
  3. Fill in the registration form using your Iowa email to set up a password.
  4. Open the App/Play Store on your mobile device, search for “the Medical Letter” and install at no charge.
  5. Log in with the password you created earlier.

Questions? Comments? Email us at lib-hardin@uiowa.edu or call (319) 335-9151.

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Feb 23 2016

ClinicalKey available for iOS and Android mobile devices

Posted on by Xiaomei Gu

screen shot clinicalkey mobile ClinicalKey provides access to more than 1100 medical texts published by Elsevier, articles from more than 500 journals, practice guidelines, drug information, and patient education handouts. Users must log in to (free for UI affiliates) personal accounts to download PDFs.

1. Open the App Store on your mobile device.
2. Search for “ClinicalKey” and install at no charge.
3. Once in the app, two options will appear – Click on ClinicalKey.
4. Enter your username and password used for accessing PDFs.
If you do not have a username and password yet, follow steps 5-7.
5. Go to http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/clinicalkey
6. Click on the Register link at the top right of the screen.
7. Create a personal account using your Iowa email.
Aug 19 2015

Worldwide Use of Iowa Research Online (IRO)

Posted on by Xiaomei Gu
BY WENDY ROBERTSON

The publications in Iowa Research Online (IRO) are very widely used. From July 2014–June 2015, the items were downloaded more than 1.5 million times!

This map shows the downloads of content from IRO during the last fiscal year. Adjust the map in the window below to see more countries. Move your cursor over the map to see the counts from each country. You can also see a large version of the map.

If you want to include your scholarship in IRO to increase its global reach, contact you subject specialist at the University Libraries.

Hardin Library
Aug 04 2015

Exam Master Online Content Update on August 17, 2015

Posted on by Xiaomei Gu

A new content update is planned for Exam Master Onine on August 17, 2015. Please see below for a brief summary of materials impacted and explanations from Exam Master®. Questions? Comments? Email us at lib-hardin@uiowa.edu or call (319) 335-9151.

USMLE Step 1

  • Removing: Versions 1, 2 & 3 of Practice Exams
  • Adding: Version 4 of Practice Exam, which incorporates the best questions from previous versions, along with new questions.

Certification Review

  • Removing: Surgery (ACS) will be retired because Exam Master® has not been able acquire new content.
  • Adding: Urgent Care, developed in partnership with the American Board of Urgent Care Medicine, (ABUCM)
  • Updating: Family Medicine has been updated after a thorough review.

Physician Assistant (PA) Resources

  • Removing: the Clinical Modules for PA’s and the Medical Subjects Modules for PA’s
  • Adding: CRS (Certification Review Series) and Biomedical Subjects and Clinical Subjects outlines; also adding USMLE Step 1 Board Review & Medical Subjects, USMLE Step 2 and Step 3 Medical Subject Outlines

NAPLEX

  • Removing: Supplemental Medical Sciences for Pharmacy
  • Adding: Biomedical Subjects and Clinical Subjects outlines.

Exam Master Online can be found it on the Health Sciences Databases A-Z list on the home page for Hardin Library.