Need to Know

PubMed Limits Are Now Filters

As you may have noticed, PubMed changed the way users limit search results. The link for “limits” has been replaced by a “filters” sidebar. This sidebar will function similarly to the way the limits page worked. For example, once filters/limits have been set, they will remain in place for all subsequent searches unless the user turns them off.

One difference users might notice is that filters will not show if they are unavailable or not applicable for a search. For example, if you run a search on a topic where there hasn’t been a meta-analysis done, the option to limit your search to meta-analyses will not be available.

A feature that should be used with caution is the “Text Availability” filter located prominently at the top of the filters bar. Remember that these filters are for people that do not have access to a health sciences library. Students, faculty, staff, residents and fellows of the University of Iowa should avoid these filters and use our InfoLink button instead (which is seen when you access the abstract view). This will ensure that high quality articles are not missed. Remember that University of Iowa affiliates can also take advantage of our free interlibrary loan service. http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/illa.html

To learn more, please check out this tutorial on NLM’s YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGs547njZ7U&feature=youtu.be, read NLM Technical Bulletin http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj12/mj12_pm_sidebar.html or feel free to contact Hardin Librarians a http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/contact.html

Changes to PubMed

There are a few new features available in PubMed this week. There is now an option within a single citation abstract view to add items to favorites. This is similar to the clipboard function, but requires that you are signed in to your NCBI account (which is free and allows you to save searches, create folders and share citations.) This allows you to easily save citations permanently to your collections.

The other recent change is the addition of a menu option to send citations to a citation manager. This works very well for importing citations into Endnote.

Here is a series of screen captures to demonstrate the process for Endnote Import using Microsoft’s IE 9.

Step 1: Select desired citation and then use the send to menu on the top right side, select citation manager radio button, and then select create file.

Step 2: If you are using IE, select open when prompted.

Step 3: Choose PubMed import filter and references will be imported.

Other browsers may perform differently. For example, in Firefox, steps 1 and 2 are the same but the file open prompt is different.

For Refworks Import, instead of opening file, save file instead.

Follow steps 1 and 2 but then save file generated instead of opening (both IE and firefox).

Select the appropriate import filter, attach saved file, and import.

If you have any questions about these features or about how to use any of these tools, please contact your liaison librarian. http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/liaisons.htm

Or watch these PubMed tutorials for help: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmed.html#qtex .

Scopus Trial Underway (concluded)

The Scopus trial has been concluded. Thank you for participating.

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature with flexible tools to track, analyze and visualize research.. Scopus is strong in all areas of the sciences. Updated daily, it indexes over 18,000 peer-reviewed journals and includes the content from Embase. The trial will go until May 4th.

Trial link: http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://www.scopus.com/

If you are accessing with IE9, compatibility mode is required. IE8 and Firefox work without problem.

Updated daily, Scopus offers
• +18,000 peer-reviewed journals from more than 5,000 publishers
• Over 1,200 Open Access journals
• 520 conference proceedings
• Over 600 trade publications
• 350 book series
• 34 million abstracts
• Results from 435 million scientific web pages
• 23 million patent records from 5 patent offices
• 41 million records, of which 24 million records include references going back to 1996 (75% include references)
• 17 million pre-1996 records go back as far as 1823

Please send comments to Janna Lawrence, Hardin Library Assistant Director.

RefWorks Enhancements

With the New Year comes a new release of Refworks! In addition to general stability improvements, the new release has several enhancements. Of these, one of the most exciting is the new Drag-and-Drop functionality for the Quick Access bar which means that users can click on the grey bar above any reference summary and drag the item to the Quick Access bar.

In addition, usability revisions include new icons in the Organize & Share Folders area for Twitter, Facebook and over 300 other social bookmarking cites. You can easily share folders with all your Facebook friends or on Twitter with the click of a button.

Also, users will now be able to create New Folders directly from the Add to Folder icon. This makes the process much more seamless since you won’t have to change screens if you need a new folder after importing new references.

As always, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here to help you with RefWorks whether you are just starting out or a long time user.

A Few Changes to Google Web Search

Google is frequently experimenting to enhance the search experience. But a recent change frustrated many users: the + operator was eliminated. This is how it worked: the searcher could use the + character after a term to find pages with the exact word in them. Now, it is suggested that instead of using the +, searchers should use quotation marks around a word to retrieve results with the exact word present. Example: instead of searching for Iowa +news, search Iowa “news.” In case you are curious, the – character still works to exclude words after it from your search results. For example: Iowa – university would retrieve results with Iowa but exclude results with the word university. For many passionate comments and conversations about these changes, visit the following pages:

Wired Epicenter Search Engine Land Google Help Forum

Another fairly recent change was the removal of the link on the front page to advanced search. Now the advanced search feature will display only after a search is performed. Or, the searcher cand navigate directly to it by going to the top right side of the page, as shown below:

If you are wondering why you might bother using advanced search, consider that there are ways to narrow your search results to a more relevant group, and maybe even more importantly, a more manageable size. Check out the advanced search options to see which ones may help you!

For more hints on how to take advantage of other features of Google Web search, visit:

Google help pages Search Engine Land summary

Please contact your liaison librarian or the reference desk if you need more information on web or database search strategies.

Getting to know and Keeping up with Health Sciences Apps

Mobile devices are getting more useful every day. You might be one of the folks that just bought the new iPhone 4S or you might have an iPad, Blackberry or Android. It’s possible you’ve never owned a mobile device but are thinking about it now that they are becoming more affordable. Either way, you might be interested in finding out what sort of apps you could use to improve the way you study or practice a health sciences profession. Below are a few resources to consider.

Reviews on Medical Apps and/or Mobile Devices

iMedicalApps

The blog iMedicalApps is run by health professionals where people talk about new mobile technologies and review different apps. As you can see from their “About” page, they are very transparent in who is writing the blog posts. The editors work in Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Oncology/Surgery. Although the site is a little busy with ads and images, there is a nicely tabbed navigation system that allows users to browse posts based on device (iPhone, Android, iPad, Blackberry or All), Medical Specialty (31 to choose from including Internal Medicine, Surgery, Nephrology and Family Practice), or “Top Apps” by related fields or platforms.

Other Sites

Of course, there are other sites that will help you keep up with new with medical apps. Although not specifically dedicated to apps or medicine, one resource to follow is Wired Campus a blog from the
Chronicle of Higher Education. Just the other day, they had an interesting post on the usefulness of updating to the iOS 5 operating system for iPhones, iPod Touches or iPads called “A Quick Introduction to iOS 5: Why You Might Update Your Device.” Another blog to follow from The Chronicle of Higher Education is ProfHacker. This blog is much more tech heavy than Wired, but has great tips for using a variety of technologies.

Information Specific to Apple Mobile Devices

Are you mostly interested in iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch information? If so, you might consider checking out TiPb: The #1 iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch blog.

Free (to you) Apps and Support

Finally, don’t forget that Hardin Library has a Mobile Devices Subject Guide with information on apps to which Hardin Library subscribes. If you are an affiliate of the University of Iowa, we can provide you with mobile access to apps for DynaMed, Natural Standard and much more! During the Fall 2011 semester, we’re also offering mobile device drop-in support from 7:30-9am Monday through Friday or by appointment. Contact us for more information.

photo courtesy of Flickr user louisvolant Creative Commons Licensed

PubMed and Internet Explorer 6

As of September 1, PubMed may no longer work with IE 6. The current version of Internet Explorer is IE 9 and if you look at the Microsoft Internet Explorer download page, it doesn’t go back further than IE 7.

You can find out which version of Internet Explorer you are using, you can find that information listed at the top of the browser under “Help” and then “About Internet Explorer” or under the gear icon on the top right of the browser and there is an option for “About Internet Explorer” near the bottom of the list.

If you are located within the hospital, you might want to contact HCIS to see if they can update your browser. Other users should contact their IT support folks if they do not have administrative rights to their computers.

Another option is to work through Virtual Desktop. This site allows UI users to utilize software programs without downloading them to a computer.

If you have any questions or comments about accessing or using PubMed, feel free to contact us at (319) 335-9151 or lib-hardin@uiowa.edu.

Printing Chapters from AccessMedicine and AccessPharmacy

Beginning September 1, 2011, the ability to print a chapter at a time will no longer be available in AccessMedicine and AccessPharmacy. Printing by section will still be possible. The following message from the publisher (and copyright holder), McGraw-Hill, explains why:

Last week, only a few days after it had posted to AccessMedicine, the newest version of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine was discovered circulating on a number of digital lockers, torrent sites, and other means of illicit file sharing. A quick examination of the file revealed that the party (or parties) who had created it simply printed every chapter of Harrison’s, then “bound” it as an ebook and started distributing it. Presently, the “Print Chapter” view makes it far too easy to accomplish a task like this.

To address this issue with digital piracy, we will remove the “Print Chapter” option on all Access products. This is scheduled to be effective Thursday, September 1, on AccessMedicine. However, the “Print Section” option will remain.

Adding Links to Articles in ICON

It’s that time of year again. The weather is hot, so a lot of us are staying inside and working on our ICON sites for the upcoming semester.

It has been brought to our attention that ICON is having some problems with creating links to library articles if they are set up to “open in a new window” when they have the proxy URL attached. The proxy URL is what allows University of Iowa affiliates to access library resources from off-campus. This includes things like full-text articles. The articles appear to open with no problems in the instructor’s view, but when you switch to the student view problems arise. These problems are different depending on if you are using Firefox or Internet Explorer. Hopefully, this issue will be resolved quickly as ITS is working on it, but in the meanwhile, we have found that making sure the article links are set to “open in the same window” solves the problem. In the image below, I’ve pointed out the box to avoid using.

You might be tempted to work around this issue by uploading the PDF of the articles you want your students to read instead of using links. Please do not do this as it could be a violation of the copyright agreements we hold with different publishers.

If you would like more information on the best ways to link to full-text articles on ICON, check out our “Linking to Full Text-Articles for Course Pages” guide.

DynaMed is Getting a Makeover

Sometime during the week of July 18, the point of care database DynaMed will be getting a new look along with some new functionality. A beta version of the new design is available. The company that produces DynaMed is asking users to provide them with feedback so some of this new functionality may change before the new design is officially released.

It may be useful to look at the current interface of DynaMed side-by-side with the new version. Below are some screenshots with the most noticeable changes.

Homepages
The new homepage for DynaMed is much cleaner than the current one. In addition, there are now links to “Search other Services” included near the bottom right corner. In addition, a lot of the menu options that are seen on the left side of the page in the current (soon to be old) version are now located in a thin menu at the top of the page.

Search Results
A quick search for the topic “GERD” yielded slightly different results in the new interface than the current one. As you see below, the new interface places “Gastroesophageal reflux disease” at the top of the list. There may be some improvements to the search algorithm along with the changes in design. Although not available in the beta version, when the new interface is released, a new spell checker will be provided for search results. The second thing that you may notice in the new interface is that the links for Tx (treatment) and Dx (diagnosis) are no longer there. Instead, when the mouse hovers over the topic, a menu appears on the right side of the screen with options for not only treatment and diagnosis, but also for other subsections of the topic, as well.

Viewing Topics
There is a noticeable difference in the two layouts for topics. In the new version of DynaMed, the options for the left menu have been expanded. There are “+” symbols that allow quicker navigation to areas of interest within the topic. In addition, there is a link for searching other services for information. Clicking the links for other services simply takes you to the other service’s homepage where a new search must be carried out.

As illustrated in the image below, both versions of DynaMed start their topic pages with information on the latest updates right below the title of the topic. However, in the new version of DynaMed, only the latest update is listed. A link is provided for access to previous updates.

There have also been improvements to the “Search within Topic feature.” The new interface will have a search box and then a system for navigating through the results. Links to appropriate clinical calculators will now be included within the text of topics, as well.

Lastly, the links for emailing and printing topics has been moved to the far right of the topic in the new version. In addition, there will be a new feature for receiving alerts whenever a topic of interest changes (this feature has not been turned on in the preview version of the database).

Other Changes
Another change for DynaMed involves their Current Updates feature. There is a new filtering system to allow users to find updates on a specific subject. In addition, users now have the ability to check a box for “Practice Changing Updates.” This box can be used with a filter or without one. An alert can be set up for this part of DynaMed as well as for specific topics.

More Information
For more information on the upcoming changes, see EBSCO Support’s “DynaMed New Features and Functionality.”

As always, if you have questions or need assistance with DynaMed or other library resources, feel free to contact us.