Greetings from the National Library of Medicine and MedlinePlus.gov

Regards to all our listeners!

I'm Rob Logan, Ph.D. senior staff National Library of Medicine for Donald Lindberg, M.D, the Director of the U.S. National of Medicine.

Here is what's new this week in MedlinePlus.

To listen to Dr. Lindberg's comments, click here

President Obama explained the recently invested funds served multiple research areas encompassing a variety of diseases and conditions, including: cancer, heart disease, autism, and linking genetic with clinical information.

Contrary to some news reports, the $5 billion boost in NIH's medical research funding actually occurred earlier this year. In his talk, the President explained that at times NIH is solely responsible for developing and conducting research. However, he noted most of the recent investment will be spent by scientists, physicians, and researchers in universities, research centers, and laboratories across the nation -- who competed for research grants (via existing processes that NIH oversees).

Although he did not discuss the project by name, President Obama mentioned efforts at the National Library of Medicine and other NIH institutes to link patient genetic information with available, comprehensive data bases of patient health histories, such as the Framingham heart study. The Framingham study, which has continued since 1948, assesses the general and heart health of more than 5,000 residents of Framingham, MA. The intent was to understand the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease. Since its inception, the Framingham study has been a source of important evidence about the impact of diet, exercise, and over-the-counter medications, such as aspirin, on the formation or prevention of heart disease.

NIH's current effort is to discover if there are associations among the genetic patterns of the study's participants and health plus heart problems. The ability to check for these associations is a result of the recent work to sequence the human genome and assess how variations in certain genes may or may not predict specific diseases, or conditions.

President Obama explained the NIH investment, that he calls 'Recovery to Discovery' is part of the U.S. Recovery Act, which is often referred to by the news media as the White House's economic stimulus initiative.

The President called the overall investment (and we quote) 'a foundation for economic growth' (end of quote). He also was careful to note that the $5 billion investment in medical research is intended to have an impact on global as well as the nation's health.

Meanwhile, the President's NIH speech also provides an opportunity to mention MedlinePlus.gov's understanding medical research health topic page, which provides insights about the medical research processes generated by this year's NIH investment.

While MedlinePlus.gov's understanding medical research health topic page is devoted to help you understand the results of research, it also contains information about the process of basic science research and how it migrates into patient care.

For example, a website from the Journal of the American Medical Association explains how basic science research leads to information about genetic and environmental factors that increase disease risk, provides information that leads to new drug treatments, provides new findings that foster advances in surgical tools, and helps develop medical devices that improve the quality of life (such as hearing aids or artificial limbs).

The JAMA website also explains that well-funded basic science research (and we quote), 'is the key to new discoveries in medicine and other scientific fields' (end of quote). The site goes on to explain that NIH is the principle federal agency that distributes taxpayer monies to conduct medical research to universities and other institutions across the nation.

The JAMA website in the 'overviews' section of MedlinePlus.gov's understanding medical research health topic page.

A companion website from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) helps explain the types of medical research that NIH funds. Among them, the site explains, is patient oriented research that assesses the mechanisms of human disease, or evaluates therapies, or disease interventions. The NICHD site explains other types of widely funded medical research include epidemiology (such as the Framingham study) and behavioral, which explores how adults, teens, and children make health related decisions.

The NICHD site adds some medical research assesses outcomes and health services, which seek to identify the most effective and efficient interventions, treatments, and services. The White House and the U.S. Congress currently like to refer to a branch of the latter research area as comparative effectiveness research.

The NICHD website, called 'clinical research and clinical trials' is available in the 'related issues' section of MedlinePlus.gov's understanding medical research health topic page.

To find MedlinePlus.gov's understanding medical research health topic page, type 'understanding research' in the search box on MedlinePlus.gov's home page. Then, click on 'understanding medical research (National Library of Medicine).'

Finally, President Obama reminded the NIH audience that the ultimate goal of medical research is to improve the health and quality of life for all, which in the long run is a vital contributor to health reform.

Before I go, this reminder……. MedlinePlus.gov is authoritative,….. free…. does not accept advertising …and is written to help you.   

To find MedlinePlus.gov, just type in 'MedlinePlus.gov' in any web browser, such as Firefox, Safari, Netscape, or Explorer.

We encourage you to use MedlinePlus and please recommend it to your friends. MedlinePlus is available in English and Spanish.

Your comments about this or any of our podcasts are always welcome. We welcome suggestions about future topics too!

Please email Dr. Lindberg anytime at: NLMDirector@nlm.nih.gov

That's NLMDirector (one word) @nlm.nih.gov

A written transcript of recent podcasts is available. Just click on the 'Director's comments' link on MedlinePlus' home page.

The National Library of Medicine is one of 27 institutes and centers within the National Institutes of Health. The National Institutes of Health is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A disclaimer -- the information presented in this program should not replace the medical advice of your physician. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any disease without first consulting with your physician or other health care provider.

It was nice to be with you….

Dr. Lindberg returns in the future.

To our readers:

By popular request, we now provide URLs of web sites cited in 'Director's Comments' within the transcripts. However, we cannot guarantee that you will able to access information on all non-NLM web sites, especially those that link to the original source of biomedical journal articles. Please contact your local librarian for assistance if you require copies of journal articles.
  
Many thanks for reading and listening to 'Director's Comments.'