Archives
|
Archives |
|
| Home > NLM Archives > Document content is not current. Links may be broken. | ||
            |
NLM News 1996 March-April; Vol. 51, No. 2The NLM News is published 6 times a year by the National Library of Medicine (National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services). Beginning with Vol. 49, No. 1, the NLM News is avaiable via the Internet. To access, ftp to nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov and login as anonymous. Use your e-mail address as the password. In addition to electronic access, the printed NLM News is mailed without charge to institutions and individuals interested in health sciences communications. For further information, contact NLM's Office of Public Information (8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894); e-mail address: publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov. NLM Director, Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D. Contents:
"Internet Grateful Med" Goes on the World Wide WebThe National Library of Medicine launched Internet Grateful Med* (IGM)--a program for assisted searching of MEDLINE via the World Wide Web--on April 16th at a conference on health-care applications of the information superhighway sponsored by the Friends of the National Library of Medicine. The announcement was greeted with considerable press interest as the implications of easy access to MEDLINE were expressed by such notables as pioneering heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey and Senator/physician Bill Frist. For the most current information about Internet Grateful Med, go to IGM's URL: http://igm.nlm.nih.gov Attending the press conference were people whose lives have been saved or medical situations improved because of access to MEDLINE, including: A Virginia couple whose desperate search for a cure for their son's crippling and usually fatal genetic disorder led them to NLM where their search of MEDLINE exposed obscure information and new hope for their son. This story was later made into the movie, "Lorenzo's Oil." A Maryland pharmacist who experienced six first-trimester pregnancy losses before she finally consulted MEDLINE and found out how to prevent her recurrent pregnancy loss. She was accompanied by her 11- month-old son--the by-product of her Grateful Med use. IGM gives access to MEDLINE as well as offering direct links both to HSTAT, which provides the full-text of clinical practice guidelines in various medical categories, and to Images from the History of Medicine, which offers some 60,000 online images from the Library's historical collections. Other NLM databases will be added in the near future. MEDLINE Searching Via IGMInternet Grateful Med helps a user create, submit, and refine a search of MEDLINE, NLM's database of citations -- most with abstracts in English --from some 3800 of the world's leading medical journals. Internet Grateful Med searches by subject, by author name, or by text word in title. It automatically checks user terms against the Library's controlled vocabulary (Medical Subject Headings) and searches them both as MeSH headings and as text words when appropriate. IGM also automatically "explodes" each term which can be exploded to include in the search the more specific terms which may be indented under the original term in MeSH. It has many thousands of mappings for search terms available, some transparent and automatic and some at the option of the user. Internet Grateful Med allows the user to specify retrieval only of articles for which a particular term was a major topic. It offers assistance in adding subheading qualifiers to help focus retrieval. IGM can also analyze a search and suggest ways to improve it. The user can limit searches by language, by publication type, by age group or study group, and by range of years back through 1966. At the user's option, Internet Grateful Med can map the user's query terms through the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus. The 1996 version of the Metathesaurus contains nearly 253,000 concepts called by more than 589,000 names in 30 vocabularies or thesauri related to biomedicine. The Metathesaurus browser function of Internet Grateful Med displays a ranked concept hit list with concepts most closely related to the user's term in the upper part of the list. The browser offers concept definitions and other information. It also offers dynamic,clickable navigation in a graphical display of MeSH tree hierarchies. After selecting a Metathesaurus concept, a user can click to display a list of co-terms -- an unusual and powerful element in assisted searching. Co-terms are other concepts applied by NLM indexers with the initial concept as major topics of the same article. Nearly 8.7 million pairs of these co-occurring concepts are explicitly listed in the Metathesaurus. With a single click of the mouse, the user can include both the selected concept and a co-term in the search. Internet Grateful Med is the first product of the User Access Services Project of NLM's System Reinvention Initiative. The conceptual Access Model developed for this project will provide users with assisted interactive retrieval from multiple information resources as NLM's major systems and databases evolve. The Access Model concept begins with users running Client software, interacting with a Request Manager. The Request Manager is the heart of a gateway to a variety of NLM's information resources. It uses its own Library of Intelligent Search Aids and has direct access to NLM's Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus as well as other NLM knowledge sources. Internet Grateful Med implements this Access Model using the World-Wide Web paradigm: Web clients talk to a Web server using Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP). The Web server is augmented by extensive additional code written at NLM for the Request Manager functions. An Internet Grateful Med user needs only a MEDLARS User ID and
password, an Internet connection, and a recommended Web browser (e.g.,
Netscape Navigator Version 2.0 or higher). No other software is required.
To run Internet Grateful Med, simply use the Web browser to open the
Internet Grateful Med URL (Uniform Resource Locator, its World-Wide Web
address). The URL is Internet Grateful Med uses the same MEDLARS charging algorithm as the other programs in the Grateful Med family. Charges are incurred only when the MEDLARS computer has performed a search or when results are downloaded from MEDLARS to the user's screen or disk. There are no charges for any of the search formulation and search refinement assistance Internet Grateful Med performs at its own gateway level, including browsing in the Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus. A search using Internet Grateful Med that retrieves about 40 citations with abstracts costs between $3.50 and $6.00, depending on the length of the abstracts. Questions, comments, and customer support queries regarding Internet Grateful Med may be submitted through the electronic suggestion box ("Send Comments to the Developers") on IGM's introductory screen or sent directly by email to access@nlm.nih.gov. Users may also call the MEDLARS Service Desk at 1-800-638-8480. [Photo A] Not available. Senator Bill Frist (R-TN, center) demonstrates Internet Grateful Med at the press conference held at Georgetown University on April 16. To the Senator's left are Dr. Michael DeBakey and Dr. Donald Lindberg. To his right is Mrs. Michaela Odone, mother of Lorenzo Odone who, with her husband, used MEDLINE to help them help their son, subject of the movie "Lorenzo's Oil." [Photo B] Not available. An interview with Jean Hoffman-Anuta and her husband was held after the press conference. Following a series of puzzling miscarriages, information Ms. Hoffman-Anuta retrieved using Grateful Med resulted in a successful pregnancy and the birth of "Sam," also in the picture. * Grateful Med is the software used for more than a decade by health professionals, scientists, and students to access the Library's MEDLINE and other online databases. Contracts Awarded to Eight Regional Medical LibrariesIn April, the National Library of Medicine awarded 5year contracts totalling nearly $34 million over a five-year period to eight institutions which will serve as Regional Medical Libraries (RMLs) in NLM's National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). The institutions which served as RMLs under the previous contract will remain the same during the 1996-2001 contract period . Since it was formed in the 1960s, the mission of the NN/LM has been to make biomedical information readily accessible to U. S. health professionals irrespective of their geographic location. In addition to the Regional Medical Libraries, the network consists of about 140 "resource" libraries (primarily at medical schools) and some 4,500 local health science libraries (primarily at hospitals). Online Training; OutreachAlthough the RML institutions remain the same, a major change will occur in the Online Training Program. The program has been streamlined to take better advantage of newer training technologies, and instead of multiple training sites, there will be a single Online Training Center. The New York Academy of Medicine (Region 1) will provide MEDLARS training in searching NLM's numerous databases, including MEDLINE, to the entire network. NLM will continue to coordinate the program and to schedule and conduct some classes in Bethesda. In the 1990s, the National Information Infrastructure offers the network new and exciting opportunities to improve information services to health professionals. Since these opportunities depend on access to the Internet by network member libraries and health professionals, the RMLs will increase the substantial efforts they are already making to facilitate connectivity for member libraries and health professionals. The RMLs will use the Internet for new and innovative services while maintaining more traditional means of communication with those who do not yet have such access. The RMLs and NN/LM member libraries will continue to be a major component of NLM's outreach efforts--making certain that health professionals know of the information services available to them and how to access them. For example, they will develop and implement projects designed to reach underserved groups of health professionals in both rural and inner city areas, as well as providing demonstrations and training related to NLM services at professional meetings and in individual and group settings. In addition, a Library Improvement Program which was started in three regions in the previous contracts, will be expanded to all eight regions. The purpose of the program is to bring information technology to small hospital libraries that do not have computers or access to online information. Other network programs include exhibiting and demonstrating NLM's products and services at national, regional, and state health professional meetings; the interlibrary lending of more than three million journal articles, books and other published materials each year; training and consultation; and support of other NLM programs such as DOCLINE, SERHOLD and Loansome Doc. The RMLs for 1996-2001The eight Regional Medical Libraries are listed below. For more details: see the January-February 1996 issue of the News (p.9); visit your RML on the Web at http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov; or call 1-800-338- 7657 to be connected to the RML serving your state..
The development of a national network of biomedical libraries was authorized by the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965--a concept supported by the Congress through periodic renewal of the legislative authorization and by appropriating funds for implementing the network. Chinese University is 20th International MEDLARS CenterThe Chinese University of Hong Kong was officially designated as the twentieth International MEDLARS Center on March 26 at a ceremony at Stone House on the campus of the National Institutes of Health. [Photo] Not available. Signing the Memorandum of Understanding was Professor Joseph C.K. Lee (left), a member of the faculty of medicine and chairman of the library committee, Chinese University of Hong Kong. NLM Director Donald A. B. Lindberg, M.D., is shown with Prof. Lee at the ceremony, which was held in conjunction with a meeting of the International MEDLARS Policy Advisory Group. (IMPAG is a biennial gathering of senior policy and technical representatives from each of the foreign Centers. This year's event, organized by Dr. Elliot R. Siegel, NLM associate director for health information programs development, will be featured in the next issue of the NLM News.) Beginning in 1968 with the establishment of foreign centers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and at the British Library in the United Kingdom, formal MEDLARS partnerships have served the dual function of enabling NLM to identify for the U.S. health community relevant information from the world's biomedical literature, while also assisting the international health community to benefit from NLM's shared resources to meet its own health-related information requirements. To be designated as an International MEDLARS Center, an institution must fulfill the following criteria:
Staff HonorsDr. Lindberg Receives NCLIS Silver AwardThe U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) has announced that NLM Director Donald A. B. Lindberg, M.D., is the recipient of one of its Silver Awards. This special award is being presented to Dr. Lindberg and 24 other individuals who have made "noteworthy and sustained contributions to libraries and information services during the last 25 years" to commemorate the Commission's 25th anniversary. Noting that Dr. Lindberg is "recognized as one of the world's leading figures in biomedical communications," NCLIS specifically cited him for his work as both director of NLM and as the coordinator (1992-1995) of the national High Performance Computing and Communications initiative. New RFP Initiated for NLM HPCC-Related ProjectsAs a follow-on to High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC)
projects awarded in FY 1993 and 1994, NLM has initiated a new request for
contract proposals (RFPNLM-96-105/MVA). While still inviting a broad range
of applications, the new procurement is more focused than its predecessor
and emphasizes telemedicine, evaluation, privacy protection, and health
data standards. It also specifically invites projects that address these
issues in the context of clinical research, such as multi-center clinical
trials and public health activities. Contracts will be awarded for
applications development and evaluation, or for the evaluation of existing
applications. The complete RFP is available on NLM's Web site under
"Grants & Contracts" ( NLM expects to fund multiple three-year projects. All projects will have a planning phase, which will allow contractors to modify their project plans as appropriate based both on the report of the Institute of Medicine telemedicine study and the report by the Computer Science and Technology Board, National Research Council, of best practices for preserving the confidentiality of electronic health data. Both reports will appear next fall. Depending on the project, NLM may fund the planning phase only with an option for the implementation phase or fund the planning and implementation phases simultaneously. Some awards will be made late in FY 1996, others in early FY 1997. NLM at MLA and AMIAThe 1996 annual meeting of the Medical Library Association will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, June 1-5, followed by the spring congress of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). The AMIA sessions begin Wednesday, June 5, the last day of MLA meetings, and continue through June 8. Listed below are a sampling of events which involve the National Library of Medicine or in which NLM products and services will be discussed. See also MLA's Web site at http://www.kumc.edu/MLA/MLA96/ and AMIA's at http://www.amia.org/, as well as the MLA and AMIA final programs for additional items and further details. Medical Library AssociationFriday, May 31 Saturday, June 1 Exhibit highlights include:
Monday, June 3
Tuesday, June 4
Wednesday, June 5
Wednesday, June 5
Thursday, June 6
Friday, June 7 AMIA Spring Congress continues:
[Photo: Philip Syng Physick portrait] The National Library of Medicine's portrait of Philip Syng Physick, 1768-1837, by the American painter, Thomas Sully, has gone on long- term loan to Dr. Physick's old home. Physick, who has been called the "Father of American Surgery," was responsible for many advances in surgical techniques and instrumentation. He lived and practiced medicine in Philadelphia, in a handsome house on 4th Street between Spruce and Pine, which has now been restored as the Physick House museum. The painting, completed in 1809 when Dr. Physick was at the height of his career, now hangs in a room that has been furnished as his office. Sully, who painted this portrait near the beginning of his career and went on to become one of the most admired of American painters, is particularly known for his portraiture. Library Adds New ProgramsPhilip R. Lee, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health, and NLM Director Donald A. B. Lindberg, M.D., recently announced that the National Library of Medicine had added two new programs as a result of a reorganization in the Public Health Service. The Office of the Public Health Service Historian and the journal Public Health Reports are now part of the Library's Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications. Dr. John Parascandola, former chief of the Library's History of Medicine Division, has served as the PHS historian since the position was established in 1992. His staff of three includes historian Lynne Snyder and secretary Vivien Guckenheimer. The functions of the office include: preparing, encouraging, and assisting with publications, exhibits, and other projects on the history of the PHS; providing information about PHS history to government officials and the public; serving as a liaison to the National Museum of Health and Medicine; coordinating PHSwide projects for the PHS Bicentennial in 1998; and helping to identify and insure the preservation of documents and artifacts of significance in the history of the PHS. The office is located in 18-23 Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857 (phone: 301/4435363; fax: 391/443-4193; email: Jparasca@psc.ssw.dhhs.gov). Public Health Reports, the peer-reviewed, bimonthly journal of the U.S. Public Health Service, has been published continuously since 1878. PHR, edited by Dr. Anthony Robbins, has a circulation of 8,000 and is directed at a broad readership of public health professionals. The address is Public Health Reports, Room 1875, JFK Federal Building, Boston, MA 02203 (phone: 617/565-1442; fax: 617/565-4260; email: ARobbins@phsbos.ssw.dhhs.gov). Doctors at the Gate: The USPHS at Ellis IslandThe Office of the Public Health Service (PHS) Historian, National Library of Medicine,and the Technical Services Branch, PHS Program Support Center, have cooperated with the Ellis Island Immigration Museum of the National Park Service in preparing an exhibit titled "Doctors at the Gate: The United States Public Health Service at Ellis Island." The exhibit will be on display at Ellis Island from May 24 through July 31, 1996. From the time that Ellis Island opened as an immigration station in 1892, the PHS was responsible for the medical inspection of arriving immigrants. The PHS built hospital facilities on the Island to provide the medical care required by some of the immigrants. By 1924, more restrictive laws had greatly slowed the flow of immigrants to the United States, but the PHS hospital on Ellis Island remained open until 1954. The exhibit will occupy six rooms at the Museum, and will cover the founding and early history of the PHS, the beginnings of quarantine, medical inspection of immigrants, the hospital facilities at Ellis Island, and the structure and functions of the PHS today. Professor Alan Kraut of the Department of History, American University, an expert on immigration history, served as a consultant on the project. [Photo] Not available. Public Health Service physicians examining immigrants for trachoma at Ellis Island, early twentieth century. Yeast-Sequencing Breakthrough
|
|
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894 National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Services Copyright, Privacy, Accessibility Last updated: 1 October 1996 |