NLM Drug Information Portal

The National Library of Medicine has announced the release of the NLM Drug Information Portal. The site is at http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov. The NLM Drug Information Portal gives the public, healthcare professionals, and researchers a gateway to current, accurate and understandable drug information from the National Library of Medicine and other key government agencies.

More than 12,000 drug records are available for searching. The search interface is straightforward, requiring only a drug name as a search term, and successful searching is enhanced by the assistance of a spellchecker. Information buttons and balloon pop-ups guide the user by providing helpful hints or a description of the resource and links to the source website. Links to the following resources contribute to the search results: MedlinePlus®, AIDSinfo®, Medline/PubMed®, LactMed, HSDB®, Dietary Supplements Labels Database, TOXLINE®, DailyMed®, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubChem, NIAID Anti-HIV/OI Database, ChemIDplus®, Drugs@FDA, DEA, and USA.gov .

The Drug Information Portal offers a varied selection of resources and focused topics in medicine and drug-related information, with links to individual resources with potential drug information and summaries tailored to various audiences. General drug categories from MeSH are also included in the Drug Portal records. NLM Post: 12 February 2008

Screening pregnant women for bacterial vaginosis (USPSTF)

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has released two recommendations for screening pregnant women for bacterial vaginosis:

The USPSTF recommends against screening for bacterial vaginosis in pregnant women at low risk for preterm delivery. (D recommendation).

The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for bacterial vaginosis in asymptomatic pregnant women at high risk for preterm delivery. (I statement) These recommendations are published in the February 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The recommendation and supporting material can be found at
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspsbvag.htm

From AHRQ. Preventive Services.
Excerpt from, Feb. 8, 2008, UPDATES ON AHRQ PREVENTION PROGRAMS [AHRQ_PREVENTIONPROGRAMUPDATES@LIST.AHRQ.GOV]

Hot Topics, Guidelines & Standards: February 2008

February is American Heart Month. Go Red for Women is a movement that works toward a reduction in coronary heart disease and stroke in women. The movement is working hard to change the perception that heart disease is a “man’s disease” by teaching more women how to talk to their doctors about heart disease.

2008 Recommended Immunization Schedule
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) have issued the 2008 Childhood Immunization Schedule. There are three schedules that reflect current recommendations for use of vaccines licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and include numerous changes from the 2007 schedule.

ECRI Institute Launches Comparative Effectiveness Resource Center Web Site
Comparative effectiveness initiatives may have significant impact on a sweeping range of constituencies—from providers, payers, industry, and regulators—to patients and their advocates. Competing drugs, medical devices, and clinical procedures are all in play. This educational Web site is intended to help you understand the issues involved in this complex topic. The site provides access to a range of resources, from national policy conference recordings to perspectives from leading experts.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has recently published the following new/updated documents:

• Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer (Committee Opinion)
• Surgery and patient choice (Committee Opinion)
• Elective and risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (update) (Practice Bulletin)

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has released guidelines on evidence-based interventions to improve the palliative care of pain, dyspnea, and depression at the end of life and a position paper on achieving a high-performance health care system with universal access.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has released their annual Clinical Practice Recommendations.

The Center for Outcomes and Evidence has released a new evidence report on the impact of gene expression profiling tests on breast cancer outcomes.

______

Excerpted and edited, from ECRI Institute, HCS Update. http://hcs.ecri.org/news/

ECRI Institute's Healthcare Standards Directory is available at the Rudolph Matas Medical Library, Ready Reference , W 22 AA1 H42 2007.

OvidSP GOES LIVE ON FEBRUARY 4TH, 2008!!!

Ovid Gateway products will migrate to their new platform, OvidSP, as of February 4th, 2008.

We are hoping that the migration will go smoothly. There are some changes and we will be conducting classes and also working with Ovid searchers one on one to answer any questions.

OvidSPD contains:

Medline (1950 – present)
Evidence Based Medicine- EBM Reviews (Cochrane, DSR, Journal Club, DARE and CCTR)
Global Health (1973 - )
Ovid Healthstar (1966- )
Ovid full-text Journals

In addition to the Ovid Full Text, Linking is available to the many Tulane licensed Full-text journals via the TULink.

We hope that everyone is having a Happy Mardi Gras!! Call us on Wednesday, February 6th when we return to the Library after Mardi Gras with your questions and comments.