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The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Learning Resources Database provides access to more than 500 educational resources on NLM products and services, including videos, webinars, and tutorials. The database includes resources designed primarily for librarians, health educators, researchers, and clinicians, for finding biomedical literature, research data, chemical, and genetic information. You can search by keyword, subject, language, and audience, and access materials directly or download them for reuse. Resources are reviewed at least annually, and mos.t materials are in the public domain. Features of the site include interactive search options, topic guides, and upcoming training events. NLM also offers API access for integrating resources into other websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Science Clips is an online weekly bibliographical digest showcasing over 46,000 scientific articles and publications from 2009 to present. The digest is curated by the Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library to bring awareness to relevant and quality public health literature. This overview describes how users can access and navigate the database, and evaluates the database usability and relevance in public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Created by the NIH in 2015, the Common Data Elements (CDE) Repository provides free online access to search and use Common Data Elements. This tool helps to ensure consistent data collection, saves time and resources, and ultimately improves the accuracy of and interoperability among datasets. The purpose of this column is to provide an overview of the database, discuss why it is important for researchers and relevant for health sciences librarians, and review the basic layout of the website, including sample searches that will demonstrate how it can be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 25 years, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence has operated VAWnet, a freely available, online network focused on violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence. This column will provide an overview of the resources available from VAWnet, including a sample search that demonstrates how to access the resources available within as well as a discussion of how to effectively browse the thousands of materials available on VAWnet that provide life-saving information on gender-based violence and related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This column provides an overview of the Virtual Health Library (VHL) Regional Portal, a resource provided by Pan American Health Organization and others with the purpose of communicating and exchanging health experiences and information for Latin American and Caribbean countries. The content is organized in four sub-portals: the VHL Model, which describes health information and knowledge management to structures and guides; LILACS, the Latin American and Caribbean Index Health Science Literature; DeCS, Descriptors Health Sciences, a controlled vocabulary; and Training, which gathers and organizes information for librarians, developers, and users who are interested in construction and use of VHL methodologies. An overview of the resource and sample search is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bookshelf is a database maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine that contains freely accessible online biomedical documents, including systematic reviews, technical reports, textbooks, and reference books. The database allows users to browse and search across all content and within individual books, and it is linked to other NCBI content. This article provides an overview of Bookshelf and demonstrates its usage in a sample search. The resources available in Bookshelf are useful for students, researchers, healthcare professionals, and librarians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable chronological frameworks for archaeological sites are essential for accurate interpretations of the past. Geochronology represents the core of interdisciplinary research because it allows integration of diverse data on a common timeline. Since the radiocarbon revolution in Australian archaeology in the 1950s, thousands of ages have been produced across Sahul (combined landmass of Australia and New Guinea). Methods such as thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) have also been used on Australian archaeological deposits and enabled the study of the deep past beyond the limits of radiocarbon dating. After seven decades, these geochronological methods no longer provide just a 'date', but instead, the geochronological community is focussed on providing the most reliable, precise, and reproducible ages. These aspects of age estimation are central to the framework of the SahulArch geochronological database. SahulArch is a new publicly available continental-scale dataset in which context and quality assurance criteria of each dated sample are considered as important as the age itself. SahulArch contains a total of 10,717 ages (9,504 radiocarbon, 973 OSL, and 240 TL) from 2,318 sites across the Sahul landmass. We describe the structure of SahulArch, types of auxiliary data collected, and provide a summary of the data in SahulArch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD) is a database dedicated to aiding anyone who may be seeking assistance and knowledge regarding rare diseases. This public health resource was put into motion by the Rare Diseases Act of 2002, and uses Translational Science to enhance research procedures. People can use this resource to find support, disease facts, ongoing research information, and available treatments. The GARD database is an excellent guide for anyone wanting to increase their knowledge of rare diseases and how to help those who have a rare disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing and using health insurance is a complicated task for anyone, and there are limited resources available to assist users during this process. Insuring Good Health is an online resource that was developed out of a community-based participatory research partnership to address this need. This column will provide an overview of the resources available from Insuring Good Health and outline how the website and videos can support patrons' health insurance-related information needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Health Evidence database is a collection of over 7,000 systematic reviews from multiple databases relating to the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of public health interventions. Standardized criteria are utilized by the Health Evidence research team to assess and evaluate each systematic review included in the database, and every review is assigned a quality rating. By providing users with evidence that has already been evaluated, Health Evidence can save researchers and public health officials valuable time and resources when implementing public health measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MedGen serves as a portal to information on genetic aspects of human health and disease. Created and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), it aggregates clinically-relevant content from both NCBI and non-NCBI databases. MedGen summaries and curated links are designed to be particularly useful to health care professionals considering genetic aspects of patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Documentation of urgent referrals to neurosurgical units and communication with referring hospitals is critical for effective handover and appropriate continuity of care within a tertiary service. Referrals to our neurosurgical unit were audited and we found that the majority of referrals were not documented and this led to more calls to the on-call neurosurgery registrar regarding old referrals. We implemented a new referral system in an attempt to improve documentation of referrals, communication with our referring hospitals and to professionalise the service we offer them.Methods: During a 14-day period, number of bleeps, missed bleeps, calls discussing new referrals and previously processed referrals were recorded. Whether new referrals were appropriately documented and referrers received a written response was also recorded. A commercially provided secure cloud-based data archiving telecommunications and database platform for referrals was subsequently introduced within the Trust and the questionnaire repeated during another 14-day period 1 year after implementation.Results: Missed bleeps per day reduced from 16% (SD ± 6.4%) to 9% (SD ± 4.8%; df = 13, pairedt-testsp = 0.007) and mean calls per day clarifying previous referrals reduced from 10 (SD ± 4) to 5 (SD ± 3.5; df = 13,p = 0.003). Documentation of new referrals increased from 43% (74/174) to 85% (181/210), and responses to referrals increased from 74% to 98%.Conclusion: The use of a secure cloud-based data archiving telecommunications and database platform significantly increased the documentation of new referrals. This led to fewer missed bleeps and fewer calls about old referrals for the on call registrar. This system of documenting referrals results in improved continuity of care for neurosurgical patients, a significant reduction in risk for Trusts and a more efficient use of Registrar time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recently, paleontologists have begun using Internet databases and Google Earthw as new tools to share data with the scientific community. The newly developed web application PteroTerra (http://pteroterra.herokuapp.com), implemented using the Ruby on Railsw web framework, is a specimen-based pterosaur database that interfaces with Google Earthw. This database currently catalogues over 1300 pterosaur specimens from all over the world and includes information about each specimen such as taxon name, classification, geologic age, geographic location of discovery, geologic formation, rock type, paleoenvironment, articulation, wingspan, proposed diet and housing institution. The application allows users to search for specimens based on keywords and to create groups of pterosaurs based on shared characteristics. Groups can then be downloaded as a.kml file, which can be automatically uploaded into Google Earthw in order to study geographic patterns of pterosaur specimens based on any criteria of interest. The use and continuous updating of PteroTerra will provide pterosaurologists and other paleontologists with a central location for storing and obtaining information about particular pterosaur specimens, as well as a way for researchers to observe pterosaur patterns on a worldwide scale. The principles behind this program can easily be expanded to other fields of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apomixis in angiosperms is asexual reproduction from seed. Its importance to angiospermous evolution and biodiversity has been difficult to assess mainly because of insufficient taxonomic documentation. Thus, we assembled literature reporting apomixis occurrences among angiosperms and transferred the information to an internet database (http://www.apomixis.uni-goettingen.de). We then searched for correlations between apomixis occurrences and well-established measures of taxonomic diversity and biogeography. Apomixis was found to be taxonomically widespread with no clear tendency to specific groups and to occur with sexuality at all taxonomic levels. Adventitious embryony was the most frequent form (148 genera) followed by apospory (110) and diplospory (68). All three forms are phylogenetically scattered, but this scattering is strongly associated with measures of biodiversity. Across apomictic-containing orders and families, numbers of apomict-containing genera were positively correlated with total numbers of genera. In general, apomict-containing orders, families, and subfamilies of Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Orchidaceae were larger, i.e., they possessed more families or genera, than non-apomict-containing orders, families or subfamilies. Furthermore, many apomict-containing genera were found to be highly cosmopolitan. In this respect, 62% occupy multiple geographic zones. Numbers of genera containing sporophytic or gametophytic apomicts decreased from the tropics to the arctic, a trend that parallels general biodiversity. While angiosperms appear to be predisposed to shift from sex to apomixis, there is also evidence of reversions to sexuality. Such reversions may result from genetic or epigenetic destabilization events accompanying hybridization, polyploidy, or other cytogenetic alterations. Because of increased within-plant genetic and genomic heterogeneity, range expansions and diversifications at the species and genus levels may occur more rapidly upon reversion to sexuality. The significantly-enriched representations of apomicts among highly diverse and geographically-extensive taxa, from genera to orders, support this conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Between 2006 and 2009, two health sciences librarians at Baton Rouge General Medical Center created and launched the Louisiana segment of the National Library of Medicine's Go Local program, whose ultimate goal was to improve the health information-seeking experience of the general public. Louisiana Go Local was successfully launched in October 2009, but in spring 2010 the national umbrella program was cancelled by the NLM. This article describes the three-year development of a statewide database of health services descriptions and contact information to assist nonexpert health information seekers in finding those health care providers located geographically closest to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elders and their caregivers oftentimes have difficulty coordinating services among human service agencies. In addition, service providers spend countless hours collecting information that has already been collected by other service providers, and suboptimal communication between agencies hinders the ability to coordinate services. The project discussed in this paper prototyped the use of a Shared Point of Access (SPA) between a group of nonprofit agencies providing services to senior citizens to facilitate interagency case management. Its design and development, specifically including leadership issues, database system models, HIPAA, and governance structures, are outlined in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AL-Base, a curated database of human immunoglobulin (Ig) light chain (LC) sequences derived from patients with AL amyloidosis and controls, is described, along with a collection of analytical and graphic tools designed to facilitate their analysis. AL-Base is designed to compile and analyse amyloidogenic Ig LC sequences and to compare their predicted protein sequence and structure to non-amyloidogenic LC sequences. Currently, the database contains over 3000 de-identified LC nucleotide and amino acid sequences, of which 433 encode monoclonal proteins that were reported to form fibrillar deposits in AL patients. Each sequence is categorised according to germline gene usage, clinical status and sample source. Currently, tools are available to search for sequences by various criteria, to analyse the biochemical properties of the predicted amino acids at each position and to display the results in a graphical fashion. The likelihood that each sequence has evolved through somatic hypermutation can be predicted using an automated binomial or multinomial distribution model. AL-Base is available to the scientific community for research purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EURADIA, the European Research Area in Diabetes, is a consortium of non-profit organisations and leading pharmaceutical companies for the promotion and encouragement of diabetes research in Europe. Copyright © 2004 FEND. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Charting Outcomes resource is useful in gauging an applicant's competiveness for a given specialty. However, many variables are not reported in Charting Outcomes that may influence an applicant's ability to match. A significant proportion of applicants record their experiences in an anonymous, self-reported applicant spreadsheet. We analyzed factors associated with a successful match using this dataset to test the hypothesis that research productivity and high academic performance correlates with success rates. A retrospective analysis of "RadOnc Interview Spreadsheet" for the 2015, 2016, and 2017 radiation oncology match was performed. Data were accessed via studentdoctor.net. Board scores, research characteristics, Sub-I participation, and interview invitation rates were available. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis. When possible, results were compared to those reported in the National Residency Match Program's "Charting Outcomes" report. A total of 158 applicants were examined for the applicant characteristics. Applicants applied to a median of 61 programs and received a median of 14 interviews. The mean step 1 score was 248 (range: 198 to 272) and most were in the highest grade point average quartile (68.3%). 21.7% participated in additional research year(s), and 19% obtained a PhD. The majority of applicants took three radiation oncology electives (48.7%). On multivariate analysis, alpha-omega-alpha (AOA) honors society status (p=0.033), participating in a research year (p=0.001) and number of journal publications (p=0.047) significantly correlated with higher interview invitation rates. In summary, this study identifies important considerations for radiation oncology applicants that have not been previously reported, such as induction into AOA and number of journal publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]