Some information sources on the H1N1 Flu

The Influenza A H1N1, commonly known as “the swine flu,” has been all over the news in recent weeks. We would like to take a moment to give our readers some links to good sources of information so they can have some facts separated from the hype.

• MedlinePlus is always a good place to start online when looking for medical information. “MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations” (from the site’s About page). The NLM is the National Library of Medicine. Personally, MedlinePlus is a site I recommend to anyone looking for medical information. You can get some medical journal articles, good overview entries on a variety of topics, and even drug and medicine information. MedlinePlus has a page dedicated to the H1N1 here.
• By the way, the National Library of Medicine’s Specialized Information Service has some information too on H1N1 here. This page has many links indicating the federal response as well as international response and information.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also has a page of information on the H1N1 here. The FDA’s page includes warnings against fraudulent treatments. It is very easy for the less than scrupulous to take advantage, so be informed.
• The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) have some information on H1N1 here. They include a map where cases in the U.S. have been found and other resources updated regularly. There are also instructions on how to protect yourself and other precautions here.
• In addition, you can get some free access to H1N1 information from Dynamed, an EBSCO database product. They are providing free access to a summary of information here. More about Dynamed: “DynaMed is a point-of-care reference resource designed to provide clinicians with the best available evidence to support clinical decision-making. DynaMed is part of the suite of medical products owned and provided by EBSCO Publishing and is updated daily by monitoring medical literature sources.”
• In terms of international coverage, the source to go is the World Health Organization (WHO). You can find their page on the H1N1 here. A little more about the WHO: “WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.”
• Locally, the Texas Department of State and Health Services has a page on the H1N1.  They have a very easy to read section on what to do if you do get sick and are staying home. It is called “How to stay home safely.”

Many of these sites feature options for RSS feeds as well as tracking via online tools like Twitter. Just look for the appropriate links on the sites. If you already use a feed reader like Google Reader or Bloglines, you can add updated information to your accounts from these agencies. If you would like to learn more about RSS, you can find a nice introduction here (from the How Stuff Works website). Also, many of the sites provide the information in English and in Spanish.

You can also stop by the library, call us, or e-mail with your questions. However, do remember that your friendly librarian cannot take the place of your professional medical practitioner. We can provide information, but we do not diagnose or dispense medical advice.  If you are feeling symptoms, do take necessary steps including a visit to your physician or local clinic.

Reference Book of the Week: Statistical Sources

Welcome to another edition of the Reference Book of the Week here at The Patriot Spot. When I used to work as an instruction librarian, and I taught a lot more classes, one of the things I often told students writing research papers was that a good number or statistic was a pretty good way to impress their audience. I would say that with a smirk, but I also showed students where to find good statistical sources to help support their research. The U.S. Census Bureau website is a great resource, and it is a very popular one. But what happens when you need international sources? I need to know the consumer price indexes for Azerbaijan, where can I find that? Can you get me data on use of pesticides in Chad? How about statistics on airlines in Spain? Well, if you have a need for answers to these and other questions, our pick this week will help with that and more.

This week we are featuring Statistical Sources, a two-volume set published by Thompson Gale that provides a listing of statistical sources. In essence, when you need to know where you can get statistics on a particular topic, this is a good place to find out. This set of books does not provide the statistics; the books tell you what source (print, database, website) will have the statistics. This is how the publishers describe the book:

“The work continues to be an easy-to-use alphabetically-arranged dictionary and guide to current sources of factual qualitative information on well over 20,000 specific subjects, incorporating more than 140,000 citations and more than 1,600 sources, readily leading users to the widest possible range of print and non-print, published and unpublished, and electronic and other forms of U.S. and international statistical sources for economic, business, financial, industrial, cultural, educational, and other topics” (from the Preface, vii).

The set is arranged alphabetically by topic. In the case where an agency or organization does not publish their statistics, contact information is provided so researchers can contact that entity directly to make an inquiry. Before the main part of the book, there is a Selected Bibliography of Key Statistical Sources. This is a small annotated guide of basic general statistical resources. The book set also features appendixes of specific publication titles for the sources mentioned in the books as well as listing of agencies and organizations. The library currently has the 2008 (31st) edition in the ready reference shelves behind the reference desk. You can find this resource under the call number Z 7551 .S84 2008.

Reference Book of the Week: Physicians’ Desk Reference

Welcome to another edition of Reference Book of the Week. This time we are featuring the Physicians’ Desk Reference, more commonly known as the PDR. If you have been to a doctor’s office, odds are good they may have a copy of this book on their desk. However, this is not just for doctors. The book is basically a large reference resource for pharmaceutical information. In other words, it provides drug information and prescription guidance. From the books foreword:

“The PDR contains Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved labeling for drugs as well as prescription information provided by manufacturers for drugs historically marketed without FDA approval. Some dietary supplements and other products are also included. Each full-length entry provides you with an exact copy of the product’s FDA-approved or other manufacturer supplied labeling.”

The book is divided into six sections:

• a manufacturer’s index: list of manufacturers that participate in PDR with contact information and product list.
• a brand and generic name index. It gives the page number for each product by brand and generic name. For example, let’s say you want to find information for”bismuth subsalicylate.” This section tells you that you can go to page 2651 of the volume to get it.
• a product category index. It is a list of the products by prescribing category. For example, are you looking for “laxatives.” The book in this section tells you that for “laxatives,” you actually need to look under “gastrointestinal agents.” You will then find a listing of “laxatives” under the larger category of “gastrointestinal agents.”
• a product identification guide. This is a color guide. It contains photos of tablets and capsules as well as a few other pictures of packages and doses. When it comes to doses, what it means is that you get a picture of a cup with the medicine on it to show what a dose would look like.
• product identification guide. This is the main part of the guide. In other words, this is what most people using the PDR want. It covers 3,800 pharmaceuticals. The entries are alphabetical by manufacturer. So going back to our example above of “bismuth subsalicylate,” this is where you go to page 2651. By the way, the brand and generic index told you also it is made by Procter & Gamble. If you still have not guessed, the brand name is Pepto-Bismol.
• a diagnostic product information. This provides use guidelines for diagnostic tools.

The PDR is published by Thomson, and it is updated annually.

There is a website that serves as a companion to the PDR, www.pdr.net. However, use of the site requires registration, which is restricted. It “is available free of charge to U.S.-based MDs, DOs, Dentists, Optometrists, NPs and PAs in full-time patient practice, and to U.S. medical students, residents and other select prescribing allied health professionals” (from the website). Non-medical users would have to purchase access.

The PDR is kept in the ready reference shelves (behind the reference desk) under the call number Ref. RS 75 .P5 2008. The book is also a pretty common selection in public libraries.