On demand video conferencing is now available without charge in the Scott Memorial Library. Hours of operation are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The site can accommodate six individuals in a conference room setting.  The video setup in this room is ideal for meetings; faculty intending to teach, especially if Powerpoint presentation is necessary,  should contact Medical Media Services for other arrangements.

A technician is available to assist in initiating the teleconference.  For more information or for more information contact the staff at 503-8407.

PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed online journal from the Public Library of Science (PLoS), has published a study that proposes a strict ban on medical ghostwriting.  Any scientist who claims credit as an author on an article secretly written by a pharmaceutical company should be deemed guilty of academic misconduct, it states.

Medical ghostwriting refers to the practice among drug or medical device manufacturers of providing articles written by their own staffs that are then published under the names of academic authors.   Although this practice raises serious concerns about academic integrity, few institutions are seen to have policies to discourage it.   Authors Lacasse and Leo report on a survey of ghostwriting prohibition policies.  Of  50 top academic medical centers in the U.S., only 37 have a clear policy that prohibits ghostwriting.  The policy proposed to deal with this is presented in the article ‘Ghostwriting at Elite Academic Medical Centers in the United States’.

PLoS addressed the problem with an editorial last fall, called ‘Ghostwriting:  The Dirty Little Secret of Medical Publishing That Just Got Bigger.

Policies prohibiting ghostwriting in academic medical centers were recommended in a 2009 report on conflict of interest in medical research, education and practice published by the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

NIH is currently drafting a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which could introduce revisions and enhancements to the current regulations, according to the representative. The notice will be posted for public comment as NIH develops the final rule, which is anticipated later in 2010.

PubMed has introduced several new changes in its search interface to improve usability. The new features include:

• a new Limits page, and additional limits for dates and search field tags;
• link to Clipboard on the homepage, when in use; and
• a streamlined Advanced Search page.

New PubMed Limits Page and Options

The Limits page is now available from a link above the search box on all PubMed pages, including the PubMed homepage.   The Limits page includes limit selections previously available on the Advanced search page as well as new limits for dates and search field tags. 

Once limits are selected, subsequent searches will include the selections until they are removed.   Note that limits are not activated for Related Article results; however, limits will be retained for searches that are run after displaying Related Article results. The search box on the Limits page retains the search from other PubMed pages. 

The “Limits Activated” message has moved from the discovery area on the right to display more prominently.  The Remove link will deactivate selections for the current and subsequent searches.

Use JEFFLINE’s link to PubMed for maximum features and customizations for Jeffersonians.

Source: NLM Technical Bulletin – read the full notice.

This may be the time of year when we all look forward to the Super Bowl, but Natural Standard’s new Sports Medicine database will help to meet the unique needs of athletes, coaches, trainers and healthcare providers year-round. 

Now, readers have quick access to information about common sports injuries, such as fractures and sprains. The review articles feature conventional and integrative therapies, rehabilitation programs and prevention techniques, highlighting the available evidence of effectiveness and safety data.

Practitioners can also find out which therapies or products may have performance-enhancing effects and whether or not they are safe.  For example, strong evidence suggests that creatine may increase lean body mass and strength.  However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises consumers to consult their healthcare providers before using creatine. The safety of high doses is unclear, and supplementation may be unsafe in people with kidney problems, bipolar disorder or in those who are dehydrated.

For easy navigation, the topics are organized into 11 categories:

• Amino acids
• Antioxidants
• Athletic Performance Enhancement
• Bath & Body
• Cell Metabolism
• Exercise Recovery
• Muscle Building
• Sports Supplements
• Sports-Related Conditions
• Weight Loss & Fat Burners
• Workout Routines

To learn more about various sports medicine topics, you’ll find Natural Standard on JEFFLINE’s Quick Links.

Did you know?

ClinicalTrials.gov, the database that tracks controlled clinical trials, now also tracks “expanded access” protocols.    Expanded access is a means by which manufacturers make investigational new drugs available, under certain circumstances, to treat patients with a serious disease or condition who cannot participate in a controlled clinical trial.

You can find expanded access studies by choosing the Advanced Search feature of ClinicalTrials.gov, and selecting “Expanded Access Studies” from the Study Type pulldown list (in addition to your regular search terms).    Or you can see a full list of all currently open studies.

ClinicalTrials.gov tracks not only trials funded by U.S. government dollars, but also state-supported research and trials funded by private industry.

You’ll find ClinicalTrials.gov on JEFFLINE’s list of databases or on the Clinicians’ view of JEFFLINE.

Respected journals BMJ and Trials have co-published guidelines  about how personal information from clinical trials should be shared to help minimize risks to patient privacy.

Many peer-reviewed journals now require authors to be prepared to share their raw, unprocessed data with other scientists, or to state the availability of raw data in published articles.  However, it has been noted that there is little guidance on how such data should be prepared for sharing.

Authors Hrynaszkiewicz, Norton, Vickers and Altman offer practical advice for masking identifying data to ensure patient privacy when sharing clinical research. They advise researchers to seek informed consent about data sharing from patients involved in clinical trials before studies begin.  Further, the authors list 28 items of personal and clinical information that can make patients identifiable in ‘anonymized’ datasets, and recommend that, unless patients have explicitly consented, all direct identifiers such as names should be removed from datasets.

If three or more indirect identifiers such as age and sex are given about any patient, the researchers should ask an independent expert or an ethics committee to assess the risk of breaking confidentiality before sharing the data. It is also recommended that researchers should make explicit statements in research articles that have linked raw data, about patients’ consent to the sharing of those data. This, say the authors, should be the minimum standard for ensuring that participants’ privacy is not put at unnecessary risk.

BMJ is now adopting some of these recommendations. The journal strongly supports the view that researchers should seek informed consent to data sharing from research participants up front, at the recruitment stage. The journal will also expand its advice to authors about data sharing, and will extend its data sharing statements to include explicit information about consent.

Read the article:  Preparing raw clinical data for publication: guidance for journal editors, authors, and peer reviewers
Iain Hrynaszkiewicz, Melissa L Norton, Andrew J Vickers, Douglas G Altman
Trials 2010, 11:9 (29 January 2010)

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and its European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) unit have launched a new open-access drug discovery database, containing over half a million bioactive compounds and expected to grow.  Known as  ChEMBLdb (pronounced “kembal”),  the database contains information about the properties and activities of drugs and drug-like molecules and their targets.

ChEMBLdb data lies at the heart of translating information from the human genome into successful new drugs in the clinic – the data include information about how small molecules bind to their targets, how these compounds affect cells and whole organisms, and information on the molecules’ absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity.

Target data is searchable via keyword, BLAST, and soon to be by protein family-based search.   Compound data is searchable via keyword, substructure, and similarity search.

A companion database, Kinase SARfari, integrating sequence, compound and screening data from a variety of sources for the protein kinases, is under development.

Funded by a grant from the Wellcome Trust, the new database is free to all users. It is expected to allow academics and small companies access to previously inaccessible data, and to be a major resource for medicinal chemistry and drug development.

You’ll find the ChEMBLdb on JEFFLINE’s list of all databases.

The popular academic newspaper, The Chronicle of Higher Education, is now available on JEFFLINE’s list of Journals A-Z.

The Chronicle has long been available by password only, and has embargoed and otherwise limited access to content.  Now the Library has upgraded our subscription to premium level, so that all Jeffersonians may access the full content on demand, both from campus computers (no password required) and off campus (using your Campus Key). 

Features include:

• the text from the current print edition, posted every Monday morning;
• a searchable archive of every issue published since September 1998;
• all the commentary and essays from the weekly magazine, The Chronicle Review;
• all the data from the annual Almanac and other special, single-topic reports are in easy-to-search databases;
• free e-mail newsletters, including Academe Today, The Chronicle’s popular Daily Report, and the weekly Chronicle Review.

You’ll find the Chronicle on JEFFLINE’s list of Journals A-Z.   Enjoy!

Did you know? The Learning Resource Center on the 3rd floor of Scott has laptops available for 3 hour loan within the Library. Available machines include Dell laptops and MacBooks, so you can choose your preferred operating system.

For more information and policies please visit: Laptop Lending Services

Micromedex has introduced a new interface for its drug information system.  Styled ‘Micromedex 2.0,’  the service introduces new features and functionality.   The vendor hopes its new design will simplify and enhance the way you use its information.  The new design will be available side-by-side with the current version for several months – you may choose which one you wish to use when you visit the Micromedex homepage via JEFFLINE.

This is a great time to ‘kick the tires’ and let the vendor know what you think of the new design.

New features include:

• an interface based on clinician workflow patterns;
• enhanced search capabilities, including multi-term search, predictive text, synonyms and suggestions for alternate spellings;
• special tabs for high-usage tools, such as dosing calculators, Trissel’s 2 IV compatibility, drug identification, and drug interaction checking;
• compatibility with iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry smartphones, and other mobile devices; and
• simplified displays. A new 360-degree view of results provides a complete picture of all available information about a drug or condition on a single screen — including drug summaries, images, consults, comparative efficacy information, labeled and off-label indications, treatment options, and more.

Pharmacists, nurses, and physicians in more than 3,500 hospitals in 83 countries use Micromedex for evidence-based information on drugs, disease management, toxicology, neonatal dosing, and alternative medicines as well as patient education material. This is a huge customer base, and Micromedex wants to get this interface right. Try it out, let the company know what you think, and we expect the final version to replace the current interface in late spring/early summer.

The editors at Nature Publishing Group/Nature Education have published a free online science library and professional networking resource:  Scitable is aimed at a broad spectrum of users from high school students to fully qualified researchers and science writers.   Registration for the site is free to all.

New features (from the publisher’s news release):

• Essentials of Genetics, a free course on the basic concepts of genetics, featuring high quality animations, clear explanations, and links to biographies and research papers.
• 30+ new Readings on important topics in genetics, each written and reviewed by leading researchers and filled with links to research milestones.
• Scitable Classrooms, a free online research space that teaching faculty can create in less than 5 minutes. Scitable Classrooms include news feeds, reading lists, and threaded discussions.  Watch our “how to” video that shows faculty how to set up a classroom

Scitable’s library includes  scientist-authored, peer-reviewed analyses and overviews of genetics concepts.  Most link out to seminal research papers from Nature and other scientific journals, exposing learners to research literature early in their engagement with genetics.

Nature Education also maintains a presence on  Twitter and on Facebook (go to www.facebook.com and search for Nature Education).

JeffSOAR presents 2 performances of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues

Want to learn the new RefWorks 2.0 from the comfort of your own computer? Sign up for one of these vendor-provided webinars:

RefWorks 2.0: The new User Interface (60 minutes)
Intended for experienced RefWorks users, this webinar will show you how to easily navigate the primary functions on the new interface, RefWorks 2.0. We’ll show you what has changed on the new interface, including:

• Adding new references via Direct Export, and importing citations as a .txt file
• Organizing newly imported citations; creating a new folder and accessing the folder list
• Creating a bibliography (stand alone and Write N Cite III)
• RefShare: Now a component of every RefWorks subscription, it is accessible from any page on the new interface
• and more!

Note that RefWorks Fundamentals and other webinar topics will return in March 2010.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010, 9 a.m. EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

Wednesday, February 03, 2010, 6:00 pm EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 7 p.m. EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

Thursday, February 11, 2010, 10 am EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 10 am EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

Thursday, February 25, 2010, 12 p.m. EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

Write-N-Cite III for Windows (30 minutes)

In this brief session we discuss how to install Write-N-Cite III, how to use it to insert citations and how to create bibliographies in your documents – including while working offline.   Attendees should have a basic knowledge of RefWorks functionality.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 2:00 pm EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 10:00 am EST
Enroll now! (Password: Learnrs13)

A Special Message From:
Robert L Barchi, MD, PhD, President, Thomas Jefferson University
Thomas J. Lewis, President and CEO, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals

As more images and personal accounts of the devastation in Haiti emerge, all of us are witnessing in great detail the sheer magnitude of this tragic event. In an area already vulnerable because of poor infrastructure and extreme poverty, an earthquake causes devastation of epic proportions. 

We share the Jefferson community’s concerns about how best to direct our efforts in a meaningful way to help the people of Haiti. Together, the University and Hospital have contributed much needed funds to the relief effort. This money will be used to help support organizations on the ground that are distributing life-saving supplies – including food, clean water, blankets and tents.

Many of you have contacted our offices asking how you can help. For your convenience we have included a list below of reputable agencies organized to help with the relief efforts in Haiti. We have been advised that the most meaningful support all of us can give at this time is financial.

Thank you.

Haiti Relief Organizations

American Red Cross

US AID 

Doctors Without Borders

Partners in Health

The Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) announced changes to how papers are submitted, reviewed and published. Jefferson users downloaded over 27,000 articles from JBC last year and Jefferson authors have published over 300 articles in the last decade. The journal is available on- and off-campus to Jefferson users from 1905 to the present via JEFFLINE.

In an editorial in the January 22 issue the editors explain the changes including:

• The Table of Contents headings now reflect all areas of biology that can be studied on a molecular level to emphasize that we welcome submissions from the entire range of modern biological research.
• Articles now may appear under more than one heading, in keeping with the increasingly cross- disciplinary nature of scientific research.
• To expedite the submission process and hold down costs to authors, we have eliminated submission fees and updated our manuscript-handling system.
• You will also see a number of changes in the JBC Web site meant to enhance the experience of our authors and readers.