Monday, June 24, 2013

MedlinePlus: Trustworthy Online Health Information

MedlinePlus is a  free, easy-to-use  health  information website from the National  Library of Medicine.

Resources and tools include:
  • Health  Topics: Over 900 topics on conditions, diseases and wellness

  • Drugs  & Supplements: About your prescription and over-the-counter  medicines, herbs and supplements

  • Videos, Tutorials and Cool Tools

  • Medical  Encyclopedia and Dictionary

  • News: Current health news and press  announcements

  • Directories: Find doctors, dentists and hospitals 

  • Information in many languages

You can find the MedlinePlus website on the UCSF Patient Health Library's Health Information Websites page along with many other health information resources.



Need more help?  Want an expert to search for you?  

Contact the Patient Health Librarian
by email, telephone, or in person.




Friday, June 14, 2013

Health Newsletters at the Patient Health Library, June 2013

Here are highlights from recent health and wellness newsletters at the UCSF Patient Health Library.  To see the entire articles, visit the Patient Health Library!

Not all information is free and not all of it is online!

Consumer Reports on Health

June 2013
-Aspirin, pp.6-7
-Insect-borne diseases, p.9

DukeMedicine HealthNews

May 2013
-Preserve muscle mass--and prevent falls--with proper nutrition, pp.3-4
-Which heart tests should be questioned and why, pp.4-5

Harvard Men's Health Watch

May 2013
-Reducing stress works better than supplements for heart disease, pp. 1,7
-How exercise helps the brain, p.3
-Free preventive services for men, p.5
-Osteoporosis and men, p.6

Harvard Women's Health Watch

June 2013
-8 things you can do to prevent stroke, pp.1,7
-Natural ways to relieve constipation, p.3
-Better sleep without pills, pp.4-5
-Getting your doctor to listen, p.6

Johns Hopkins Medical Letter: Health After 50

June 2013
-Book vs. e-Reader: which is best for older eyes?, p.6
-Does my wart need treatment? p.7

Mayo Clinic Health Letter

June 2013
-Hearing aid technology, pp.1-3
-Nuts: small packages, big nutrition, pp.4-5

Nutrition Action Newsletter

May 2013
-Mediterranean diet: what a new study did--and didn't--find, pp.1-4
-Antibiotic resistance, pp.9-11



Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter

June 2013

-Making healthy lifestyle changes stick, pp.4-5

June 2013 Supplement: Eating right for healthy joints

Monday, June 3, 2013

Understanding and Finding Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are research studies that test how well new medical approaches work in people. Each study answers scientific questions and tries to find better ways to prevent, screen for, diagnose or treat a disease. Clinical trials may also compare a new treatment to a treatment that is already available.

Participants in clinical trials can play a more active role in their own health care, gain access to new research treatments before they are widely available, and help others by contributing to medical research.

Every clinical trial has a protocol, or action plan, for conducting the trial. The plan describes what will be done in the study, how it will be conducted, and why each part of the study is necessary. Each study has its own rules about who can participate. Some studies need volunteers with a certain disease. Some need healthy people. Others want just men or just women.

In the United States, an independent committee of physicians, statisticians and members of the community must approve and monitor the protocol. They make sure that the risks are small and are worth the potential benefits.

[Excerpted from the links below]



About Clinical Trials

Understanding Clinical Trials
[From ClinicalTrials.gov]

Clinical Research Trials and You
[From the National Institutes of Health]

Clinical Trials
[From MedlinePlus]



Finding Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials at UCSF Medical Center

ClinicalTrials.gov
ClinicalTrials.gov offers up-to-date information for locating federally and privately supported clinical trials for a wide range of diseases and conditions.

Searching the hundreds of research studies on cancer treatments can be overwhelming.  Using the tools from the following resources can make it easier to find clinical trials that may be right for you.

BreastCancerTrials.org


National Cancer Institute - Clinical Trials Search



If you need more help, contact the librarian at the Patient Health Library for an individual consultation.