Tips

5 pounds of holiday heft

“The average American gains five pounds over the holiday season.”
It’s a common assertion over the holiday season, but where is the evidence?

“A Prospective Study of Holiday Weight Gain” from the New England Journal of Medicine (published March 23, 2000) investigated this claim and found that Americans experience a net 0.48-kg weight gain in the fall and winter. “Since this gain is not reversed during the spring or summer months,” the study found, “[the weight gained] probably contributes to the increase in body weight that frequently occurs during adulthood.”

Two more recent studies also investigate the 5 pound phenomena.
“The effect of the Thanksgiving holiday on weight gain.” from the Nutrition Journal (published 21 November 2006) and “The effect of the holiday season on body weight and composition in college students” from Nutrition and Metabolism (published December 2006) assessed potential changes that occur in body weight during the Thanksgiving holiday break in college students and found participants gained a significant amount of BW (0.5 kg) during the Thanksgiving holiday. “While an increase in BW of half a kilogram may not be cause for alarm,” the authors noted, “the increase could have potential long-term health consequences if participants retained this weight gain throughout the college year.” In fact, although average body weight remained relatively unchanged from pre-Thanksgiving to post-New Year’s, a significant positive relationship existed between the change in BMI and percent fat, total fat mass, total fat free mass, and trunk fat mass for the pre-Thanksgiving and post-New Year’s visits.

So what is to be done about it?
A study from the International Journal of Obesity (London) looked at “The role of conjugated linoleic acid in reducing body fat and preventing holiday weight gain.” Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), is a naturally occurring dietary fatty acid shown to reduce body fat in animals. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study among overweight adults, 3.2 g/day CLA significantly reduced body fat over 6 months and prevented weight gain during the holiday season. “Although no adverse effects were seen,” the study reports, “additional studies should evaluate the effect of prolonged use of CLA.”

Can’t get your hands on linoleic acid isomers?
Check out these tips on having a healthy holiday:

Friday’s Fall Fest and other fun stuff to do this weekend

Tomorrow is LSUHSC’s Fall Fest from 3:30-6:30 PM in the 500 block of Bolivar Street. Come join in the festivities-there’ll be plenty of delicious food and refreshments, a live band and entertainment for the kids including clowns with balloons and an airbrush tattoo artist. (And when you see your favorite medical librarian, come say hello! We promise not to shush you.)

Looking for more community events?
Check out nolafunguide.com – it’s New Orleans’ comprehensive, up-to-date website featuring cultural events and attractions, coordinated by the Arts Council of New Orleans.

Nursing students: Finding a good article

For nursing students looking for a peer-reviewed/refereed article, here’s a couple tips:

To find a nursing article, use CINAHLplus with Full text, a database available from the Ebscohost link on the library home page

Try using the following limits in CINAHLplus: PEER REVIEWED, RESEARCH ARTICLE & Journal subset: CORE NURSING
You can find these limits on the REFINE SEARCH tab in Ebsco.

Happy Searching!

If you conduct research like this, you’re in big, BIG trouble

A recent article in the Australian Family Physician recently gave this librarian a myocardial infarction.

Meet Dr Q.
When a patient asked his advice regarding the discontinuation of warfarin after an episode of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), he used Yahoo.com to find an answer PDF.

You might be thinking, “what’s so wrong with that?”

Two words: Ellen Roche
In 2001, Ellen Roche, a healthy, 24-year-old volunteer in an asthma study at Johns Hopkins University, died because a chemical she inhaled led to the progressive failure of her lungs and kidneys. In the aftermath, it came out that the researcher who conducted the experiment and the ethics panel that approved it allegedly overlooked numerous clues about the dangers of the chemical, hexamethonium, given to Roche to inhale.

So what resources did this researcher allegedly search?
Look no further than Google, Yahoo!, LookSmart, and GoTo.com.

As a health care professional, you should AT LEAST conduct a cursory search in PubMed. It’s free. It’s authoritative. And on the LSUHSC Library homepage, you can use our customized PubMed link to get ALOT of added content and full text that you’ll never see using Yahoo! or Google.

Plus, if you kill anyone you can at least testify during the malpractice suit to having searched the biomedical literature. In fact, the reference librarians here can even do a mediated search for you. All you have to do is pick it up…and use it.

APA Style Changes

Students and faculty be aware! There have been some official changes made to APA Style – the style which many of us use when writing a reference list for a paper.

Here are a couple of links:

One major change is that the issue number should always be used, not just when each issue starts with page one.

“For journal articles, always include the journal issue number (if available) along with the volume number, regardless of whether the journal is paginated separately by issue or continuously by volume. This change in reference style from the fifth edition of the Publication Manual is intended to make the format for journal article references more consistent.” (http://www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.html paragraph 5, accessed 31 August 2007)
This also makes finding electronically available journal articles much easier.

The Library is purchasing the APA Style Guide to Electronic Resources (2007) and will place it on Reserve with the main volume of the Publication Manual (2001).

Thanks to Mary Marix, reference librarian, for pointing out these important changes!

Louisiana Mental Health Resources

“Using a traditional mental-health measuring stick to figure out where we stand two years post-Katrina is like using a 12-inch ruler to measure the Causeway. It’s not really up to the task.”

Sunday’s Times-Picayune article on the current state of mental health in New Orleans says we’re on uncharted ground, but mental health professionals around the state (including our own Dr. Howard Osofsky) want you to know it’s ok to ask for a map. Check out this list of local & national free resources for more.

American Red Cross’ Access to Care program
Provides long-term financial recovery assistance to victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
Toll free number: (866) 794-HOPE.

Louisiana Spirit Hurricane Recovery’s crisis line at (800) 273-TALK.
Free of charge to anyone in Louisiana, as well as community organizations, government employees, rescuers, disaster service workers, business owners, religious groups and other special populations. Services include individual counseling for all ages, group counseling for first responders and specialized counseling and stress management services.
LA Spirit Help Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

LSU Health Sciences Center 24-hour Health Line at (504) 568-8772
Free to the general public.
24 Hour help line: (504) 568-8772

LSU Health Sciences Center Campus Assistance Program
Free service for LSUHSC employees, faculty, staff, residents, and students to assist in resolving personal or work related problems.
24 Hour help line: (504) 568-8888

NOLA Dashboard
Local medical resources & services in the New Orleans area from the Louisiana Public Health Institute. Includes schedules & lists of open hospitals & clinics, mobile clinic schedule, mental health services and support groups, dental services and relief & recovery services.
http://www.noladashboard.org/

National Suicide Prevention 24-hour crisis counseling hotline
Provides immediate assistance to anyone seeking mental health services. Call for yourself, or someone you care about. Your call is free and confidential.
24 Hour toll-free number: (800) 273-8255

New features in EMBASE.com

EMBASE.com provides you with content that keeps you up to date with the latest scientific developments in Biomedical and Pharmacological Information. Several new features have just been added!

• EMTREE Search Tool now enhanced with multiple term searching and other new functionality to support more precise retrieval
• EMTREE ?óÔé¼?£Spell-Check?óÔé¼Ôäó now executed from Session Results page
• New Record Formats
• Bookmarking feature

Want to know more?
Visit http://www.info.embase.com/embase_com/news/functionalities/
for a detailed overview of all new features.

Wireless Network Settings have changed

Having issues connecting to wireless on your laptop today? That’s because LSUHSC Wireless settings have changed a little bit.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE DIRECTIONS

These directions are only for computers running Windows XP.
For information on configuring Windows Vista, contact your School’s computer support.
And remember, if you continue to have problems accessing our wireless network in the library, please let us know! We can’t fix what we don’t know is broken.

Fall semester tips for new students

Welcome to LSUHSC!
Check out these tips:

GET YOUR LSUHSC ID & LIBRARY BARCODE
As you stop by the Registrars office (Library — 4th floor) for your official university ID, make sure to drop by our Circulation desk for a library bar code. You’ll need it to check out books & get off-campus access to our many online resources.

SET UP YOUR PAYPAW ACCOUNT
Once you have your ID & library barcode, drop by the LSUHSC bookstore on the 2nd floor of the Resource Center Building (433 Bolivar St) to set up your PayPaw account. You can use it in the cafeteria (for food) & the library (to print). You can also add money to it online.

QUESTIONS ABOUT LOGINS, PASSWORDS, EMAIL ACCOUNTS?
See our handout on campus logins.
Contact the LSUHSC help desk at 568-HELP for any questions you might have concerning access to WebCT, Blackboard, email, or other computer related services. You can also
contact your school’s computer support directly.

2 Minutes!

Two minutes is all it takes to learn how to access resources off campus.

Watch the video.
Window Media Player required

Master that exam with free tools from the library

It’s never too early to start thinking about USMLE, Boards & class exams. Did you know that LSUHSC provides free access to testing tools for medicine, emergency medicine & dentistry?

EXAM MASTER OnLine is a computer based system designed to provide the most realistic and effective exam preparation possible. ExamMaster provides test and study modes, detailed explanations with every question, detailed scoring feedback, and an easy-to-use interface.

You must create a personal login (separate from your LSUHSC email login) to use this resource. A handy tutorial is available here.

So you want print edition test prep?
The library does not collect exam preparation materials because of their unfortunate tendency to disappear, or re-appear with all the answers marked in them. Check the LSUHSC bookstore to order print materials – or sign up for ExamMaster – it’s free to you & accessible online from any location!

E-Resources has a new look!

We’ve updated our electronic resources page to make it easier & faster for you to access our online databases & other resources. Check it out!

(Not showing up? Try hitting your SHIFT key + the Refresh button on your browser together, or F5 on your keyboard, to automatically refresh the webpage.)

Pssssst! We also updated the subject listings!

10 ways to test facts

Are you a pirate in the sea of information?

Check out this article on Brittanica Blog by Gregory McNamee on strategies to avoid the riptides when assessing information you find-online or otherwise.

No bones about it, these online anatomy books rule!

Summer semester is in full swing, and for some of you that means anatomy class. Before you start hacking away those cadavers, consider hacking of a different kind: using an e-book in the lab, direct from your laptop, to identify that fatty tissue.

Whoa! You mean I don’t even have to open a book???
Thieme ElectronicBook Library has over 20 atlases of the human body, including Pocket Atlas of Human Anatomy, Color Atlas of Human Anatomy, Vol.3, & The Human Body.

AccessMedicine, AccessSurgery & AccessEmergency Medicine are also good resources. Though no specific anatomy books are in here, a keyword search for any body part can give you lots of results from a ton of different e-books.

Computers are lame. Giving me the print edition
Not into the e-book thing? Good news — you can browse our extensive anatomy section of the library by going to the 4th floor books & looking for the call number QS 4 ot QS 17.

We can’t stop talking about RSS

RSS (aka Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a format for sharing and distributing Web content, and it is taking over!

For example, check out all the RSS feeds available from the NIH & the National Library of Medicine. Whether you want updates on consumer health news, high quality information about marketed drugs, or NIH Clinical Alerts & Advisories, there’s a feed for you. You can even set up an RSS feed on your specific research interests in PubMed. Now that’s one way to impress your colleagues!

RSS still confusing? Don’t let it threaten you. Check out this quick & easy overview of RSS from USA.gov & become an RSS-pert.