Geaux Tigers!

LSUHSC New Orleans (which includes the Libraries) will be closing down at noon on Monday, January 9th, in honor of the LSU Tigers playing in the BCS Championship in the Superdome.

Possible INNOPAC downtime

INNOPAC may be down for a short time today due to routine system maintenance between 10 am and 2 pm.

For every American who quit smoking in 2011, another became obese

One final 2011 list, this from our friends at the AAMC:

American Medical News, published by the AMA, has posted “Our most intriguing medical facts of 2011,” drawn from the pages of American Medical News and linked back to the original story.
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/site/facts11.htm

Tumor Registry 1st Place in Data Quality

The Louisiana Tumor Registry has been awarded 1st Place Data Quality Profile Award from the National Cancer Institute’s SEER program. The Louisiana Tumor Registry has been under the auspice of LSUHSC-NO since 1995; it has been a SEER program since 2001.

2011 in Review: books, breakthroughs and blunders

Was 2011 one of those years that made you look back fondly on the Gulf oil spill? These 2011 ‘best-ofs’ and ‘breakthroughs’ may lift your spirit.

• The journal Science has chosen the finding that antiretroviral drugs reduce the risk of heterosexual transmission of HIV as its Breakthrough of the Year. 2011 Breakthrough of the Year: HIV Treatment as Prevention
• Time Magazine named the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to create stem cells and the newly created malaria vaccine, in addition to ARV to prevent heterosexual HIV transmission. Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
• AirStrip Cardiology, the FDA approved and HIPAA compliant cardiac patient monitoring solution, won top honors as best US medical application for the iOS platform by the Apple Editorial Staff. Top 5 medical apps from iMedicalApps.com
• Nature journal offers a color-coded, interactive timeline for 2011 science news in brief. Nature News 365 days: A clickable calendar of the yearÔÇÖs events
• Scientific American has several retrospectives, but my favorites are Duh! 11 Obvious Science Findings of 2011 and Doh! Top Science Journal Retractions of 2011
• And what would a 2011 review list be without some snazzy science book recommendations? Blood Work, Science Ink & The Information are on my 2012 to read list. A Brilliant List of Science Books for People Who Want Their Minds Blown

2 Minute Tips: Create a PIN

Our newest 2 minute tip shows you how to create a PIN number for off campus access.

VIEW VIDEO

2 Minute tips is a blog series where we bring you short video tutorials on various tools and resources in the library.

RefWorks “Classic” view

RefWorks Classic will no longer be available as an interface in RefWorks as of today, December 31st, 2011.

View a tutorial on the RefWorks 2.0 interface.

For questions or training contact Molly Knapp. RefWorks classes will resume in January.

Libraries are Closed until 2012

The Dental and Isché Libraries are now closed until January 3rd at 8 am.

Have a happy holiday!

Lab-bred bird flu research: bioterror threat?

An interesting article in the Times Picayune today discussed how the US government is requesting two major scientific publishers (Science and Nature) restrict details about the development of lab-bred bird flu in upcoming publications. The NIH funded research was conducted in the Netherlands and at the University of Wisconsin, in order to study the epidemiology of H5N1 avian influenza.

“…In a statement, Science editor-in-chief Dr. Bruce Alberts said his journal “has concerns about withholding potentially important public health information from responsible influenza researchers” and was evaluating how best to proceed.

Nature’s editor-in-chief, Dr. Philip Campbell, called the recommendations unprecedented.

“It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers,” he said in a statement. The journal is discussing how “appropriate access to the scientific methods and data could be enabled.”

After review by the US government’s biosecurity advisers, the Department of Health and Human Services requested the two journals not publish the full genetic information of lab bred bird flu, fearing it could fall into the wrong hands.

You would think that due to the First Amendment of the US Constitution, governmental agencies can only request the journals restrict details, and not openly censor the published work. However, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (which publishes Science), there are several methods to restrict publication and dissemination of research: classification, export controls, and pre-publication review. “Pre-publication review is sometimes used as a condition for accepting research grants or contracts. These restrictions are usually narrowly-targeted, and do not apply to whole fields of research.”

The AAAS has a useful if dated Issue Brief explaining these methods of publication control in their document “Science and Security in the Post-9/11 Environment-Scientific Publication Policies” (2004), as well as a link to resources and primary documents related to the regulation of scientific information (which is not unprecedented…hello, atomic bomb!).

More Info
20 December 2011 Science press release
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2011/1220herfst.shtml
20 December 2011 Nature News: “Fears grow over lab-bred flu”
http://www.nature.com/news/fears-grow-over-lab-bred-flu-1.9692

Dental Campus data/phone lines

The Dental Campus has been experiencing an outage of telephone & data lines since this morning. AT&T estimates the repair time as between 3-4 this afternoon.
*Edit* Service was restored at 2:30 pm.

Water outage Tues. PM (12/20)

There will be a domestic water outage at the Resource Center Building and S. Roman St. Garage this Tuesday, December 20th, from 10:00 PM till 2:00 AM. This outage is needed to cap a leaking waterline located in the University Medical Center construction site. During this outage there will be no hot or cold water in any of the restrooms or the lounges throughout either building.

Ische Library Closing @ 6

Reminder: Monday through Friday, December 19th -23rd, the Isché Library will close at 6 pm.

Dental Library – Winter Break Hours

The Dental Library will be open from 8 am to 5 pm on Wednesday and Thursday, December 21st and 22nd, and from 8 am to 4:30 pm on Friday, December 23rd. Regular hours (8 am to 8 pm) will be observed on Monday and Tuesday, December 19th and 20th.

C’mon Santa light my Fire

Considering a Kindle Fire tablet/ereader for Christmas? Check out these reviews:

Kindle Fire Usability Findings
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-fire-usability.html
Review by Jakob Nielsen, usability expert.
Summary: Mobile web sites work best on the 7-inch tablet. Users had great trouble touching the correct items on full sites, where UI elements are too small on the Fire screen.

AmazonÔÇÖs New Kindle Fire (Guest Post)
http://www.lhl.uab.edu/tech/?p=637
Review by Susan Smith, librarian at Lister Hill Library, Univ. of Alabama – Birmingham.
Summary: “the Kindle Fire is fun and useful ÔÇô especially for entertainment purposes. For anyone not wanting to spend $500 for an iPad, I think this is a great alternative.”
(Thanks to Lin Wu for the heads up!)

What is Walk Score?

Walkscore.com is a website that designates a number ranging from 0-100 to any address based on its “walkability.”

According to the website “Walk Score uses a patent-pending system to measure the walkability of an address. The Walk Score algorithm awards points based on the distance to amenities in each category. Amenities within .25 miles receive maximum points and no points are awarded for amenities further than one mile.”

The Walk Score for LSUHSC is 75. When compared against the rating chart (below)we see that LSUHSC is Very Walkable.

90ÔÇô100 Walker’s Paradise ÔÇö Daily errands do not require a car.
70ÔÇô89 Very Walkable ÔÇö Most errands can be accomplished on foot.
50ÔÇô69 Somewhat Walkable ÔÇö Some amenities within walking distance.
25ÔÇô49 Car-Dependent ÔÇö A few amenities within walking distance.
0ÔÇô24 Car-Dependent ÔÇö Almost all errands require a car.

What is the Walk Score of your home? Find out here!