NIH Director Zerhouni Resigns

Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, announced that he will leave at his post at the end of October to to pursue writing projects and explore other professional opportunities.

In a conference call with reporters, Dr. Zerhouni said that he decided to leave the agency before the election ?óÔé¼?ôso there is a clear sense that whoever wins the election, N.I.H. has to be a clear priority in their mind.?óÔé¼?Ø

Press release from the NIH:
http://www.nih.gov/news/health/sep2008/od-24.htm
New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/health/policy/25nih.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Moving Walls

Yes, the temporary plywood wall at the Isché Library is much closer to the main elevator doors. So after moving 3 feet back, the wall has now walked 6 feet forward. Stay tuned for more progress on the Library Commons…

La. gets a ‘D’ in childhood obesity

A new report from Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge reveals that 36% of Louisiana children ages 10-17 are overweight, and assigns an overall grade of D based on the prevalence of obesity and insufficient exercise programs for young people.

The study, Louisiana’s Report Card on Physical Activity and Health for Children and Youth, will be the focus of the center’s conference starting Wednesday in Baton Rouge to examine solutions to childhood obesity and diabetes. The report is available for free online: http://www.pbrc.edu/report_card/

Interestingly enough, while the Louisiana Council on Obesity Prevention and Management is the conference’s lead sponsor, according to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. was a contributing sponsor and McDonald’s was an in-kind sponsor for the week’s conference.

Both Ariane Rung, PhD, LSU School of Public Health, and Melinda Sothern, PhD, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, were on the Report Card’s Advisory Committee.

More information on the Report from the Times-Picayune:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base//news-6/122214745657990.xml&coll=1

“Dive of Death”: health effects of inverting the body

What are the health effects of hanging upside down for three days? The American public will soon find out, as magician David Blaine attempts to hang upside down over Central Park from now until Wednesday night.

In medical circles, hanging upside down can also be referred to as inversion therapy: hanging upside down ?óÔé¼ÔÇØ supported by your ankles ?óÔé¼ÔÇØ to allow gravity to naturally decompress disks and nerve roots in your spine. It is generally used to relieve back pain, but studies have found no significant long-term benefit.

The health effects of hanging upside down for prolonged periods of time are interesting. Blood pressure to the head can significantly increase and breathing can be restricted. Hanging upside down can also influence how the body identifies smells.

Videos available for Journal of Periodontology

Do you want to see Journal of Periodontology (JOP) manuscripts come to life? That option is now available through supplementary videos in the online Journal. Visit the online Journal Web site to view our first video by Dr. Dan Holtzclaw, based on the case report “Alternative Anesthetic Technique for Maxillary Periodontal Surgery,” published in the September 2008 issue.

Select authors will be invited to produce 3- to 5- minute videos to supplement material published in their peer-reviewed manuscripts. Videos will be linked to the published paper and can be viewed by selecting the hyperlink “supplementary material” located under the article title in the online Table of Contents. Manuscripts featuring a video will be indicated by an icon within the Table of Contents.

Visit joponline.org often to see exciting new additions! Launching soon: supplementary PowerPoint presentations with audio.

You can also access the video through the Library Catalog by looking up Journal of Periodontology and displaying the full text of the journal.

INNOPAC Rebooting

The INNOPAC server will be rebooted at 9:30 a.m. this morning (Wednesday, September 17th). All services should be back up within a few minutes.

Disaster Recovery Resources

While the ‘Nagin special‘ may have been a not-so-funny joke to Ike evacuees, these links to disaster recovery resources provide a variety of information for those affected by Hurricane Ike. To our friends in the Houston area (not to mention those locally affected) we wish you a speedy recovery!

American Red Cross – Open shelters & resources
Houston area: http://www.houstonredcross.org/
Baton Rouge Area: http://batonrouge.redcross.org/

City of Houston eGovernment Center
www.houstontx.gov
Links and phone numbers for local emergency information from the City of Houston.

FEMA.gov – Hurricane Ike Information and Resources
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/2008/ike/index.shtm
News releases and FEMA progress.
See if your area is a designated county and apply for FEMA assistance:
For Louisiana Residents
For Texas Residents

EMERGENCY.louisiana.gov
http://emergency.louisiana.gov/
Press releases from Louisiana State Government, parish updates, Operation Blue Roof, disaster food stamps, supply distribution centers, road openings & closings, business recovery and more.

Houston Chronicle Home Page
http://www.chron.com/
Neighborhood reports, school & business openings, news, information, photos and multi-media from the Houston area newspaper.

Where’s the Power on? Houston Area (Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/databases/ikepower.html
Interactive map of Houston area shows where power is on.

Hurricane Ike Information from the New Orleans Times-Picayune
http://www.nola.com/hurricane-ike/
News on Ike from New Orleans’ regional newspaper

Hurricane Ike Consumer Resource Page – Texas Department of Insurance
http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/consumer/storms/cpmhurrike.html
Variety of links and information on insurance providers and disaster assistance for consumers.

Hurricane Ike Resources Blog
http://hurricaneikeresources.org/
Up to date response and relief info. Browse news by parish, state or county. Excellent scope of information for all states effected by the storm.

Louisiana Library Status Blog
http://prepare.lib.la.us/blog/
Tracking the status of libraries in Louisiana in the event of an emergency.

NN/LM Disaster Preparedness
http://nnlm.gov/ep/
Disaster Resources from the South Central region.
Library Updates: http://nnlm.gov/scr/blog/?p=684

Official Site of the City of Galveston
http://www.cityofgalveston.org/
Galveston Conditions Post-Hurricane Ike, what to do if your structure is damaged, reporting damage, etc.

Texas Department of Transportation
http://www.txdot.gov/travel/hurricane.htm
Road conditions and updates.

Texas Responds
http://www.texasresponds.org/Joom/
State of Texas portal for cash or resource donations and registry for volunteer efforts.

Closing at 2pm today

The library will close at 2pm today.

We expect to be open regular hours tomorrow, weather permitting:
Saturday hours: 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

LSUHSC Emergency Notices

Library Newsletter Fall Issue Available

The latest issue of the Library?óÔé¼Ôäós Newsletter has been released. Archives of the newsletter are also available from 1998 to the present. Articles include:

Off-Campus Access Available

Off Campus Access to the catalog is available once again. Thanks for your patience.

Students! Get published in Public Health Reports

Interested in publishing? The Association of Schools of Public Health recently announced that it will begin a peer-reviewed Student Column in the Public Health Reports journal.

Potential submitters may be current students, current fellows, or recent graduates (within two years) of CEPH-accredited schools of public health. ASPH also seeks student reviewers for the column. For more information, visit www.publichealthreports.org.

E-Links are Working On-Campus

The Electronic Links in the catalog, INNOPAC, are working on-campus only. We are still working on off-campus access

E-Links in Catalog Not Working

Most of the E-Journal & E-Book Links in the catalog are still not working today. We are working with our support team to get the links working again. We hope to have them back up by mid-day today.

Off Campus Access Is Down

Off-campus access library resources using your library barcode & password is currently down. Some journals and databases may be unavailable off campus while we address this problem.

In the meantime, you can access the following Intranet resources using your LSUHSC username & password. (Don’t forget to add lsumc-master\ before your username.)

Micromedex: https://intranet.lsuhsc.edu/micromedex/
Ovid: http://ovid.lsuhsc.edu/
PubMed (free version – limited full text): http://www.pubmed.gov

For urgent article or research requests, please email reference@lsuhsc.edu. Your request will be handled by tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your patience while we sort this out!

INNOPAC is Back

Maintenance is complete.