II. OPEN-SOURCE INTERNET DATABASES & WEBSITES
a. General and Alternative Medical Resources
This symbol ◊ signifies a recommended resource.
a. General and Alternative Medical Resources:
◊ Alternative Medicine Foundation Pages (AMFI):
1) How to assess the credibility of medical information:
http://www.amfoundation.org/assess.htm
2) A resource guide for evaluating, understanding, and effectively using online alternative and complementary medical research: http://www.amfoundation.org/medresearch.htm#contradiction .
◊ American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA) Online Journal (AMMA) (Search-Page for Full-text articles): http://www.medicalacupuncture.com/aama_marf/journal/search_journals.html
BioMed Central : “BioMed Central is an independent publishing house committed to providing immediate open access (full-text) to peer-reviewed biomedical research” (BioMed Central website). Users can select to search Pubmed and BioMed holdings simultaneously. Includes some alternative medical resources.
Access BioMed Central at http://www.biomedcentral.com
◊ “CAM through Pubmed: The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health conducts and supports basic and applied research and training and disseminates information on complementary and alternative medicine to practitioners and the public… consists of approximately 220,000 bibliographic citations dated from 1963 through the present. To access this feature from PubMed (◊ www.pubmed.gov), click Limits under the PubMed search box and select Complementary Medicine from the Subset menu. Enter search terms in the box” (Bastyr Library Website).
◊ Highwire Press: "HighWire Press is the largest archive of free full-text science on Earth! As of 3/7/08, [they] are assisting in the online publication of 1,856,777 free full-text articles and 4,695,168 total articles. There are 22 sites with free trial periods, and 43 completely free sites. 249 sites have free back issues, and 1013 sites have pay per view!" (Highwire Press Website)
Access Highwire Press at http://highwire.stanford.edu/
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association:"The JAMA & Archives Journals Web sites include the full text of JAMA and the specialty Archives Journals, published by the American Medical Association. JAMA is published weekly, 48 issues per year... Research articles are freely available after 6 months for JAMA and 12 months for the Archives Journals." For full-text articles published within the last 6 months, please come to the library for the user id and password.
Access JAMA at http://jama.ama-assn.org/
Medical News website: “News-Medical.Net global medical news service for the consumer, medical professional and researcher. The news provided is sourced from over 6000 qualified news sources each day” (News-Medical website).
Access News-Medical.Net at http://news-medical.net
NOAH New York Online Access to Health: “...provides access to high quality consumer health information in English and Spanish. … Librarians and health professionals in New York and beyond find, select, and organize full-text consumer health information that is current, relevant, accurate and unbiased”” (NOAH website). For subject-specific searching, use the search box rather than browsing topic links.
Access NOAH at http://www.noah-health.org/
◊ Pubmed: “PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 15 million citations from MEDLINE and additional life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950's. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources” (Pubmed website). See the tutorial on searching the site on the left-hand column of the homepage.
Access Pubmed at www.pubmed.gov
Site dedicated to Qi Gong http://thedao.com
◊ Sacred Lotus Arts Traditional Chinese Medicine: This excellent study site includes Herbs (can search by Pin Yin names), Diagnosis, Acupuncture, and Theory information and links. Particularly good for information and photographs about Herbs. Can be searched with limits for California State Board herbs. Students and practitioners both may find this site useful.
Access Sacred Lotus at http://www.sacredlotus.com/herbs/index.cfm
TripDatabase: Evidence-based medical articles (300-400 added monthly), massive collection of medical images and more available on the internet—5 free searches per week. Full-text and citation.
Access TripDatabase at http://www.tripdatabase.com/index.cfm .
◊ YinYang House: Acupuncture for the World: “Our site is devoted to the exploration of complementary and alternative medicine with special attention paid to acupuncture and oriental medicine. We offer a wealth of information related to acupuncture theory, clinical applications, resources and research. Both Chinese and Japanese styles of acupuncture are covered in detail as well as auricular acupuncture and other microsystems, traditional chinese medicine theory, and much more” (YinYang House website). Access YinYang House at http://www.yinyanghouse.com
“AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) : You can search this database to find scientific articles and citations for many commonly researched herbs. Please see full AGRICOLA description in the “Western Medical Resources” section of this guide.
Access AGRICOLA at http://agricola.nal.usda.gov
Alternative Nature Online Herbal Medicinal Plant Pictures: “Over 300 herb, wildflower and plant pictures for commercial and educational use” (Alternative Nature Online Herbal website). Although many of the photos include watermarks, one can easily see plant characteristics. Browse by Latin names.
Access ANOH at http://altnature.com/Herbs2003/herbpicturelist.htm
Botanical.com: A Modern Herbal: “The [full-text] version of... A Modern Herbal, first published in 1931, by Mrs. M. Grieve, contains Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs” (Botanica.com Website).
Access A Modern Herbal at http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/mgmh.html
◊ CalPhotos: “More than 80,000 digital images [58,144 photos of plants and 1,791 of fungi] are available for online searching (CalPhotos Website).
Access CalPhotos at http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/flora
Cornell University Poisonous Plants Informational Database: “This is a growing reference that includes plant images, pictures of affected animals and presentations concerning the botany, chemistry, toxicology, diagnosis and prevention of poisoning of animals by plants and other natural flora (fungi, etc.)” (CUPPID Website). Access CUPPID at http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/index.html
Dictionary of Chinese Herbs: This dictionary includes pharmaceutical, botanical, and common names, multi-language pin yin pronunciations, distribution, properties, channels entered, medical functions, actions & indications, chemical ingredients, dosage, samples of formulae, modern research, with toxicity and cautions.
Access Dictionary at http://alternativehealing.org/chinese_herbs_dictionary.htm
◊ “HerbMed: an interactive, electronic herbal database - provides hyperlinked access to the scientific data underlying the use of herbs for health. It is an impartial, evidence-based information resource provided by the nonprofit Alternative Medicine Foundation, Inc.” See the links section. Access HerbMed at http://www.herbmed.org
- “AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) is a bibliographic database of citations [that] describe resources encompassing all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines. Thousands of AGRICOLA records are linked to full-text documents online, with new links added daily” (Agricola website). Topics relevant to medical studies include animal and veterinary sciences, plant sciences, farming and farming systems, food and human nutrition, and other agricultural areas. You can find scientific articles and citations for many commonly researched herbs here. . Access AGRICOLA at http://agricola.nal.usda.gov.
- The use and function of vitamin, mineral, phytochemical, botanical, and herbal supplements in human nutrition,
- The role of nutrient supplementation in metabolism in normal nutrition and disease states,
- Animal studies that relate to the function of dietary supplements in human nutrition,
- Chemical composition, biochemical roles, and antioxidant activity of botanical and nutrient supplements,
- Fortification of foods with supplemental nutrients and health-related effects,
- Nutrient composition of herbal and botanical products,
- Surveys on dietary supplement use by various populations,
- The growth and production of herbal and botanical products used as dietary supplements” (IBIDS website).
◊ International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements database (IBIDS): “Over 730,000 citations on the topic of dietary supplements from four major database sources: biomedical-related articles from MEDLINE, botanical and agricultural science from AGRICOLA, worldwide agricultural literature through AGRIS, and selected nutrition journals from CAB Abstracts and CAB Health. The scope of IBIDS includes:
Access IBIDS at
http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/Health_Information/IBIDS.aspx
◊ Merck Manual:
Access full-text online at http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp
On-line Medical Dictionary: “OMD is a searchable dictionary.. containing.. terms relating to biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, medicine, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology. Includes: acronyms, jargon, theory, conventions, standards, institutions, projects, eponyms, history, [and more]” (On-line Medical dictionary site). Access Dictionary at http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/omd
◊ PDRHealth: Consistent with the FDA-approved drug information found in the PDR, PDRHealth offers “plain-English explanations for the safe and effective use of prescription and nonprescription drugs” (PDRHealth website). This site can be used by consumers and practitioners alike to find information on [drug] side effects, drug interactions, disease, health and wellness, clinical trials, and other important information. Access PDRHealth at http://www.pdrhealth.com
NEJM--New England Journal of Medicine:
Registered users can:
Receive free online access to the full text of Original and Special Articles six months after publication
Purchase single articles for $10 each, which includes a PDF and the PowerPoint Slide Set associated with the article
Purchase a subscriber level pass for $29, which gives you full access to all of the content and features at NEJM Online for 24 hours" Registration is free.
Access NEJM at http://content.nejm.org/
PLoS Medicine: "PLoS Medicine believes that medical research is an international public resource. The journal provides an open-access venue for important, peer-reviewed advances in all disciplines. With the ultimate aim of improving human health, we encourage research and comment that address the global burden of disease."
Access PLoS Medicine at http://medicine.plosjournals.org
Anatomy of the Human Body: “The Bartleby.com edition of Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body features 1,247 vibrant engravings—many in color—from the classic 1918 publication, as well as a subject index with 13,000 entries ranging from the Antrum of Highmore to the Zonule of Zinn” (Bartleby website). Full-text and Free. Access Gray’s Anatomy at ◊ http://www.bartleby.com/107/