Tuesday 29 April 2008

'ICE' (In Case of Emergency) Mobile Phone Campaign

The 'ICE' idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents there were always mobile phones with patients but they didn't know which number to call so he introduced 'ICE' as the nationally recognised name for contacts in mobile phones in emergency situations.Mobile phones are carried by the majority of the population. The idea behind the ICE campaign is for everyone to store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name 'ICE' ( In Case Of Emergency) in their phone.In an emergency situation, the Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff then know who to quickly contact and can dial the number you have stored under 'ICE' in your phone.

ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safty

The library has started a trial of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. This resource gives comprehensive, timely and accurate coverage of the core allied fields encompassing occupational health and safety. This trial also grants access to CISILO Database, an international, multilingual database providing references to all aspects of health and safety with an emphasis on training and policy documents from various countries.This trial will last until May 8th. Full details of how to access the trial can be found here <http://www.ucd.ie/library/e-lib/local/other_eresources/trial_databases.htm> (On Campus only)

or alternatively contact Diarmuid Stokes <mailto:Diarmuid%20Stokes> at ext. 6207.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

25th of APRIL - WORLD MALARIA DAY – A DAY TO MAKE THE WORLD CARE

In 2008 the 25th of April will be officially named World Malaria Day for the first time. Established and approved by the WHO in March 2007 it will replace Africa Malaria Day, which has taken place every year on 25th of April since 2001.
Malaria is one of the most common and serious tropical diseases. Millions of people die and hundreds of millions fall ill from Malaria.

WHAT IS IT?

Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect the red blood cells.
Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and these usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines.
Key interventions to control malaria include: prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies; use of insecticidal nets by people at risk; and indoor residual spraying with insecticide to control the vector mosquitoes.


Monday 21 April 2008

10,000th Laptop Loan

On Monday, 14th April, UCD Library issued the 10,000th laptop loan. The laptop loan service was first launched in the Health Sciences Library on the 17th April 2007. The service is now available in both the Health Sciences and the James Joyce Libraries. Over the past 12 months the service has provided 1,919 library users with access to laptops, with 64% of users borrowing laptops on more than one occasion and 26% borrowing laptops on five or more occasions.

The lucky 10,000th customer received a one-for-all voucher.

http://www.ucd.ie/library/services_&_facilities/laptop/

Tuesday 15 April 2008

How to increase the visibility and impact of your research?

2nd Conference on Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine and Medicine
Oslo, Norway, 4th – 6th September 2008


The conference addresses two major themes essential to research scientists and academic clinicians:
-what are the tangible benefits and disadvantages of Open Access publishing?
-can bibliometrics be employed to evaluate research at the level of the researcher, the department, the institute and even at the country or federation level?


We would like to have as many participants as possible from ALL professions connected with medicine and biomedicine. How to increase the visibility and impact of your research?

  • make sure the maximum number of people can see your work
  • reach all biomedical scientists in all nations
  • increase your online presence
  • make a bigger impact and manage your academic profile

Join the conference and read more: http://www.ecspbiomed.net/

Early-bird bookings until 30 June 2008: 2 000 NOK.
Graduate and medical students can apply for free registration.


Welcome to Oslo in September!

Sincerely,
Graham V Lees PhD (Chair)
Programme & Steering Committee

Local Organizing Committee:
-Arne Jakobsson (Chair), University of Oslo Library, Library of Medicine and Health Sciences -Sigrid Tollefsen, The Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions -Grete Strand, Norwegian Electronic Health Library

The core values that guide us in our mission are:
Service, Respect, Excellence, Collaboration, Justice and Creativity

CHAIN -Information Network for people employed in health and social care

CHAIN is a network of people, not organisations. CHAIN - Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network - is an online network for people working in health and social care. It is based around specific areas of interest, and gives people a simple and informal way of contacting each other to exchange ideas and share knowledge. CHAIN is multi-professional and cross organisational. It is supported by a number of organisations including the H.S.E. and the Institute of Public Health in Ireland. CHAIN is free to join. As a CHAIN member, you can use the network in many ways including:

  • Searching the online directory in order to contact other members directly
  • Finding out about forthcoming events, conferences and research funding opportunities through messages targeted by the CHAIN facilitator
  • Requesting information from groups of CHAIN members, or publicise your own event
  • Downloading resources from CHAIN events



To find out more information about joining CHAIN or informing colleagues about it go to http://chain.ulcc.ac.uk/chain/index.html

Information Leaflet: http://chain.ulcc.ac.uk/chain/chain_leaflet(Nov07).pdf

Monday 14 April 2008

Topics and videos for Midwifery Studies - The Reproductive Health

The Reproductive Health Library RHL is a midwifery database which contains a collection of videos each demonstrating how to practice an evidence based technique in midwifery.The videos cover a number of important elements in midwifery including external cephalic version Why and How?, caesarean section evidence based technique, labour companionship Every woman's choice and more.The RHL also provides useful information on midwifery topics such as Adolescent Sexual and reproductive health, reproductive tract infections, pregnancy and childbirth, newborn health, gynaecology infertility and cancers and clinical practice.The RHL is available from our A-Z database page http://www.ucd.ie/library/electronic_resources/library_databases/index.html
Reproductive Health Library

Thursday 10 April 2008

POPLINE®


POPLINE® (POPulation information onLINE - http://www.popline.org ), the world's largest database on reproductive health, containing citations with abstracts to scientific articles, reports, books, and unpublished reports in the field of population, family planning, and related health issues.

POPLINE is maintained by the INFO Project (http://www.infoforhealth.org/) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID,
http://www.usaid.gov/).

POPLINE contains nearly 360,000 records and has been maintained since 1973 by the INFO Project (formerly Population Information Program). The majority of items are published from 1970 to the present, however, there are selected citations dating back to 1827. The database adds 12,000 records annually and is updated every Monday. In addition to free text searching, the database can be searched by keywords from the POPLINE Thesaurus (http://db.jhuccp.org/ics-wpd/popweb/Thesaurus/index.htm), a controlled vocabulary of 2,400+ terms used to index documents in the database. POPLINE's special features include links to free, fulltext documents; the ability to limit your search to peer-reviewed journal articles; RSS feeds for topical searches; and many abstracts in French and Spanish.

Topics with international coverage in POPLINE include:
- Family Planning Methods
- Family Planning Programs
- Fertility
- Population Law and Policy

Topics covered in reference to developing countries include:
- Adolescent Reproductive Health
- Demography
- Environmental Health
- Gender and Health
- Health Communication
- HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Infections
- Maternal and Child Health
- Population and Environment
- Related Reproductive Health Programs
- Women in Development

New Intute subject booklets

Two new Intute (http://www.intute.ac.uk/) booklets for Health & Life sciences are now available:

* Internet resources for biological sciences
http://www.intute.ac.uk/supportdocs/biologicalsciences.pdf
* Internet resources for pregnancy and childbirth
http://www.intute.ac.uk/supportdocs/pregnancy.pdf

The Intute subject booklets, is a series of short A5 booklets that providedetails of some of the most useful Internet resources in a specific subject.They offer a taster of the kind and range of resources held in our onlinedatabase. The printed booklets are distributed to UK universities andcolleges, and electronic versions are available below. You are welcome tocopy, re-purpose and distribute the printed or electronic versions foreducational use.

A full-listing of the Health & Life Sciences booklets isavailable at http://www.intute.ac.uk/subjectbooklets.html#hls

Thursday 3 April 2008

One in four adults use the Internet to find out more about health issues

New research from the Health Research Board (HRB) shows that more than one in four Irish adults have used the Internet to search for information about health issues. Females who are in employment are the most likely to use the Internet for health information. These findings were revealed as part of further research into the HRB National Psychological Wellbeing and Distress Survey which showed that approximately one in seven people experienced mental health problems such as anxiety or depression in the past year. Sixty per cent of Internet users who reported mental health problems had used the Internet as a source of information about health issues.
Understanding people’s use of the Internet in relation to health issues was central to the study. The authors would advocate the promotion of websites that provide information and support on positive mental health, but would emphasise that some websites have the potential to have a negative impact on people’s general and mental health – for example, the pro anorexia movement or the purchase of medicines online. ‘Further research is needed to find out which health sites are being accessed and for what reasons. This information will help ensure that people are getting the information they require and, most importantly, that this information is of a high standard,’ concluded Dr Tedstone Doherty.
A full copy of the report, Internet use and seeking health information online in Ireland: demographic characteristics and mental health characteristics of users and non–users is available in the publications section of the HRB website at www.hrb.ie/publications.

Alternatively, for a hard copy of the report, please contact Fiona Bannon by emailing fbannon@hrb.ie or by phoning +353 1 2345148.

[extracted from the HRB Press Release
http://www.hrb.ie/display_content.php?page_id=24&press_release_id=157]

Wednesday 2 April 2008

WORLD HEALTH DAY 2008

World Health day is celebrated every year on 7th of April and sponsored by the World Health Organisation.
This year on World Health Day, thousands of organizations around the globe will mark the importance of health for a happy and productive life.
In 2008, the theme is: “PROTECTING HEALTH FROM CLIMATE CHANGE”.


Key messages being promoted on World Health Day are:

  • Health is one of the areas most affected by climate change – and it is evident now
  • The health impacts of climate change will hit the poor hardest
  • Traditional public health tools are important components of effective response to climate change
  • Cross-sector, interdisciplinary partnerships are necessary to deal with this global health threat
  • Adaptation and mitigation action are required now to protect health


    For more information, please visit:
    http://www.who.int/world-health-day/en/