informatics

Most of the traffic I see run through this site is based around existing, single-source RSS feeds. The most popular of which is the PubMed Herbal RSS feed. Some folks have tapped into the multi-term taxonomy searching and RSS generation, but most users seem to keep things simple.

Any RSS feed coming out of this site can be read on pretty much any device that's RSS-savvy. The problem is that doing this usually requires a mobile RSS reader application, should you want to stay informed, and stay mobile. Flash and Java options appear to be cumbersome on most mobile devices, even if these technologies are supported.

So, using Feedburner's XML-HTML parsing toolset, I've added a couple of very simple html pages at mobile.herbalscienceresearch.com that display the latest abstracts and full text articles being indexed by PubMed.

The first is a slightly modified version of the above mentioned PubMed abstract feed. I've filtered out some of the more advanced phytochemistry results, yielding a slightly less reductionistic version of the original. There's also a new mobile version of the PubMed Herbal Full Text feed, providing a way to stay current with PubMed's full text articles of a herbal nature.

The pages have been formatted to render nicely for my shiny new iPhone, but should display well on any html-capable device with a viewport equivalent of 320px. Of course, they render in a browser nicely too, making them a nice option for non-mobile dial-up users who don't want to load images, javascript, etc.

Speaking of javascript, a cool search page is in the works. Meanwhile, you can view the mobile abstract feed at mobile.herbalscienceresearch.com and tap into the mobile full text feed here. mobile.herbalscienceresearch.com/fulltext.

Complexities of the herbal nomenclature system in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM): lessons learned from the misuse of Aristolochia-related species and the importance of the pharmaceutical name during botanical drug product development.: Phytomedicine. 2007 Apr;14(4):273-9 Authors: Wu KM, Farrelly JG, Upton R, Chen J

Herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have diverse cultural/historical backgrounds and are described based on complex nomenclature systems. Using the family Aristolochiaceae as an example, at least three categories of nomenclature could be identified: (1) one-to-one (one plant part from one species): the herb guan mutong refers to the root of Aristolochia manshuriensis; (2) multiple-to-one (multiple plant parts from the same species serve as different herbs): three herbs, madouling, qingmuxiang and tianxianteng, derived respectively from the fruit, root and stem of Aristolochia debilis; and (3) one-to-multiple (one herb refers to multiple species): the herb fangji refers to the root of either Aristolochia fangchi, Stephania tetrandra or Cocculus trilobus; in this case, the first belongs to a different family (Aristolochiaceae) than the latter two (Menispermaceae), and only the first contains aristolochic acid (AA), as demonstrated by independent analytical data provided in this article. Further, mutong (Akebia quinata) is allowed in TCM herbal medicine practice to be substituted with either guan mutong (Aristolochia manshuriensis) or chuan mutong (Clematis armandii); and mu fangji (Cocculus trilobus) by guang fanchi (Aristolochia fangchi) or hanzhong fangji (Aristolochia heterophylla), thereby increasing the risk of exposing renotoxic AA-containing Aristolochia species to patients. To avoid these and other confusions, we wish to emphasize the importance of a pharmaceutical name, which defines the species name, the plant part, and sometimes the special process performed on the herb, including cultivating conditions. The pharmaceutical name as referred to in this article is defined, and is limited to those botanicals that are intended to be used as drug. It is hoped that by following the pharmaceutical name, toxic herbs can be effectively identified and substitution or adulteration avoided.

[Quality appraisal of systematic reviews or meta-analysis on traditional Chinese medicine published in Chinese journals]: Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi. 2007 Apr;27(4):306-11 Authors: Liu JP, Xia Y

OBJECTIVE: To critically assess the quality of literature about systematic review or meta-analysis on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) published in Chinese journals. METHODS: Electronic searches in CNKI, VIP and Wanfang data-base were conducted to retrieve the systematic reviews or meta-analysis reports on TCM, including herbal medicine, needling, acupuncture and moxibustion, as well as integrative medicine, they were identified and extracted according to the 18 items of QUOROM (quality of reporting of meta-analyses) Statement and relative information. The appraisal was made taking the indexes mainly including objectives, source of data, methods of data extraction, quality assessment of the included studies, measurement data synthesis, etc. RESULTS: Eighty-two systematic reviews were identified, except 6 reviews were excluded for repeatedly published or didn't comply with the enrolled criterion, 76 reviews concerning 51 kinds of diseases were enrolled for appraisal. Among them, 70 reviews evaluated the efficacy of TCM, mainly on Chinese herbs and 9 on acupuncture and moxibustion. In majority of the reviews, randomised controlled trials were included and the data resources were described, but in 26 reviews only the Chinese databases were searched and the description about data extraction and analysis method were too simple; and 70% of reviews assessed the quality of the included studies; none used flow chart to express the process of selection, inclusion and exclusion of studies. CONCLUSIONS: Few reviews or Meta-analysis reports reached the international standard and there is insufficient description of methodology for conducting systematic reviews, so it is hardly to be repeated. The authors suggested that advanced methodological training is necessary for reviewers.

A shiny new Mac OSX widget is now available for the Herbal Science Research feed. This widget pulls in a feed of the latest posts from HerbalScienceResearch.com, including PubMed abstracts from NLM filtered using a complex custom MeSH string created for this site.

Now for the disclaimer...this is an introductory effort and should be used with caution. I am running it on 10.4.8 and have seen no problems with it so far.

I do plan to add a pull-down menu to allow you to subscribe to any of the feeds coming through the site and/or specific PubMed category feeds. Meanwhile, enjoy having the very latest Herbal Science Research feed as close as your Mac's Dashboard.

A windows version will be coming at some point in the near future.

Download the widget here.

Once downloaded, unzip the widget by double-clicking on the HSR.zip file. Then, double-click the widget to install it. Easy as Apple pie.

Enjoy.

[Salvia divinorum--representation of a new drug in the Internet]: Gesundheitswesen. 2006 May; 68(5): 323-7 Siemann H, Specka M, Schifano F, Deluca P, Scherbaum N

AIM OF THE STUDY: The German pages of the Internet were searched for the presence of the hallucinogenic herbal drug Salvia divinorum, which is not dealt with in current addiction medicine or psychiatric text books. The investigation is part of the EU sponsored project "Psychonaut" as preparatory work for the development of an Internet-based early warning system. METHODS: The first 100 websites of the search using "Salvia divinorum" were compared with the search results for "cannabis" and "LSD". The following aspects of the sites were especially analyzed: the originator, marketing of drugs, and the attitude towards drug use. RESULTS: Salvia was offered for sale on approximately a third of the sites (29%); cannabis and LSD were not marketed on any sites. Official websites such as those from governmental organizations or universities were seldom found when searching for "Salvia divinorum", and then only under the last hits. The percentage of institutional sites (e. g. public organizations) were 12% with Salvia, 21% with cannabis, and 38% with LSD. A drug-friendly attitude was found at 64 % of the sites with regard to Salvia, 58% for cannabis, and 24% for LSD. CONCLUSION: The drug help system must be aware of that the Internet is a source of drug-related information, and of drug trade. As this investigation shows, sites often have a drug-friendly attitude. The low availability of official information on Salvia divinorum (also outside the Internet) relative to the presence of drug-friendly or drug trading sites is an indication that new trends of drug consumption can be tracked in the Internet before they will be found in official literature.

Developing optimal search strategies for finding information on herbs and other medicinal plants in MEDLINE.: J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Aug;11(4):725-31 Authors: Saxton JD, Owen DJ

The MEDLINE database is an important resource for locating up-to-date information on herbs and other botanical therapies. However, the evolving nature of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the complexity of herbal terminology can make it difficult to identify useful citations. This paper describes optimal search strategies for finding clinical information on herbs and medicinal plants in MEDLINE using the PubMed retrieval system. Searchers will benefit from an understanding of the structure of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and PubMed's advanced search capabilities. Details for using PubMed's MeSH Database, Clinical Queries, Clipboard, and limiting features to retrieve pertinent botanical research are described. Tables containing MeSH terms for medicinal plants and useful print and electronic resources are included.

Availability of and attitudes toward resources on alternative medicine products in the community pharmacy setting.: J Am Pharm Assoc (Wash DC). 2005 Nov-Dec; 45(6): 734-9 Nathan JP, Cicero LA, Koumis T, Rosenberg JM, Feifer S, Maltz F

OBJECTIVE: To examine the availability of resources on dietary supplements in the community pharmacy setting and to assess the attitudes of community pharmacists toward these resources. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Community pharmacies in New York and New Jersey that serve as experiential sites for senior student pharmacists at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Long Island University. PARTICIPANTS: Preceptors or full-time pharmacists. INTERVENTION: Mailed survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency of use, availability of, and pharmacists' satisfaction with resources on alternative medicines, defined in the survey as any product including herbal remedies, vitamins, minerals, and natural products that may be purchased at a health food store, pharmacy, supermarket, alternative medicine store/magazine for the purpose of self-treatment. RESULTS: A total of 64 pharmacists characterized their frequency of use of resources on alternative medicines while formulating responses to questions as: never (n = 5; 7.8%), seldom (n = 31; 48.4%), often (n = 24; 37.5%), or always (n = 4; 6.3%). A total of 30 different resources were available to 40 respondents. The most commonly available resources were the PDR for Herbal Medicines (42.5%), The Review of Natural Products (20.0%), and the Web site of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (12.5%). Of 54 respondents, 4 (7.1%) reported being completely dissatisfied with the available resources; 17 (31.5%) were somewhat dissatisfied; 25 (46.3%) were somewhat satisfied; and 8 (14.8%) were completely satisfied with the resources available to them. Topics the pharmacists most commonly wanted to see improved included safety (72.7%), interactions (70.9%), and uses (69.1%). CONCLUSION: Community pharmacists do not use information resources on alternative medicine products frequently, and many are not satisfied with the resources available to them.

Are you new to internet research or do you simply need to brush up on your basic boolean logic? The University at Albany library has published a brief tutorial on boolean searching that might help.

Check out Boolean Searching on the Internet or take a look at their other web tutorials

Technical Grant Writing workshop for CTSA:

Presented by: NCRR

Aired date: 12/7/2005 3:36:00 PM Eastern Time