PubMed Clinical Queries Update to Include a Covid-19 Search for Best Evidence

 The PubMed Clinical Queries page will soon be updated with design and content changes. The new page design aligns with the new PubMed and includes a new category for COVID-19 searches. Links and bookmarks created for the legacy PubMed Clinical Queries page will be redirected to the new page when this change takes effect.

The PubMed Clinical Queries page will initially include COVID-19 Articles and Clinical Study Categories (see Figure 1). The new COVID-19 filter strategies are published in the PubMed User Guide and may evolve over time.

Figure 1: PubMed Clinical Queries Page.

The Systematic Review and Medical Genetics filters that were included in the legacy PubMed Clinical Queries page have moved:

• Systematic Review is available as a default Article Type filter on the filter sidebar for PubMed search result pages (see Figure 2).
• The Medical Genetics searches are available as filters that may be added to a query using the filter name with the search field tag [filter]: for example, sickle cell anemia AND genetic counseling[filter]. The complete list of filters and associated search strategies are published in the PubMed User Guide.

Figure 2: PubMed Article Type Filter.

For more information about using Clinical Queries and the filter strategies, please see the PubMed User Guide:

• Clinical Queries
• Clinical Queries Filters
• Systematic Reviews

By Jessica Chan
National Center for Biotechnology Information

Originally posted to the NLM Technical Bulletin on October 14, 2020.

Chan J. PubMed Clinical Queries Update Coming Soon. NLM Tech Bull. 2020 Sep-Oct;(436):e8.

ISSN 2161-2986 (Online) Content not copyrighted; freely reproducible.

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Masks May Do More than We Think: ZDoggMD talks with Dr Monica Gandhi

This is recent episode from ZDoggMD' podcast.    

I'd read cited the NEJM article last month and was intrigued with the idea of variolation, so I was happy to hear one of the authors talk about it in this discussion with Dr. Zubin Damania (aka ZDoggMD).   Dr. Gandhi also goes over the current state of the evidence re: face masks.  I was pleased to hear that I was familiar with all the studies she talks about concerning the efficacy of masks to prevent transmission of respiratory infections.  Dr. Gandhi comes from a background of treating patients with HIV, and has a different approach to convincing people to take care of themselves and others, whether it be wearing condoms or face masks.  No shaming here. ;-)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  

Here is the PubMed citation for her article: 

Facial Masking for Covid-19 - Potential for "Variolation" as We Await a Vaccine.
Gandhi M, Rutherford GW.N Engl J Med. 2020 Sep 8. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2026913. Online ahead of print.  PMID: 32897661

Masks May Do More Than We Think (w/Dr. Monica Gandhi)

From ZDogg's introduction to this episode:

What if masks acted to reduce severity of COVID-19 infection for the WEARER, fostering immunity like a vaccine and allowing a full societal reopening?

Dr. Monica Gandhi is a UCSF professor of Medicine in the division of HIV, infectious diseases, and global medicine. She and her colleagues recently proposed just such a theory in the New England Journal of Medicine. In this fantastic interview she outlines the emerging data in support of the idea that masks may do more than we think.

Here’s a NY Times piece about her proposal, and here’s a paper she co-authored in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

And here’s ZDogg's piece on masks that summarizes some of Dr. Gandhi’s work.

Full Transcript is available at ZDoggMD.

References (directly from Dr. Gandhi) :

Viral inoculum theory: Higher viral inocula or “dose” linked to severity of disease

Well described in animal studies and some human studies for respiratory and GI illnesses -higher infective dose thought to lead to faster/greater pathogen replication, leading to a more aggressive and damaging innate inflammatory response, or overwhelming adaptive immune response- all leading to more severe disease.   This is a hypothesis for diseases in which immunopathology plays a role in viral pathogenesis, such as COVID-19 (Rouse BT, Sehrawat S. Immunity and immunopathology to viruses: what decides the outcome? Nat Rev Immunol. 2010;10(7):514-526)

Some evidence for the “viral inocula” theory for SARS/MERS. Evidence in SARS-CoV-2 fom degree of illness in household contacts/ health care workers at beginning of pandemic.  Papers supporting viral inoculum theory. [43 more citations available at ZDogg's site.]

WHSLA Genie now accepting wishes!

The WHSLA Genie would like to hear your wishes! 

Have you ever thought “I wish WHSLA…”?  The WHSLA Board wants to be sure we are a viable organization going into this new decade!  As a reminder…

WHSLA's purpose is to:

• promote the development of health science libraries and librarianship in Wisconsin
• provide a forum for the discussion of mutual problems and the exchange of ideas and information among members
• encourage the continuing education of all health science library personnel by sponsoring appropriate educational programs
• serve as a liaison to other organizations desiring input from WHSLA

 

What do you wish WHSLA could do to support you in your library work? 

Please take a few minutes and send your wishes to the WHSLA Genie by November 2, 2020.  Thank you! 

Any questions?  Contact Deb Knippel. 

Thank you to Melissa De Santis, M.L.I.S., AHIP for permission to use/adapt her work.  You may want to carry out this theme for a needs assessment in your own library! 

Source:  De Santis, M., Houghton, V., & Fontenelle, C. (2017). "If the Library Genie Granted You Three Wishes, What Would They Be?": Results and Lessons Learned From an Annual User Feedback Campaign. Medical reference services quarterly, 36(1), 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2017.1259886 (PMID: 28112639).

Image source:  "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" by ☼☼Jo Zimny Photos☼☼ is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Does Science Self-Correct? What we've learned at Retraction Watch

Does Science Self-Correct?  What We've Learned at Retraction Watch [Web Video; 58:56]   by Dr Ivan Orlansky, presented on Oct 8, 2020.

This is a recording of Dr. Ivan Oransky's inaugural talk in a new lecture series by the Leon Levy Dental Library at Penn Libraries. Hosted by Laurel Graham.

Liz Suelzer's presentation last year helped me understand the importance of retractions in scholarly communication and publishing.  Here's your chance to learn about / catch up on the work of Retraction Watch. 

Common Reasons for Retractions:

• Duplication (Self-plagiarism) 
• Plagiarism
• Image Manipulation
• Faked Data
• Fake Peer Reviews
• Publisher Error
• Authorship Issues
• Legal Reasons
• Not Reproducible
• Fraud - Misconduct - Reliability - Error - Misc

Did you know that Zotero offers retraction alerts?

"Warning: A citation in your document has been retracted."

Other helpful links:

Retraction Watch's free newsletter.

Retraction Watch Database

• Retraction Watch Database User Guide

Retracted Covid-19 Papers

Retraction Watch Blog

PubPeer - Post publication peer review