National Library of Medicine Apps Winners!

Recently, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) hosted a contest for library app development--"Show Off Your Apps:  Innovative Uses of NLM Information."  Five winners, and several honorable mentions, were selected, and you can read about these projects in the NLM press release.  While some of these, like the iAnatomy app, are true apps and available in the App Store, some, like GLAD4U, are more like interactive websites.  Check them all out, and see how they might help you!  


Descriptions of the five winners are as follows.  Descriptions are from the NLM press release:

GLAD4U

GLAD4U (Gene List Automatically Derived For You) is a new, free web-based gene retrieval and prioritization tool, which takes advantage of the NCBI’s Entrez Programming Utilities (E-utilities). Upon the submission of a query, GLAD4U retrieves the corresponding publications with eSearch before using Pubmed ID-Entrez Gene ID mapping tables provided by the NCBI to create a list of genes. A statistics-based prioritization algorithm ranks those genes into a list that is output to the user, usually within less than a minute. The GLAD4U user interface accepts any valid queries for PubMed, and its output page displays the ranked gene list and information associated with each gene, chronologically-ordered supporting publications, along with a summary of the run and links for file exports and for further functional enrichment analyses.

iAnatomy

Learning anatomy interactively with a touchscreen device is  dynamic and engaging. Having it as an app, makes the information available anywhere, anytime. iAnatomy is an exciting electronic anatomy atlas for iPhone/iPod touch. The images are interactive and zoomable. If a label is touched, the name of the structure is shown.  Images span from the face to the pelvis. The face and neck images and the female pelvis images are reconstructed from data from the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project. iAnatomy is designed to stand on its own and does not require an ongoing internet connection. Learning is reinforced with multiple quiz modes. Latin medical terminology is also included as an option for international use.

KNALIJ

The KNALIJ web application addresses the challenges and opportunities posed by ‘big data’ with a new generation of information visualization tools. It offers researchers, students and health consumers alike a technology platform with capabilities to rapidly discover and gain insights from the copious amounts of information being made available from the National Libraries of Medicine (NLM), through its data repositories such as PubMed. KNALIJ recognizes the ‘connections’ linking bio-medical and life sciences research and researchers around the world, and visualizes those linkages. This makes them clear, intuitive, and even playful by providing interactive ‘information communities’ for exploration, analysis, and education.

NLMplus

NLMplus is an innovative semantic search and discovery application developed by WebLib LLC, a small business in Maryland. NLMplus provides enhanced access to the vast collection of health and biomedical information and services made available by the world's largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

Quertle

Quertle is an innovative website for searching and investigating the biomedical literature. Quertle uses advanced linguistic methods to find the most relevant documents instead of traditional keyword searching, which often returns an overwhelming list of uninformative articles. Quertle is geared to active life science professionals - both researchers and health care providers - and saves them considerable time and effort in finding the literature they need.  Quertle, available on the web using any browser, simultaneously searches multiple sources of life science literature, including MEDLINE.

iPad Ideas: Health and Fitness Apps

Image from beingwelllifestyles.com

Continuing our discussion from last summer about mobile technologies and iPad uses in research, the classroom, or life, I thought we'd talk a bit today about the many health apps that seem to be taking over many people's mobile devices!  This post was first inspired by the apps I kept hearing about that would pull up nutritional information for food.  But, after a bit of research and exploration, I discovered that there are many, many health and fitness apps available:  calorie counters, food diaries, and exercise tracking!  I'm listing a few cool ones below, and then mention a few sites that aggregate this information, or provide background information about the content provided through these apps:


Calculator Apps

• Health Calculator Android App 
• Health Calculator

Diet & Nutrition Apps

• Calorie Tracker
• MyNetDiary 
• Nutrition Facts

Recipe & Food Apps

• Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List
• Healthy Recipes
• Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals

Exercise Tracking Apps

• FitReach
• Gyminee

If you're interested in even more suggestions along these lines, check out the following websites:

• FDA's Mobile Medical Apps page
• iFit:  50 Coolest Fitness & Health Apps
• Top 10 Free iPhone Apps to Lose Weight
• iPad App Roundup:  Food Diaries & Calorie Counters
• Top 14 Recipe Apps

What're QR codes?

Chances are, if you've been around Wallace Hall lately, you've seen the flyers I've posted about my Fall 2011 HNFE Librarian Office Hours:

I do this every semester.  However, this semester, you may notice a new image on that flyer--a QR (Quick Response) code.  You've probably noticed these little codes popping up in magazines, and all over the place.  Basically, they're used as a quick link from the physical world to the digital world.  You would use your mobile device (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, etc.) to scan the QR code, which would then act like a link to a webpage.  If you scanned the QR code on the flyer, it would take you directly to this blog!  

Basically, it's pretty easy to both generate and scan QR codes.  One of the better-known QR code generators is called Kaywa:  http://qrcode.kaywa.com/.  You can simply pop in a URL, and generate a code right there. 

Devices usually need a code reader in order to read these codes; some mobile devices come with QR code reader.  Others will require you to download one.  For my iPad2, for example, I needed to visit the app store and select a free QR code reader app.  You can find many lists (like this one) that will detail the pros and cons of various QR code readers.

If you'd really like to play around with QR codes, visit Newman Library to take our self-guided QR code tour!  Don't have a mobile device?  Check out an iPad2 from the circulation desk in order to take the tour!  Just let me know if you have any questions about that.

iPad Ideas: iMedicalApps

According to my Google Analytics numbers, the three posts that I recently wrote about my iPad and an app for searching PubMed were the most popular that I've written in months!  It seems that there's a lot of interest in iPads and various research-related apps.

So, today I'm reviewing a website completely devoted to medical apps:  iMedicalApps.  I'll continue reviewing individual apps in my next iPad post, but today it seems appropriate to focus on a website whose entire purpose revolves around locating and reviewing apps for medical professionals.  The site, which includes reviews for Android, Blackberry, iPad, iPhone, and Windows apps, is run by medical professionals and medical students who control the content of the page.  The "About Us" section indicates that the site receives over 400,000 reviews a month, and only posts the most relevant.  The site does include third-party advertisements, but other than that, the site is laid out well, with easy access to the most popular reviews.

The reviews all seem to include a good bit of contextual information (i.e., describes situations in which the apps have been/might be appropriate) and are well-written, in general.  The only slightly frustrating part of the site is that most of the apps reviewed are not free.  While most mobile apps are not expensive (usually in the $1.99-$19.99 range), I still appreciate the free ones!  Overall, I definitely recommend checking out this website just to get a good idea of the types of apps available for all healthcare professionals.  Take a look when you get a chance!

iPad Ideas: PubMed Searching, Part 3

Parts I and 2 of this series of posts focused on finding and use apps that will help you search PubMed on an iPad (or other mobile device).  In Part 2, I mentioned the "library" feature of PubMed On Tap Lite, a feature that will let you store citations/articles that you find within a particular area of that app.  However, most of us using PubMed already use some sort of reference manager to which we'd like to add references and articles that we find.

Those of you who've worked with me know that I am a heavy EndNote user and proponent.  However, I know that many of you use Zotero, Mendeley, or Bookends to accomplish the same level of organization as you conduct your literature searches.  So, how does reference management work on the iPad?  I have to admit, I'm still struggling with this a bit as I figure out the best system; I know, though, that some sort of reference management integration has to work on the iPad to really be able to use this tool in my research.

PubMed On Tap Lite, the app that I've discussed in the previous two posts in this series, claims that it will allow you to email your results to yourself in RIS format, which is the type of file that reference managers use.  I tried this out, and there are a few steps that you need to take in order to successfully add articles that you find through PubMed On Tap Lite to your reference manager (in my case, EndNote, although the same process will work for Zotero, Mendeley, Bookends, etc.):

1.  Check the settings of your PubMed On Tap Lite app and make sure that the "export reference options" has the format set to "modified RIS"

(2) After you've checked (and possibly reset) your settings, then you'll conduct your search as usual.

(3) When you receive your search results, you have the option to use the email icon and email yourself the reference information.  Now that your email settings are changed to the "modified RIS" format, whatever you email yourself will look like this:

(4) When you receive this email from your iPad (or other device), the information you see on the screen above will come in the body of an email, rather than an attachment, which means that you'll need to create a file that you can import into your reference manager.

(5) Create a text (.txt) file, and copy/paste the contents of the email into this text file.  Save it under a name, and to a location, that you can easily remember.

(6)  Open EndNote, select the library that you want to import the file into, and then use the "import" button to locate and import the text file that you just created.  You'll want to select the "RefMan RIS" filter (import option) to successfully import the file:

That seems like a lot of steps, just to get one reference into your EndNote (or other) library.  Personally, I think I might just email the references to myself through the PubMed On Tap Lite email option, then use the PMIDs to do an online search with EndNote and pull in the references that way.

It's also worth mentioning that several reference managers actually DO have iPad apps.  Mendeley has an iPad app, as does Sente, a tool I'm not very familiar with.  You can search the App store for both of these, and I plan on reviewing related apps in a separate post.  Although EndNote does not currently have an iPad app, it does have some suggestions for using the iPad to conduct research.  Check out the video below for using EndNote Web to search PubMed on the iPad:

iPad Ideas: PubMed Searching, Part 2

Last week, I introduced a tool for searching (for free!) PubMed with your iPad.  Today, I am going to investigate that tool a bit more, and point out some of the features that you may want to use or consider using.

After you install PubMed On Tap Lite to your device, you'll want to check the application's settings before you start searching.  You can can do this by simply touching the "settings" icon at the bottom of the screen:

Click on screenshot to enlarge

With PubMed On Tap Lite, users are limited to retrieving no more than 10 articles at a time, so that first setting cannot be changed.  The other settings options, however, may be helpful:

• Sort your results by the publication date OR when it was added to PubMed
• Enter your email for quick article delivery from your device
• Decide on the article format that you want to see when you search PubMed
• Check for free full text
• Edit your library proxy settings so that you have full access to University Libraries resources!  (Sort of the GetVText option of PubMed On Tap Lite)

I've bolded this last option because you'll definitely need it to be able to access full-text resources that are not freely available.  For this, you'll need to plug in the University Libraries proxy resolver:  http://login.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu:8080/login?url= 

Click on screenshot to enlarge

Now, that takes care of your settings.  There are just a few other details that you'll need to be able to search PubMed efficiently through this tool.  Since screen space is limited, the icons for various activities are streamlined.   You'll find icons for interacting with the application in the upper right hand corner of the screen, and in the lower left hand corner of the screen:

Lower left hand 

This row of icons is more like a navigation panel.  Clicking on an icon will take you to a specific destination:  the library of citations, the PubMed search screen, the settings menu, or the "about" page.  Each one is labeled, so using these icons isn't too difficult at all!

Upper right hand 

This row of icons will let you manipulate and work with an article once you've searched a topic and located some relevant results.  The ones that you'll mainly be interested in are:

this icon will use your proxy settings to look through library resources for the full text of an article

this icon will add the selected reference to your PubMed On Tap Lite library

this icon will email a selected reference to yourself, or someone else

Finally, a word on searching.  Even though the PubMed On Tap Lite search screen represents only one search field (box), you can use connectors (and, or, not) and field indicators (such as "ti" for title or "sb" for subject):  brain[ti] and miller[au].  You can view a full list of the PubMed field codes here:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/mms/medlineelements.html

And thus concludes Part 2 of this series on finding and using a free PubMed searching app.  Part 3 will focus on using reference managers on your iPad or mobile device.  Stay tuned for that!

iPad Ideas: PubMed Searching, Part I

So, how many of you out there have an iPad, or other sort of mobile device?  I just got an iPad2 a few weeks ago (thanks, University Libraries!), and have been experimenting pretty much nonstop with what I can do with it!  It's so lightweight and easy to carry around that it's replacing my laptop (and netbook) for quite a few of my daily tasks.  This means that, for a lot of us in the university, iPads (and other mobile devices) need to be up to the task to aid in research.  Because of this, I will be featuring regular reviews and tips related to iPad research apps.  I'll be defining "research apps" pretty broadly, because a lot of iPad apps have broad applications (no pun intended!).  I'll be tagging all iPad/mobile device posts with iPad and mobile technologies so, as always, use the tags on the right-hand side of this blog to find all posts categorized as such!

For my first iPad app discussion/review, I want to talk about using the iPad to search PubMed.  I usually go about looking for relevant apps two ways:  (1) search the App Store for keywords (in this case, PubMed), and (2) Google a keyword (PubMed) and "ipad app" to see what people are saying about them.  When I searched the App Store for "pubmed," I discovered that most PubMed-related apps are not free, which is definitely not what I had hoped for.

Click screenshot to enlarge 

However, I discovered that one free PubMed iPad app--PubMed On Tap Lite--does, in fact, exist, and I quickly installed it.  You'll see from the image below that the app works on the iPod Touch and iPhone, in addition to the iPad:

Click screenshot to enlarge

The app is "Lite" because a full version does exist--PubMed On Tap--and the Lite version limits the user in a few different ways.  I'm currently experimenting with the app, and will write back in a few days (Part 2 of this post) with some specific information about using the resource in the best way(s) possible.  Until then, check out these helpful descriptions I found of this, and other, PubMed apps:

PubMed On Tap
PubMed Library
Best PubMed Search Apps (discussion of 6 apps)
Pubmed Clip

Finally, PubMed does offer a Gallery of Mobile Apps and Sites: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mobile/

Are there any resources, or types of resources, for the iPad that you'd like to see me review on this blog?  Just let me know!