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Health Sciences Resources
Online and in Ludcke Library

Background Information / Finding Research Articles / Sources on Specific Topics

Background Information

Look here first for the basics about your topic

• FLO Catalog
  http://endeavor /flo.org/

  Search here to find books in the Lesley Libraries. Use the Keywords to search by your topic.

Dictionaries

• The Online Medical Dictionary
  http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/omd

  Search or browse for your term; great resource.

• MedTerms.com
  http://www.medterms.com/Script/Main/hp.asp

  Not as comprehensive as the dictionary above, but the definitions are longer and the browse function is easier to use.

• Miller-Keane Encyclopedia & Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Allied Health.

  Ref R121 .M65 1997

  A basic reference aimed at students and practitioners of medicine, nursing, and allied health.

• Stedman's Medical Dictionary

  Ref R121.S8 2000

  A standard in the field.

Encyclopedias

• Magill's Medical Guide

  Ref RC41.M34 2002

  Contains signed articles with topics on diseases, disorders, life stages (e.g. puberty), and conditions affecting health (e.g. domestic violence).

• Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine

  Ref RC41 .M34 2002

  If you do not find what you are looking for in Magill's check here for more entries on diseases, conditions, procedures, and more.

• MEDLINEplus: Medical Encyclopedia
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html

  A terrific source for basic medical information: well organized and easy to use.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention A-Z Index
  http://www.cdc.gov/health/az.do

  Information on varied topics from anthrax to mammograms to youth violence.

Statistics

• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
  http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/

  Compilation of reports from state health departments on diseases, hazards, and disasters across the U.S.

• Fastats A to Z from the National Center for Health Statistics
  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/Default.htm

  U.S. statistics for diseases, conditions, and health issues.

• WHO Statistical Information System
  http://www.who.int/whosis/

  World Health Organization's site of international health and health-related statistics.

Other

• Gray's Anatomy
  http://www.bartleby.com/107/

  The electronic version of the classic text containing 1,247 engravings of body parts and systems.

Finding Research Articles

Journal Articles

Most scientific research is reported through the scholarly journals in the field. Since very few scholarly science journals offer their publications on the web for free, you will need to rely primarily on the article databases we have in the library to find relevant research on your topic. Access the databases through the myLibrary tab in myLesley. Need help? Go to "Get Started."

• Library Article Databases:

  1. Health Reference Center Academic
     This article database contains the full-text of many scholarly journals. Be sure to use the check-off boxes for scholarly and peer reviewed to help limit your results to scholarly research.
  2. MEDLINE
     This is the preeminent health and biological sciences database. It does not contain very much full-text and, in general, its articles are intended for a medically educated audience.
  3. Alt-Health Watch
     Although you will not find very many scholarly articles here, it may provide information on alternative health topics that is difficult to find elsewhere.
     
• PubMed Central
  http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

A growing digital archive of searchable life sciences journal literature, currently comprised of 49 journals with issues available about 6 months to a year after publication.

• National Institutes of Health News & Events
  http://www.nih.gov/news/

  Since the NIH has a hand in a great deal of the medical research performed around the country, this is a good place to find out what's new in the field. You won't find the whole reports here, but it should point you in the right direction.

Sources on Specific Topics

Diseases / Ethnic Health Issues / Genetic Disorders / Nutrition / Alternative Medicine

Diseases

• Merck Manual of Diagnosis & Therapy
  http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/

This work breaks disorders down by affected system and discipline and includes etiology, symptoms, and treatments.

• Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases

  Ref RC112.T87 2003

  Entries for diseases, symptoms, prevention, agents, and treatments

• National Cancer Institute
  http://cancer.gov/cancerinfo

  Primarily contains introductory information, but also includes links to relevant scholarly articles, as well as CANCERLIT, the index of article abstracts dealing with cancer.

Ethnic Health Issues

• Ethnic Diseases Sourcebook

  Ref RA563.M56 E838 2001 – Main floor, Ludcke Library

  An introduction to health conditions that affect minority and ethnic groups; includes organizations and Web sites to consult for more information.

• National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus Health Information Service

  Resources for different ethnic groups including specific conditions, organizations, and epidemiological statistics:
  • MedlinePlus - African Americans
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/africanamericanhealth.html
  • MedlinePlus - Asian Americans
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/asianamericanhealth.html
  • MedlinePlus - Hispanic Americans
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hispanicamericanhealth.html
  • MedlinePlus - Native Americans
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/nativeamericanhealth.html

Asian American Health
http://asianamericanhealth.nlm.nih.gov/

From the National Library of Medicine of the U.S. Includes information on populations, conditions, treatments, organizations.

American Indian Health
http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov/

From the National Library of Medicine of the U.S. Includes information on tribes, traditional healing, environmental health, government agencies.

Office of Minority Health
http://www.omhrc.gov/

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Includes publications and statistics about improving the health of ethnic and racial minorities in the United States.

Lesley College Course: Essentials of Health - CBIOL 2502

Library Research on Health Issues for Ethnic Groups handout - Word

Genetic Disorders

• Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders and Birth Defects

  Ref RB155.5.W96 2000

  1000+ entries describing disorders including prevalence, inheritance factors, prognosis, and more when known.

• Genes and Disease
  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?call=bv.View..showsection&rid=gnd.preface.91

  From the National Center for Biotechnology Information, this site describes different genetic disorders and maps them to the affected chromosome if known.

Nutrition

• Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition

  Ref QP141.E526 1999

  This 3 volume set contains entries for just about any topic you can think of relating to human nutrition: individual nutrients, special dietary needs, foods and food groups, organs, sociological issues, diseases (both those resulting from nutritional intakes or lacks and those not directly related to nutrition.

• American Dietetic Association: Food and Nutrition Information
  http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/nutrition.html

  Consumer and professional information including the ADA's position papers explaining the ADA's stance on nutritional issues.

Alternative Medicine

• Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine

  Available through Lesley as an e-book, this source includes entries on conditions, therapies, remedies, and herbs.
  

• National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
  http://nccam.nih.gov

  Provides access to the subset of Medline that provides scholarly article citations in the area of alternative and complementary medicine and the site also contains fact sheets and consensus reports giving information on procedures and treatments.

Back to Research Guides