How To Join And Use MEDLAB-List Discussion Group

MEDLAB-L is an internet mailing list for medical laboratory professionals in all disciplines. It is a forum for people who are associated with medical and related laboratories to share ideas and experiences, discuss mutual problems, offer advice, promote continuing education and network opportunities with international colleagues.
The list is owned by Professor Pat Letendre-a Medical Laboratory Scientist and specialist in transfusion science.

Understanding How MEDLAB-L Works

MEDLAB-L is an opt-in mailing list that uses Listserv software, a registered trademark. If you have had the priviledge to compile a bulky list of email addresses of your friends and colleagues at one time or the other, you will appreciate how difficult it is to manage multiple email addresses.
Popular email service providers like Yahoo and Gmail makes tool available in your inbox to send mail to restricted number of people. Google for example allow you to send mail to 500 people at once. Any figure beyond that will have to be queried and you must give reasons why your message should be sent to such large group of people. This is to ensure that those receiving your mail actually know you and that they really want to receive messages from you. This is the concept of opt-in(voluntary) mailing list.
MEDLAB-L through Listserv enables you as a potential user to voluntarily subscribe to the discussion group so that you can have access to multiple users across the globe.

How To Join and Post Message
In order to join the group and start benefiting from its services, you will need to get familiar with the command and address to use.
To subscribe, send a message that reads:
Subscribe MEDLAB-L Your Real Name (e.g. Benard Solomon) to listserv@listserv.buffalo.edu
Immediately you send that message, confirmation email will be sent automatically to your email address. You will need to check your mail to complete the registration procedure. Such confirmation is to ensure your opt-in status.
After joining, you will start receiving discussion messages from the group.
For you to post any message, you will need to use the address MEDLAB-L@listerv.buffalo.edu

How To Participate Efficiently

Efficient participation demands that you get acquainted with the group’s commands. There is opportunity for you to search the database archives for past issues and how difficult problems were solved by experts in your field.
You are not expected to harvest addresses from MEDLAB-L for the purpose of sending mass commercial mails of any type.
When mentioning commercial products and services, you must provide your company affiliation in a signature.
Professional organizations and publishers who wish to publish information from the list are required to contact authors privately to request their permission and when published, MEDLAB-L should be credited as the original source.
MEDLAB-L is a vital internet tool for biomedical scientists you cannot ignore. Now that you have the insider information of how to join and use this self-empowering tool, what are you still waiting for?

Understanding The Use Of PUBMED

Any professional in the medical fraternity who does not know how to use PUMED will find out that optimum search results on medical research on the Internet could not be achieved. Having identified PUBMED as the ultimate search database for medical information on the Internet, biomedical professionals should be shown in a step-by-step guide how to use this wonderful resource.
Learning how to use PUMBED with the necessary tools is the focus of this write up.

Activities you are likely to undertake when using PUBMED include the following:

· Search Pubmed For Author: This is important for you if you already have the name of the author whose reference you want to use. The resource you’ll need to learn how to search for author is http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/search/author/author.html

· Simple Subject Search: When you are working with a query or subject that is not complex, the simple subject search tool or techniques is your sure bet. Get it at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/search/subject/subject.html

· Search For Journal: There are more than 6000 journals listed in PUBMED database. To quickly access the journal of your choice, here is the tool you need: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/search/journal/journal.html

· Retrieving Citations From A Journal Issue: Citations from issues of journals is important when you are interested in other linked resources to your subject of research by the same author or group of authors. Get the tool to do it at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/search/scm/scmissue_viewlet_swf.html

· Saving Your Search. The simple steps to follow in order to successfully save your search resources is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/myncbi/saving_searches.html
· Searching With MeSH database: The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is one aspect you must get to be familiar with if you want to conduct a successful search at PUBMED. Here is where medical subjects are listed from where you can select your search category. Find how to search the MeSH database at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/mesh/searching/mesh1.html
· Combining MeSH Terms Using The MeSH database: Sometimes, you need to combine medical subjects terms with certain subjects in the database. Find how to do it at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/mesh/combining/mesh2.html
· Applying Subheadings And Other Features of MeSH: Many other tools and features you can use to achieve search success is found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/mesh/subheadings/mesh3.html
· Chemical And Drugs In PUBMED: When you are working on chemicals and drugs, there is a particular section you must head to straight away without wasting time. It is found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/clinics/chem.html
· The Basics Of MeSH : Learn everything you can about medical subject headings at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/mesh/

· Training Manual: If you are not clear about any subject on how to get optimum results from PUBMED, here is a training manual you must get to build your knowledge base. It is absolutely free. Get it at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/web_based.html

How To Search For Health Information On The Internet

In a recent study, it was discovered that 80% of individuals who search for health information make use of general search engines like google and yahoo. Are they going to get optimum results? The obvious answer is no.

In the same survey, it was also observed that 64% of the most searched health information is about diseases or medical problems. 51% of Internet users seeking health information search for medical treatment or procedure. 9% search for information on how to quit smoking while 8% search for information on drugs and alcohol.
This article reveals the right Internet tool to use when searching for health information on the Internet and what kind of resources is available in the discovered tool.

It is obvious that the general search engine cannot give optimum information on health related resources on the Internet. The solution to this problem is to look for a government database on health, which is reliable and historic.
Medline Plus (www.medlineplus.gov)is where to go when searching for health information of any kind on the Internet. This site is a service of the United State's national library of medicine and the national institutes of health.

The database showcases 750 health topics on conditions, diseases and wellness. Prescription tips and over-the-counter medicines, herbs and supplements are also made available.
Medical Doctors and Allied health professionals will find the medical encyclopedia in the site, which include pictures and diagrams very useful. Whenever you want to refresh or remember certain medical terms, the dictionary page, which dwells on spellings and definitions of medical words come very handy.

What about current news about health and press announcements? They are abundant in the site and you can subscribe to it through RSS feed.
If you are bothered about health information in your locality, the page to go is the Go Local section, which provides service for finding local resources for health, related issues.
There is a direct link to PUBMED/MEDLINE and NIH (National Institute Of Health) at the bottom of the home page.

What's more? Over 165 interactive tutorials with slide shows are conspicuously displayed at the upper right side of the home page. If you are interested on studies for new drugs, you will find the information at the clinical trials link. There are also videos of surgical procedures. Talk about more than enough focused health information on the Internet. You can never miss out when you go to MEDLINEPLUS.