MEDLINE

Medical database

1. MEDLINE Presented by, Vishnumaya , R. S. MLISc - S4 DLIS, University of Kerala

2. INTRODUCTION International information systems are organized to serve the needs of developed as well as developing countries on co-operative basis. These are established to store recorded information and retrieve it expeditiously. They provide free exchange of information among scientists in various countries.

3. The major International information systems & services are INIS, AGRIS, INSPEC, BIOSIS, MEDLARS, etc. MEDLARS ( Medical Literature Analysis & Retrieval System ) is an online computer searching system & a bibliographic service started by NLM, Maryland (USA).

4. National Library of Medicine (NLM): An Overview The NLM, on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (USA), founded in 1836. In 1956, NLM came under the Act of Congress of USA & was declared an apex library in the field of Medical Sciences.

5. NLM… The world’s largest biomedical library, NLM maintains & makes available a vast print collection & produces electronic information sources on a wide range of topics. It also supports & conducts research development, & training in biomedical informatics & health information technology.

6. Publications of NLM Index Medicus (1879)- Monthly Medical Subject Headings ( MeSH )-1983 Cumulated Index Medicus (1992) Abridged Index Medicus (1993)

7. MEDLARS The work on MEDLARS began in 1960 & the system has several major revisions. Came into operation in 1964.

8. MEDLARS System MEDLARS is a computerized storage & retrieval system to furnish bibliographic access to NLM’s large biomedical collection. It became operational with the 1 st computer- produced issue of ‘ I ndex M edicus ’, a comprehensive subject- author index, to the articles from the world’s biomedical journals.

9. Activities of MEDLARS Preparing of citations for the publication of Index medicus. Maintenance of several computer- readable databases including MEDLINE. Operation of online network. Provides SDILINE.

10. Scope/ Subject matter Medicine Dentistry Nursing Pharmacology Toxicology Cancer Veterinary medicine Allied health professions, etc.

11. Computer- based products & services AVLINE (Audio-Visual Online) CANCERLIT (Cancer Literature) CATLINE (Catalogue Online) CHEMLINE (Chemical Dictionary Online)

12. TOXLINE (Toxicology information Online) SDILINE (Selective Dissemination of Information Online) SERLINE (Serials Online) POPLINE (Population Information Online)

13. RTECS (Registry of Toxic effects of Chemical Substances Online ) HISTLINE (History of Medicine Online) MEDLINE (MEDLARS Online)

14. MEDLINE MEDLINE is a literature database of life sciences and biomedical information introduced in 1971. It includes medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine & health care. It can be searchable via PubMed & NLM’s National Center for Biotechnology Information’s Entrez system.

15. Indexing MEDLINE uses Medical Subject Headings ( MeSH ) for information retrieval. Engines designed to search MEDLINE (such as PubMed & Entrez ) generally use a Boolean expression combining MeSH terms, words in abstract and title of the article, author names, date of publication, etc.

16. Inclusion of journals More than 6,000 of the world's leading biomedical journals are indexed in MEDLINE. Selection is based on the recommendations of a panel, the Literature Selection Technical Review Committee (LSTRC), based on scientific policy and scientific quality.

17. PubMed is a free database comprises more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, & other online books. Citations may include links to full- text content from PubMed Central & publisher websites. Available via the NCBI Entrez retrieval system.

18. MedlinePlus is a free web service produced & maintained by NLM. Provides consumer health information for patients, families, & health care providers. Brings together information from the US. NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other US.govt.agencies & health related organizations .

19. CONCLUSION MEDLARS is a computerized biomedical bibliographic storage & retrieval system operated by the NLM. It was 1 st introduced in 1964 & evolved into an online system in 1971 called MEDLINE . The publication, Index Medicus was ceased in December 2004.

20. REFERENCES Khanna , J.K. (1996). Handbook of Library Information Systems & Services ( Pp. 173-188 ) . New Delhi: BEACON Books. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed retrieved on 25.06.2013. www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus retrieved on 25.06.2013. www.medlineindia.com retrieved on 28.06.2013.