LISNews: Librarian News

Paneled in dark wood and lined with shelves of important old books, the New York Academy of Medicine's Malloch Rare Book Room is also home to a few literal medical oddities in three dimensions: a grapefruit-sized hairball from a cow (thought to be a cure for rabies), George Washington's dentures, and more.

Curator Miriam Mandelbaum frequently receives foreign visitors at the library at 103rd Street in upper Manhattan as it is listed for its oddities in the Lonely Planet guide. She is proud to point out rare collections of books on cookery (health through herbal remedies), books on surgery, anatomy and diagnosis and treatment of diseases from the 16th Century. Story from the New York Times.

How much do you know about AIDS? Does your library have accurate and up-to-date information on prevention and treatment of this deadly disease?

Resources on the web:

from the UN: UN AIDS

US sites: Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control

UK sites: World AIDS Day and Avert

An Anonymous Patron sends" this press release from the Mayo Clinic

The paper trail is stopping for outpatients at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. From now on, all medical records will be created and stored electronically for nearly 1.5 million annual outpatient visits.

'This is a technology milestone," says David Mohr, M.D., internal medicine specialist who has guided the process from idea to reality. "But more importantly, it's a tool to streamline and improve patient care.'

Electronic record keeping enables all providers to have immediate access to a patient's records, including physician notes, orders for tests and medications as well as laboratory and test results.

wordy1 writes "The NY Times (registration required) reports: Merck, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, says it supports the idea of a government-run database that
that would keep track of all late-stage clinical drug trials from start to finish. The position by Merck, which the company disclosed in an interview yesterday, is apparently the first major sign of pharmaceutical industry support for such a comprehensive database. Doctors' groups and medical journal publishers have lately called for such a database - or trial registry, as it is also termed - to make it easier to track the results of drug trials. Under the current system of trials, which are typically financed by drug makers, results unfavorable to the companies may never be widely circulated."