PLoS Announces Open Access Journal for Clinical Trials

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) will launch PLoS Clinical Trials, http://clinicaltrials.plosjournals.org/, a new journal devoted to publishing peer-reviewed reports of randomized clinical trials in all areas of health care. The journal is reportedly unique in that it will publish all trials that are ethically and scientifically sound and entered into an internationally accepted registry, regardless of what the trial's size is or whether the results are positive or negative. PLoS Clinical Trials is accepting manuscripts in advance of its spring 2006 launch.

Mammograms Lower Breast Cancer Death Rate

Mammograms contributed to between 28% and 65% of the sharp decrease in breast cancer deaths that occurred among U.S. women from 1990 to 2000, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Citation: Berry, D.A., et al. Effect of Screening and Adjuvant Therapy on Mortality from Breast Cancer. New England Journal of Medicine. Volume 353 (17) :1784-1792 October 27, 2005.

Indicators of Marriage and Fertility in the United States from the American Community Survey: 2000 to 2003

A new American Community Survey (Census Bureau) report was released on Indicators of Marriage and Fertility in the United States: 2000 to 2003 by Tallese Johnson and Jane Dye. According to the survey, California leads the nation in language barriers among women giving birth, with 20.6% of women giving birth in California hospitals not speaking English or not speaking it well. The survey also shows that one-third of women giving birth in California are not citizens.

The survey is available online at
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility/mar-fert-slides.html

Fit to a T @ Your Library Pilots in Region

The United States Bone and Joint Decade (USBJD), a multi-disciplinary initiative targeting the care of people with musculoskeletal conditions, has teamed up with the Public Library Association, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and the National Library of Medicine to launch "Fit to a T @ your library"--a new educational program focusing on bone health and osteoporosis prevention for men and women in their mid-40s and older. Fit to a T is being introduced in select cities and communities throughout the country, including Newberry Park, San Diego and Anaheim in the Pacific Southwest Region.

For more information on this initiative go to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/fit_to_t.html

Brookings Institution Study Finds Concentrated Poverty Affects Health

A Brookings Institution study released on Wednesday, based on data from the 2000 census, found that concentrated poverty contributes to poor physical and mental health outcomes. Poverty is more concentrated in Fresno neighborhoods than in those of any other large U.S. city. Long Beach ranks sixth among cities with the most concentrated poverty, and Los Angeles ranks 14th.

The study, "Katrina's Window: Confronting Concentrated Poverty Across America" by Alan Berube and Bruce Katz (October 2005), can be found online at http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20051012_concentratedpoverty.htm

Rx for Survival

A six-part PBS television series on public health concerns will air November 1-3, 2005. "The series is the cornerstone of a pioneering multimedia project designed to create an understanding of the importance of global health issues in our lives and inspire Americans to get involved in addressing serious health issues."

ISI's Impact Factor: A Grading System for Journals

The Chronicle of Higher Education's October 14, 2005 issue has an interesting article entitled "The Number That's Devouring Science" by Richard Monastersky. The article gives some background to impact factors and their current abuses. The article is free, no subscription needed http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i08/08a01201.htm

See Journal Citation Reports (JCR) http://www.csulb.edu/library/eref/eref.html#J

Factline: Tracking Health in Underserved Communities

Factline, a project of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and Meharry Medical College, takes its structure from the federal government's Healthy People 2010. Factline is designed for journalists, students, community workers, and policy makers to present solid facts from scholarly research on health disparities in a brief and understandable format. Each fact presented comes supplied with the reference from the literature where it is established; each page on the site is enhanced with Google and PubMed search mechanisms to allow the interested reader to go further on the subject in either the popular or the scholarly literature. http://www.factline.org/

HEALTH TiPS - What You Can Do

Physicians from the American College of Physicians (ACP) donating their services to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina report a lack of information written at an appropriate reading level to explain the importance of hand washing, not sharing medicine, and other health issues.
The ACP Foundation, working with health literacy experts and physicians, created HEALTH TIPS for Healthy Shelter Living, a one page handout for shelter volunteers to use with people in the shelters. HEALTH TIPS for Healthy Shelter Living, is written at a third grade reading level, and is available in English and Spanish, plain text or with illustrations at http://foundation.acponline.org/sheltertips