Literature Resources
for Cancer Biology
compiled
by Andrea L. Dinkelman, Assistant Professor and Science & Technology Librarian
Iowa State University
Presentation for
Veterinary Pathology 656 - January 17, 2008
Cellular and Molecular Pathology II: Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis
Last updated:
1/16/2008
URL for presentation: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~adinkelm/VPTH_656_Spring_2008.htm
Goal of this session:
Provide an overview of major literature
databases useful in cancer biology research.
Note: For the resources discussed in
sections I -VI, you'll find links to these in the Indexes
& Abstracts list on the Library website.
I. MEDLINE database
- Produced by the National Library
of Medicine
- Indexes the health sciences and
life sciences literature
II. PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?otool=usiaslib
- Freely available version of MEDLINE
- Access PubMed via the "Indexes & Abstracts list. Choose the "PubMed
- ISU Affiliate" link. This link is enabled with the"Get
it@ISU" button.The
tool provides a direct link from a database citation to the full text of the
article (if available). You will see small "Get it@ISU" buttons
in most of the Library's major databases. After clicking on this button, another
window will open. If the Library has electronic access to the full-text, there
will be a direct link to the article. If full-text is not available, click
on the link to the ISU Library Catalog to determine whether the item is available
in print. If neither the full-text or print is available, click on the link
to request the item from Interlibrary Loan.
III.
Using PubMed
- For additional information:
- Search Tips
- Most functionalities accessed
through tabs: Limits; Preview/Index; etc.
- Recommend using Boolean
operators, AND, OR, NOT. Must be in capital letters!
- Sample Search: helicobacter
pylori AND carcinogenesis
- Click on author
name for "AbstractPlus" view.
- Publisher-provided
links to full-text and "Get
it@ISU"
- Limits Tab and Field Tags
- Can limit a search by various
parameters, e.g. dates, review articles, language, etc.
- Field tags can be very useful.
For example,
- p53 AND oncogene vs.
- p53 AND oncogene [TA]
- Complete list of tags available
in the "Help" document. Search "tags" ->Search
Field Descriptions and Tags
- Affiliation tag [AD];
Journal title [TA]; Unique Identifier [PMID]
- Preview/Index Tab
- Displays an alphabetical
list of words and phrases present in MEDLINE, along with their frequency
- Useful for identifying synonyms
and related terms, e.g. RNAi
- History and Clipboard tabs
- History: provides review
of previous searches
- Allows "set-based"
searching
- Clipboard: Allows you to
store a set of results for a short period of time. Can email or save
results to a text file. Click checkbox for records of interest, then
use "Send To" command -> Clipboard. Then you can email,
create text, file, etc, from the clipboard.
- MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)
- controlled vocabulary terms
that are assigned by indexers
- Details Tab
- displays PubMed's translation
of the search query
- Other Features
- Journals Database: locate
complete journal titles from abbreviations and vice versa
- Single Citation Matcher:
locate journals with incomplete citations
- My NCBI: can set up searches
to run automatically and have results emailed to you
- PubMed Bookshelf - Includes
Cancer Medicine, Dynamics of Cancer.
- PubMed vs. PubMed
Central - PubMed Central is a free full-text archive of biomedical
and life sciences journal literature.
IV.
Biosis Previews (Part of the Web of Knowledge; Interface will
change on January 27, 2008!)
V.
CAB Abstracts
- Strong in agriculture, plant
science, animal science, and veterinary medicine.
- Covers international publications.
- Coverage: 1910 - present
- Example: (leukaemia or leukemia) and dogs
- Note: Our site license only permits 8 simultaneous users!
VI.
Web of Science (part of
the Web of Knowledge)
- Web
of Science
- Provides
access to the ISI Citation Indexes: Science Citation Index, Social Sciences
Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index
- Science
Citation Index: 6,376 covered journals
- Publications
are selected for inclusion in Web of Science based on the following criteria.
For more information, visit: http://scientific.thomson.com/knowtrend/essays/selectionofmaterial/journalselection/
(Note: Newer journals may/may not be included, e.g. Functional
and Integrative Genomics, which has been published by Springer since
2000 is not a covered journal.)
- ISU
subscription goes back to 1945 for the Science Citation Index.
- Can
search by topic or do cited reference searching
- Example: cancer AND senescence
VII. Additional Sources
- OMIM: Online Mendelian Inheritance
in Man (linked from PubMed, look at the black toolbar). Catalog of review
articles for human genes and genetic disorders maintained by Johns Hopkins
University.
- National Cancer Institute
(http://www.cancer.gov/)
- Division of the NIH
- Lots of great information!
- Cancer Genome Anatomy Project
(http://cgap.nci.nih.gov/) - "The
goal of the NCI's Cancer Genome Anatomy Project is to determine the gene
expression profiles of normal, precancer, and cancer cells, leading eventually
to improved detection, diagnosis, and treatment for the patient."
- Pathways Database: Example:
apoptosis
- OncoLink Cancer News (http://www.oncolink.com/)
- produced by the University of Pennsylvania
- MedlinePlus (http://medlineplus.gov/)
- excellent source for health and medical information
Questions? Contact Andrea
Dinkelman, Assistant Professor and Science & Technology Librarian
Email: adinkelm@iastate.edu
Homepage: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~adinkelm/homepage.html