Jennifer Lloyd

Snowball Dye has Neuroscience Use

Love to dye your tongue fun colors with New Orleans snowballs in the Summer? Look closer at the FD&C blue dye no.1 in your bubble gum flavored treat.

Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center have discovered that the food additive may protect nerves in the event of spinal cord injury. The report was published in the early edition section of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences yesterday.

The only side effect was that the rats turned blue.

Link to the pdf of the article is available to LSUHSC faculty staff & students. It can be accessed off-campus with a valid LSUHSC library barcode & PIN. You can find more information at our remote access webpage.

Aerospace Medicine & History

July is full of space anniversaries, from the moon landing (July 15th) to the establishment of Cape Canaveral (July 24th), but what did this mean for medicine?

To understand the history of a medical subject, I sometimes check out its history in MeSH. The current subject is Aerospace Medicine and has been since 1980, but it was Aviation Medicine from 1966-74 and Space Flight from 1975-79. If a comprehensive historical search is required, it is always good to check out the Online & History Notes in MeSH.

Check out this article by SE Parazynski, a former astronaut and a physician, entitled “From model rockets to spacewalks: an astronaut physician’s journey and the science of the United States’ space program.” This article is freely available to the general public through PubMed Central.

Official LSUHSC New Orleans Twitter Feed

LSUHSC New Orleans has an official twitter feed and its username is LSUHSCHealth. If you don’t have a twitter account, you can always follow its updates using an RSS reader.

National Junk Food Day

July 21st is National Junk Food Day, but try not to go wild. According to the CDC, Louisiana went from having under 15% obesity rate in 1990 to a rate of 25-29% in 2008. If you’re going to celebrate today, just try to be smart and eat healthy the rest of the week.

Chancellor’s Notes Features Library Commons

This week’s Chancellor’s Notes (pdf) features a story on the opening of the Library Commons.

Springer Protocols

The LSUHSC Libraries recently purchased a subscription to Springer Protocols. This database of “reproducible laboratory results” includes:

  • Methods in Molecular Biology,
  • Methods in Molecular Medicine,
  • Methods in Biotechnology,
  • Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology, and
  • Neuromethods,
  • as well as from a vast number of Laboratory Handbooks, such as The Biomethods Handbook, The Proteomics Handbook, and the Springer Laboratory Manuals.

    It is available on & off campus.

    $1.3 Mil from NCI

    The NOLA.com website just released a story on LSUHSC’s own Eduardo Davila. Dr. Davila, assistant professor pediatrics, has been awarded a $1.3 million grant over 5 years by the National Cancer Institute to study new immunotherapies, including a vaccine, for cancer. Read the LSUHSC press release for more information.

    Public Health Service Celebrates 211th Birthday

    Today (July 16th) is the 211th birthday of the US Public Health Service. The service was created by Act of Congress for “the relief of sick and disabled seaman” and organized a loose network of Marine Hospitals.

    Today the Commissioned Corps of the USPHS states as it’s mission “to protect, promote, and advance the health and safety of our Nation.” The USPHS offered free tetanus shots at locales throughout South Louisiana in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

    ~I got mine on Jefferson Highway from a nurse from Rhode Island.~

    Ische Library Stairwell Open!

    The black plastic curtain was taken down from around the Isché Library stairwell this morning. The stairwell should reopen soon!
    ~Edit~ the stairwell is back in use as of 4:15 today!

    Closed for Holiday Weekend

    The Isché Library will be closing at 12 noon tomorrow (Thursday, July 2nd) and will remain closed until Monday, July 6th at 8 a.m. The closing is for the Independence Day University Holidays, but also to accomodate a University Facilities project (the resurfacing of the walkways).

    Love from Access Medicine (McGraw Hill)

    We currently do not have access to AccessMedicine, AccessEmergencyMedicine and AccessSurgery. We are trying to solve the problem with McGraw Hill (the publisher of these tools). We hope to have this matter resolved today.

    ~Edit~ Access was restored within 30 minutes!

    Independence Day Weekend

    The Isché Library will be closed on Friday, July 3rd & Saturday, July 4th for the Independence Day Holiday. In addition because of a facilities project (resurfacing the elevated walkways) the Library will also be closed on Thursday, July 2nd at 12 noon and all day on Sunday, July 5th. There will be no access to the building during this time.

    The Dental Library’s Hours are as follows:

    Thursday, July 2 8 a.m. ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ 5 p.m.
    Friday, July 3 Closed
    Saturday, July 4 Closed
    Sunday, July 5 1:30 p.m. ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ 10 p.m.

    Pay for Print

    Pharos Pay for Print is down campus-wide (downtown & Dental). We do not have a timeframe for this outage.
    ~Edit~ The system came back up by 3 p.m. today.

    Ische Bookdrop on the Move

    In preparation for the walkway resurfacing next week, the Isché Library bookdrop has been relocated temporarily. It is normally between the guard’s booth and the vending machines, but is currently located in the 2nd floor lobby. It will be moved back to it’s original location the week of July 6th.

    Free Health Education & Screening

    Next week on Wednesday, July 1st the various schools of LSUHSC will be offering screening for high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, lung function, colorectal cancer and oral cancer, as well as vaccinations and education on a variety of health topics. The event will take place from 1 – 6 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal St. It is part of the Congressman Cao AAA Health Care Initiative. For more information, see the official LSUHSC press release.