Advanced PubMed Searching
for First-year PT Master Students
Min-Lin E Fang, MLIS
Education and Information Consultant for Nursing and
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Min-Lin Fang, MLIS
fang@library.ucsf.edu
476-3397
PP is available at
http://library.ucsf.edu/edtech/class/handouts/
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Objectives
By the end of this seminar you will be able
to:
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Perform a subject search using Medical Subject
Headings
Use limits to narrow a PubMed search
Use the Clinical Queries feature to search
for clinical research in PubMed@UCSF
Use the Display options
Print and download citations
Link from PubMed citations to full text articles
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PubMed MEDLINE
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National Center for Biotechnology
Information (NCBI)
Approximately 14 million references to the
published journal literature
1950 (OLDMEDLINE) to present in one
database
Incorporates all or part of CANCERLIT,
HealthSTAR, AIDSLINE, HISTLINE,
BIOETHICSLINE, SPACELINE
Links to full text articles
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PubMed @UCSF
Special URL:
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/db/pubmed/
UC-eLinks
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Links to UCSF full text journals
Links to UCSF Library Catalog to check
whether UCSF owns a journal and get call no
Links to Melvyl Catalog to check which other
UC campuses own a journal
Request articles not owned by UCSF from
other UC campuses
Copy and paste
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Boolean Operators
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OR (use to join synonyms)
 Vitamin C OR Ascorbic Acid
 doctors OR physicians
 tumor OR tumour
 injuries OR accidents
AND (use to combine concepts)
 Vitamin C AND cancer
 doctors AND managed care
 color AND vision
 injuries AND automobiles
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Boolean AND
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Boolean OR
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Search Term Mapping
4.
MeSH Translation
Table
Journals
Translation Table
Author Translation
Table
Author Index
5.
Search All Fields
1.
2.
3.
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Forced phrase searching in quotes
“”
Explode is automatic
Truncation (*) turns off mapping
Search field tags are available
[title] or [ti]
Boolean operators processed left to
right
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Why use MeSH?
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If you use two or more words in a keyword search
there is no guarantee that they will be linked.
MeSH headings are an efficient way to find
information on “concepts” or topics where authors
use different language to discuss the same ideas.
For example: Keyword search physical therapy
Microneedles and other physical methods for
overcoming the stratum corneum barrier for
cutaneous gene therapy.
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When to use keyword search?
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Recent publications (in process)
Records supplied by publishers
New phenomenon
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Locating MeSH
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Do a Title word search; display results in Citation
format; identify MeSH
OR
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Search the MeSH database
 Scope Note
 Subheadings
 Major Topics
 Explode
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Clinical Queries
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Etiology
Diagnosis
Therapy
Prognosis
Clinical prediction guides
Example:
1. Studies on the treatment of chronic low back pain
2. Systematic reviews on the treatment of chronic
low back pain
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Clinical Queries: Clinical Studies
treatment of chronic low back pain
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Clinical Queries: Systematic Reviews
physical therapy to treat chronic low back
pain
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Topic Search Technique
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Separate query into main search concepts
Identify an appropriate MeSH term for each
concept
Combine search terms using boolean operators:
AND, OR, NOT
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Apply Limit options
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Refine search
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Limit Options
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Language (English)
Human or animal studies
Dates
Age groups (All child, adolescent, aged…)
Publication types (Meta-Analysis, ROC, Review, Evaluation
studies…)
Subsets (Core clinical journals…)
Major concept
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Exercise 1
Meta-analyses on the efficacy of
exercise therapy for low back pain
Concept: exercise therapy
low back pain
Publication type: meta analysis
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Exercise 1: Search Steps
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Search MeSH database for each concept.
- Click on MeSH Database on the lefthand column.
- Enter exercise therapy and click on Go.
- Check exercise therapy. Go to Send to
box and select Search box with AND.
- Enter low back pain and click on Go.
- Check low back pain and select Search
box with AND.
- Click on PubMed Search.
- Click on Limits, select meta-analysis, and click
on Go.
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Exercise 1 –cont.
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Search MeSH Database for each concept.
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Exercise 1 –cont.
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Exercise 1 –cont.
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Exercise 1 –cont.
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Exercise 1 –cont.
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Exercise 2
- Prevention of dance injuries
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Exercise 3
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Gait training for stroke patients
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Exercise 4
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Treatment outcomes of using physical therapy
to treat frozen shoulder
(bursitis)
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Obtaining Journal Articles
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UC-eLinks
 Link to full text article (UCSF
subscription)
 Check UCSF Catalog and Melvyl for
journal location (print and electronic)
 Request articles from journals not
owned by UCSF
Interlibrary Services
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/info/circ/ilb.html
Document Express: Obtain journal
articles owned at UCSF for a minimal fee
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More Help
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PubMed@UCSF Quick Guide
http://library.ucsf.edu/db/pubmed/help/
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PubMed@UCSF FAQ
http://library.ucsf.edu/db/pubmed/pubmedfaq.html
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PubMed Tutorial
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmed.html
Email to fang@library.ucsf.edu for personal
consultation
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