Cochrane Library - latest edition now online

The latest edition (Issue 3, 2009) of the Cochrane Library is now available. Ninety new systematic reviews and 127 new review protocols had been added to the database. These include:

• Muscle rubs: use for pain is questionable
• Chinese herbs for endometriosis: may have comparable benefits with fewer side effects than conventional drug treatment
• Student drinking: changing perceptions reduces alcohol misuse
• Progressive resistance strength training helps older people in daily life
• Blood pressure targets: aiming lower offers no benefit
• Non drug interventions may comfort children having an anaesthetic
• Bacterial vaginosis treatments: probiotics can increase effectiveness of some antibiotic therapies
• Caesarean section: local anaesthetic reduces need for painkillers post-op

Click here for a full update and summaries of key new reviews (PDF).

The library can provide training on searching the Cochrane Library. Please contact us (ext 1545) or see our website.

New e-books

Several new electronic books have been recently purchased for NHS Athens users:

• Chronic pain: a primary care guide to practical management
• Clinical interviewing
• Medical statistics from scratch
• Multidisciplinary handbook of child and adolescent mental health for front-line professionals
• Think good, feel good - a cognitive behaviour therapy workbook for children

New editions of the Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry and various Oxford Handbooks will be available shortly.

All these titles may be accessed via NHS Evidence.

Full JAMA archives available online

Perpetual access to the full JAMA archives from 1883–1998 is now available online to all NHS Athens subscribers.

There are three ways to access JAMA articles:

• You will find links to full text articles from JAMA when you search the healthcare databases (e.g. Medline) via NHS Evidence
• Select JAMA on the My Journals service. This will allow you browse the contents list for any issue of the journal
• Access the JAMA Archives link direct from your My Athens resources list.