Welcome - and Welcome Back

Greetings to all students!

We're hoping you will enjoy learning new things and making new friends. You'll be busy, but we hope you have time to socialise as well.

Remember to drop by the Library occasionally (even just to say hi!) - I'm never too busy to be interrupted. If I look like it, it's just a front. [ :-) ]

Here's a picture of chicory flowers (Cichorium intybus) at their best.

Annette

Season's Greetings

Well - let's just skip November since nothing happened then and move right on to congratulating everyone who passed their courses - both here and CSU. Also congratulations to those who will be graduating in a couple of months. Well done, everyone.

Since it's the library blog, we can't let a reminder to return books pass - just in case someone's reading this! Consider yourself reminded.

Finally, best wishes to everyone for a happy and safe holiday, a special Christmas celebration and a great start to the New Year. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again next year.

Annette

Mind Mapping

Well - it's been a long time between drinks! However this morning I was reading Mercola.com and was reminded by one of his articles that I promised a post on mind maps. What do you Know? It's all been done for me!

So here is the link to the article: Use the web to match your mind
and to the site where the item came from: Lifehack.org

There is a good Wikipedia entry (it's good for some things!) on mind mapping: Mind map

There is free software for mapping on computers, and books by Tony Buzan and Ingemar Svantesson in our library (look on the shelf at LB 1049) which you might find useful.

Remember that mind maps don't have to be major works of art and full of colour and pictures - mine are usually monochrome words and lines with many connecting arrows - if they reflect your learning style and help you organise your thoughts, they will be doing the job right for you.

I would be interested to know what your experiences (good and bad) have been with mind maps. Add a comment sometime.

Ethical thoughts

The topic for the Research class this week and next is 'ethics' - what is ethical behaviour, why are ethical guidelines necessary and what organisations have codes of ethics? - among other questions.

It is necessary to have a clear understanding of ethical matters in your own mind before you can critique what others have done, or know why you must adhere to ethical restrictions when making a research proposal. It's not as easy as you may think to articulate your thoughts.

It will repay dividends later if you spend a little time checking out books or websites on ethics and ethical issues. Distance students have been given some links - if you have found other interesting ones, please share them with us.

Here's one: http://www.womens-health.org.nz/cartwright/unfortunate.htm

New Search Engine

Well, it's been a long time between posts, but with the start of the new semester, it's time to get writing again!

Here is news of a new search engine, supposed to rival Google in reach - Cuil.
Try some comparative searches and see what you think. Leave a comment below - I'd love to get a good discussion going!

From Reuters:

A start-up led by former star Google engineers on Sunday unveiled a new Web search service that aims to outdo the Internet search leader in size, but faces an uphill battle changing Web surfing habits.

Cuil Inc (pronounced "cool") is offering a new search service at www.cuil.com that the company claims can index, faster and more cheaply, a far larger portion of the Web than Google, which boasts the largest online index.

Anatomy assistance online

I was asked this morning about A&P information online, particularly for those whose Marieb CD won't work - so here's what I have come up with:

Get Body Smart

A basic set of tutorials that you need Flash for, but there's enough to keep you busy for a while and some links to good histology sites if you want to go deeper into cells.

Human Anatomy Online

Choose a system, hover over an element with your mouse or choose from a list in a sidebar to get a definition. There is even a section displaying fractures. Again, there are many hours of fun here!

The internet Public Library - Anatomy and Physiology

Links to many online resources. Well worth exploring for further information.

The Visible Human Project

Overview

"The Visible Human Project^® is an outgrowth of the NLM's 1986 Long-Range Plan. It is the creation of complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations of the normal male and female human bodies. Acquisition of transverse CT, MR and cryosection images of representative male and female cadavers has been completed. The male was sectioned at one millimeter intervals, the female at one-third of a millimeter intervals.

The long-term goal of the Visible Human Project^® is to produce a system of knowledge structures that will transparently link visual knowledge forms to symbolic knowledge formats such as the names of body parts."

A site to be aware of, but with very big files, even in the samples.

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If you have found any other good sites, please let me know and I will add to the list.

Heart sounds - links

Someone mentioned to me the other day that the Library needed some more items on heart sounds and murmurs. True, we do! However, even if I order some books and audios today, they will take time to arrive, so in the meantime here are some online links you might find useful.

• The Auscultation Assistant

The Auscultation Assistant provides heart sounds, heart murmurs, and breath sounds in order to help medical students and others improve their physical diagnosis skills. Since its creation in 1997, it has logged over 175,000 visits.
An extensive site but be aware that you need to load Quicktime to hear the sounds.

• University of Washington Dept of Medicine Skill Module

A useful site with exam techniques, differential dx, and a range of sounds (the link above will take you there directly) in mp3 form that you can listen to with any media player.

• The Texas Heart Institute

"This collection of heart sounds and murmurs is available for personal use to listen to online or download onto a personal player device. Each sound is labeled with a self-explanatory file name and is available in both PC (mp3) and MAC (mp4) format."

• Wikipedia

Has an extensive description of sounds and links to audio files (some of those above).

Any suggestions for useful additions will be gratefully received.