Author Archives: Marina

Pubmed Single Citation Matcher

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Need to find a particular citation and don’t have the complete information about it?

Use a guided search with PubMed’s Single Citation Finder (the link is located on Pubmed main page in the Find category below the Search Box).

Single Citation Matcher guides you in entering information in pre-set search boxes dedicated to specific searchable fields in a Pubmed record, e.g. Journal, Title, Author.
If you don’t have all information about the article, enter only information you have at your disposal. The more information you enter the less search results you will get as your search will be more precise. Alternatively, if you enter very little information you will get more search results but you may still be able to get to the reference in question faster than by doing a general search in Pubmed.

You can use this tool for other purposes as well. For example, you can only use the Journal field to be able to browse the journal’s content, which you can do efficiently if your search results sorting order is Most Recent. To use the Journal field in Single Citation Matcher just start typing the name of the journal and then select the name, following the prompts.

Enjoy the convenience of this tool!

Embase: A Refresher

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Embase, linked from the Library homepage under Top Databases, is a proprietary database, produced in Netherlands by Elsevier publishing company. It indexes journals in Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Life Sciences, Public Health, Nursing, etc. While its coverage has significant overlap with PubMed (it actually indexes all of Medline), it also indexes a large number of international journals not found in PubMed. Embase also indexes supplements such as conference abstracts, clinical trials, and more.

Similar to PubMed’s MeSH terms, Embase also has the ability to map search terms to subject headings. Embase’s subject headings are called Emtree terms and their classification also has a hierarchical structure. One major difference between PubMed (MeSH) and Embase (Emtree) is that in PubMed narrower terms are automatically included, whereas in Embase, Emtree terms must be “exploded” to include all narrower terms found beneath a specific Emtree term.

Embase also includes some functions that are not found in PubMed, such as proximity searching, which besides AND, OR,and NOT, adds a layer to searches to make them more specific, using NEAR and NEXT.

Embase is typically one of the databases of choice used in searches when conducting a Systematic Review or a Meta-Analysis in biomedicine. It is recommended to specify the platform on which Embase was used. Embase is available on its native Elsevier platform (Embase.com) or on the OVID platform. MSKCC Library offers Embase on the Elsevier platform. The platform has an impact on the way the searches are conducted, so it is important to note when conducting systematic reviews.

Note: Starting July 1, 2021 Embase now requires signing into your Embase account to export citations to Endnote and other citation management tools. It is free to create an Embase/ Elsevier account and this login can be used for any Elsevier product (Embase, Scopus, etc.).


Heart Failure and Cancer, Tissue Specific Cancer Development and More

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  • In a new study, researchers analyzed data from a German health database from over 100,000 patients with heart failure and the same number of people without this condition for ten years to establish cancer incidence in both groups over time. The study found a correlation between heart failure and cancer incidence. 25.7 percent of patients with heart failure developed some form of cancer, compared with 16.2 percent of those who did not have heart failure. The study also provided statistics on cancer types, demonstrating such correlation on a more granular level. Although this type of retrospective research can establish correlation but not causation, it would be prudent for patients with heart failure to get regular cancer screening as a preventive measure. The study was published in ESC Heart Failure.
  • Another team of researchers from Germany conducted a preclinical study on genetic processes underlying pancreatic and biliary tract cancer development. They established that tissue-specific (in this case, bile duct and pancreas epithelium) genetic interplay with an oncogene plays the causative role in the development of different types of cancers. This will help understand different tissue-specific responses to cancer therapy, which is important in the practice of precision medicine. The study was published in Cancer Discovery.
  • Researchers from the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) and the University of California, Riverside developed a method of identifying fatty acids uptake by a single cell. Fatty acids, along with glucose and amino acids, are known to be a source of energy for cell proliferation, including cancer cell proliferation. But unlike glucose metabolism, the biological mechanism of fatty acids uptake by a cell was not well understood. The researchers developed a chemical approach to “profiling” the fatty acid uptake into the cells in connection to protein signaling in cancer cells. Using a brain cancer model, they gained new insight into the role of fatty acids in cancer development and created a potential for the new therapy to block the tumor growth. The study was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society.
  • Scientists at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI), part of Sinai Health, classified all cancers into just two categories, “based on the presence or absence of a protein called the Yes-associated protein, or YAP.” This new understanding can lay the foundation for developing different cancer treatment strategies based on whether the cancer is YAPon or YAPoff type. The study was published in Cancer Cell.