Your Words of Thanks Got Us Through the Winter

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It has officially been a year since the MSK Library closed its physical space during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We re-opened our door two days per week in October 2020, and the highlight of our re-opening was seeing members of the MSK community in person. Whether we are assisting our users in person, or via our virtual services, we are so grateful for your words of thanks. Here is a sampling of some that helped get us through a long, hard winter:

“So many thanks to you and your assistance. The list is an excellent foundation for the start of my work, and I appreciate your help.. I am so thankful that you have given me this great start.”
Department: Nursing

“Thank you Johanna!! Excellent lecture. That was really great. You are a wonderful resource!”
Department: Radiology

“Have a great day! Thanks for your very powerful work at MSKCC!”
Service: Document Delivery

“This is great. It means a lot to me to get reliable info. I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of “the google” and read outdated info. And I crave reliable information regarding all things related to my cancer diagnosis and testing. Of course this is not a replacement for discussing info with my oncologist. It just makes me better informed.”
-MSK Patient/Caregiver

 
 
 

Keyword Proximity Searching

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Sometimes just combining search terms (keywords) with the standard Boolean ‘AND’ operator is not granular enough to focus results in to retrieve relevant articles. Typically, in addition to Boolean Operators and double quotes for exact phrases, many databases also allow specifying that the keywords searched be within a certain number of words of each other in either direction. This bridge between the narrow exact phrase search and the broad ‘AND’ operator search is called Proximity or Adjacency searching and it uses Proximity, or Adjacency, operators. Proximity searching is not applicable to searching with subject headings, it is applicable to keyword searching only. Proximity operators help increasing specificity of the search. Typically, in complex search strategies, both Proximity and Boolean operators are used.

Proximity searching is available in major proprietary databases, including Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, and databases on OVID platform, such as Medline and PsycINFO. Proximity searching is not available in Pubmed.

Proximity operators and rules for using them vary by database.

An example of Proximity Operators in Embase:

The databases specific Proximity Operators and the rules for their use can be found in the Help pages for each database.

Pre-metastatic Cancer Stage Intervention, Anti-Cancer Drug Ranking Algorithm, Melanoma Vaccine and More

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  • In a new National Cancer Institute study, the researchers interfered with the cancer metastasizing process at the premetastatic stage to prevent metastatic spread and shrink tumors. The scientists used myeloid cells that were known to promote cancer metastasizing by sending a signal from the primary cancer to the other sites in the body where the metastatic spread was going to occur and lowering the immune response. The researchers added a gene to these myeloid cells forcing them to activate and strengthen the immune response. This animal study was published in Cell.
  • Researchers from Rutgers University found that bariatric surgery significantly reduced cancer risk in patients with severe obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The risk reduction was especially prominent in obesity-related cancers, such as colorectal, pancreatic, endometrial, and thyroid cancers, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma and multiple myeloma. The study was published in Gastroenterology.
  • An international group of researchers used Artificial Intelligence (AI) for mining “big data” to gain more insight into the development and prognosis of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The initial exploration revealed that mesothelioma development followed specific trajectories, which could also predict the degree of mesothelioma aggressiveness. The study was published in Nature Communications.
  • Researchers from Queen Mary University of London, UK, have developed a machine-learning algorithm that ranked cancer drugs based on their efficacy. Along the lines of personalized medicine, this will enable oncologists to select the best drugs for treating individual cancer patients. The study was published in Nature Communications.
  • Developments in Biomedical Engineering consistently create new opportunities for personalized medicine. Scientists from Japan created special hydrogel that reprogramed and reverted differentiated cancer cells into cancer stem cells within 24 hours. This innovation may help creating new stem cell targeting drugs and personalized therapies in the future. The study was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.