Lynn Sette's blog

Clinical Alert: Commonly Used Three-drug Regimen for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Found Harmful NIH Stops One Treatment Arm of Trial; Other Two Treatments to Continue The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has stopped one arm of a three arm multi-center, clinical trial studying treatments for the lung-scarring disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) for safety concerns. The trial found that people with IPF receiving a currently used triple-drug therapy consisting of prednisone, azathioprine, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) had worse outcomes than those who received placebos or inactive substances. "These findings underscore why treatments must be evaluated in a rigorous manner," said Susan B. Shurin, M.D., acting director of the NHLBI. "This combination therapy is widely used in patients with IPF, but has not previously been studied in direct comparison to a placebo for all three drugs." The interim results from this study showed that compared to placebo, those assigned to triple therapy had greater mortality (11 percent versus 1 percent), more hospitalizations (29 percent versus 8 percent), and more serious adverse events (31 percent versus 9 percent) and also had no difference in lung function test changes. Participants randomly assigned to the triple- therapy arm also remained on their assigned treatment at a much lower rate (78 percent adherence versus 98 percent adherence). "Anyone on some combination of these medications with questions or concerns should consult with their health care provider and not simply stop taking the drugs," said Ganesh Raghu, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle and a co-chair of this IPF study. "It is important to realize that these results definitively apply only to patients with well-defined IPF and not to people taking a combination of these drugs for other lung diseases or conditions.”

“100 Years of Child Study at Yale", is on display in the rotunda at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library.  The history of child development as a scientific field of study is primarily a story of the 20th century. The Yale Child Study Center stands as one of the few institutions – and the only one in a major University and School of Medicine – which has been a major source of leadership in the field from virtually the start of the field to the present.This achievement has several important roots – the position of the Center in a large research university, the support of Medical School administration, the devotion of faculty, and the presence of the senior leadership. An important component has been the capacity for long-term planning and program development, the continuity of senior leadership, and a commitment to the career development of young scholars, clinicians, and scientists. Also, in the 100 years of its existence, from 1911 to 2011 the Center has had only six directors, each of whom has helped guide the Center during distinctive epochs in the fields of child development and child and adolescent psychiatry. 

Harvey Cushing’s prized book collection contains several Arabic and Persian manuscripts.  Faraḥ nāmah by al-Muṭahhar ibn Muḥammad Yazdī, copied in the 17th century from an 11th century manuscript, is a study of natural history, beautifully  illuminated with detailed multicolored illustrations of animals, birds, plants, stones and humans. This manuscript, part of the Medical Historical Library’s collection, has recently been digitized by the Yale-SOAS Islamic Manuscript Gallery project. The note cards highlight six images from the manuscript which were selected by Medical Library staff.  The sets of 6 cards are now available for purchase at the Circulation Desk in the Library. Stop by the Circulation Desk to view the cards and purchase a set to send to your family and friends!

In 1836, the library of the U.S. Army Surgeon General consisted of a small collection of medical books on one shelf. Today, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the world’s largest biomedical library. With some 14 million items in more than 150 languages, it is the worldwide leader in trusted medical and health information and innovation. But this unique library is about much more than books. Every day it delivers trillions of bytes of data crucial to the lives of millions everywhere. NLM–designed databases and tools lead people to helpful medical literature and health information; help researchers study genes and their role in disease; provide emergency responders with critical information on hazardous substances, and much, much more. The Library is a leader in biomedical informatics, which is the use of computers and communications technology in biology, medicine, and health. NLM conducts and funds informatics research and trains future generations of scientists and information specialists. It plays an essential role in the development of electronic health records, health data standards, and the exchange of health information. In 1971, for example, NLM created Medline, an online database of references to the biomedical literature. Completely free access to Medline began in 1997 through PubMed, a new access system.  Today, PubMed/Medline contains over 20 million references to articles published in more than 5,300 current biomedical journals from the U.S. and over 80 foreign countries. It is approaching one billion searches a year from users worldwide. NLM’s information services and research programs serve the nation and the world by supporting scientific discovery, clinical research, education, health care delivery, public health response, and the empowerment of people to improve personal health. The Library is committed to the innovative use of computing and communications to enhance effective public access to understanding and discovery in human health. - Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D.,Director, National Library of Medicine