IN PRAISE OF MEDLINE

updated: 11 March 2008

There are two concepts that reign over science with the same iron grip that Groucho, Harpo, and Chico had over Marxist theory in the first half of the previous century: hammer theory and lamp-post theory. Hammer theory runs like this: when a little kid comes into possession of a hammer, he suddenly discovers that everything in his path desperately needs pounding. Lamp-post theory consists of this bit of wisdom: if you lose your keys outside on a moonless light, the first place to look should be under the lamppost, because in the unlikely event that they are there, at least you will be able to spot them.

Regardless of what you think of these theories, if you are a prehealth student--or if you are merely curious about science--there is one resource that you can use both as your "hammer" and your "lamppost"--as a tool in many of your searches as well as a point to begin them: MEDLINE. The name "MEDLINE" itself implies the focus and limitations of this database--but make no mistake, the information on this free, world-wide-web database can benefit you immensely. Let's go over a few research paper titles that were located in MEDLINE searches to give you an idea of what you can do with this database. For the sake of space, we are just going to list titles, not the authors' names, journals, or publication dates.

Let's begin with the obvious, a heavy-gun, hard science, research paper: "A chemically modified nonantimicrobial tetracycline (CMT-8) inhibits gingival matrix metalloproteinases, periodontal breakdown, and extra-oral bone loss in ovariectomized rats." This is research that was carried out here on campus, and was found by searching the words, "chemically," "modified," and "tetracycline." (We did this mainly because we know that research on this topic is carried out at Stony Brook.)

If you have an interest in research, you can type in a search about work that you know is being done here at Stony Brook, and there are chances that you will find something if it bears some relation to medicine or health. Stony Brook's web page (www.sunysb.edu), and its research program and departmental links are the key to finding out what is being done here on campus. You could also perform a search on any research topic that interests you and find out what work has been done on the topic and where.

You can run a search on an individual researcher and some of their work might be listed on MEDLINE. For example if you run a search on Dr. Harvard Lyman, a Biochemistry Professor here at Stony Brook, one of the papers that you will get back is "A point mutation in Euglena gracilis chloroplast tRNA(Glu) uncouples protein and chlorophyll biosynthesis" along with information about colleagues who worked with him on this research. Of course, if you have an interest in seeing what is being done in the natural sciences more than in science as it relates to health and medicine, there are other electronic resources that you can use, and that we will discuss in the future. For now, we will say that your gateway to these resources is Stony Brook's Library and its web page.

Perhaps the greatest versatility of MEDLINE comes through not in what it tells you about weighty research in the natural sciences, but in health and medically related research that touches other areas of human life. These resources make you better informed, more well-rounded, give you a better defined, stronger interest in the health professions, and also help you get more out of your non-science courses. Here are a few examples of paper titles that are in this category: "An examination of mood changes and performance in a professional basketball team," "Myotonic Dystrophy in Ancient Egypt," " Once upon a midnight dreary: the life and addictions of Edgar Allan Poe," "Stalin's last years: delusions or dementia?," " Increased abdominal pain during final examinations," and " Relationships among death anxiety, communication apprehension with the dying, and empathy in those seeking occupations as nurses and physicians."

As you can see, MEDLINE has a great deal to offer the student with a thirst for knowledge--and we haven't even listed examples of the papers that focus on current issues in health care, such as managed care. What do you get when you run a MEDLINE search? You get paper titles, the information about when and in what journal they were printed, and in a good number of cases an abstract--a paragraph that summarizes the paper. Where do you go from there? Once you have this information, you check to see if the journal you want is in Melville Library or at the Health Science Center Library--if they have it, you just go and read the article. What if the journal you want is not available here at Stony Brook? You can talk to the staff at the library about getting the material you want through Interlibrary Loan.

Where is MEDLINE located? Just click the link at the top of this page or go to the web site of the National Library of Medicine and follow the links to Pub Med.