Research
http://www.plosbiology.org/plosonline/?request=index-html
The Public Library of Science presents PloS Biology, a new journal featuring "works of exceptional significance in all areas of biological science, from molecules to ecosystems, including works at the interface with other disciplines." The Public Library of Science -- as a nonprofit organization "committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource" -- offers the online version of PloS Biology entirely for free. Readers will find research papers and synopses, editorials, book reviews, and other familiar elements of a scientific journal. PloS Biology also provides two online forums: the Journal Club for postdocs and graduate students and Community Page for organizations and societies. The journal also explores unsolved mysteries, each month highlighting a poorly understood but important topic in the biological sciences. [RS]
http://www.medscape.com/publichealthhome
WebMD’s Medscape and the American Public Health Association (APHA) present the new Public Health and Prevention Medscape website -- "a cutting-edge resource for a variety of health professionals, offering timely information about important public health issues of the day and tools for improved practice." Users will find the latest health-related news from Reuters Health and Medscape Medical News, as well as highlights from The Nation’s Health (the APHA newspaper) and selected articles from the American Journal of Public Health. Other offerings include a book-of-the-month review, coverage of recent conferences, and online Resource Centers (topic-specific collections of Medscape's key clinical content). The site also provides Continuing Medical Education tutorials in public health subjects for physicians and other health professionals. The list of resources goes on and anyone working in public health should certainly bookmark this site. [RS]
http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/humangenome/
This special Web Focus from the journal Nature presents research papers that "serve as the definitive historical record for the sequences and analyses of human chromosomes -- the ultimate results of the Human Genome Project." Papers are available for chromosomes 6, 7, 14, 20, 21, 22, and Y, which readers can access (no subscription required) by clicking on the image of the corresponding chromosome. The papers for chromosome 6 are the most recent, published in the October 23, 2003 issue of Nature. The website also offers free feature articles on the subject. [RS]
http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/tvg/
The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) recently released the first draft assembly of the Trichomonas vaginalis genome, available through this website to the academic and not-for-profit research community for noncommercial use only. TIGR will release more data at regular intervals during the sequencing project, which should help researchers better understand this widespread parasite and its role in HIV infection, neo-natal disorders, predisposition to cervical cancer, and of course, vaginitis. The website also includes background information on T. vaginalis, as well as a link to TIGR’s sequencing project for Entamoeba histolytica -- a closely related organism. [RS]
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pubmed_tutorial/m1001.html
PubMed Tutorial is a "web-based learning program that will show you how to search PubMed, the National Library of Medicine’s journal literature search system." Clear, detailed explanations and helpful animations guide users in making the most of PubMed’s many features. The level of detail in this tutorial is amazing, yet not overwhelming (thanks again to animations and demonstrations that replicate the PubMed user interface). A final review section offers a number of practice exercises. [RS]
http://nt.ars-grin.gov/SBMLWeb/homehtml.cfm
This is the nicely designed homepage of the Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory (SBML), part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. The SBML conducts "research into the systematics of fungi and plants essential to solving problems in conventional and sustainable agriculture." Botanists, agronomists, mycologists, or any number of related researchers may find the website’s online resources of interest. Fungi Online and Plants Online offer a substantial set of databases, images, taxonomic keys, and other resources based on SBML research and the Germplasm Resources Information Network. The website also provides fungi and plant collections information, a detailed staff directory, and an extensive set of links. [RS]
The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) recently launched the Biocomplexity Thesaurus -- "a major new resource for the bioinformatics community." The Biocomplexity Thesaurus integrates five existing CSA and NBII thesauri that cover the biological, environmental, and social sciences. The user interface is as simple as can be -- just type in a phrase, term, or root word and the search engine does the rest. No Boolean logic, quotation marks, or parentheses needed. Clicking on the hyperlinked terms in the results list will launch a new search, allowing users to rotate the thesaurus to explore different facets of a particular concept. [RS]
http://www.bbg.org/cgi/bgbase/search.cgi
This website contains an online database of plants cultivated at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG). A recent addition to the BBG general website, the database may be easily searched by common or scientific name. Search results provide summary botanical information for all species and varieties related to the search term. Records also indicate where on BBG grounds each plant may be found, which could be of some use to visiting researchers. Photographs are available for a few plants in the database. [RS]
