I've divided this page into two sections. The first provides you with
some
tips on searching for material on Medline, and the second provides
links
to other Australian and overseas
web resources, including some full text report and journal literature.
Searching Medline
Remember that Medline has a Thesaurus of terms - MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), a controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles in Medline. MeSH terminology provides a consistent way to retrieve information where authors may use different terminology for the same concepts.
You will find material on cancer in Medline, but you will need to be
aware
of the thesaurus (MeSH) terms used to search for topics in this area.
Medline does not use the
word "cancer"
in its list of terms. You will need to search the word "neoplasms".
This
term has an extensive number of more specific terms associated
with
it, and you can see these listed in the MeSH database
MeSH - Neoplasms List
Many topics in MeSH have hierarchies of more specific subcategories or related terms. The indentations in the lists reflect the
structure
of the hierarchy, and the + signs at the end of terms indicate that
there
is a further hierarchy of terms not displayed here. Any of these terms
can be searched individually, or you can "explode" terms to search
sections
of the list. For example "exploding" Neoplasms by Site
would
retrieve articles on cancers in all the sites listed, from Abdominal
Neoplasms
to Urinogenital Neoplasms, and all of their subcategories indicated by
the presence of a + sign.
When you search for subjects using MeSH terms from the Medline thesaurus you will also have the option of appending subheadings to narrow the focus of your search.
For a list of the abbreviations used for subheadings in PubMed
click
here
PubMed Formulation
Below is a method of searching the mortality from Respiratory
Tract Neoplasms (a subset of Thoracic Neoplasms which
appears
in the list of Neoplasms by Site)
respiratory tract neoplasms/mo[majr] AND english[lang]
This search strategy uses the subheading "mortality", which is
abbreviated
to "mo", associated with cancers
of
the respiratory tract. The section in the square brackets includes majr
- which focuses the search on articles where the subject is
a major issue in the article. The search is then limited to articles in
English or with English abstracts.
PubMed's default setting is to "explode" all terms, and so
this search
will include the subcategories of respiratory tract neoplasms listed
below.
Bronchial Neoplasms
Lung Neoplasms
Carcinoma, Bronchogenic
Coin Lesion, Pulmonary
Pancoast's Syndrome
Pulmonary Blastoma
Pleural Neoplasms
Pleural Effusion, Malignant
Tracheal Neoplasms
Click here to see how it works. PubMed
Search.
PubMed also has a number of subsets which allow searches
to be
limited by subject. One of these is a cancer
subset. You simply create your search strategy, and add the subset
at the end. For example
Occupational Exposure AND cancer[sb]
Australian Sources
Australian Prostate
Navigator
Links to prostate cancer resources.
Cancer
(AIHW)
This is the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's cancer portal,
giving access to up to date information on publications and programmes.
Cancer Council South Australia - Centre for cancer research - statistics
Publications containing statistical information on cancer incidence in South Australia
eMJA:
Articles
on Oncology
From the Medical Journal of Australia.
Health Report - Cancer
Health Report - Cancer - Breast
Health Report - Cancer - Cervical and Vulval
Health Report - Cancer - Prostate
Health Report - Cancer - Skin
Transcripts from Radio National's Health Report, with Norman Swan.
National Cervical Screening Program - Publications
From the Population Health Division, Commonwealth Department of Health
and Ageing. There are a number of reports available at this site.
National
Health Priority Area: Cancer
From the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.
South
Australian Cancer Registry
This site gives access to the full text of reports on the epidemiology
of cancer in South Australia.
Overseas Sources
American
Cancer Society.
Statistics for 2004
Also includes statistics for previous years.
American Institute
for Cancer
Research - Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Prevention
Information for the public on diet and cancer prevention.
Below are links to the BMJ's collections of free full text
articles
on cancer.
Cancer
From the Department of Health in the UK. Information, policy documents
and advice for healthcare professionals
involved in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all types of
cancer.
Cancer: A methodological approach for studying the link between cancer and the environment (2005)
This document presents the results of work of the expert group convened by INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale) through the collective expert evaluation procedure to answer the questions raised by the Agence française de sécurité sanitaire environnementale (AFSSE; the French Agency for Environmental Safety and Health).
Cancer
(Bandolier Library)
Bandolier is a print and Internet journal about health care, using
evidence-based medicine techniques to provide advice about particular
treatments
or diseases for healthcare professionals and consumers.
Cancer Mortality
Maps &
Graphs
From the National Cancer Institute in the United States, this site
provides data on cancer death rates for the time period 1950-1994 for
more
than 40 cancers. It includes interactive cancer mortality charts and
graphs.
Cancer Research UK : CancerStats
From the Cancer Research Campaign in the U.K.
Cancer
Specialist Library
One of a collection
of specialist libraries for the National electronic Library for
Health (NeLH), the CSL is designed to provide useful
and reliable information to everyone who is faced with having to make
decisions
about cancer - clinical practitioners, patients and policy makers.
Cancer
Statistics
in Japan
From the Japanese National Cancer Center.
Cancer.gov -
Cancer Information
From the National Cancer Institute in the United States. The site
includes
a dictionary of terms associated
with cancer and its treatment.
Cancer.gov -
Statistics
From the National Cancer Institute in the United States. Statistics
including U.S. Racial/Ethnic cancer patterns.
CANCERMondial Statistical
Information System
This website provides access to information on the occurrence of cancer
world-wide held by the Descriptive Epidemiology Group (DEP) of IARC
(International Agency for Research on Cancer). Its resources include
1. Incidence data collected
by cancer registries worldwide : CI5 I-VIII (Cancer Incidence in Five
Continents, Vol. I to VIII) study.
2. The data on incidence and survival of children and adolescents
in Europe (ACCIS project)
3. Mortality data extracted from the World Health Organization
(WHO) databank.
4. The most recent estimates of the cancer incidence, mortality
and prevalence, by sex and cancer site, for all the countries of the
world (GLOBOCAN 2002).
CDC | Cancer
Prevention
and Control
Resources from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion, including statistical reports on incidence.
Centre
for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control. Cancer. Publications
A range of reports, all available online from Health Canada.
Below are links to CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)
collections of free full text articles
on cancer.
eCMAJ
-- Collected Resources : Breast Cancer
eCMAJ
-- Collected Resources : Gastroenterological Cancer
eCMAJ --
Collected Resources : Gynecological Cancer
eCMAJ --
Collected Resources : Lung Cancer
eCMAJ
-- Collected Resources : Medical Oncology
eCMAJ --
Collected Resources : Prostate Cancer
eCMAJ
-- Collected Resources : Prostate Cancer Series
eCMAJ --
Collected Resources : Radiation Oncology
eCMAJ
-- Collected Resources : Unconventional Therapies for Cancer Series
eCMAJ --
Collected Resources : Other cancers
eCMAJ --
Collected Resources : Other oncology
Hardin
MD :
Cancer
A list of web directories in this area.
IARC publications series
The International Agency for Research on Cancer is part of the World Health Organization
ISD Cancer Information Programme
Information on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, screening,
clinical
trials, cancer statistics, and cancer registration from the Information and Statistics Division, National Health Services Scotland.
The National Academies Press: Topic Health and Medicine : Diseases - Cancer
Free monographs from the National Academies Press in the United States.
NCI
Cancer Spectrum
JNCI Cancer Spectrum is described as a "knowledge environment centered
around the Journal of the National Cancer Institute". It includes
cancer
statistics, news, links, databases, and a dictionary.
MEDLINEPlus:
Cancers Topics
MEDLINEplus is the National Library of Medicine's consumer
health
information
portal. Lists of links are evaluated/reviewed/quality-filtered.
National
Center
for Health Statistics - FASTATS - Cancer
United States cancer statistics.
OncoLink: A University of
Pennsylvania
Cancer Center Resource
OncoLink is the first multimedia oncology information resource placed
on the Internet. It is maintained by the University of Pennsylvania
Medical
Center, and the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center which has
sanctioned
its use and development. The information contained in its searchable
database
is intended for both professional and consumer use.
Surveillance, Epidemiology,
and End
Results (SEER)
From the National Cancer Institute in the United States, this program
is the most authoritative source of information on cancer incidence and
survival in the United States. Data can be searched by cancer site.
The Unequal
Burden of
Cancer: An Assessment of NIH Research and Programs for Ethnic
Minorities
and the Medically Underserved
M. Alfred Haynes and Brian D. Smedley, Editors; Committee on Cancer
Research Among Minorities and the Medically Underserved, Institute of
Medicine.
Washington D.C., National Academy Press, 1999.
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