"More than simple keyword searching: Quertle goes beyond simple term matching to identify the most salient information in the literature. Using a combination of linguistic methods, Quertle finds facts defined within documents, creating its own database of about 250 million relationships, and is able to report the ones that are relevant to your query. Quertle's approach is based on a thorough understanding of biology and chemistry and was built from the ground up to address the unique needs of this technical literature.

Quertle uses MEDLINE/PubMed® as provided by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) (see Terms) and full-text documents from BioMed Central and Open Access articles from PubMed Central. In addition, Quertle covers the NIH RePORTER database of grant applications and the National Library of Medicine's TOXLINE database of biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. Quertle also searches News (as reported by FierceMarkets Life Sciences and Health Care) so that you can find late-breaking information without waiting for full publication) and scientific whitepapers and research posters submitted to Quertle"

BENTHAM OPEN publish over 250 peer-reviewed open access journals. These free-to-view online journals cover all major disciplines of science, technology, and medicine.

The E-print Network is . . .
. . . a vast, integrated network of electronic scientific and technical information created by scientists and research engineers active in their respective fields, all full-text searchable. E-print Network is intended for use by other scientists, engineers, and students at advanced levels.

. . . a gateway to over 35,300 websites and databases worldwide, containing over 5.5 million e-prints in basic and applied sciences, primarily in physics but also including subject areas such as chemistry, biology and life sciences, materials science, nuclear sciences and engineering, energy research, computer and information technologies, and other disciplines of interest to DOE. We hope the E-print Network proves valuable to you in supporting your research initiatives.

The CHAMACOS Center works with families in a farmworker community to learn how pesticides and other environmental exposures affect the health of mothers and children. CHAMACOS means small child in Mexican Spanish. The CHAMACOS Center is comprised of several research projects investigating the environment and children’s health in the Salinas Valley, Monterey County, California.

CHAMACOS is a project of the U.C. Berkeley Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research, in partnership with Natividad Medical Center, Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas, and other community organizations.

Health and disease information for public health and medical professionals as well as consumers. The CDC website is particularly useful for finding information on disease outbreaks and projections of diseases that require tracking.

This website is maintained by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and contains profiles of countries around the world including information about the people, geography, government and economics of the countries profiled. It is regularly updated.

[Visited Sep'11] This remarkable resource is valuable for people who need to make independent decisions about quality health care in a particular locale, or who need to determine the nearest place to seek care for a particular condition. This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) directory pulls together high-quality information from diverse and dependable sources, and puts more than 220 reports together in a way that allows users to evaluate and compare available health care resources. Of course, many of the reports do depend on data provided by states and health institutions, but that is true for any directory. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has a very good reputation for maintaining independence and integrity, so searchers may have confidence in its products. RWJF contact information is readily available on each page, and the organization is prompt in responding to queries. Among the free reports included in this directory are the American Hospital Directory's Free Hospital Profiles http://www.ahd.com/freesearch.php, and those from Hospital-Quality.com http://www.hospital-quality.com/. Users may scroll over a map of the US to find performance measures and related information for most states (at the time of this review, Alaska, Hawaii, and Idaho were not included). The overall site, map, and links load quickly. Those who access this site will find it very useful, and as more information is gathered it will become even more valuable. Students, practitioners, instructors, and interested consumers will find this resource indispensable for comparing and evaluating hospitals and other health services in the United States. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general audience. -- J. Q. Vance, Walla Walla Community College

"Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics is a digital library collection that brings a unique set of resources from Harvard’s libraries to Internet users everywhere. Offering valuable insights to students of the history of medicine and to researchers seeking an historical context for current epidemiology, the collection contributes to the understanding of the global, social–history, and public–policy implications of disease. Contagion is also a unique social-history resource for students of many ages and disciplines."

"In 2002, Harvard University established the Open Collections Program, a digital collection of resources that makes available historical materials from Harvard's renowned libraries, archives, and museums. The newest collection, Contagion, provides background information on significant episodes of disease and epidemics worldwide. Materials include digitized copies of books, serials, pamphlets, and manuscripts, "many of which contain visual materials, such as plates, engravings, maps, charts, broadsides, and other illustrations." Materials are nicely supplemented by explanatory pages that familiarize users with concepts related to diseases and epidemics. The three search options are catalog, full text, and Web site. Catalog search allows users to keyword-search catalog records for books, manuscripts, maps, and images in the collection. Full-text search examines the machine-printed text of books, journals, and pamphlets and returns a list of relevancy-rated links to pages that contain the specific search term(s). Users also have the option of browsing pages on significant episodes of contagious disease, along with common topics such as public health or vaccination. Additionally, one may browse for material on notable persons such as William Gorgas or Florence Nightingale. This collection will be an invaluable resource for anyone searching for historical data on diseases and epidemics." from Choice, March 2009

"County Health Rankings presents nationwide county-by-county health data in an elegant, easy-to-navigate format. The site's home page is clean and simple, featuring a clickable map of the US and relatively few other navigational options. Click on any state and a new page appears, with a map of that state divided into counties shaded according to "health outcomes" (or, alternatively, "health factors") rankings. Moving the mouse arrow over individual counties displays the numerical rank of each county within the state. A menu to the left of the map offers other options, including links to the data in table format. Clicking the map on a particular county opens a table displaying the county-level data upon which the ranking system is based. Each element of data in the table for an individual county is further linked to a new page that explains that measure, its source, its importance, and its weight in the ranking. A new, smaller map of the state, again divided into counties, also appears on this page, shaded to indicate the county-by-county ranking for this individual data element. Once again, using the mouse to move over individual counties provides a numerical display, allowing quick and easy county-to-county comparisons for a given element. The site wins high marks for clarity, logic of presentation, and ease of navigation. Equally impressive, however, is the quality, consistency, and reasoning evident in the data, gathered from disparate authoritative sources and massaged into a compelling series of insightful snapshots designed to inspire action. This is a truly outstanding resource for public health research and advocacy." from Choice, July 2010.

Since 1984, the MEASURE DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) project has provided technical assistance to more than 240 surveys in over 85 countries, advancing global understanding of health and population trends in developing countries. DHS has earned a worldwide reputation for collecting and disseminating accurate, nationally representative data on fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and nutrition.

"This Centers for Disease Control site presents educational materials on prevalent environmental health issues, in English and Spanish, aimed at health care professionals, health educators, communities, and the general public. The first two groups can earn free continuing education (CE) credits from various agencies by studying the material and passing online tests. Topics, which expire after three years for CE purposes but remain available while updated, include heavy metals, asthma triggers, pesticides, and solvents. Undergraduates, including those not majoring in health sciences, may find the Case Studies in Environmental Medicine useful for research, because they are written by identified experts and reference peer-reviewed information and current diagnostic and treatment standards. Grand Rounds in Environmental Medicine are one-hour Web streaming or slide/script training courses for professionals; they lack a reference list but provide an opportunity for CE credits. The Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit offers training, testing, credits, and additional resources for professionals serving children. For the public and students needing only a quick overview of a topic, Community Environmental Health Education Presentations are shorter Web streaming or script/slide presentations with less technical detail, but no clear authorship or references. Links to patient information sheets, Public Health Statements, and other ATSDR resources abound. The site is clearly laid out, attractive, and responsive." Choice, November 2009.

Epiville, a learning tool developed specifically for Principles of Epidemiology (P6400), is a set of interactive web-based exercises created by faculty in the Department of Epidemiology and produced by the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University. The primary goal of Epiville is to provide an enhanced web-based learning environment so that students can most efficiently master the main principles of the course. Separate modules serve as weekly homework assignments. In these exercises, you will assume the role of an intern at the Department of Health in the fictional city of Epiville where you will investigate a series of emerging public health problems. As you begin your investigation, you will gather relevant data including TV and radio reports, information materials from the Epiville Department of Health, and interviews with local residents. You will then use the information you have collected to address key analytic and theoretical questions. Each week's assignment is intended to complement material from course lectures, reading assignments and seminar discussions by simulating the hands-on experience of applying epidemiologic methods.

Health Statistics provide information for understanding, monitoring, improving and planning the use of resources to improve the lives of people, provide services and promote their well being. This course describes the range of available health statistics, identifies their sources and helps you understand how to use information about their structure as you search.

Gapminder is a non-profit venture – a modern “museum” on the Internet – promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

"The World Health Organization has developed the Global Alert and Response (GAR) site to inform the public about health emergencies, hoping to reduce panic and the disruption of public services vital to daily life. The Web site provides information on the core functions of the GAR system, emphasizing the global impact of epidemic preparedness and response. The focus is clearly on a coordinated international effort to respond to epidemics and other public health emergencies in an expeditious and effective way, preventing outbreaks from spreading. The site offers updates on disease outbreaks, press briefings, and guidance documents for developing standardized approaches to responding to epidemic-prone diseases. Under Full Coverage of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, the guidance documents are arranged by category and title; they also are grouped according to audience--individuals, communities, and national authorities.

The particular value of this site is in the overviews of a given public health concern in the form of time lines, official statements, and situation updates. In addition, the site explains the purpose and activities of expert teams from the Global Alert and Response Network, who are charged with the responsibility of assessing whether a reported disease event warrants international concern. The diseases that do warrant such concern are listed in alphabetical order. An FAQ section provides information on the severity of specific epidemics, vaccinations, travel advisories, and safety issues. This site will benefit anyone who is looking for the latest news and authoritative information on emerging epidemics and other public health problems that are of concern on a global scale." Choice, November 2009.

"Health and Environmental Information Online (HERO), a continuously updated database of "hundreds of thousands" of sources considered for and/or used in human and ecosystem risk assessments, is prepared by the EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA). The recent public release of this database provides a unique opportunity for users to discover sources deemed important by NCEA literature researchers, who welcome suggestions for additional items to consider for inclusion. Although most sources are peer-reviewed journal articles, the database includes other articles, books, book chapters, reports, patents, Web sites, computer programs, pamphlets, public laws, and personal communications. The attractive home page summarizes content, offers topic browsing, and shows links to recent risk assessments and related sources, FAQs, and the search page.

Although searching is straightforward, help with searching, viewing, refining, and exporting results to bibliographic software appears on every page via the How to Use HERO link. To view the full record of a source, users click within its row and scroll to the bottom of the page. Full records link to risk assessments, if any, that include the source; some also display links to publicly available content, institutionally subscribed material, or a publisher's Web site for purchasing source material. The scope is rather broad: in an attempt to force a negative search, this reviewer searched for "elephants" and found 19 journal articles, although a sampling of those records indicated that they were not used as sources in risk assessments." from Choice September 2010.

This fifth edition of Health at a Glance provides the latest comparable data on different aspects of the performance of health systems in OECD countries. It provides striking evidence of large variations across countries in the costs, activities and results of health systems. Key indicators provide information on health status, the determinants of health, health care activities and health expenditure and financing in OECD countries

You can access statistical data from the Human Development Report (HDR) and resources to help you better understand this data. You will also find helpful information about the human development index (HDI) and other indices, links to other background materials, data resources and on-going debates and discussions on human development statistics.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington rigorously measuring the world’s most pressing health issues and providing scientific evaluations of health system and health program performance in order to guide health policy and accelerate global health progress.

The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is a human health assessment program that evaluates quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may result from exposure to environmental contaminants. IRIS was initially developed for EPA staff in response to a growing demand for consistent information on substances for use in risk assessments, decision-making, and regulatory activities. The information in IRIS is intended for those without extensive training in toxicology, but with some knowledge of health sciences.

OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy from around the world to:

- Support sustainable economic growth
- Boost employment
- Raise living standards
- Maintain financial stability
- Assist other countries' economic development
- Contribute to growth in world trade

The Organisation provides a setting where governments compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and coordinate domestic and international policies.

The Office of Health Economics provides independent research, advisory and consultancy services on policy implications and economic issues within the pharmaceutical, health care and biotechnology sectors.

The OHE has an international reputation, for the quality and independence of its research, which is safeguarded through our Policy Board and Editorial Board.

An online, searchable version of Dr. John Snow's seminal work on epidemiology from 1855.

"The CDC's OutbreakNet Team is the coordinating center of a collaborative network of federal, state, and local public health officials involved in the detection and surveillance of, and response to, outbreaks of foodborne, waterborne, and other intestinal tract diseases. The US Department of Agriculture, the US Food and Drug Administration, and several laboratories providing specialized testing for the identification of foodborne bacteria are also participants. This Web site is attractive and well organized, providing information and links to all of the activities of the network, links to other government sources of information on food safety, and listings and updates on current investigations of food infections. Also available is an easy-to-use alphabetical listing with short descriptions of enteric diseases. Although the site serves primarily as an information source for professionals dealing directly with foodborne illnesses, it is also an excellent source for the general public. Most interesting, but perhaps most scary for the nontechnical reader, is the section titled Foodborne Outbreak Investigations, which describes the many ways in which food can become contaminated. One is left wondering how any food one eats can be safe to consume." Choice August, 2010.

The success of Quality of Life (QOL) and Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) studies depends a great deal on the choice of appropriate instruments. They must be selected according to the domains they measure and the populations and pathologies for which they are designed. Practical issues, such as the availability of different translations, copyrights, and access to instruments are also major criteria in the choice of instruments.

[Visited Nov'11] The CDC's Office of Public Health Genomics (OPHG) "promotes the integration of genomics into public health research, policy, and practice to prevent disease and improve the health of all people." Accordingly, its website presents reliable, current information about ways that genomic data and family health history can improve health policies and inform clinical practice. Information for consumers includes news and reports about genomic tests, research findings, and background on how genes, the environment, and behavior interact and can lead to disease. Health professionals will find links to data, technical reports, other research publications, and funding opportunities.
The Genomics and Health section includes subtopics such as Autism, Breast and Ovarian Cancer, Mental Health, Obesity, and Stroke. These health topic pages contain an overview of the condition or disease, a discussion of the population affected, recommendations for health management, and numerous links for further reading, including publications from the CDC, federal health agencies, and leading organizations for advocacy and education. The Genomics Activities section describes initiatives to develop and apply evidence-based evaluations to genetic testing and other genomic technologies as they make the transition from the research stage to practical application in clinical medicine and public health, e.g., Evaluation of Genomic Applications in Practice and Prevention (EGAPP), Genomic Applications in Practice and Prevention Network (GAPPNet). A clean design, clear links on every page back to the major sections of the site, and an alphabet across the top of each page for browsing all of the CDC Web pages make Public Health Genomics easy to use. Other useful sites include Learn.Genetics http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/ (CH, Feb'07, 44-3281) and Genetics Home Reference http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/ (CH, Jun'06, 43-5924). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic, general, and professional audiences, all levels. -- F. G. Shrode, Utah State University

[Visited Nov'11] PubMed Health, developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), summarizes information based upon multiple evidence-based reviews of clinical trials referred to as "clinical effectiveness reviews." These reviews focus on treatments and methods that have proven to be effective, and the target audiences are both clinicians and consumers. Although there are some comparative reports in MedlinePlus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ (CH, Feb'11, 48-3316), a consumer health website also developed by NLM, there is very little overlap between MedlinePlus and PubMed Health. PubMed Health's clinical effectiveness reviews were published from 2003 forward, and are updated as new information is provided by several organizations, including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.ahrq.gov/ (CH, Nov'11, 49-1494) and The Cochrane Collaboration http://www.cochrane.org/. Some of the clinical effectiveness reviews are from PubMed Clinical Q and A http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK62349/, targeting health professionals, not consumers.
Users can locate information by using A-Z indexes in the Contents section or the search box that appears on every page. The "refine your search" feature allows the user to limit the results to a specific section, such as the full text of clinical effectiveness reviews. The search results also provide information on when an article was last created, updated, or reviewed. The Help page contains searching tips as well as citation formats. Users searching for consumer health information should be aware that MedlinePlus includes more content, languages, and formats than PubMed Health. The latter links to images within MedlinePlus but does not offer interactive tutorials or online videos. Overall, a useful resource for obtaining information on diseases, medications, and wellness topics of interest to consumers, patients, and future and practicing health professionals. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. -- D. Timm, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center--Shreveport

Free ebook from the National Academies.

Transparency International is a global network including more than 90 locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation. These bodies fight corruption in the national arena in a number of ways. They bring together relevant players from government, civil society, business and the media to promote transparency in elections, in public administration, in procurement and in business. TI’s global network of chapters and contacts also use advocacy campaigns to lobby governments to implement anti-corruption reforms.

Global Burden of Disease analysis provides a comprehensive and comparable assessment of mortality and loss of health due to diseases, injuries and risk factors for all regions of the world. The overall burden of disease is assessed using the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), a time-based measure that combines years of life lost due to premature mortality and years of life lost due to time lived in states of less than full health.

The WHO GBD project draws on a wide range of data sources to quantify global and regional effects of diseases, injuries and risk factors on population health. The latest assessment of GBD for 2004 is available, together with updated projections to the year 2030, and documentation of methods and data sources. Manuals, software and other resources are also provided for carrying out burden of disease studies.

The Global Health Observatory (GHO) is WHO's portal providing access to data and analyses for monitoring the global health situation. It provides critical data and analyses for key health themes, as well as direct access to the full database. The GHO presents data from all WHO programmes and provides links to supporting information.

The WHO Global InfoBase is a data warehouse that collects, stores and displays information on chronic diseases and their risk factors for all WHO member states.

The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project
reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for 213 economies over the period 1996–2009, for six dimensions of governance:

- Voice and Accountability
- Political Stability and Absence of Violence
- Government Effectiveness
- Regulatory Quality
- Rule of Law
- Control of Corruption

The aggregate indicators combine the views of a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. The individual data sources underlying the aggregate indicators are drawn from a diverse variety of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations.