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Searching EMBASE Helen Rowlandson Principal Pharmacist Medicines Information London Medicines Information Service (Northwick Park) London. Session aims. To understand the concepts of a basic search strategy in Embase
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Searching EMBASE Helen Rowlandson Principal Pharmacist Medicines Information London Medicines Information Service (Northwick Park) London
Session aims • To understand the concepts of a basic search strategy in Embase • To describe the EMTREE thesaurus in detail so that you will be able to apply EMTREE to use Embase efficiently • To carry out advanced Embase searches
Plan • What is Embase? • Medline v Embase • EMTREE • Dialog Software – searching tools • Worked Examples
What is EMBASE? What is EMBASE? • Major biomedical & pharmaceutical database • European focus • 5,000 journals, 70 countries • Subject coverage focuses on human medicine • also includes related disciplines e.g health economics, hospital management
MEDLINE USA coverage 1950 onwards Wide medical coverage In process MeSH indexing EMBASE European coverage 1974 onwards Drug/pharmacology focus Updated faster EMTREE indexing EMBASE <> Medline Medline vs EMBASE 30% overlap between the Medline and Embase
Searching EMBASE • Controlled vocabulary = EMTREE • Uses natural language • US spellings rather than British • INNs used where possible • Acronyms & abbreviations mostly avoided • Tree Structure – Hierarchy • Indexing: Terms added/Drug names
Dialog Software • Open Internet and type: http://www.datastarweb.com/NHS/ • Click “Athens users click here” • Right click & then click on “create a shortcut” • Enter Athens password EMBASE
Dialog Software • Use advanced search (avoid ‘easy search’) • Embase 1974 to date or 1996 to date • 3 options to search for terms: • Thesaurus mapping • Browse headings • Enter a term EMBASE
Explode/Focus • Explode • Includes everything below in the tree structure • Focus (Major) • Only includes articles where the MeSH heading (descriptor) is the main focus of the article
Subheadings • Many more subheading options for drugs compared with Medline e.g. diclofenac EMBASE
Trade names • Drug / device trade names can be searched • Articles are indexed with trade names when relevant • Useful when searching for comparative info e.g. Slophyllin, Uniphyllin
CAS numbers • No real need to do this in EMBASE • However it is still possible to do – see drop down menu • Most medicines have EMTREE terms – even recently licensed ones
Limits • Limit searches in similar way to Medline • Two ways of limiting • Differences compared to Medline
Publication types • Publication types have their own facet / tree top of EMTREE terms that are searchable • Facet J: types of article or study • Build up your search and combine in the usual way (using BOOLEAN) with other search terms
Worked example 1 • Are there any papers about SSRIs or SNRIs being used in the treatment of Huntington disease?
Worked example 2 • Are there any articles which discuss using high dose vitamin supplementation to treat autistic disorders ? EMBASE