Public Health 150B: Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences

Michael Sholinbeck (msholinb@library.berkeley.edu)

URL for this web page: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/PUBL/SPH/PH150B.html

Sheldon Margen Public Health Library

Location: 1 University Hall

Telephone: 642-2511

Library Hours: M-Th 9-8 pm; F 9-5; SaSu 1-5

Library Reference Hours: M-F 10-12 and 2-4

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Contents:

• Before you start
• Understand your chemical/substance/organism/etc.
• Who regulates it?
• Find books/reports on your substance
• Search for published literature
• Other resources of interest (including RefWorks)
• Other useful Public Health topical webpages

Before you start:

• View an interactive UCB Library Tutorial on starting the research process

1. Identify your research topic question


2. Break your topic into individual concepts, listing each concept (with synonyms!)


• Understand your chemical/substance/organism
  • Is it a drug? industrial chemical? infectious agent? food additive? etc.
  • What other names is the substance/chemical known as?
  • Are you looking at a family of chemicals or a specific chemical?
  • What unique identifiers (CAS #) exist to help you ascertain that you have the right chemical?


• Identify what kind of exposure you're looking for:
  • Route: inhalation, oral, dermal, ocular, etc.
  • Location: occupational, home, school, etc.
  • Exposure level: chronic, acute, sub-chronic, etc.
  • Exposure population: infant, child, adolescent, adult, older adult
  • Is it in food? air? water?


3. Find more background information
• What international, federal, state, or other organizations are interested in your topic and have already gathered information?
• Identify the chemicals/substances/organisms/class of compounds you're looking for


4. Add information to your topic individual concepts


5. Find the missing information to answer your research topic question
• Critically evaluate the information you find:
• Does it answer the question(s) in which you are interested?
• Do the author(s)' conclusions follow the evidence presented?
• Can you find flaws in the methods used?


6. Download the framework template (.doc)

Understand your chemical/substance/organism:

• AccessScience
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Online version of the the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology and the the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Covers all areas of science and technology.


• "Bad Bug Book": Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins Handbook (US FDA)
• This handbook provides basic facts regarding foodborne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins. It brings together in one place information from FDA, CDC, USDA, and NIH.


• CHE Toxicant and Disease Database (Collaborative on Health and the Environment)
• Summarizes links between chemical contaminants and approximately 180 human diseases or conditions.
• Browse by disease category, disease, toxicant, or search by CAS RN or disease or keyword.


• Foodborne Illness and Disease Fact Sheets (USDA, Food Safety and Inspection Service)
• Basic information on common pathogenic organisms


• Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)
  • Toxicology of over 5,000 potentially hazardous chemicals.
  • Peer reviewed information on human exposure, industrial hygiene, emergency handling procedures, environmental fate, regulatory requirements, and related areas.


• Haz-Map (National Library of Medicine)
• Haz-Map is an occupational health database linking jobs and hazardous tasks with occupational diseases and their symptoms


• Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
  • Information on human health effects that may result from exposure to various chemicals in the environment.


• Micromedex Healthcare Series
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Provides access to the REPRORISK System, which includes includes the REPROTEXT, REPROTOX, TERIS, and Shepard's Catalog of Teratogenic Agents databases.
• Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference can also be searched.


• Patty's Toxicology (5th edition)
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Includes basic physical and chemical properties, production and use, exposure assessment, toxic effects, and standards, regulations, and guidelines of chemicals.


• Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, US DHHS
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Toxicity data extracted from scientific literature worldwide on more than 135,000 substances.
• Includes mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive hazards, and acute and chronic toxicity.


• Scorecard: Smog and Particulates
• Information on common air pollutants


• Tox Town (National Library of Medicine)
• Interactive guide to commonly encountered toxic substances, health, and the environment.
• "Towns" include Port, Town, City, Farm, and US-Mexico Border.
• Includes non-technical descriptions of chemicals.

Regulatory entities

• California Agencies and Resources, including:
  • Cal/OSHA
  • California Department of Public Health. Occupational Health Branch. Hazard Evaluation System and Information Service


• Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, US DHHS
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Toxicity data extracted from scientific literature worldwide on more than 135,000 substances.
• Includes mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive hazards, and acute and chronic toxicity.


• Federal Agencies and Resources, including:
  • Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
  • ToxFAQs
  • Department of Agriculture (USDA)
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Cosmetics
  • National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • NIOSH Safety and Health Topic: Tuberculosis


• International Health Resources, including:
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS)

Find books/reports on your substance:

• OskiCat (OskiCat is the UCB library catalog)
• Search on the chemical substance, organism, etc.
• Also try searching on concepts: gold mining, cosmetics, hormones (or antibiotics) in animal nutrition, indoor air, tropospheric ozone, nosocomial infections prevention, etc.
• Search for terms as keywords (brings back the most results), subjects, or title words
• View an interactive UCB Library Tutorial on using OskiCat to find books.


• Electronic Books, including:
• CRCnetBase
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Thousands of titles on chemistry, environmental science, food science, and more.
• Knovel Library
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Over 2,000 titles on biology, food science, nanotechnology and more. Selected titles include Environmental Contaminant Reference Databook; Food Chemical Risk Analysis; Patty's Industrial Hygiene and Patty's Toxicology; Sittig's Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals and Carcinogens.
• Springer eBooks
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• This collection of over 36,000 books includes most of the Springer scientific, technical and medical books published from 2005 to present.


• Environmental Health Criteria (International Programme on Chemical Safety, WHO)
  • "International, critical reviews on the effects of chemicals or combinations of chemicals and physical and biological agents on human health and the environment."
  • For those not available full text online the Public Health Library call number is: RA565.A1.E55
  
  
• IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans (International Agency for Research on Cancer): Vol. 1-49 | Vol. 50-99 | Supplements
• Independent assessments by international experts of the carcinogenic risks to humans posed by a variety of agents, mixtures and exposures.
• Many monographs are available full text online.
• All monographs (print version) are in the Public Health Library, call number: RC267.A1.I2


• Toxicological Profiles from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, CDC
• National Priorities List of hazardous substances.
• Profiles include health effects, chemical information, production, use and disposal, potential for human exposure, regulations, references, and more.
• Draft and final profile reports available.

Search for published research literature:

•  Click the UC-eLinks icon to:
• ... access articles available online
• ... access the UC library catalog for articles in print
• ... use "Request" to get copies of articles from journals not available at UCB.


• View interactive UCB Library Tutorials on article database searching basics and on advanced article database searching.


• PubMed for UCB
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Primary database for finding public health articles.
• More than 20 million medical and health journal article citations.
• To search:
  • Use the MeSH Database to find Medical Subject Headings and appropriate subheadings.
    • Some useful MeSH terms: particulate matter, air pollutants, neoplasms, carcinogens, risk assessment; plus your substance or organism of interest.
  • MeSH Subheadings: Definitions
  • Use MeSH Subheadings to focus your search.
  • Useful MeSH subheadings include: adverse effects, chemically induced, epidemiology, toxicity.
  • Use Limits to limit by publication date, gender, age group, publication type, etc.
• Help using PubMed
  • PubMed Quick Guide (UCB Library)
  • PubMed Help for UC Berkeley
  • PubMed Simple Subject Search (2 min.)
  • Combining search terms with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
  • Searching by using the MeSH Database
  • Searching with the MeSH Database (3 min.)
  • Saving and E-mailing Results and Searches


• Agricola
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Index of books, book chapters, journal articles, and more. Subjects include agriculture, agricultural economics, nutrition, and soil science.


• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
  • Index to over 3 million citations from journals, reports, books, conference proceedings, and government publications back to 1967.
  • Topics include: diet, pesticides, risk assessment, toxicology, and more.


• Global Health
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Indexes over 5,000 journals, books, reports, conference proceedings, patents, theses, and electronic only publications.
• Best resource for finding articles from or about other countries.
• Topics include: environmental and occupational health, food safety and hygiene, nutrition, public health, toxicology, and more.


• TOXLINE
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Index to over 3 million citations covering the biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals.


• Web of Science
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• Large multi-discipliary article citation database.
• Links to cited articles and times cited are provided for retrieved articles.

Other resources of interest

• RefWorks
  NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
• RefWorks is an easy-to-use, web-based bibliographic management program licensed for UCB students. Click "Sign up for an Individual Account" to create a log-in name and password.
    » Easy-to-use!
    » Create a database of citations
    » Format and add citations to a Word document as footnotes or a custom bibliography
    » See citation samples in hundreds of different styles
    » Access your database from any computer with Internet
    » FREE for UCB students!
    » You can also use RefMobile on your smart phone, cell phone, or PDA
• Citation examples in AMA 10th edition style, using RefWorks' Preview Output Style utility.
• RefWorks Help, from the Public Health Library


• ToxLearn (U.S. National Library of Medicine's Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program and the U.S. Society of Toxicology)
  • ToxLearn is a tutorial providing an introduction to fundamental toxicological principles and concepts. Currently, Module 1, Introduction to Toxicology and Dose-Response is available, both on the web and as a PDF file. It is written for the general public, first level undergraduate toxicology students, and users of NLM's toxicology databases.

Other useful Public Health Library topical webpages:

• Environmental Resources
• Food/Nutrition Resources
• Indexes and Databases
• Toxicology/Occupational Health Resources
• Tuberculosis Resources

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