Health links and Guidelines

In this section there are links to conditions, diseases, symptoms, diagnostics, organizations and institutions providing information,  reference libraries, guidelines, charts, tables, tutorials, and other health resources.

For information about General Health Concerns–common topics that everyones asks about rather than specific diseases or procedures, please click the tab in the middle of the home page of the site HEALTH CONCERNS or http://healthscienceresearch.com/?cat=130.

For fact sheets about specific diseases, procedures, please see the section Reference & Fact Sheets under the  RESOURCES & LINKS tab, or http://healthscienceresearch.com/?cat=135. That section also has information about individual tests & diagnostic procedures as well as selected pharmaceutical drugs. For links to laboratories and related laboratory diagnostics, please go to Lab & Diagnostics.

For information about Food & Weight, please see that section. For information about features about DIETS of all kinds, not just for weight loss, see that section. 

Most of the medical and health journals listed in the links under MEDICAL JOURNALS have search features. For individual articles, simply enter your topic or key words in the journal search field.

• Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010.  Home page for selections
• Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. Executive Summary.
• Lifestyle Medicine Evidence Review  A major, significant review of the evidence and medical research underpinning the positive effect of lifestyle changes upon major, chronic, lethal diseases of our time.  The full report, 70 pages, will help you improve your health.  Aimed at physicians, but in easy language. American College of Preventive Medicine, June 2009.
• Heart and Stroke Statistics-2010 Update.  American Heart Association, unabridged.
• Heart and Stroke Statistical Fact Sheets.  AHA
• NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute): Clinical Practice Guidelines
• NHLBI: NCEP Cholesterol Guidelines
• NHLBI: NCEP-ATPIII Cholesterol Guidelines Full
• NHLBI: NCEP-ATPIII Executive Summary
• NICE Guidelines for control of  lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides-fats in the blood) for prevention of cardiovascular disease, National Health Service (UK)
• NHLBI: Asthma Guidelines
• NHLBI: Hypertension JNC-7 Guidelines, Adult
• NHLBI Hypertension, Pediatric Guidelines
• NHLBI: Hypertension, Primary Prevention
• NHLBI: The DASH Diet for Hypertension
• NIH Healthy Weight Treatment
• NIH Menu Planner
• Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans 2008  U. S. Govt/HHS
• Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans  2008 Professional Summary 2 pages
• Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans 2008 Full Advisory Committee report for professionals 683p
• Exercise is Medicine  Major American College of Sportsmedicine (ASCM) site, with material endorsed by the American Heart Association, governmental, and other organizations
• Exercise and Physical Activity for Older Adults  ACSM Statement 7/09
• Nutrition and Athletic Performance AECM Statement 3/09
• Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults AECM Statement 3/09
• Appropriate Physical Activity Intervention Strategies for Weight Loss and Prevention of Weight Regain for Adults  AECM Statement 2/09
• The Female Athlete Triad  AECM Statement 10/07
• Exercise and Acute Cardiovascular Events: Placing the Risks, which are relatively minimal, into Perspective  AECM Statement 5/07
• National Institute on Aging
• National Institute on Aging Exercise & Physical Activity Guide
• National Institute on Aging Exercise & Physical Activity Guide (pdf)
• National Institute on Aging Exercise & Physical Activity Guide (en espanol)
• National Institute on Aging Exercise & Physical Activity Guide (pdf en espanol)
• NHLBI Obesity & Overweight Guidelines
• AHA Guidelines for Weight Management for Healthy Adults
• AHA Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease or Stroke.  For adults without coronary artery disease or atherosclerosis.
• AHA Guidelines for Diet & Lifestyle
• AHA Scientific Statement on limiting sugar in your diet
• AHA Guidelines for Exercise in Diabetes
• AHA/ACSM Physical Activity Guidelines
• AHA Goals for Heart Health Promotion and Heart Disease Reduction for 2020 and Beyond
• ACC/AHA 2009 Focused Update of Heart Failure Guidelines
• American Thoracic Society COPD Guidelines
• Osteoporosis information  NOF
• Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Clinicians Guide  NOF 2010
• Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Practice Guidelines 2009 Update AUA (April, 2009 release)
• Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Best Practice Guidelines  AUA (Journal of Urology, November, 2009) The final statement from the American Urological Association recommending that men be offered PSA screening at age 40.
• Screening for Breast Cancer: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement, Annals Internal Medicine, November, 2009. This statement began a significant debate about (a) whether women should begin screening mammograms annually at age 40, (b) the involvement of government bodies in dictating cancer screening, and insurance coverage for those services, and (c) whether “evidence-based medicine” and “comparative effectiveness” are being misused to further private agendas about medical care and public health.
• National Diabetes Education Program Resources
• Preventable causes of death in the US: Diet, Lifestyle, Metabolic April, 2009 Over 85% of the chronic degenerative diseases Americans die of are preventable through lifestyle changes. Only 8% of us follow these recommendations.
• Healthfinder.gov Health tools  National Health Information Center “omnisite” with an encyclopedia of health conditions, advice, tools, and other resources sponsored by Uncle Sam.
• NHLBI Diseases & Conditions
• NIH Conditions & Info
• NDDIC-National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse
• International Diabetes Federation
• Glucose Self-monitoring in diabetics  (not being treated with insulin) Guidelines, IDF
• Urine Glucose Monitoring in diabetics IDF
• HbA1c in diabetes IDF
• HIV Guidelines for Adults & Adolescents, World Health Organization
• HIV Guidelines, Perinatal, World Health Organization
• HIV Guidelines, Infants, World Health Organization
• Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in HIV, Adults & Adolescents, CDC
• Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in HIV, Children, CDC
• CDC Conditions & info, especially communicable diseases
• NHS Conditions & Info  UK
• Self Help Guide NHS
• U S News Conditions
• National Library of Medicine
• Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005
• USDA Nutrients in Food Database
• Medline/PubMed/ National library of Medicine
• Medline Plus Home Page-Search
• Medline Plus Health Encyclopedia
• Medline Plus Health Topics
• Medline Plus Interactive Tutorials
• Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality AHRQ
• AHQR Evidence-based Practice Reports
• National Guideline Clearinghouse
• Air Force Institute of Pathology, with consultation info
• National Cancer Institute Information
• National Cancer Institute Extramural activities
• Cancer Treatment decisions  Statistics to assist in decisions
• Lifestyle (diet, nutrition, exercise, etc) lowers risk for cancer (Report of the President’s Cancer Panel)
• Environmental toxin burden raises risk for cancer (Report of the President’s Cancer Panel)
• The Endocrine Society/Guidelines
• Biochemical pathways chart, University of Leeds
• Biochemical pathways chart, overview, Roche Applied Science/Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
• Biochemical pathways chart menu, Trinity College, Dublin
• Biochemical pathways in detail, Kegg database index, with enzymes
• Biochemistry syllabus, University of Utah
• IUBMB-Nicholson Minimaps of metabolic pathways
• Metabolism topics University of Utah
• Citric acid cycle summary  Elmhurst College
• Acid-base balance tutorial with the basics
• Acid-base tutorial.  Praised by the American Thoracic Society.
• Water balance and volume regulation tutorials
• Microbiology & Parasitology Course  U of SC School of Medicine
• Immunology Course  U of South Carolina School of Medicine
• North American Menopause Society Position Statements
• National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC/NIDDK) Tools & Info
• Common diagnostic tests and what they mean
• Diseases & Conditions (allopathic)
• BBC Health with Conditions
• New York Times/ADAM Health Conditions
• Prevention Guidelines (allopathic)
• Emedicine Consultation Library
• Harvard University School Medicine/Brigham & Women’s Hospital Conditions
• NYU School of Medicine Conditions and Test Library
• Methodist Hospital Health Library, Houston: Conditions, diseases, symptoms, diagnostic tests, treatments
• Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
• Memorial Hermann Hospital System, home page, Houston: flu center, services
• Memorial Hermann Hospital System, Health Information: symptoms, conditions, diagnoses, tests, surgery
• Texas Heart Institute, Heart Information Center, Houston
• Texas Heart Institute, Home page, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston
• American Medical Association Atlas of the Human Body
• American Thoracic Society Patient Information Library
• University of Texas Medical School, Home page, Houston
• Cleveland Clinic Health Info
• Mayo Clinic Home Page Conditions, diseases, diagnostic tests, treatments
• Mayo Clinic Health Conditions Library
• Diseases, Disorders, and Conditions.  An index of about 100 different sites, each of which has a comprehensive list of diseases with discussions. A unique resource. Khake
• Merck Manual Conditions Menu
• MerckSource/A.D.A.M. Procedure and tests
• Drug Reference Library
• Harvard Health Current & Archived News
• Interactive anatomy guide  of every bodily system, histology, and some physiology. Remarkable.
• Master Muscle List  Loyola University School of Medicine
• Anatomy & Physiology tutorials, University of Houston. Extensive links.
• Drug Interaction Checker
• Drug-herb interaction tool (click on “interactions” tab)
• Drug-Supplement Safety Checker
• M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
• Allergy UK
• Pollen Counts Nationally
• Pollen Counts Houston
• Pollution meter: Grade the state of your air, state by state. American Lung Association
• Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
• FDA Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition
• TX Dept of State Health Services – TX Health Statistics
• Center for Disease Control
• Free Medical Book and Information Link Site.  Has some ads, irregular quality, but some gems.
• Rating of News Media Reports on health by Gary Schwitzer
• Dermnet Discussion and figures of skin disorders
• DermAtlas Atlas of dermatology, including nails and hair disease
• The Placebo effect 

Evidence-based medicine (EBM), the Scientific Method, Public Health Policy, and Health Services Delivery

• Evidence-based Guidelines 101  Wikipedia’s introduction
• What is Pseudoscience?-discussion by a chemistry professor
• Rating of News Media Reports on health by Gary Schwitzer
• The Placebo effect
• Evidence based medicine, British Medical Journal, April 29, 1995. One of the original papers from the UK, discussing the new approach to clinical problem solving. Whether it was conceptually strong, or actually solved the medical or financial problens in the NHS has been debated in numerous letters to the BMJ following the paper.
• EBM is dangerous  Wall Street Journal,  April 8, 2009
• EBM used to revise mammograph Guidelines, cut costs  NPR Nov 20, 2009
• EBM Lacks A Sound Scientific Base  The journal Chest, May 2008
• EBM is deeply flawed and bad for your patients  University of Canterbury, 2007
• EBM-Rationing Care, Hurting patients  A nurse discusses the potential fallacies and errors possible in EMB, misuse in furthering agendas, including politicization, and use to ration care, December 2008. This was well before the new mammogram guidelines, ill received by physicians and the public, were announced.
• EBM debate , including a parody published in the British Medical Journal, a study of randomized controlled trials, showing that there is no evidence that parachutes prevent injuries in people jumping out of airplanes.
• EBM described as “microfascism” in Who Says What’s Best?  by Bernadine Healy MD, US News Sept 3, 2006
• EBM represents a privileged class of power that must be deconstructed. A much discussed paper by Professor Dave Holmes
• Commentary on Criticisms of EBM  Canadian Medical Assn J,  October 3, 2000
• Clinical Practice Guidelines  American College of Physicians and the New York Academy of Sciences, 2005
• EBM Resource Center Website and update of entry above,  from the ACP and NYAS, 2009
• Evidence based medicine Patient page.  JAMA, Feb, 2006
• Evidence based medicine,  Tutorial, Duke University, 2004
• Evidence baesed medicine, Tutorial, Boston University Medical Center
• Center for Evidence Based Medicine  UK Center at Oxford University dedicated to researching and popularizing EBM
• What is Evidence base medicine?  A basic introduction with links to further discussion on the same page. A must for those interested.
• Duke University EBM Library Page  with resources to learn about EBM.
• EBM Resources University of Illinois Health Sciences Library, Chicago
• EBM links from the Welch Medical Library,  Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• EBM Practice  University of Minnesota tutorial
• Comparative effectiveness reports for consumers, “Effective Health Care,” from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, AHRQ
• Comparative effectiveness reports for clinicians, from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, AHRQ
• Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality AHRQ
• AHQR Evidence-based Practice Reports
• EBM Resources and Links  from the Lamar Soutter Library,  University of Massachusetts School of Medicine
• Second thoughts about evidence based medicine by a seasoned practitioner
• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence  NICE, The UK mecca for EBM, research, and acceptance. Keep in mind there is great pressure on UK agencies to keep costs down. While certainly not deliberate or conscious, this issue weighs heavily upon study design, interpretation, and implementation of data.  Using different techniques in randomized studies, statistical manipulation, and a large number of other methods, it is possible to produce studies to minimize costs. The same can be done in reverse, making sure that expensive procedures and drugs have lots of “evidence” to support their use.
• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence History by Wikipedia, with a comment about objectivity.
• The Cochrane Collection  The Library maintains a database of evidence-based publications, while the Reviews explores evidence for and against medical practices.
• Summaries of the Cochrane reviews, searchable by topic
• Center for Health Evidence, User’s Guide, JAMA-based resource
• Evidence based emergency medicine  Academic ER site
• Evidence based medicine  Institute of Functional Medicine

Laboratory information

• How to interpret blood tests

Parasites-more common than thought

• Parasites, the phenomenon
• Parasite statistics
• Parasite page CDC, with info about water, food, travel
• Parasites and health, CDC with an image library
• Parasite image library, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
• Parasite diagnostic images, University of Delaware
• Parasite images, James Cook University, Australia
• Parasites in humans: a list and links

How your body works: biochemistry, physiology and metabolism tutorials, lectures, links, and lists of sites with more lists, resources, lectures, and links

• Biochemical pathways, single page, searchable map
• Biochemical pathways chart, University of Leeds
• Biochemical pathways chart, overview, Roche Applied Science/Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
• Biochemical pathways chart menu, Trinity College, Dublin
• Biochemical pathways in detail, Kegg database index, with enzymes
• Biochemistry syllabus, University of Utah
• IUBMB-Nicholson Minimaps of metabolic pathways
• Metabolism topics University of Utah
• Citric acid cycle summary  Elmhurst College
• Acid-base balance tutorial
• Animations of fundamental processes in the body  from Biology Text, highly recommended because they are easy to understand, remember, and accurate
• Biology, chemistry animation collection  A fascinating, entertaining delight to the easy learner. Lone Star College, North Houston, TX
• Anatomy & Physiology animation collection  I. An excellent collection for those interested in how the body works and for  students.  
• Anatomy & Physiology animation collection II. A fascinating, entertaining collection, part II, dealing with individual organ systems
• Biochemical animations. A fun way to learn about how the cells work chemically.
• Physiology animation and learning index. Bossier Parish Community College. Highly recommended.
• Cardiovascular (Heart) tutorial  A few selections from a well regarded book. 
• Physiology tutorials-how things work. A unique list of explanations that everybody can understand.
• Medical Biochemistry tutorial page  Michael King PhD
• Biochemistry tutorial site list
• The Biology Project with tutorials, University of Arizona-a beautiful site, some articles in Spanish, Italian
• Molecules in Motion  Animations
• Physiology Textbook,  An excellent review with expanded discussions Wiki
• Physiology Textbook, downloadable pdf, Wiki, 432p, 2007
• Physiology-free videos of lectures
• Medical videos and animations  Selected topics on a blog.
• Medical Lecture Notes.  Learner’s TV (not downloadable)
• Dr Ross’ Anatomy & Physiology links and notes. Good exploring material.
• Biochemical tutorials Goteburg University and Carnegie Mellon
• Molecular links  from the Molecular and Cellular Biology Dept, Harvard
• Chemical links also from Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard
• Cell Structure and Function Univ of Rochester School of Medicine
• Directory of Health Science links  Chiff
• Directory of Molecular Biology  Internet Resources  James Cook University, Australia
• General chemistry tutorials-list of useful sites
• General chemistry textbook
• Chemical topics with discussions Extensive. Note there is a page 2 as well.
• Topical chemistry tutorials
• Biochemistry book Wikibooks
• Cations, Anions, and Ion names  Tutorial Australian State
• Chemistry tutor  (click on tab topics, not home to navigate)
• Organic chemistry intro principles
• Physical chemistry information and tutorials Oxford Univ UK
• Guide to tutorials, courses, open learning in many fields, including biology and health sciences,  Khake
• Guide to tutorials, courses in nursing, biology and related vocations, Khake
• Videos on biology, nursing, other topics. Learner’s  TV.

Other

• Public Health and Safety Company