Archive for June, 2009
Timesaving PDF search engine for the life sciences
“Each year, scientists spend at least a quarter billion minutes searching for biomedical literature online,” according to the foundersof Pubget , http://uab.pubget.com . “This is time they could better spend curing disease and building the future. Pubget’s mission is to give them that time back.”
Pubget, is a PDF search engine that works with the subscriptions at UAB! Itindexes nearly 20 million life science research documents, including those in PubMed®. You search it by typing terms into the search field, like you search PubMed or Google Scholar. The difference is Pubget gets you the PDF right away, in the search results.
Tips for making the most of Pubget:
1. You can read the latest issue of any journal LHL licenses by searching type the journal name (or a reasonable abbreviation) into the search box and then “[latest]“
2. Create a free account to:
Customize the “Latest journals” list on the homepage to the journals you read
Save favorite searches and get automatic email updates
Email PDFs directly from the search results
3. Click “RSS” to send the latest updates for any search to your Google Reader Account
4. Pubget only retrieves full text articles that LHL licenses or are freely available. Use the “find it @ UAB” link on the right dashboard when only the abstract displays to see if LHL has it in print, or to order it via Interlibrary Loan
5. The Pubget help files are intuitive and very useful
6. Experiment with including customization, RSS feeds, article tagging, downloading to bibliographic software and more.
7. Off campus, you will be asked to authenticate with Blazer ID and password
Please Note: Pubget does not use MeSH. If you need a comprehensive search on your topic, search PubMed and other databases in addition to Pubget. Please contact LHL for search assistance.
Tip from Lister Hill Library: Search for e-journals directly from your browser
Searching for e-journals? Now you can add a search for the journals Lister Hill licenses to the search box in the upper right hand corner of FireFox and/or Internet Explorer. To add the plug-in click here and then choose the icon: 
. Add LHL E-journals search plugin “Demonstration.” You will then find choice for LHL Ejournals on the drop-down next to the search box. This search is a Title search, not keyword or abbreviation, so search for JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, or Journal of Clinical Anesthesia.
You can also search the catalog to see what books, journals, and databases the library provides from your browser search box. Click here to install the plug-in; check the drop-down box next to the search bar for “UAB Lister Hill Library Catalog”
Fall 2009 course on Intellectual Property Management
Confused about Intellectual Property Management? The UAB School of Business is offering a course on Intellectual Property Management from inception to commercialization. The course will be offered Fall 2009 on Wednesday evenings from 7:15 – 9:45 pm at the Innovation Depot in downtown Birmingham. Click here for a description of the course. For more information contact, Christy Manning at (205) 934-8815 or cmanning@uab.edu.
New publication on disseminating research findings
The Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE) has published “Beyond Scientific Publication: Strategies for Disseminating Research Findings“. CARE is part of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI), one of the CTSAs established in 2006. This guide provides key strategies for dissemination, including practical advice and specific templates you can adapt for your use.
Here a description of the publication (p. 1):
A community research partnership is ideally part of a larger collaboration that includes the interests of each partner and spans a wide range of activities. Often a neglected afterthought in busy research schedules, the dissemination of key findings upon project completion is a crucial step in community-based research. In fact, we believe that researchers have an ethical obligation to ensure that research findings are disseminated to research participants, as well as other individuals and institutions in the communities in which we work. In an effort to increase ease and efficiency, this document provides key strategies for dissemination, including practical advice and specific templates you can adapt for your use. Through this strategic dissemination approach, CARE intends to distribute salient findings to affected communities, participant agencies, health departments, researchers, policy makers, and health advocacy groups. We hope this will help you to do the same.
For more information on CARE, see visit their website at: http://ycci.yale.edu/outreach/index.html.
What a PI needs to know about reporting requirements for a stimulus (ARRA) award
This is an update from June 16, 2009 about reporting requirements for a stimulus (ARRA) award.
- Stimulus funding comes with additional, NEW reporting responsibilities for the PI.
- ARRA awards will be characterized by OMB as “high-risk” and are more likely to be audited.
- NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THESE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS MAY RESULT IN LOSS OF FUNDING.
- Reporting obligations may vary by funding agency, so READ your award notice carefully.
- ADHERE to quarterly reporting DEADLINES. First post-award reports will be due October 10, 2009. Subsequent reports will be due no later than 10 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter, e.g., January 10, 2010, April 10, 2010, July 10, 2010, etc. For awards funded prior to July 10, 2009, the October 10, 2009 report should provide cumulative data from the start date
REPORTS MUST INCLUDE:
- Financial data: funds received, funds expended, and funds obligated.
- A narrative progress report that includes: the name of the project, a description of activity during the quarter, an estimate of the completion status of the project, an estimate of the number of jobs created and retained, and additional reporting requirements for infrastructure grants.
- Reports MUST INCLUDE the same information as above for sub-awards of more than $25,000, therefore this information must be collected from sub-award recipients prior to the quarterly deadline.
- Reports will be submitted via an OMB website (www.federalreporting.gov – not yet active), although it is not clear who will be submitting reports, the PI or the institution.
- ALL DOCUMENTATION and supporting records for financial and progress reports must be RETAINED for audit and inspection purposes for 7 years AFTER the award end date. We are exploring central storage options to accommodate such records.
What a PI needs to know about spending stimulus funding
- ARRA funds will be accounted for separately from non-ARRA funds, even if both are for the same project.
- Spend ARRA money quickly – funds not spent within 12 months may be reallocated by the funding agency.
- Spend ARRA money APPROPRIATELY - ALLOWABLE costs incurred on a specific ARRA award MUST be charged to the project account for that ARRA award.
- ARRA funds may NOT be carried over to any other project, but a 1-year no-cost extension can be requested for ARRA-funded projects.
- Funds from regular grants may NOT be carried over to ARRA awards.
Additional guidance will be provided as new information from OMB becomes available. Questions…email stimulus@uab.edu .
