RSS Added to Tools to Receive and Manage Alerts on DataStar

The RSS delivery format joins enterprise tools Alerts Tracker and AlertsManager released earlier. Now you have all the tools you need to receive and manage Alerts on DataStar.

How Does RSS Handle Alerts?

To set up an Alert in RSS in DataStarWeb, run your search, then click "alerts" in the menu bar. Click "RSS" from among the delivery options shown. Enter one or more e-mail addresses to which the RSS URL should be sent. You may also add a name for the RSS channel. Every time the Alert runs, you will receive an e-mail containing a link that must be pasted into an RSS reader. Use your reader's display options to view a title list of documents in your Alert, full documents, or save them to folders.

Whenever new Alerts for a channel are available, you will receive an e-mail containing a link. The Alerts are kept in the repository for 30 days; the RSS URL to "pick up" your Alert documents is valid for that period. You can also have ad hoc search results delivered to view in an RSS reader.

Note: RSS in DataStar Classic is a format option of Internet delivery for both Alerts and Delivers.

Why Use RSS for Alerts?

RSS is a tool not only to receive Alerts and other news, but to manage them. From the user perspective, instead of getting news jumbled in with regular e-mail and spam, an RSS reader offers tools for organizing feeds into folders and for keeping them all in one place for easier review. In short, it's simply a more efficient way to keep up with what's happening in an area of interest. From the administrator's perspective, the DataStar RSS option in Alerts and Delivers makes it easy to push critical information to users in a format that is convenient, or where RSS is a standard.

Other Tools

In addition, use AlertsManager to publish and distribute Alerts within your organization and the Alerts Delivery Tracker Tool on DataStarWeb to monitor the status of all of your Alerts and Document DELIVERs (output sent using DataStar Classic ..DELIVER command or DataStarWeb [Deliver] option) sent in the last two months via e-mail. For details on using AlertsManager check the quick reference card.

BIOSIS® Archive Now on DataStar

An archive of approximately 1.8 million records of BIOSIS data covering the period 1926 to 1968 is now available on DataStar. BIZZ on DataStar contains data from 1926 to the present, and BIXX contains data from 1969 to the present.

To summarize:

BIOL — 1996 to the present
BIYY — 1993 to the present
BIZZ — 1926 to present
BIXX — 1969 to present

Because BIOSIS documents the history of the life sciences worldwide, it brings together a breadth and depth of information that can't be found elsewhere in one easily searchable format. And in doing so, it supports current life sciences research and gives today’s researchers an invaluable and unique tool.

Check the DataSheet for all file segments for BIOSIS.

Pharmaprojects Databases Reloaded with Enhancements

Pharmaprojects (PHAR, PHLP, PHDI, PHZZ), which provides up-to-date intelligence on new pharmaceutical products under development, was recently reloaded with additional content on the DataStar platform.

The following data enhancements were implemented:

• Licensing availability for all 40 Pharmaprojects countries (PH)
• Multiple patent and priority information included in tabular format (PA)
• Indication as to whether the substance is a new chemical entity (CI)
• New Target information, including synonyms for the target being covered and additional family groups (TG)

PHAR includes over 7,000 investigational drugs believed to be in active development by over 1,150 pharmaceutical companies worldwide, as well as licensing offers relating to over 1,200 products. Approximately 18,000 discontinued drugs are documented in PHDI, and PHLP contains about 1,650 launched products.

For complete details about the new enhancements, consult the Base database for Pharmaprojects (BASE-PHAR) or the Datasheet. Pharmaprojects (File 128) will be reloaded on Dialog soon.

MEDLINE® Reload on DataStar for 2007

MEDLINE (MEDL, MEZZ, MEIP) is reloaded every year because the National Library of Medicine re-indexes relevant documents from the whole database with changed medical terms. New additions to MEDLINE include the new descriptors; descriptors for older records were updated when the reload was completed in April. This year 494 new MeSH® headings have been added. About half of the new descriptors in the 2007 MeSH are drugs or chemicals. You may need to adjust your Alerts in line with the changes introduced in the 2007 MeSH. For more details about the changes, read comprehensive articles at the NLM Web site.