Category Archives: Databases & Tips

ToxCastDB – bioassays for potential human toxicity

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ToxCastDB, from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2011dec CHOICE. p. 652
http://actor.epa.gov/actor/faces/ToxCastDB/Home.jsp

[Visited Sep’11] ToxCastDB provides public access to data gathered by the ToxCast project that screens chemicals for potential human toxicity using more than 500 high-throughput screening bioassays from nine bioassay vendors. ToxCast is part of the EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology. As the Basic Info link states, ToxCast links “biological, metabolic and cellular pathway data to gene and in vitro assay data for the chemicals screened.” At the time of this review, 300 chemicals had been screened, with another 700 projected by the end of 2012.”

To read the whole review: http://www.cro2.org/default.aspx?page=search_results

Technical Reports (online) Newsletter from the U.S. Government

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The September 2011 issue of the NTIS Technical Reports Newsletter is now available from http://www.ntis.gov/pdf/NTRNews4-3.pdf. Previous issues are archived at http://www.ntis.gov/rss/NTRnews.aspx.

This current issue features papers on Energy and the Environment. If you want any report listed in the NTIS database, it may be available to you full text on the NTRL National Technical Reports Library to which Princeton subscribes. (Otherwise, you may ask for a librarian’s help or request reports through Interlibrary Loan.)

(NTIS = National Technical Information Service)

Alternative Energy eTrack — New Database at Princeton

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Alternative Energy eTrack

“Statistical reports on alternative power sources including wind, hydro, solar, geothermal, bio, ocean, transportation biofuels, fuel cells along with energy storage, efficiency, and infrastructure; and carbon. Also includes electricity power prices.”
Source: Dirag Committee & Bobray Bordelon
Taken from our Articles & Databases listings.

Crude Oil and Dispersants Added to the Hazardous Substances Data Bank

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September 10, 2010 [posted]

NLM® Resource Update: Crude Oil and Dispersants Added to the Hazardous Substances Data Bank

[Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

The National Library of Medicine® (NLM) Division of Specialized Information Services has added crude oil and dispersant records to the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB®).

In response to the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill, the HSDB development team and the HSDB Scientific Review Panel (SRP) compiled and reviewed data for crude oil, Corexit 9500, and Corexit 9527 records. Although many dispersants exist, the two selected were most widely used during recent oil clean up efforts in the United States Gulf area and are on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) list of authorized dispersants for use on the National Contingency Plan (NCP) Product Schedule.

The HSDB records include data on human health effects, animal toxicity studies, environmental fate and exposure, and hazard information.

Source: NLM Technical Bulletin 2010 Sep-Oct;(376):e4.

ToxRefDB — new database on toxicity testing from EPA

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“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new database called ToxRefDB, which allows scientists and the public to search and download thousands of toxicity testing results on hundreds of chemicals. ToxRefDB captures 30 years and $2 billion of testing results. It provides detailed chemical toxicity data in an accessible format. It is a part of ACToR (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource), an online data warehouse that collects data from about 500 public sources on tens of thousands of environmentally relevant chemicals http://actor.epa.gov/toxrefdb/faces/Home.jsp.”

Source: Anonymous. Online. Medford: Jul/Aug 2010. Vol. 34, Iss. 4; pg. 10, 1 pgs

Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=2079182141&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=17210&RQT=309&VName=PQD

EPA’s National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS)

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NSCEP/NEPIS – EPA’s Gateway to Free Digital & Paper Publications

"This site is EPA’s premier site for accessing EPA publications, with more than 7,000 in stock and 35,000 digital titles, free of charge! EPA’s print publications are available through the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP), and EPA’s digital publications are stored in the National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS) database! You can search and retrieve, download, print and/or order only EPA publications from this site. "

Some of these reports will be also listed in various government databases, like NTIS, NTRL, MarciveWeb DOCS, and also in WorldCat and Google. (NTIS does not provide links or access to the full text.)

The EPA National Library Network has updated its Core List for an Environmental Reference Collection

GreenFILE — free database from EBSCO

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“EBSCO’s GreenFILE is a free database offering access to research-related information on human impacts to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government, and general interest titles include content about the environmental effects of individuals, corporations, and local /national governments and what can be done on each level to minimize the negative impact. Topics covered include global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and recycling. Articles are retrieved from 600 titles with nearly 300,000 articles, including full-text access from more than 4,600 open access titles. The same general search of terms and concepts related to green or sustainable buildings (including libraries), architecture, design, etc., provides nearly 3,900 records from academic journals, magazines, books/monographs, book reviews, reports, and government documents.”

Online, Mar/Apr 2010, p. 23 or http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?index=8&did=1980426771&SrchMode=3&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1272476313&clientId=17210&aid=1
Libraries Taking the ‘LEED’: GREEN LIBRARIES LEADING IN ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Frederick Stoss. Online. Medford: Mar/Apr 2010. Vol. 34, Iss. 2; pg. 20, 8 pgs

NTRL — an expanded version of NTIS Government Reports Index

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Besides NTIS, available via Engineering Village/Elsevier, Princeton University now has access to: NTRL (National Technical Reports Library)National Technical Information Service. Over 500,000 documents are available in full-text from departments such as Department of Energy, NASA, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

NTRS differs from NTIS in that it covers more years, mainly from 1960, but as far back as 1800. The database is updated daily and there is full text for about 25% of the reports.

Source: P.U.’s Engineering Library and Database Management Group

HAZ-MAP — occupational health database from NLM

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NLM® Resource — Haz-Map® Update from NLM-ANNOUNCES@LIST.NIH.GOV

[Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

Haz-Map, a database from the National Library of Medicine® on the effects of occupational exposure to potentially toxic agents, has added 265 agents.

These agents include 60 assorted metal compounds, 100 rare earth metals, 10 uranium compounds, and 16 metallic perchlorate compounds. Also added are 9 thiols, 4 sulfites, 20 nitriles, 6 glycol ethers, 4 fluorides, 7 aldehydes, and 5 acid anhydrides.

Haz-Map is an occupational health database designed for health and safety professionals and for consumers seeking information about the health effects of exposure to chemicals and biologicals at work. Haz-Map links jobs and hazardous tasks with occupational diseases and their symptoms. It covers 3218 agents and 225 occupational diseases.

More information about Haz-Map can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/hazmap.html

H1N1 (influenza) free Searchable Information Center (ebrary)

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The ebrary staff has created an in-depth searchable cluster of information about the H1N1 virus, sometimes known as the "swine flu". It consists of reports, papers, newsletters, and posters from government agencies and "other trusted souces". This database is highly interactive with options for searching, navigating and browsing, notes and highlights. Ebrary software, "InfoTools", renders each word a portal to further web searching. Text can be copied, pasted, transfered to folders, sent to others, and bibliographic citations and URLs are provided.