Saturday, March 29, 2014

Week 6 – Gale Virtual Reference Library

This post may be a little confusing.  I worked on this database a few weeks ago and took notes in pencil all around the outside of the lesson.  I am so far behind in the challenge that I don’t want to take the time to redo it, so you will have to bear with me as I try to figure out what all the cryptic scribbles mean.  But, I do remember the database as being very interesting and informative.  And, you may wonder why I didn't post it when I first worked on it.  I thought that Lesson 6 was the next one, but after I had it researched I discovered that I had missed Lesson 5.  And…other things took over my life and I didn't get back to it.

I searched for “zinc in foods” and learned that a zinc deficiency has been associated with the development of ADHD.  That may be common knowledge, but it is something I didn't know.  Foods that are rich in zinc include seafood, liver, pine nuts, cashew nuts and whole grain cereals.  I am pretty sure that the majority of people do not get the required amount of these foods.

Then, I searched the Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer 2010 and put in “Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma” and came up with a disease disorder overview on Lymphoma.  I viewed the text and see there are other articles linked to these index terms.  The article can be translated, I can get it as a pdf or save the article. 

There are also several articles under the disease overview with drug overviews.   Some are experimental medicine.  One is “Edatrexate” which is similar to “Methotrexate”.  My husband took Methotrexate in 2001, during his first chemotherapy treatment.  This new drug sounds very promising.  “Leucovorin” is also mentioned for reducing side effects.  The second time he when through chemotherapy in 2003/2004,  he was given very high doses of Methotrexate with a Leucovorin rescue.  The Leucovorin pushes the Methotrexate out of a person’s system.  If there wasn't that rescue a person’s kidneys would be severely damaged from the Methotrexate.


Another drug overview is “Rituximab”, which is another chemotherapy drug he was given during 2001.  It is used as “Rituxan”.

1 comment:

Jane Heitman Healy said...

You made some interesting finds, NWRL. And I didn't know that zinc was used to treat ADHD. Thanks for your work here. Remember to use Gale Virtual Reference Library when patrons ask about things like this. Thanks for your comments!