Embase for biomedical searching: Building search strategies
Your host: Chris Flemming Your presenter: Ann-Marie Roche
Welcome to our Embase webinar!
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Need to know
Registering in Embase
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•Setting up email alerts•Saving your searches•Staying up to date
Planning your systematic searching
Planning the search strategy and process in advance helps you to:
•Systematically retrieve the maximum number of highly relevant references
•Extract the relevant answers
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Which
content/publication
types do you need to
cover?
How will you find
the best terms –
comprehensive/
broad/specificDo you need to limit to
specific years, age groups
or specific studies? Are
there specific subheading
for drugs and diseases?
CONTENT SELECTION
Emtree: Biomedical thesaurus, over 60k terms
Embase: Fully indexed: Over 7,700 journals, 1974-
MEDLINE: 2,500 journals unique to Embase, mapped to Embase
indexing, 1950- (including MEDLINE Classic)
Embase Classic:
Digitally scanned and
re-indexed, 1947-1973
AIP and In Process:
Indexing added, from 2009
Conference Abstracts:
Indexing added, from 2009
1947 1950 1974 2009
Embase Content Overview
http://www.embase.com/info/what-is-embase/coverage
FINDING THE BEST TERMS
Start with Emtree
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Search for over 60K terms, including MeSH terms and over 30K drug and chemical terms
Click here to search further in an Embase search form, mapping all synonyms.
Click here to perform an explosion search, if applicable.
3 x updates per year. www.embase.com/info/emtree for more information
Reviewing an Emtree term
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Take note of any Synonyms listed
Consider the term’s History
Look at the CAS registry number(s) displayed
Read the entry provided from Dorland’s dictionary, when available
Backposting
• Emtree terms changes such as trade name and now generic name – How do you find ALL articles, NOT only those indexed from the date of the new term?
• BACKPOSTING!
LIMITING AND REFINING
Search in specific fields
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Perform a search in the title and abstract fields. Fields such as Drug Trade name (:tn) and CAS registry number (:rn) may also be searched.
Filters
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The most common type of search filter is for specific study types. Other filters include publication type .http://embase.com/info/UserFiles/Files/Embase%20indexing%20guide%202012.pdf for a list of Embase study types with definitions (14).
78 drug and disease subheadings
BUILDING SEARCHES IN EMBASE
Review Question
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Find disease management studies for Type II diabetes
•Look for your term in Emtree•Use the disease search form for disease subheadings.•Use major focus to limit your results.
Review Question
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•Tracking the efficacy of saxagliptin in treating diabetes type 2•Comparing the efficacy/safety of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors
•Investigate the use of subheadings, such as: ‘Pharmacokinetics’, ‘Adverse Drug Reaction’, ‘Drug Toxicity’•Use explosion to investigate other depeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors
Poll
The poll should appear on your screen shortly...
More drug and disease combination searches
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Find recent reports of cardiac adverse effects of beta 2 agonists in asthma treatment (e.g. formoterol, salmeterol, indacaterol)
More drug and disease combination searches
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Are there any risks associated with the administration of antibiotics together with digoxin in a patient with congestive heart failure who has contracted pneumonia?
More drug and disease combination searches
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Cost effectiveness of treatment with rosuvastatin compared with other statins
Free-text searching tips and tricks
• Differences between /de and :de, exact search Vs phrase search.
• Truncation and operators, AND, OR, NOT, NEXT, NEAR
• Review Index terms and Abstracts for additional terms
• Remember to consider variant spellings including British and American spellings and terminologyo e.g.,diaper vs nappy; pediatric vs paediatric;
otorhinolaryngology vs ear, nose and throat; overuse injury vs repetitive strain injury
Refer to http://info.embase.com/helpfiles for more guidance and links to materials such as the Quick User Guide.
Saving searches
• Save in personal folders or share your saved searches.
• Edit sub-searches within your main search strategy and re-run
• Re-use a save search - #name in future searches
Registering in Embase
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•Setting up email alerts•Saving your searches•Staying up to date
Questions & Answers
• Q&A will be sent to you by email.• For more information and questions please contact
[email protected]• Our next Embase webinar is scheduled for April 18th and
will be an introductory webinar.• Go to www.trainingdesk.elsevier.com/embase for all training
related materials
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Please fill out the survey that appears on your screen after leaving the webinar.