The Foreign Service Journal, December 2004

science libraries, while Trip Database Plus ( www.tripdatabase.com ) is a straightforward search engine for scouring through articles on health and medicine. Another handy source for searching technical biomedical and life science articles is PubMed Central ( www.pubmedcentral.nih. gov ), m anaged by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. For children’s health issues, Dr. Greene ( www.drgreene.com ) of fers a useful illustrated encyclopedia of hundreds of pediatric issues. Also of note is eChildsHealth ( www.echild shealth.com ,) w hich focuses more generally on parenting issues but highlights medical topics on the left column of the page. The National Institute of Health produces a guide for determining the legitimacy and veracity of medical Web sites ( http://nccam.nci.nih. gov/health/webresources/index. htm ). M edical advice should be taken with caution, for as Mark Twain once cynically penned, “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” While all of these Web sites offer a wealth of medical knowledge, none can replace a face-to-face consultation with a health care professional. — Kris Lofgren, Editorial Intern C Y B E R N O T E S 14 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 4 Site of the Month: www.blonz.com Health and nutrition needs have challenged our fitness and eating habits since the beginning of time. “Attention to health is life’s greatest hindrance,” grumbled Plato 2,400 years ago. However, in the Information Age all of that has the potential to change given a little knowledge about diets and exercise — and the right Internet link. For health and nutrition questions, Dr. Ed Blonz serves as a useful traffic cop for directing visitors to government agencies, medical societies, research universities, food corporations and more. The Blonz Guide (www.blonz.com) offers hundreds of links to everything from nutrition hints and fitness tips to cooking guides and technical journals. Blonz, holder of a Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of California at Davis, is a syndicated nutrition columnist who offers health and nutrition advice. The Blonz Guide provides links to government agencies such as the FDA, the CDC and the USDA as well as to top food science and nutrition research centers. It also offers useful links to industry representatives such as the American Egg Board and The Wine Institute, corporations such as Coca- Cola, Kellogg’s and Frito Lay, and consumer resources like Ask the Dietitian and the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Nutrition Action Healthletter. Perhaps the most valuable resource page on The Blonz Guide is the “Health and Medical Resources” section. Blonz provides links to groups with interests ranging from headache education and sun protection awareness to heart dis- ease and diabetes. The Blonz Guide also offers links to nutrition and health resources in the news, such as the CNN and New York Times health pages. Whether you are searching for the latest in cancer research or investigating the nutritional make- up of your favorite dinner, The Blonz Guide is the perfect first step toward mak- ing attention to your health life’s simplest convenience, not its greatest hin- drance. — Kris Lofgren, Editorial Intern