Wound Therapy Improvement -Scientific Breakthrough

How many of you have had family, friends, or patrons who have a need to know about wound therapy? In recent years doctors have been using (sterile) maggot therapy for those non-healing wounds - ICK! I does work to clean away dead tissue (debridement) and works well, especially for those "at risk" such as diabetes patients. But now British scientists have developed a new wound dressing that may just be able to do what those little maggots do! It is in the form of a "hydrogel" that could potentially be used to deliver the working product to the skin as a bandage - without the actual maggots. It has not been perfected, but this is something to look forward to!

You can find information on the recent surge of maggot therapy for treating wounds in both the InfoTrac databases and the ProQuest databases. Using the terms Wound Care and Maggots you will find information in reference sources, magazines, journals, and newspapers.

Negro League Legend Buck O'Neil

Buck O'Neil's life will be celebrated this Saturday (October 14th, 2006) at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City at 5:00 p.m. (The doors will open at 4 p.m.)
This great first baseman was full of good will and love of the game. Baseball in the early days was not easy for a black man to break into. But Buck O'Neil was able to do that AND even become a scout and a coach for the Chicago Cubs!
You can find information about Buck O'Neil using the Kansas Library Card databases! Search in the InfoTrac and FirstSearch databases using his name. You will find full-text articles from magazines and newspapers along with other sources.
Kansas and Missouri may have lost their "grandfather," but we can all celebrate his life.

Explore Mars!

Today there are pictures from NASA's Opportunity Mars rover that clearly show the enormous Victoria Crater on Mars for the first time. The rover uses something called a "pancam" to show panoramic views of Mars and with that information, the scientists will decide whether it is safe for the rover to descend into the huge crater.
Using the State Library's Kansas Library Card, click on the InfoTrac suite of databases. Try clicking the SUBJECT next to the Simple Search box and type in "opportunity mars rover". You will find full-text magazine articles, journal articles, and newspaper articles covering this most recent story along with some background stories that show that Victoria Crater was one of the main targets of this almost two-year mission!

You can also use the same search terms in the SIRS Discoverer database. This is wonderful for middle school and elementary school students and their teachers. Using the KEYWORD search box, type in "opportunity mars rover" and click Search. There are many full-text articles on this little rover and its journey to the crater rim!

Books!

With the Kansas Book Fest about to take place in Wichita, I wanted everyone to know that you (and your users!) can learn more about favorite authors and books in the Literature Resource Center database. The State Library's Kansas Library Card is the key to opening literary criticism and biographical information on authors, illustrators, etc. And it is FREE at http://www.kslc.org ! If you look up Rosemary Wells and her book Bunny Cakes or Gordon Parks and his book The Learning Tree, you will find articles, criticism, and author information galore. There is a Fort Scott connection in there too! Try the Kansas Library Card today.