If you need to do online searches for scientific information, check out Scirus. It is a specialty search engine that indexes scientific, scholarly, technical and medical data on the web. It’s definitely a time saver over using Google. Why? It pinpoints your search queries to include only results related to scientific information. That means you won’t get a bunch of mixed results that aren’t related to your search. It’s as easy to use and as fast as Google.

Learn more about Scirus.

Search using the Scirus search engine.

Have you ever wanted to know what chemicals are in that antibacterial hand soap you’re using? What about the chemical ingredients of the other household products you use in and around your home? Are the ingredients harmful? Who manufactures the product and how can I contact them?

Answers to these questions and other facts about household and personal use products can be found in the Consumer Product Information Database.

Products can be browsed by type, brand, ingredient, manufacturer, and health effects. If you know exactly what you’re looking for the site features an advanced search option. Each product page contains information about the brand, the manufacturer, health effects (MSDS), and lists ingredients.

Not knowing anything about chemicals I decided to click on a couple of ingredient links found under one of the toothpaste products and found some interesting things. Sodium saccharin is a common ingredient in toothpaste. Titanium dioxide, used for white pigment in paint, is also used for pigment and as a thickening agent in personal care products such as makeup, soap, and toothpaste.

There’s a new online tool for storing personal medical records and managing individual health and fitness.

The Mayo Clinic has combined their medical knowledge with Microsoft HealthVault to provide the general public with the Mayo Clinic Health Manager, a free online tool for storing, maintaining, and sharing personal health records, getting reminders for scheduled and recommended doctor’s visits, and tracking and improving individual health.

A Few Things You Can Do with the Mayo Clinic Health Manager

1. Electronically share selected medical records and health information with your physicians and pharmacist.
2. Medical records and health information from many sources are stored in one location.
3. Connect health monitoring devices to your computer, such as blood pressure monitor, and upload the data into your HealthVault record.
4. Get reminders for scheduled doctor’s appointments.
5. Get personalized recommendations for managing your health.

It sounds good, especially for tracking chronic health conditions and sharing data from health monitoring devices with your doctor. If I had to take regular readings of my glucose, for example, it might be really useful for tracking that aspect of my health over time.

However, I wonder about a couple of potential problems with accessing and entering my personal health data in an online system. First, what about personal privacy related to accessing and sharing information? We’re supposed to read the fine print when signing up for free online services. But it’s usually hard to understand. What about information leaks and unauthorized access to and sharing of information?

The other issue is that not all health care providers use the system. That means I have to enter the data myself. I’m sure to make a typo, and if I can’t read the doctor’s writing or I don’t understand everything in my records then how am I going to enter the data accurately?

Hmm, for now I’ll stick with paper.

The World’s Largest Medical Library

Are you looking for an authoritative source of medical information and news? The U.S. National Library of Medicine in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health publishes a free online medical library. The site is divided into categories “especially for:”

• The Public
• Health Care Professionals
• Researchers
• Librarians
• Publishers

But, remember, your local librarian and your friends and family members who are not health professionals can only direct you to health information sources and diagnose health problems. As is the disclaimer of other resources, consult your physician for a professional diagnosis.

It’s no secret the economy is in the dumps and people are losing their jobs. That also means health insurance benefits are at risk too.

If you need to buy your own health insurance, one place to check and compare rates is at eHealth Insurance. It takes only a minute of your time to get free, instant, online quotes.