On Doctoring MEDLINE searches, with reference librarian comments, March 2000

The question was

What is eosinophilic colitis?
What treatments are available for eosinophilic colitis?

1    Colitis/ and Eosinophilia/    results=48   

Reference Librarian comments

Of course, I don't know if you were satisfied with your results, but I decided to try this search a different way. I wish there were an official "MeSH" (Medical subject heading) term for this disease. Because there isn't, we're forced to be a little tricky with our search. Though you have two questions above, I just thought about the second one, the treatments...

Have a look at my strategy. Explode the term. Focus the term. Use only one term at a time. Select appropriate therapy-related subheadings. Yes, I got fewer than you did, but they're more on target.

Thanks for participating in the assignment.

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Search History
Results
1
exp *Colitis/pc,dh,dt,px,su,th [Prevention & Control, Diet Therapy, Drug Therapy, Psychology, Surgery, Therapy]
4329
2
exp Eosinophilia/
9862
3
eosinophil$.tw.
25049
4
1 and (2 or 3)
11