Healthy Living @ Himmelfarb invites you to a beaded jewelry workshop led by GW faculty member Sandy Hoar on Tuesday, January 7th at noon in Himmelfarb Library.
Dr. Hoar is an experienced crafts teacher and has previously taught workshops in Himmelfarb on weaving and chain mail jewelry. Dr. Hoar teaches crafts to both adults and children with a focus on Celtic crafts.
Bring your creativity and learn a new skill. Materials are supplied. Registration for the event is FREE but space is limited. A wait list is available so if you are a latecomer, sign up anyway!
Himmelfarb Library’s building will be closed during Winter Break starting Sunday, December 22nd at 8:00 pm, but our online collections will remain open and accessible. The library building reopens on Thursday, January 2, 2025, at 8:00 am. To see our complete hours, take a look at our website.
Finals season getting to you? Feeling anxious about exams? Are you considering locking yourself in the library until you memorize your textbooks? Before you go to drastic measures, consider trying out some of the following tips and tricks to make studying for finals go smoothly.
Try making some practice exams: Reviewing class notes is a great way to study but after a second or third pass, it can feel like you’re just skimming through the information, rather than taking it in. If you want your studying method to be more active, consider making a practice exam to see if your notes are actually sticking in your memory. If you take questions from old exams, study guides, and assignments, you can make a practice exam that not only covers important concepts but forces you to review your notes as you make it more in-depth. Want to take this tip to the next level? Rope in a friend to make their own practice test and swap with one another.
Flip through some flashcards: Flashcards are a tried and tested method for a reason. If you don’t want to make your own flashcards, Access Medicine provides plenty of flashcards for all sorts of medical topics.
Review pre-printed textbooks and guides: Himmelfarb has plenty of study material in our collection, including guides on various medical topics. Materials are available both digitally and physically, so make sure to pick one that suits your preferred studying style.
Find the right environment: Need a quiet place to study? Have trouble staying on task at home? Try the library! Study better as a group? Our first floor has plenty of space for folks to gather to discuss in teams. Need a quieter environment? If you’re one of our Graduate students, try Himmelfarb’s second floor is for silent study, and our third floor is for quiet study. If you want to go even quieter, feel free to take some of the complementary earplugs at the front desk.
Finals can be stressful but hopefully, with these study tips, you’ll be ready for exams with as little stress as possible!
In 1981, the CDC first reported on a rare lung infection that would eventually be called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The subsequent discovery of HIV in 1984 paved the way for effective treatment of HIV through antiretroviral therapy (ART). Additionally, prevention strategies such as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) are helping prevent people from getting HIV.
The knowledge that a higher viral load indicated higher transmissibility of HIV was apparent to researchers prior to 1996 (Murphy, 2023). While the Swiss Federal AIDS Commission announced in 2008 that a person who is seropositive, but has had an undetectable viral load for at least six months, does not risk transmitting HIV to a seronegative partner.
Today, the majority of research on U=U is conducted in the public health sector, to examine how – and how accurately – knowledge of U=U is disseminated across the world. In a November 2024 Personal View published in The Lancet. HIV, an international team of authors surveyed evidence relating to viral load suppression and the U=U message – which has been translated to different wordings across cultures and languages – with a view towards ending HIV as a public health crisis by 2030 (Okamoto et al., 2024). Among the chief aims of U=U is enabling people with HIV to thrive, and addressing barriers to thriving – namely, stigma, discrimination, and criminalization. There are 80 countries that have HIV-specific criminal laws, and sexual transmission of HIV is prosecuted – even where no actual transmission has taken place (Okamoto et al. 2024).
From: Okamoto, E. E., Anam, F. R., Batiste, S., Dukashe, M., Castellanos, E., Poonkasetwattana, M., & Richman, B. (2024). Ending AIDS as a public health threat: the imperative for clear messaging on U=U, viral suppression, and zero risk. The Lancet. HIV, 11(11), e783–e790. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3018(24)00241-8
Making evidence-based education a priority is a key to the success of U=U. Yet awareness of U=U remains critically low among individuals, healthcare providers, and communities. Another challenge to U=U arises in barriers to viral load-testing access. Without access to such testing, individuals are unable to confirm their virus status. When regular adherence to ART is a challenge, this can lead back to stigmatization in individuals who are HIV positive.
Despite U=U having been understood for decades, there remain challenges – systemic, legislative, and cultural – to it being widely accepted and adopted by the public. But it is a key to ending HIV as a public health crisis, so we will likely continue to see evidence being generated on public awareness and implementation of U=U.
Okamoto, E. E., Anam, F. R., Batiste, S., Dukashe, M., Castellanos, E., Poonkasetwattana, M., & Richman, B. (2024). Ending AIDS as a public health threat: the imperative for clear messaging on U=U, viral suppression, and zero risk. The Lancet. HIV, 11(11), e783–e790. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3018(24)00241-8
We are in the final days of the Fall semester! Congratulations on completing the semester! As the semester draws to a close, we’d like to share some end-of-semester tips to help make life less stressful during this busy time.
Studying for Exams:
Himmelfarb Library is a great place to study and prepare for exams. We recognize that each person’s study needs are different. Some people need complete silence to focus, while others prefer being able to chat with others and bounce ideas off each other. Himmelfarb has a space for all noise level preferences!
1st Floor: The first floor of Himmelfarb is not quiet and is perfect for group study! You’ll find some tall tables and 4-person tables that are great for group study sessions. The numerous rolling dry-erase boards available on this floor are perfect for jotting down your study notes! The first floor also has comfortable sofas and chairs near the elevator where you can get caught up with your colleagues.
If you need a study break, check out our Healthy Living Collection located near the sofas! During your study break, you can help finish the current puzzle on the puzzle table, get rid of some excess energy with our hula hoops, play a friendly game of chess or another board game, destress with some adult color books, or even use the yoga mats to get in some stretching after long hours of studying.
2nd Floor: Himmelfarb’s second floor is a silent floor reserved for graduate and advanced degree students. While there are 4-person tables on this floor, please don’t be tempted to talk or whisper with others while on the second floor. Silence is golden on this floor, and students seeking a silent place to focus value the pristine silence of this space. You’ll find open and closed study carrels on this floor to meet your silent study needs.
3rd Floor: The main portion of the third floor is a quiet study area. The Bloedorn Technology Center provides areas for collaboration including the Levine Lounge, which can be used for our BodyViz software, and the tables with anatomical models. The SMHS IT Help Desk is also on the third floor as well as computer labs with statistical software installed.
Group Study Rooms
Himmelfarb has 28 study rooms available for use. Reserve your study room in advance to be sure you secure a room. Forgot to reserve a room in advance? No problem! Scan the QR code outside of the study room and reserve an available room when you arrive. Study rooms can be reserved for up to 4 hours at a time, and can be made a week in advance. All study rooms come equipped with computer monitors and dry-erase boards. While study rooms are a great place to study as a group, they are not noise-proof, so please keep conversations quiet. Study rooms are located on the silent second floor and the quiet third floor - so please be respectful of others while using these spaces.
Helpful Study Supplies & Technology
Himmelfarb has a variety of study supplies and technology that can be checked out at the first floor Circulation Desk, including:
Dry-Erase Markers
Remote Controls (for the study room monitors)
HDMI, VGA, VGA to HDMI Adaptors
MacBook and iPhone Chargers
Headphones
Earplugs are also available at the Circulation Desk.
Returning Library Materials
Before leaving campus for Winter Break, check your library account to make sure you don’t need to return library materials. You can return items to the Circulation Desk. If you have materials borrowed through Interlibrary Loan, check your Docs2Go account for due dates, and return items on time so we can ship them back to their home library.
Himmelfarb’s Winter Break Hours
Himmelfarb Library will close for the Winter Break at 8:00 pm on Sunday, December 22, 2024. Our building will be closed from December 23, 2024, through January 1, 2025. We will reopen at 8:00 am on Thursday, January 2, 2025. While our building is closed over the break, our databases, journals, and e-books are available from anywhere through our website! Visit our hours page to view our full hours and holiday closures.
In early January EBSCOhost databases will get a facelift. The new interface will have a less cluttered appearance, featuring a streamlined presentation of filters and search options. EBSCOhost databases include CINAHL Plus with Full Text, PsycInfo, ERIC, and Academic Search Complete. Here is what the new CINAHL Plus with Full-Text interface will look like in January:
Himmelfarb Library has a preview site for users to test drive the new interface. It is still a work in progress and we welcome your feedback to provide some fine-tuning before the new user interface goes live on January 7th. You can access it below:
To navigate to a specific database, next to Searching click All Databases and select the database you want from the menu.
The new interface features a PICOT (population, intervention, comparison, outcome, time) based search builder tool which will translate PICOT-formatted research questions into an initial search strategy. Searchers will also be able to bulk export up to 25,000 article records at a time in a variety of file formats, including RIS. This will greatly facilitate the use of these databases for systematic and scoping review projects involving large numbers of citations.
A new personal dashboard will allow users to save searches, view recent search activity, and create ongoing projects. Note that any searches saved in MyEBSCO will move to the new dashboard. If you have Search Alerts or Journal Alerts set up in MyEBSCO they will need to be re-created in the new interface on or after January 7th.
If you have feedback to share about the new interface, please use our form:
You can also access the feedback form in the links on the left column of the preview.
For help with any EBSCOHost database (as well as any other Himmelfarb Library resources), please contact us by email (himmelfarb@gwu.edu) or phone (202-994-2962).
After a busy semester of fall classes, winter is finally here. While there is plenty to enjoy about winter - the holidays, freshly fallen snow, warm beverages - winter also brings with it shorter days, the sun setting before 5PM most days. It’s no surprise that this change can bring on some negative mood shifts, but in some people, this shift is so pronounced that it becomes clinical.
Seasonal affective disorder more commonly known as SAD is a type of depression that occurs when the seasons change. While there is a type of SAD for the summer months, SAD that occurs in winter is far more common and tends to be what people think of when they hear the term. While feeling a little down is normal, people who have SAD can suffer from a myriad of symptoms such as loss of appetite, sleeping too much, fatigue, social withdrawal, anxiety, sadness, and other symptoms that are consistent with depression (1).
We don’t know what exactly causes SAD (theories range from lack of vitamin, melatonin overproduction, or serotonin underproduction), but we do know that some groups are at higher risk of the disorder than others (2). People who live in more northern climates tend to be at a higher risk, as do people whose schedules limit their exposure to sunlight. People who have another psychiatric disorder such as bipolar disorder or anxiety have a comorbidity with SAD (3).
Thankfully, SAD is treatable. It’s important to see a doctor, who will prescribe a treatment to deal with the condition. There are multiple ways to treat SAD but one of the most common is light therapy (4). Light therapy involves sitting in front of a type of lightbox each morning for a period of time. These lightboxes are available commercially, though make sure they give off the recommended amount of light. Therapy, counseling, and medication can also be used.
This winter, make sure to take care of your body AND your mind. If any of the symptoms above seem familiar, don’t be afraid to reach out to your doctor.
Sanassi LA. Seasonal affective disorder: is there light at the end of the tunnel? JAAPA. 2014;27(2):18-23. doi:10.1097/01.JAA.0000442698.03223.f3
Melrose S. Seasonal Affective Disorder: An Overview of Assessment and Treatment Approaches. Depress Res Treat. 2015;2015:178564. doi:10.1155/2015/178564
Ravindran AV, Balneaves LG, Faulkner G, et al. Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) 2016 Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Adults with Major Depressive Disorder: Section 5. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments. Can J Psychiatry. 2016;61(9):576-587. doi:10.1177/0706743716660290
Date: December 7 - January 1, 2025, from 10am-10pm (11pm on Friday and Saturday)
Location: The Ellipse at The White House and President’s Park
Cost: Free
The National Christmas Tree is an entire event, filled with a Yule log, a manger, and 56 smaller trees surrounding the big one, dedicated to each state and territory and displaying themed ornaments. The tree lights do turn off and the pathways are closed at night so you are not able to visit in the middle of the night
Location: 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004 The Ronald Reagan Building
Cost: Free
The Winternational Annual Embassy Showcase takes place in Washington DC, an event that takes place at the Ronald Reagan Building and in which the embassies of different countries from around the world participate and present their nations through gastronomy, art, music, and dance.
Date: October 4 – April 13 from Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: 707-709 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
Cost: Free
For the duration of the 2024-25 NBA and NHL seasons, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Ted and Lynn Leonsis, and Jeff Skoll present a landmark exhibit featuring more than 150 photographs by legendary photojournalist Harry Benson, renowned for his chronicles of culture, politics, music, movies, television, and sports. The gallery, produced by Ted Leonsis and Jeff Skoll, is located next door to Capital One Arena at 707-709 7th Street NW and spans two floors across 10,000 square feet. The free exhibit includes photographs of every President and First Lady since Dwight Eisenhower, iconic images of legendary athletes and musicians, a behind-the-scenes look at The Beatles' arrival to the United States, stunning moments from the Civil Rights Movement, and much more.
Location: 2700 F St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20566 Kennedy Center (In-Person and Livestream)
Cost: Free
YahZarah is a District of Columbia–born Ghanian singer and songwriter hero is perfect for the times today. Her voice has been recognized in groundbreaking musical compositions with Erykah Badu. She’s also performed her music live on stage with The Roots, and traveled the world as a member of rock icon Lenny Kravitz’s band.
Location: 2700 F St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20566 Kennedy Center (In-Person and Livestream)
Cost: Free
Guitarist & Composer, Connor Leeds Holdridge and his trio perform an intimate set of blues-infused originals with the occasional deep cut from his favorite records.
Date: November - December 15, 2024, from Mon-Fri, 12 PM to 8 PM I Sat/Sun, 11 AM to 8PM
Location: 1500 block of 19th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20001
Cost: It’s Shopping
This market offers all kinds of products: crafts, clothing, groceries, and artwork are just a few of the things you can find. Ideal to buy your Christmas gifts for all the members of the family. Besides shopping, you can enjoy the most delicious gastronomy. The Downtown Holiday Market also hosts jazz, country, rock, soul, and of course, of course, Christmas carols.
Location: 3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
Cost: $6
Zoolights is an event held at the National Zoo year after year. It mainly consists of decking it out with the most beautiful light decorations you can imagine. The brightest lights decorate the paths of the park and its resting areas and everywhere you go you will come across brilliant animal sculptures. In addition to this light show, there are also some musical performances. Of course, the more than 500,000 LED lights that make up this annual spectacle are totally respectful of the environment and the zoo's species. This is one of the plans to do with children in Washington DC, but, no doubt, adults will also enjoy in a big way.
Location: 100 Maryland Avenue SW Washington, DC 20001
Cost: Free
Washington Botanical Garden dresses in lights to celebrate Christmas. It is one of the most beautiful places you can't miss during your visit to this city. In addition to seeing some 26,000 plants and numerous plant species, it has a special room dedicated to the deserts of the planet, where you can appreciate succulents, shrubs, and flowering plants characteristic of these regions. Also during this month, there are a series of festive concerts and an annual exhibition with the best plant species and miniature replicas of emblematic buildings, such as the Smithsonian National Museum of History.
Location: 760 Maine Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024 The Wharf Waterfront
Cost: Free
Boats, sailboats, and even local fire boats star in this event and light up the sky with their decorations full of luminaries. The parade is complemented by other attractions on both banks of the river: festivals, live music, ice skating, and numerous food stalls. Admission to this event is completely free.
The Old Town Alexandria district presents its Annual Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend, where you can enjoy a series of colorful events, live traditional Scottish music, and more than 100 Scottish soldiers dressed in their classic kilts.
The streets of Old Alexandria are filled with the unmistakable sound of bagpipes, while around the event you can enjoy the most delicious food, wine, and beer.
In addition, there are activities designed for the little ones, such as games, music,c and the presence of Santa. Live a different experience and enjoy the most interesting Scottish tradition in DC.
Location: Third and Ninth Streets at Constitution Avenue, NW The National Mall
Cost: Free
Temporary exhibitions span the world and the history of art, and free programs, including lectures, tours, concerts, films, and family activities, are offered year-round. The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden.
The National Menorah is Hailed by international media as “the most prominent public Chanukah event in the world” the annual lighting ceremony of the National Chanukah Menorah, on the Ellipse, just across from the White House, helps launch and strengthen the celebration of “Chanukah – Festival of Lights” in all 50 states and over 100 countries globally.
