Highlighted Resource for June 1, 2026: Clinical factors associated with mortality in ebola virus disease
With an ongoing outbreak of ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, concerns regarding this virus have increased.
A recent article in BMC Infectious Diseases examines mortality related to ebola, and the World Health Organization’s online training offers an introduction to the topic for healthcare providers.
To learn more, check out the ADL’s June 1 Highlighted Resources: Clinical factors associated with mortality in ebola virus disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Highlighted Resource for May 15, 2026: Loneliness as a Public Health Imperative
Loneliness and social isolation are factors in population health and overall wellbeing, especially for aging populations.
A recent article in the NC Medical Journal explores how loneliness and social isolation affect North Carolina, and proposes interventions to increase connection and improve health.
To learn more, check out the ADL’s May 15 Highlighted Resource: Loneliness as a Public Health Imperative: Reframing Social Disconnection in Aging North Carolina
For other articles on related topics, check out the latest issue of the NC Medical Journal: Mental Health Throughout the Lifespan
Highlighted Resource for May 1, 2026: Large Language Model Performance and Clinical Reasoning Tasks
Have large language models developed to the point that they can be used for clinical decision-making tasks?
A recent JAMA article examines the performance of 21 current LLMs, assessing their capacity for reasoning beyond factual accuracy.
To learn more, check out the ADL’s May 1 Highlighted Resource: Large Language Model Performance and Clinical Reasoning Tasks
Relaunch of the AHEC Digital Library
The NC AHEC Digital Library (ADL) has been a critical component in the training, retention, and continuing education of North Carolina’s health workforce since its inception in 1999. On June 23, 2025, a new and improved ADL will be launched. Notably, the ADL will introduce a simplified and more efficient search function, called a discovery service, which will work more intuitively, similar to the functionality of the Google search engine.
The current ADL features a vast array of resources, including thousands of individual databases, journals, books, and research guides; currently users must search these resources individually, leading to multiple searches before the user can access the needed information. The new ADL’s discovery service will allow users to search in all these resources at once. This makes searching easier, faster and more efficient; it also increases user satisfaction, as the user can be sure that all the relevant information will be presented in the search results.
In addition, the new ADL will feature a Publication Finder to browse journals and databases individually. Users will also be able to create a personal profile to save their searches and bookmarks in one central place, which adds to efficiency and ease of use. The ADL will be upgraded in other ways as well: It will feature an entirely new interface, with an attractive, contemporary design and intuitive user experience. In addition to all the visually and experientially-apparent upgrades, the new ADL will feature new back-end architecture, for improved speed, security, and reliability.
Signing into the ADL will change as well. While some North Carolina institutions will allow for single-sign-on (SSO) access, most users will access the ADL through the MyAHEC portal. For that reason, users who do not currently have a MyAHEC account should plan on creating onebefore the week of June 22, 2025.
“The newly relaunched NC AHEC Digital Library will be a major improvement in the way our users interact with the thousands of resources we have in our collection,” said Sarah Kimmel, MLIS, the Director of Library Services for NC AHEC. “The new ADL will make it easier to search everything in our universe, and to keep all their searches together in the user’s profile, making the ADL an entirely new experience and learning tool.”