Medical News Today Help Page
Please click on the link for the section in which you are interested - if you can't find the answer to your question please contact us.How To Use This Website:
NavigationShortcut Keys and Accessibility
Searching
Customization of Medical News Today
Login to Medical News Today - Remember Me?
Opinions Forum
Feedback
Medical QuestionsNews Articles
Other
News Feeds
JavaScript News Feed (Website)RSS / XML Feed (Website / Personal)
Newsletter / Newsalerts (E-Mail)
Problem Solving
I am not receiving the newsletters / newsalerts I signed up for / they have stoppedI can't open my e-mails from you / the e-mails are unreadable
I find the articles hard to read because of long lines of text on my screen
The code for the JavaScript news feed does not work on my website
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the "Add To" links at the bottom of each page?Why am I seeing a "Site Maintenance" message?
How to use this website:
Navigation
Clicking on the Medical News Today logo in the top left corner will take you back to the home page (which has all the news articles for today) - as will the link "Health News" at the top of the page. The top button "Home" in the Navigational links (Just under the scroll down list of News Categories on the left hand side) will also take you back to the front page.If you are interested in a specific medical area this can be selected by, either using the scroll down list on the left hand side (labelled "News Categories"), or by clicking on "View all news categories" written in white beneath the scroll down box for "news categories" - this will bring up a page with the list of all the subject areas from which to choose.
Typing the category into the "Archive Search" box (at the top of the site in the header bar) will also give you the main category as the first result for the search.
Shortcut Keys and Accessibility
You can change the size of text on this site by using your web browser settings. In Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox you can set this by going to the menu 'View' and then to 'Text Size'.Below is a list of access keys that can be used on this site. If you are using Windows, use ALT followed by the key stated. If you are using an Apple use CTRL followed by the key stated:
- [ h ] Back to Homepage
- [ x ] Accessibility Page - also containing this list of shortcuts
- [ m ] News Category List
- [ a ] About Us
- [ r ] Advertising
- [ s ] Archive Search
- [ k ] RSS/XML News Feeds
- [ j ] JavaScript News Feeds
- [ t ] Free Content & Tools
- [ y ] Opinions Forum
- [ o ] Medical Jobs
- [ l ] Links
- [ c ] Contact Us
Searching
Using the Archive Search - this is a Google search box, so "normal" search options apply:- Putting the terms for which you are searching for in "speech marks" will search our database for the exact term you have entered and only articles containing that term will appear in the results
- Simply entering the key words will display articles containing your search terms in any order.
- Placing a dash (-) before a term will exclude articles containing that term so for example: Cancer -lung would bring up any articles about cancer that don't mention lung.
Customization
You can now customize your Medical News Today homepage to only show the health news categories that you want to read about. It also gives you a quick shortcut list in your left navigation bar. Customization requires you to register. We have three customized layout options available:
- Customized Categories (Separated)
- Customized Categories (Combined)
- All News (Original)
Please Note that the two customized versions of the home page only show for today's date. If you visit previous days' news you will see the original Medical News Today home page style.
Customized Categories (Separated)
The customized categories (separated) option splits your homepage news up by category, showing the latest 5 news articles for each health category in separate, individual boxes.
This option is similar to our very popular newsletter layout.
To view a big screenshot, please click the image on the right.
Customized Categories (Combined)
The customized categories (combined) option brings together all of the latest headlines for your categories and displays them by date in one long list. This list can display up to 60 headlines, depending on how many categories you choose.
To view a big screenshot, please click the image on the right.
All News (Original)
The all news (original) option simply displays the normal, original homepage, listing headlines from all categories. So if you want to have your favorite category links displayed in your left navigation bar, whilst keeping the same homepage that you are used to, this is the option to choose.
Login to Medical News Today - Remember Me?
When you log in to Medical News Today to view your customized options, you will see a tick box for 'remember me'. By choosing the option to 'remember me on this computer' you are allowing Medical News Today to store a cookie on your computer. This will mean that each time you visit Medical News Today for the next 14 days, you will be logged in automatically and will immediately see your customized homepage.
A cookie is a piece of text stored by your web browser in a special place on your computer. It cannot be read by any website other than Medical News Today, and does not contain any personal information or spyware.
We advise you not to select this option if you are using a public computer or a computer used by people other than yourself. You are able to remove the cookie at any time by clicking the 'logout' link available at the top-left of the website once you are logged in to Medical News Today.
For more detailed information about cookies please go to this Wikipedia article about cookies.
Opinions
Going to the "Opinions Forum" link at the very top of the page will allow you to see the most recent opinions posted. Clicking on one of the opinions will bring up all of the opinions posted which relate to a certain news article.When you are reading any news article, under the article title you will see the Main Category the article is posted to, followed by the article date, and a line of links. The 3rd link is "view / write opinions". Clicking on this link will bring up any opinions already posted for this article and will allow you to add your own.
To add an opinion you can either go to the bottom of the opinion thread (and fill in the form that appears there) or, to write an un-related opinion, you can click on the "Submit a new opinion" button appearing below the bold header on the right "Your Opinions on Medical News" to write an un-related opinion.
The name that you enter in the form will appear online and will be picked up by Google - so if you wish to remain anonymous you need to enter just your first name or "Anon". The e-mail address you provide will not appear in the post, we will only use it to send you confirmation that your opinion has been placed online.
Feedback
Medical Questions
We are unable to answer any medical questions - please consult a qualified doctor or pharmacist. We will not respond to these e-mails or those asking about medications...If your query relates to an article that we have posted you are welcome to post an opinion in our opinions forum.
Each news section has a "Useful Links" page, which may direct you to another site that can answer your questions - for example our Clinical Trials Links Page has links to other sites that list the clinical trials being conducted and these sites contain information on the recruitment details for the upcoming trials.
News Articles
To submit news articles please send them to pressrelease@medicalnewstoday.comTo notify us of an error in a news article please use our feedback form.
Other
You can also visit our "Contact" link in the top right-hand corner of the site, which has our address and other contact details for advertising, editorial and technical enquiries. The feedback form can also be found on the contact page.News Feeds
JavaScript News Feed (Website)
Takes about 5 minutes to set up on your website (you need to be able to paste code directly into your site).This news feed will display just the headlines for the section you choose on your site, which will be updated daily. The headline link opens in a new window.
You need to fill in your details on the JavaScript news feed form:
Name: If you have any characters in your name that are not A-Z please omit them (e.g. O'Connor would need to be written O Connor and if you have accents in your name these also need to be omitted).
E-Mail Address: In case there is a problem with the feed and we need to contact you. We will also send you a confirmation e-mail including the address of the page containing your code, to enable you to copy it again if necessary. We do not share your personal records.
Organization Type: For our records to enable us to monitor our news feeds.
Company/Website Name, Web Site Description: This will appear in our thank you list once the news feed is put in place on your site and an article is accessed. The position of your site on this list will alter depending on the number of articles accessed from your site.
URL: This is the website address to which you would like us to link - it needs to be written out in full - most sites begin with "http://www." Therefore, to place a link to Medical News Today, the URL would be http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
Please read our terms and conditions before applying for a news feed.
Clicking on "I agree to the terms and conditions" will take you to the "Create Your News Feed" page where you can select your preferences for the news feed.
You can return to the "Create Your News Feed" page, if you wish to change any of these details later (to make changes you will need to replace the code on your site with the newly generated one). The URL for this page will also be sent to you in a confirmation e-mail, using the address you entered previously. But we recommend that you copy the complete address (URL) for this page now (found in the bar at the top of your Internet browser).
Number of Headlines: This will determine the number of headlines that appear and the subsequent height of the box on your site. We allow you a maximum of 30 headlines at a time.
Background Color / Font Color: This will only set the background and font colors for the top and bottom of the table - the headlines will always appear on white and pale blue alternating lines and the font color for the headlines will be dark blue.
News Search Box: This allows visitors to search for any news articles on our site, regardless of the date.
Type of News Feed:
- The "Full News Feed" will give you the entire days' headlines from every news section - we tend to place about 100 articles a day, so if you are only showing 20 articles in your news feed then you will only have the most recently entered articles.
- Clicking on "Customised News Feed" will bring up the entire list of our medical news categories for you to choose from. Please be aware that at the top of the news feed it will list every section you choose (so if you would like more than a couple of news categories it might look better if you set up different news feeds on your web site - and make it easier for your visitors to find the news in which they are interested). We allow you a maximum of 10 categories for customised feeds.
The code that appears in the text box below the button needs to be copied and pasted into your site in the place that you would like the news feed to appear - please take care to copy the entire code in the box and enter it exactly into your web page.
Upload the page you have been working on to your website- the news feed should now appear on your site. Click on one of the headlines that have appeared to make sure the feed is working and to activate your return link.
Click here if the code for the JavaScript news feed does not work or the headlines have not appeared on your website
RSS / XML feed (Website / Personal)
This option is quite complicated if you do not already have the software in place to simply add the news feed. If you are looking for news to be displayed on your home computer (and you use Internet Explorer) our sister-site MediLexicon has a free, easy to install toolbar, that lists the day's headlines.You can find more information on RSS and XML feeds here.
If you already have an RSS reader installed on your site / computer, please go to our list of RSS feeds.
Choose the section in which you are interested and simply copy the URL (The full web page address of the feed - for example the "Main News" URL is http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.xml ) which can be seen directly beneath the section name. This needs to be placed into the appropriate 'add feed' section for your reader. It will then collect and display the latest headlines.
Newsletter / News Alerts (E-Mail)
We can send you an e-mail with the news of your choice, daily (News Alerts) or weekly (Newsletters), as either a text-only e-mail or an HTML e-mail.The news alerts include a brief description of the article and you will receive a single e-mail each day containing the information for the categories for which you have subscribed.
The newsletters contain just the headlines for all the articles we have placed online in the past week for all the categories you have chosen. The newsletters are sent out Monday evening / Tuesday Morning - depending on your time zone.
Each e-mail contains instructions to enable you to remove your details from our contact list, should you wish to do so. This information was also provided in the confirmation e-mail you received when you signed up for the e-mails.
Problem Solving
I am not receiving the newsletters / news alerts I signed up for / they have stopped
Please ensure that your anti-spam software has been configured to allow e-mails from newsletter@medicalnewstoday.com or newsalerts@medicalnewstoday.com. Each e-mail sent will have different content, so if you have been receiving the newsletter and have only just started having a problem there may be a problem with your filter. The Weekly e-mails are over 100kb in size and some spam filters are configured to reject large e-mails.In the last e-mail you received from us / your confirmation e-mail, there is a link to a page where you can change your details (for data protection reasons we are unable to provide it here). Enter your e-mail address in the "Change My Details" box and it will tell you if you are still in the database. If your details come up then the e-mails are still being sent to you. If your details don't come up then you will need to sign up again (if 3 e-mails have been bounced from an e-mail address in a 4-week period the e-mail address is removed from the database).
We are currently experiencing difficulties with sending to Hotmail e-mail addresses - they randomly let some of our e-mails through and block others, with no explanation. We have tried a number of times to resolve the problem, but are finding it difficult to get answers to our questions. So, for the time being, if you have a Hotmail account, subscribing to our e-mails using a different e-mail account is recommended. We apologise for the inconvenience.
If these options don't work you can either contact your e-mail provider to instruct them to allow e-mails from us, or contact us and we will look into it and see what can be done from this end. If you use Internet Explorer then a possible alternative for you is our free medical toolbar. The toolbar lists the days' headlines using an RSS feed (20 second install and easy to uninstall if you decide you don't like it) - please visit MediLexicon.com for more information.
Note: We are adhering to the SPF open standard in using SPF records for our domains, to help aid successful delivery to our email recipients.
I can't open my e-mails from you / the e-mails are unreadable
If you have trouble opening or reading our e-mails, try changing your preference to "plain text e-mail" rather than "HTML e-mail" as there are a few e-mail programs that don't like HTML e-mails. The page to change your preferences was detailed in your confirmation e-mail when you signed up for the e-mails. If you need help with this please contact us and we will be happy to change the format for you.I find the articles hard to read because of long lines of text on my screen
It is possible to shorten the line length by reducing the browser window size - simply click on the edge of the screen and drag it in (or the box in the bottom-right corner on a Mac) and the text will resize itself.The code for the JavaScript news feed does not work on my website
Please check that the page with the code for the news feed has been uploaded to your web space and that the page you are looking at online has been refreshed.Next check that our main site is not being updated - go to www.medicalnewstoday.com. If you see a maintenance message then our website is temporarily undergoing an important update and the news feed will be unavailable for a short period of time - sorry for the inconvenience.
The code may have been altered when you entered it into your site. This tends to happen if you are not working directly with the HTML code, but are using a WYSIWYG programme (e.g. Frontpage) to put your site together. If this is the case, most editors have the option to enter code "as is" - you just need to find where the option is hidden (Most programs have a help section which may have the information you need). There are also many Internet chat rooms (a search for the system you are using and "Entering JavaScript Code" or similar search terms may help you to locate the information you need).
It is possible that you may have missed a part of the code when you copied it from the box on our site - using the address sent to you in the e-mail from us (it should be identical to the address you copied earlier if you were using this help page to sign up). Go back to the code-generation page and try copying the code again.
If you are working directly with the HTML code then we should be able to help you if you still have a problem - please contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the "Add To" links at the bottom of each page?
These are links to websites that allow you to bookmark your favourite news stories or web pages either individually or socially.- Individually bookmarking articles offers you the benefit of using your bookmarks anywhere in the world and doesn't leave you with the constraint of only having your bookmarked websites on one computer.
- The social approach means that there are many people adding websites/web pages/articles to create a library of related information in one place. Visitors to the site vote on submissions, and the items with the most votes go to the front page - to make them more accessible to other users of the "social" site.
