AgentSkillsCN

Pubmed

PubMed

SKILL.md

PubMed Search Skill

Search PubMed (NCBI) for peer-reviewed medical literature.

When to Use

  • •Verifying medical claims
  • •Finding citations for discussion guides
  • •Researching a trending health topic
  • •Building evidence summaries

How to Search

Basic Search (exec)

bash
# Search for articles
curl -s "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=pubmed&retmode=json&retmax=10&sort=relevance&term=QUERY" | jq .

# Fetch article details by PMID
curl -s "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=PMID1,PMID2&retmode=xml" 

# Fetch abstract as text
curl -s "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=PMID&rettype=abstract&retmode=text"

Search Tips

  • •Use MeSH terms for precise results: "vaccines"[MeSH] AND "misinformation"[MeSH]
  • •Filter by date: &mindate=2024/01/01&maxdate=2026/12/31&datetype=pdat
  • •Filter by article type: AND "systematic review"[pt] or AND "meta-analysis"[pt]
  • •Combine terms: (term1 OR term2) AND term3

Citation Format

Always format citations as:

code
Author(s). Title. Journal. Year;Volume(Issue):Pages. PMID: XXXXXXXX. DOI: XX.XXXX/XXXXX

Workflow for Verifying a Claim

  1. •Search broadly — curl esearch with the topic
  2. •Get top 10 PMIDs — parse from JSON response
  3. •Fetch abstracts — curl efetch for each PMID
  4. •Check for systematic reviews — these are highest evidence
  5. •Summarize findings — with proper citations
  6. •Rate confidence — based on evidence quality and consensus

Rate Limits

  • •Without API key: 3 requests/second
  • •With API key: 10 requests/second
  • •Add &api_key=YOUR_KEY if registered

Common Searches for Misinformation Topics

bash
# Vaccine misinformation
"vaccines"[MeSH] AND ("misinformation" OR "disinformation") AND "2024"[pdat]:"2026"[pdat]

# Supplement claims
"dietary supplements"[MeSH] AND "efficacy" AND "systematic review"[pt]

# Ivermectin for COVID (classic misinformation topic)
"ivermectin"[MeSH] AND "COVID-19"[MeSH] AND "systematic review"[pt]

# Seed oils
"vegetable oils"[MeSH] AND "health" AND "inflammation"