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PubMed2000

Basic knowledge of Internet in forensic medicine: logging on, fetching files and information.

The Internet stands at the forefront of telecommunications in medicine, including forensic medicine, since information technology (IT) has been able to revolutionize medical and scientific practices. Today, forensic physicians and professionals need to be familiar with the use of computers and the key applications of information technology: multimedia and the Internet. From the office, the forensic physician can communicate with other physicians by means of e-mail, take part in discussion groups, obtain information on meetings and get information from public libraries and various databases by means of file transfer protocol. The search among the huge amount of information is facilitated by the 'click and play' use of the Internet, by its increased ease and availability of access and by faster communications to an increasing number of accessible technical, scientific and biomedical resources. Therefore, it is useful to introduce some of the most frequent concepts encountered when exploring the Internet, to give simple references for any forensic physician exploring the Internet and to present typical Internet aspects by illustrations saved from worldwide websites and linked to the accompanying text. Some of the main forensic websites and basic Internet procedures are described, explaining how to search and exchange information in the domain of forensic medicine and sciences. Search engines and search procedures on the worldwide web are briefly explained. The aim of this paper is to give forensic physicians, scientists and law professionals some basic tools and references to access the vast possibilities of the Internet.

Forensic Medicine↗

PubMed2026

Published Database Resources for Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine: Update of a Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) has been established in the academic context of universities. In recent years, strategies have been developed worldwide to strengthen the role of TCIM in supporting the health of the population. Online databases are a common way for obtaining evidence-based information. This article is an update of a former systematic review from 2010 on published databases resources for TCIM. METHODS: The databases CINAHL, CAMbase, Web of Science, MEDLINE/PubMed, and Google Scholar search engine were searched for databases related to TCIM published in peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and November 2024. All included databases were visited online, and information on the origin, content, and scope of the database was extracted. RESULTS: A total of 6579 articles were identified through the literature search. After exclusion of irrelevant articles, full-text screening of 127 articles yielded 37 new databases. Together with 16 still available old databases, these mainly contained information on herbal therapies (n = 15) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (n = 11) from 18 different countries. Newly identified medicinal plant databases offer various scientific resources such as crude drugs, indigenous plants, and structures for natural and phytochemical components with molecular biological content. CONCLUSIONS: This literature review illustrates the dynamic development in the database landscape over the last 15 years. While the number of bibliographic databases is shrinking, databases in the field of medical plants/herbal therapy content are on the rise, which might be due to advances in plant genomics and molecular biology.

Humans↗

PubMed1999

Safety issues with herbal products.

OBJECTIVE: To review safety issues associated with the use of herbal products. DATA SOURCES: Literature accessed through MEDLINE and other Internet search engines. Key search terms included herbs, dietary supplements, and safety. DATA SYNTHESIS: A misconception exists among consumers that herbal remedies are safe because they are natural. In an effort to provide healthcare practitioners with information necessary for a patient discussion, a review of safety concerns with herbal products was conducted. CONCLUSIONS: Several safety concerns exist with herbal products including lack of safety data, absence of quality-control requirements for potency and purity, and lenient labeling standards.

Advertising↗

PubMed2000

Evaluating the source and content of orthopaedic information on the Internet. The case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The Internet has become a popular source of medical information for patients. Authors of health-related web pages are not required to adhere to any standard for medical content or accuracy. The goal of the present study was to assess the type, quality, and reliability of information about carpal tunnel syndrome that is available on the Internet. METHODS: The search phrase "carpal tunnel syndrome" was entered into five commonly used World Wide Web search engines. The search results then were given as an ordered list of universal resource locators, or web-site addresses. The top (first) fifty web sites from each of the five searches were combined to create a master roster of 250 web-site addresses. These web sites then were evaluated for authorship and content, and an informational value score ranging from 0 to 100 points was assigned to each. RESULTS: Thirty-three percent of the sites sold commercial products for the evaluation or treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. An additional 30 percent were commercial web sites that did not sell products. Only 23 percent of the sites were authored by a physician or an academic organization. Fewer than half of the sites offered conventional information. Twenty-three percent of the sites offered unconventional or misleading information. The mean informational value of the web sites was 28.4 of a possible 100 points. CONCLUSIONS: The information about carpal tunnel syndrome on the Internet is of limited quality and poor informational value. The public and the medical communities need to be aware of these limitations so that the quality of medical information available on the World Wide Web can be improved.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Using the Internet for research.

OBJECTIVE: (1) To give an overview of research tools, techniques, and resources that are available on the Internet; and (2) to identify valid, pharmacy-related information that will reduce uncertainty in the problem-solving activities of practitioners. DATA SOURCES: The World Wide Web. STUDY SELECTION: Examples cited in the article were evaluated according to the criteria offered in the text as a prerequisite for their inclusion. DATA SYNTHESIS: Functional aspects of the Internet include communication, commerce, and content. Because a lack of control has led to mixed information quality, the use of Internet-based information for patient care and professional decision making should be subject to rigorous screening criteria. Pharmacists can use Web browsers combined with excellent search engines and search techniques to identify quality resources, including primary, secondary, and tertiary literature, either fee-based or free, and that can be sought actively or distributed on a schedule directly to the desktop of the pharmacist. CONCLUSION: The Internet can be an immensely helpful research tool, if used appropriately. Whether actively searching or passively receiving useful updates, the Internet can function as a value-added asset to any pharmacy practice.

Humans↗

PubMed1997

How to use and cite Internet resources, with special attention to radiation protection and health physics WWW sites.

This paper describes an Internet search for the phrases radiation protection and health physics using major search engines and discusses the search procedure and the related problems. Depending on the search engine used, the number of hits ranged from 10,000 to only 17. The author presents some of the most relevant Web sites for radiation protection and health physics, and gives their URLs. As expected, these are mainly the sites of major national and international organizations. The author discusses a model for citation of WWW resources and refers to Internet links where this issue has been elaborated in more detail. Numerous links to various institutions and Web resources are given as well.

Computer Communication Networks↗

PubMed2002

Product-related emphasis of skin disease information online.

BACKGROUND: In 2000, 41 million people searched for medical information online. The quality of that information is unregulated, variable, and not well studied. OBJECTIVE: To quantify and compare the numbers and types of Internet sites matched for 10 diverse skin conditions through different search systems. DESIGN: Search strategies were performed at 6-month intervals via Netscape Navigator, using 3 search engines and 1 directory. Ten skin conditions were chosen to represent common (psoriasis and eczema), cosmetic (wrinkles and cellulite), difficult-to-treat (alopecia, mastocytosis, granuloma annulare, and xanthoma), and uncommon (dermatitis herpetiformis and epidermolysis bullosa) problems. Search strings were designed to generate lists of Web sites that provide educational or product-related information. Results were compared. SETTING: The Saint Louis University information technology server, July 9, 1999, December 16, 1999, and February 5, 2000. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Comparisons of the total number, top 10 ranking, and type (educational vs product-related) of sites that matched through different search systems at 6-month intervals. RESULTS: The total number of matched sites for different skin conditions varied up to 100-fold. This number increased by 30% to 316% between July and December 1999. The largest number of Web sites related to wrinkles, followed by Web sites related to common conditions. Product-related sites outnumbered educational sites, especially for common and cosmetic conditions. Although there were differences in the total number of sites found through different search engines, the ratios of product-related to educational sites were similar. Different search engines yielded different top 10 match lists for the same condition. The top 10 lists included higher proportions of educational sites than the total match lists for all conditions except cellulite. Within the top 10 lists, the rank order of well respected sites varied by search engine used and changed over time. CONCLUSIONS: Patients are increasingly accessing the growing body of data available through the Internet. Most Web sites contain information related to products. Until standards are enacted to govern the distribution of online medical information, consumers are at risk for obtaining misinformation and buying ineffective products. To better guide patients, physicians must become familiar with this ever-changing information.

Female↗

PubMed2001

The retrieval effectiveness of medical information on the web.

The World Wide Web has become such an extensive health information repository in the world that it is increasingly difficult to search for relevant medical information. Many search tools have been developed to help users look for relevant health information on the web, but most of them are still not efficient. In this paper, we discuss some available on-line solutions to medical information retrieval and compare the performances of some general and medicine-specific search engines with the MediAgent, which has been developed by the National University of Singapore (NUS) Medical Informatics Programme. Although a number of medicine-specific searching techniques have been developed, the difficulty of finding medical information still remains because medical search engines are generally not as effective as generic search engines. Different from other search tools, MediAgent's efficiency was quite high, taking only an average of 1.5 links to retrieve the answers, but its retrieving effectiveness is not good enough due to the short period of operation. Whilst the MediAgent project cannot claim to have all the solutions, it nevertheless offers a new alternative to system implementation. New techniques need to be explored in order to overcome the issues of medical information retrieval on the Internet.

Humans↗

PubMed1997

Searching for information on the Internet using the UMLS and Medical World Search.

Medical World Search is a search engine for medical information on the Internet that distinguishes itself from other search engines by its built-in knowledge of medical terminology through its use of the National Library of Medicine's UMLS and its carefully selected but large database of medical sites. After discussing some of the previous uses of the UMLS for medical information retrieval, we describe the Medical World Search system. In October 1996, Medical World Search became operational on the World Wide Web at http:@www.mwsearch.poly.edu. It has been operating uninterrupted since then. We review our experiences with creating a search engine for medical information on the Internet and using the UMLS in this application. The UMLS has some clear advantages in this application. Some aspects of the UMLS also decrease its usefulness in information retrieval. Medical World Search's usage by medical information seekers is summarized. future directions for research are outlined.

Computer Communication Networks↗

PubMed2001

The Internet as a source of information on breast augmentation.

The Internet was evaluated as a source of information for the layperson on the topic of breast augmentation. Three commonly used search engines (Excite, AOL, and Yahoo) were employed using the term "breast augmentation." These sites were then evaluated by each of three experienced plastic surgeons for their quality and content. Separately, 17 health Web sites were identified as authoritative by means of recommendation in lay publications. Each "supersite" was accessed, and its search engine was used. The top 10 hits for "breast augmentation" on each site were then evaluated by the senior author for content (Matthews). We found the majority of sites identified by the general search engines (AOL, Excite, Yahoo) to be physician Web sites. Forty-one unique sites were found that applied to the topic. Four of the "hits" did not actually apply to the topic. In general, the applicable Web sites contained limited but accurate procedural details and offered an interactive forum, most commonly email responses. Photographic documentation was given in less than half the sites reviewed, and most of the results shown were only "good" outcomes. Most sites did not discuss any complications of surgical procedures, but those that did were usually accurate. Eighty-three percent of the sites were biased toward a particular surgical technique. The reviewers believe that only about 15 percent of the sites were acceptable to recommend to their patients. The senior author accessed 17 Web sites that are considered authoritative health information Web sites. Each of these sites was searched for information on breast augmentation by means of its internal search engine. Only 29 percent (5 of 17) had any information in their top 10 hits. Three sites had only chat transcripts. One site had limited but accurate information with a link to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and one site had scientific information on product safety. No site met the criteria of accurate, complete information on the surgical procedure of breast augmentation. This study demonstrates that it is difficult for the average layperson to get authoritative information quickly and easily on at least one aspect of cosmetic surgery.

Female↗

PubMed1997

Health On the Net automated database of health and medical information.

With the number of World Wide Web sites growing every day, the problem is not just to find information, but to locate the right piece of information. Current World Wide Web search engines have not resolved this problem as they most often return a long list of documents. The search result is then unusable because of the large number of answers from different domains and topics. Only complex queries may, in a given situation, produce a limited number of potentially relevant documents. To make searches more efficient and usable by common users, we now need intelligent and specialised search engines on the Net [1,2]. Health On the Net Foundation and the Molecular Imaging and Bioinformatics Laboratory at Geneva University Hospital have developed Multi-Agent Retrieval Vagabond on Information Networks (MARVIN), a robot that searches sites and documents specifically related to a given specialised field. One such robot has already been implemented and used for the medical and the 2D electrophoresis domains. Health On the Net Foundation has implemented the corresponding search engines, MedHunt (http://www.hon.ch/cgi-bin/find) for the medical field and 2DHunt (http://www.hon.ch/cgi-bin/2DHunt/find) for the 2D electrophoresis field.

Computer Communication Networks↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of the usefulness of Internet searches to identify unpublished clinical trials for systematic reviews.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To avoid selection and publication bias, systematic reviewers should employ a broad range of search techniques and make efforts to locate unpublished studies. We tried to establish whether searches on the World Wide Web (WWW) are useful to identify additional unpublished and ongoing clinical trials. RESEARCH DESIGN: Search strategies seven Cochrane systematic reviews were retrospectively adapted for the WWW in an attempt to find additional randomized controlled trials. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A search strategy with the general pattern 'study methodology NEAR intervention NEAR condition' for the Internet search engine AltaVista was evaluated by measuring search time, recall of Internet searches for published studies; precision (proportion of webpages containing hints to relevant published and unpublished randomized clinical trials); number of additional unpublished or ongoing studies found on the Internet. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: We reviewed 429 webpages in 21 hours and found hints to 14 unpublished, ongoing or recently finished trials, at least 9 were considered relevant for 4 systematic reviews. The recall of Internet searches to find references to published studies ranged between 0% and 43.6%, the precision for hints to published or unpublished studies range between 0% and 20.2%. CONCLUSIONS: Information on unpublished and particularly ongoing trials can be found on the Internet. A potential problem is the appraisal of non-peer reviewed electronic publications with questionable quality. More powerful search tools are needed. An 'Open Trial Initiative' is proposed to define a syntax for publishing trials on the web and to ensure interoperability of trial registers, so that special search engines can harvest information on ongoing and complete clinical trials.

Data Collection↗

PubMed2000

Tracing medical information over the Internet.

The Internet became with do doubt a huge and valuable source of information for researchers. The wealth of information on the Internet is second to none and medical information is no exception. Yet with the vast expansion of the Internet and the World Wide Web in specie, to find the kind of information one is looking for, he/she needs to browse thousands of web sites and the experience would be like digging into a stack of hay looking for a needle. That's why search engines and subject indexes, as means to overcome this problem, were introduced and grew so rapidly. In general, there are three approaches to retrieve data from the World Wide Web; the subject directories, search engines and detailed subject indexes. However, there is no single comprehensive search engine or directory and it is recommended to use more than one with different keywords and synonymous.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed2002

Melanoma information on the Internet: often incomplete--a public health opportunity?

PURPOSE: To assess the accuracy and completeness of information regarding melanoma on the Internet, retrieved by use of search engines. METHODS: The first 30 uniform/universal resource locators (URLs) from each of eight search engines using the search term "melanoma" were retrieved for evaluation of accuracy and completeness using a 35-point checklist rating system instrument. Four reviewers independently rated each of 35 sites, and one reviewer rated all 74 assessable sites. Kappa statistics were used to evaluate interrater variability. RESULTS: A total of 74 assessable Web sites were evaluated. The remainder were inaccessible, link pages only, or duplicates. Thirty-five Web sites were each independently rated by four reviewers. The remaining 39 Web sites were each rated by one reviewer. The mean kappa statistic for all variables and all rater pairs for which a kappa could be calculated was 0.824, indicating excellent overall inter-rater reliability. The majority of Web sites failed to include complete information on general information, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and prognosis. Ten Web sites (14%) contained a total of 13 inaccuracies, most relatively minor. CONCLUSION: Medical information retrieved with the search term melanoma was likely to lack complete basic melanoma information and contained inaccuracies in 14% of sites. Health care providers can help patients by recommending comprehensive and accurate Web sites for patient review, by working to create accurate and thorough Web-based health information material, and by educating patients and the public about the variability in completeness and accuracy.

Humans↗

PubMed2000

Accessibility and reliability of cutaneous laser surgery information on the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web has provided the public with easy and affordable access to a vast range of information. However, claims may be unsubstantiated and misleading. The purpose of this study was to use cutaneous laser surgery as a model to assess the availability and reliability of Web sites and to evaluate this resource for the quality of patient and provider education. Three commercial methods of searching the Internet were used, identifying nearly 500,000 possible sites. The first 100 sites listed by each search engine (a total of 300 sites) were compared. Of these, 126 were listed repeatedly within a given retrieval method, whereas only 3 sites were identified by all 3 search engines. After elimination of duplicates, 40 sites were evaluated for content and currency of information. The most common features included postoperative care suggestions, options for pain management or anesthesia, a description of the way in which lasers work, and the types of lasers used for different procedures. Potential contraindications to laser procedures were described on fewer than 30% of the sites reviewed. None of the sites contained substantiation of claims or referrals to peer-reviewed publications or research. Because of duplication and the prioritization systems of search engines, the ease of finding sites did not correlate with the quality of the site's content. Our findings show that advertisements for services exceed useful information.

Humans↗

PubMed1999

A critical appraisal of the use of Internet for calculating cardiovascular risk.

This paper aims to retrieve and evaluate the quality of the Internet sites providing information on cardiovascular risk. We searched web pages related to risk prediction using six search engines. Sites proposing a cardiovascular risk prediction were selected for evaluation. The quality of each site was checked against criteria testing the validity, type and potential usefulness of information for physicians or patients. Search engines retrieved about 50 10(6) web pages. Eight sites were included. Only 2 of them provided calculation of cardiovascular risk based on Framingham equation. The others proposed algorithms, guidelines, or general information on cardiovascular health. Most sites lacked details to ensure quality of information. Present search engines are inefficient to retrieve precise and valid information. Facing the inflation of medical information, a systematic approach to validate the quality of a site is mandatory. Application of Evidence Based Medicine concepts gives a solution for evaluation of internet-based medical information.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗

PubMed2003

Information contained in miscarriage-related websites and the predictive value of website scoring systems.

OBJECTIVES: To identify websites providing information about early pregnancy loss and compare this information with published guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). The value of 'Silberg' and 'Health on the net (HON)' website scoring systems in predicting the information provided via websites identified was assessed. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE: Nineteen websites identified via two search engines (http://www.lycos.co.uk and http://www.msn.co.uk). METHODS: Websites were searched for specific information in a structured manner and then scored by two independent observers against the website scoring systems and against a scoring system derived from guidelines published by the RCOG. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Website scores against the scoring systems and against RCOG guidelines. RESULTS: Information concerning miscarriage contained within these websites was poor and scored accordingly against the RCOG guidelines (median score, 4.5/8). The website scoring systems did not predict the RCOG scores for a website (HON score R(S)=0.193 (95% confidence interval from -0.286 to 0.595), Silberg score, R(S)=0.035 (95% confidence interval from -0.426 to 0.482)). CONCLUSIONS: Few relevant websites were identified despite searching a large number via two search engines. The websites found did not answer our specific questions and consequently scored poorly against the RCOG guidelines. RCOG scores did not correlate with either scoring system. Web-based information for women attending with early pregnancy complications needs to be easily accessed and comprehensive. Written information given to women when seen with early pregnancy complications should include details of available comprehensive websites. Professional organisations, colleges or Government agencies should provide this type of information.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

PubMed1999

Digestive disease resources on the Internet.

The aim of this study is to help digestive disease professionals fully utilize the resources available on the Internet for patient care, education, and research. The following search resources were employed to locate websites: general search engines--Lycos, Metacrawler, Webcrawler, and Yahoo!; medical search engines--HealthWeb, MedMatrix, MedWeb, and MedWebPlus; website links; and publications. The inclusion of web sites was based on their content. Each site was evaluated with respect to its authorship, attribution, currency, and disclosure. All digestive disease professional organizations and academic centers that met the above criteria were included. Only nutrition sites with relevance to digestive diseases were included. A variety of very useful web sites related to digestive diseases exist on the Internet, and their numbers are growing. Many of these sites have valuable information that can be used to improve patient care, promote medical education, and facilitate research. Digestive disease professionals should adopt the Internet and address the many issues raised by this technology.

Digestive System Diseases↗