Task-specific journal extracts for using the medical literature.
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Clinicians and researchers use the medical literature in a variety of ways. The overwhelming volume of clinical journals necessitates tools to help healthcare professionals identify and employ relevant information. The structured abstract can facilitate browsing articles, but may not contain appropriate types of information or sufficient detail for all uses of the medical literature. We have created customized views of journal articles that provide information for specific research or clinical tasks, such as evaluating the scientific validity of a clinical trial. These summaries are called extracts because we literally extract information of a particular type from the full text of an article. We employ a context-based indexing scheme, previously designed for improving precision in literature searches, to automatically generate extracts from clinical research articles. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the content and utility of these task-specific extracts. Our results provide preliminary evidence that such extracts contain information that is relevant to clinical and research tasks and may facilitate understanding and use of the medical literature. (+info)
Creating your own medical Internet library.
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Many physicians struggle to keep up with new developments in their fields. The internet can provide a solution to this problem by allowing rapid access to a broad spectrum of reliable information. Becoming familiar with a few clinically relevant and freely available medical resources on the World Wide Web may enhance a physician's efforts to provide evidence-based care on a daily basis. This article outlines a simple strategy for physicians to make the internet a useful tool. (+info)
Pharmaceutical advertising revenue and physician organizations: how much is too much?
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OBJECTIVE: To determine if revenue generated from pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals creates potential financial conflicts of interest for nonprofit physician organizations that own those journals. DESIGN: Convenience sample of six professional medical societies and their respective journals. Calculation of pharmaceutical advertising revenue generated by these journals for their respective professional medical societies. METHODS: Random selection of each journal for one month per quarter in calendar year 1996 and tabulation per edition of the average number of pharmaceutical advertising pages for each journal. OUTCOME MEASURES: Published advertising rates were used to estimate pharmaceutical advertising revenue for calendar year 1996 and compared with each organization's gross revenue and membership dues and assessments, based on Internal Revenue Service documents for the last available fiscal year (1995). RESULTS: Estimated pharmaceutical advertising revenue ranged from $715,000 to $18,630,000. Five organizations raised more than 10% of their gross income (range 2% to 30%) from a single journal's pharmaceutical advertising. Four organizations raised as much or more from pharmaceutical advertising as from members (range 17% to 790%). CONCLUSIONS: Potential financial conflicts of interest arising from pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals may be substantial. The impact on professional societies' financial independence and behavior is unknown. (+info)
Babes and boobs? analysis of JAMA cover art.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the representation of the sexes in JAMA cover art. DESIGN: Review of 50 consecutive issues. SETTING: JAMA, March 1997-March 1998. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Numbers and nature of covers portraying men and women. RESULTS: Of the 50 covers, 34 depicted humans. 15 depicted women, 13 men, and 6 were of mixed or indeterminate sex. 11 pictures of women included a child and five included nudity. One cover showed a man with a child (not as a father) and none depicted nudity. Men were depicted exclusively in authoritative roles. CONCLUSIONS: Much of the cover art gives strong messages about sexual stereotypes that are inappropriate in modern society. JAMA should consider reviewing its policy for choosing cover art. (+info)
Alliteration in medicine: a puzzling profusion of p's.
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PROBLEM: Puzzling, progressive profusion of alliterative "p's" in published papers. PURPOSE: To depict this particular "p" predominance with pinpoint precision. PLAN: Periodic, painstaking perusal of periodicals by a professor of paediatrics. PROPOSAL: The "p" plethora is positively perplexing and potentially perturbing. (+info)
Evaluation of an anesthesiology department newsletter.
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The West Virginia University Department of Anesthesiology has distributed a weekly newsletter to department members for several years. A recent survey and discussion among members found the newsletter to be useful and important in shaping the culture of the department and marketing it. A weekly format of three to five pages was judged best. News about anesthesiology, department policies, and practice management information were most valued. (+info)
Content and quality of currently published phase II cancer trials.
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PURPOSE: A number of statistical methods have been proposed for the design and analysis of phase II studies based on dichotomous outcomes. To investigate to what extent such methods are in current use, we conducted a survey of published studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified studies by conducting a computerized literature search of MEDLINE. We considered trials on systemic antineoplastic treatments described as phase II or pilot. The search was limited to articles written in English and published in 1997. RESULTS: Three hundred eight trials were identified. The majority, ie, 295 (95.8%), had been conducted as single-arm studies, with objective tumor response as the primary efficacy end point. An identifiable statistical design was reported for only 58 (19.7%) of these trials. The quality in reporting the statistical design and compliance with the design in carrying out the study or results interpretation were frequently poor. The frequency of reporting the statistical design was not shown to increase over the years of study start and was not associated with sample size or study duration. Instead, a significant association was found with trial results (which were less frequently positive among studies with a statistical design) and with the impact factor of the publishing journal. CONCLUSION: This survey shows that the quality of the statistical component of published phase II cancer trials is generally poor and raises suspicion that low quality is likely to bias study findings. Journals might improve the methodologic standard of published articles through a more vigilant reviewing policy. (+info)
The use of electronic mail in biomedical communication.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine whether there are statistically significant differences in the content of electronic mail (e-mail) and conventional mail sent to authors of papers published in medical journals. DESIGN: Prospective study by postal questionnaire. Over two one-month periods, corresponding authors of papers published in medical journals were asked to record details of the correspondence prompted by their publications. MEASUREMENTS: Conventional and e-mail correspondence received. Reprint requests. Content of correspondence. Quality of correspondence. RESULTS: Eighty-two of 96 authors replied. Fifty received e-mail (mean, 5.7+/-8.8 e-mails per author) and 72 received conventional mail (15.5+/-32.8 letters per author) (p < 0.05). Seventy percent of e-mails and only 53% of correspondence sent by conventional mail (p < 0.05) referred to the content of the paper. CONCLUSIONS: Publication in general medical journals stimulates more conventional than electronic mail. However, the content of e-mail may be of greater scientific relevance. Electronic mail can be encouraged without fear of diminishing the quality of the communications received. (+info)