===================================================================== AMERICAN VETERINARY COMPUTER SOCIETY NEWSLETTER July - August, 1994 ===================================================================== Richard B. Talbot (Virginia Tech) - President; James T. Case (UC-Davis) - Secretary Treasurer; Robert Featherston (Tulsa, OK) - President elect; Ronald D. Smith (Illinois) - Newsletter Editor. ===================================================================== IN THIS ISSUE SOCIETY NEWS Minutes from the AVCS Annual Meeting How to Contact AVCS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Looking for Veterinary Internet Resources Coding System for Veterinary Neurology WHAT'S NEW ON NETVET PRODUCT AVAILABILITY/REVIEWS/COMPARISONS Computerized Medical Records Standards ClienTraxTM Practice Management Software Distance Education Database Availability of EpiInfo Version 6 NEWS AND COMMENTARY Veterinary World Wide Web Servers Computer-Based Diagnostic Programs Evaluated Case-Based Reasoning in Medicine Mailing List The Dog Genome Project OncoLink - Multimedia Oncology Resource The Virtual Human EPIVET-L - New Epidemiology Discussion Group VETINFO - New Location Information Interactive Frog Dissection via the Web MEETINGS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES Educom'94. San Antonio, TX 18th Annual Symposium On Computer Applications In Medical Care, Washington, DC International Congress on Medical Informatics, Havana, Cuba Asia Pacific Association For Medical Informatics, (APAMI '94), Singapore ANNIE'94, Emerging Technologies in Medicine and Biology, St. Louis, MO Computers in Healthcare Education Symposium, Philadelphia, PA MEDINFO'95 - 8th World Congress on Medical Informatics, Vancouver, BC, Canada SUGGESTED READING CLOSING BITS ===================================================================== SOCIETY NEWS ===================================================================== MINUTES FROM THE AVCS ANNUAL MEETING San Francisco, CA 7/11/94 James T. Case DVM, Ph.D AVCS Secretary/Treasurer The meeting was called to order by Bob Featherston at 3:20 pm in the Sonoma room of the SF Hilton. Bob asked all attending to introduce themselves and their interests. There were 29 AVCS members and guests attending. (Note: This was the largest AVCS general meeting to be held in over 4 years, JC) Secretary/Treasurer, Dr. Jim Case distributed the minutes from the 1993 annual meeting for review. Dr. Waldhalm moved to accept the minutes as written, Dr. Hahn seconded. Motion passed Unanimously. Dr. Case presented the financial statement and the membership report for approval by the membership. Both were passed unanimously. Old Business Dr. Ron Smith, AVCS newsletter editor opened discussion concerning the current general distribution of the AVCS newsletter on the Internet and commercial information services, making it available to members and nonmembers alike. He discussed how the newsletter is currently distributed. The question was raised as to whether this practice should be continued. The newsletter is the primary benefit of the AVCS membership. Arguments in favor of a general distribution is that it gives greater exposure of the AVCS; arguments against this form of distribution include the possibility that it detracts from dues which might be collected by the Society. Discussion ensued. It was noted that the newsletter is a tremendous marketing tool for the education of veterinarians on the use of computing and informatics. The newsletter is not available on listserv, but it has been considered to place the table of contents on a listserv (vetinfo being the most logical one). There was a suggestion to include additional information about the society as a marketing tool to increase number of subscriptions. General consensus of those attending is to continue the current distribution methods. One suggestion that will be implemented by the Secretary Treasurer is the creation and distribution of an AVCS membership directory. Dr. Smith presented the current status of the Journal of Veterinary Informatics and Computing. He reviewed the history of the formation of the journal emphasizing that some of the current challenges facing veterinary informatics is the lack of opportunity to publish veterinary informatics specific articles. In order to stimulate work in the discipline informaticians need to get credit for their work. This will also assist in the efforts to establish informatics as a specialty and thus gain college status within the AVMA. The initial business plan for the journal was put together by Dr. Dick Talbot. This was for a print journal. It was later suggested that the journal be distributed electronically. A call for papers was put out in June 1994. Although there were many responses expressing interest, there have been no submissions to date. An alternative plan is to look for other forums to distribute papers. ie, JAVMA, AJVR, Veterinary forum, etc. Discussion ensued. Consensus was to continue to pursue recognition by peer reviewed journals such as JAVMA, but to also include additional informatics related articles in both the AVCS newsletter and other widely distributed magazines such as veterinary forum. Dr. Featherston introduced Drs. Hahn and Boschert to report on AAVI. Dr. Hahn is the immediate past president and Dr. Boschert current (1994-95) president of the AAVI. The AAVI is currently incorporated as the American College of Veterinary Informatics. It was renamed the Academy (AAVI) to differentiate itself from a true AVMA specialty as it tries for college status. Dr. Hahn reviewed the status of past petitions to the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS). The membership of the AAVI would like to repetition and meet the apparent objections of the previous petitions. The major concern expressed by the ABVS is the apparent lack of applicability to clinical practice. Dr.Boschert expanded on the role of informatics professionals as translators between clinical veterinary medicine and the computer science professionals. He reviewed the increased emphasis that the AVMA has put in the area of informatics and stressed the cooperation that has existed between the AAVI and the AVCS. He talked briefly about NoAH and encouraged members to view the systems at the demonstration center in the vendor area. Historically, the AVCS has financially supported AAVI efforts to gain college status. At their meeting this year, the AAVI voted to establish dues for the charter diplomates of the Academy at the level of $50/yr. Dr. Boschert presented a request from the AAVI for the AVCS to assist by matching the funding that the AAVI has voted to impart on members. The total requested is $850 for the current year. It was moved that the AVCS support AAVI at the level of $850 to support the ongoing efforts of the AAVI for the next calendar year to achieve specialty status within the AVMA (Dr. Boschert), seconded (Dr.Starr). Motion passed unanimously. Dr. Hahn thanked the members of the AVCS for their support. New Business Dr. Featherston reviewed the decision to move the AVCS annual meeting from SCAMC to AVMA. Because of the reduction in terms of officers due to this change in venue, he proposed that the current cadre of officers be maintained until the AVMA meeting next year. This would mean that Dr. Featherston would assume the Presidency of the AVCS at the 1995 AVCS meeting. The offices open for nomination prior to the next annual meeting would be President-Elect and Newsletter editor. Elections will be held prior to the 1995 annual meeting, with the results and change of officers occurring at the AVMA meeting. It was moved to accept the proposal (Dr. Hahn) and seconded (Dr. Klimczak). The motion passed unanimously. Dr. Featherston reviewed the history and the recent decline of the AVCS, He stressed the need to restructure the AVCS and identify the future direction of the Society. It was suggested that a selected group meet one day prior tothe SCAMC meeting to begin a planning process to revamp the AVCS to meet the changing needs of the society and the profession. Dr. Hahn reviewed what SCAMC is and its value to the informatics community. He suggested that individuals look into membership in the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). He also discussed the possible formation of the working group for veterinary informatics within AMIA. This would bring financial support for the activities of veterinary informatics within the AMIA organization. Discussion ensued. The question was raised as to whether this needed to be an in person meeting or would an electronic meeting fulfill the needs of the planning process. It was also suggested that a premeeting held electronically be used to initiate the planning process and to get some base information for the planning committee to work with. It was suggested that NoAH or VIN be used as a venue for gathering these ideas. Also suggested that VetInfo be used as a source of gathering information. Dr. Harmon Rogers moved that the executive board make the decision as to whether the planning meeting should be organized in association with SCAMC. Seconded by Dr. Moseley. Passed unanimously. It was emphasized that the planning group use electronic communication as much as possible to avoid unnecessary expenditures and to reduce the need for numerous face to face meetings. Other Dr. Karl Wise was asked to discuss specifics on NoAH. He suggested that members attend the orientation meeting after the general session on Wednesday, July 13. Dr. Harmon Rogers outlined the activities of the AAHA in the area of informatics. There was an open discussion on a proposed survey for the purpose of determining the importance of veterinary informatics. It was suggested that the survey be done electronically. Potential problems with this method included bias and the inability to assess the value of the responses. It was suggested that the electronic survey might be a good way to test the survey instrument before going to the general public. It was also suggested that Dr. Wise review the survey instrument, the survey then be tested and followed up with a general distribution in the context of gathering information for the AAVI to help with the petition process. Dr. Duane Stewart talked about the continuing education on AOL in the area of Informatics. Did not attract enough students last year. Would like to try again to have a course. Asked to make people aware that the online course will be available. Dr. Hahn presented information on SNOMED and the SNOMED browser that Dr. Klimczak has developed. Meeting was adjourned at 4:35pm. ===================================================================== HOW TO CONTACT AVCS Applications for membership, accompanied by a check for $20 payable to the AVCS, should be sent to Dr. James T. Case; AVCS Secretary Treasurer; School of Veterinary Medicine; University of California; P.O. Box 1770; Davis, CA 95617 (Phone: 916/752-4408; FAX: 916/752-5680; e-mail: jcase@ucdcvdls.bitnet). Dr. Case is responsible for distribution of the hardcopy version of the AVCS Newsletter. Newsletter items can be sent to Dr. Ronald D. Smith, AVCS Newsletter Editor; UI College of Veterinary Medicine; 2001 South Lincoln; Urbana, IL 61801. Telephone: 217/333-2449; FAX: 217/333-4628; AOL: RDSmith; Internet: r-smith19@uiuc.edu If you would like to be on the AVCS Newsletter electronic distribution list, send an e-mail message to the Newsletter Editor. Although the electronic version is only an ASCII (text) file, it's faster, searchable, easier to store and retrieve, and environmentally friendly. Current and past issues of the Newsletter can be searched, read and downloaded from the NETVET Gopher server . They can also be downloaded from the Associations and Foundations Library of America Online's Veterinary Information Network. ===================================================================== LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ===================================================================== LOOKING FOR VETERINARY INTERNET RESOURCES From a posting to Veterinary Medicine By Barbara Cavanaugh; Univ. of Penn Biomedical Library (Liaison to the Vet Library) Several veterinarians are attending an Internet class, and I'm wondering if anyone has a list of veterinary resources on the Internet, or any favorite veterinary Internet resources. Let me know! RD Smith's response: Try the NetVet gopher at Washington University, St. Louis (netvet.wustl.edu). See also my article entitled "What's on the Information Superhighway for Veterinarians" in the March-April '94 AVCS Newsletter which can also be retrieved from the netvet gopher. ===================================================================== CODING SYSTEM FOR VETERINARY NEUROLOGY From Dagmar Heim; Institut of Virology and Immunoprophylaxis; Sensemattstr.293; CH-3147 Mittelhaeusern, Switzerland e-mail: heim@ivi.ch We have just started a project which should give an overview of neurological diagnoses made in the veterinary school of Berne. Our first aim is to agree on a practical list of defined diagnoses that should be used for data recording in the clinic. We are now wondering whether such a list has already been developed and is being used somewhere. If you have some information, please let me know. Your help is very much appreciated. ===================================================================== WHAT'S NEW ON NETVET Feature Article by Ken Boschert Washington Univ. - Comparative Med. ===================================================================== The NetVet Gopher and Web site is still quite experimental, but I know from the logins that many of the veterinary librarians are using it. There is also some stirring at some of the vet schools with regards to putting more information on the Net. Since you are *the* information experts, I encourage you to get involved with these efforts, so we all benefit. For those of you who want to give it a spin, point your gopher software to the following coordinates: Name=NETVET Veterinary Resources Type=1 Port=70 Path=1n:/vet Host=netvet.wustl.edu URL: gopher://netvet.wustl.edu:70/11n:/vet NetVet Veterinary Resources is moving to the World Wide Web (along with everyone else!). If you have a WWW client (like Mosaic), point to the following URL for the NETVET Veterinary Resources Home Page: http://netvet.wustl.edu/ New Additions to the NetVet Gopher & Web Servers include: * Reorganized & greatly improved the Veterinary Informatics Section * New Veterinary Oncology Pointer from the Oncolink Gopher * University of Illinois Vet School Gopher * Mississippi State Vet School Web Site * North Carolina State Vet School Web Site * University of Florida Vet School Web Site * Oklahoma State Vet School Web Site * Virginia Tech/Univ. of Maryland Web Site * Univ. of California-Davis Web Site * Iowa State University Bovine Home Page * Many new pointers in the Animal Species Information and Archives New WWW pointers to other Washington University Resources and generally tidying things up, particularly in the Electronic Zoo section....you wouldn't believe what a house-keeping chore this is! Added: * Animal Welfare Legisation * Zoos and Animal Park Legislation * Transgenic and Targeted Mutant Animal Database (ORNL - TBASE) * Animal Care Committees * Animal Pictures * Animal Behaviour Society * Domestic Animal Endocrinology Journal * APHIS Legislation * APHIS Regulations * Cattle Software * Journal of Animal Ecology * The Animal Hospital (Youngstown Freenet) * Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), USDA * FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine Laws * U. of Prince Edward Island CVM * Beef & Dairy Cattle Info * Animal Protection Institute Like many others, the NETVET WWW and gopher servers are experimental and constantly under construction. Their multiple purposes include: 1. Home of the Electronic Zoo - a text file describing animal-related computer resources on the Internet and beyond. Now expanded to include many of the resources mentioned in the text - with pointers to major Internet resources in veterinary medicine, agriculture, biology, environment & ecology, and medicine, as well as animal-related files, databases, FTP archive sites, and electronic publications. 2. Pointers to veterinary & animal resources on the Internet, including Colleges of Veteinary Medicine, Veterinary Diagnostic Labs, Veterinary Conference Proceedings, Veterinary & Animal Legislation & Regulations, and Veterinary Oncology. 3. Pointers to veterinary and animal-related organizations, including AVMA's Network of Animal Health (NOAH), the Veterinary Information Network (VIN), the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS), the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center's Primate Info Net, the Jackson Laboratory, the Consortium of Aquariums Universities & Zoos (CAUZ), the American Physiological Society, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the Society for NeuroScience, the American Society of Zoologists (ASZ), the Animal Behaviour Society (ABS), the Animal Hospital (Youngstown FreeNet), & the Animal Protection Institute. 3. Gopher and WWW home for the USDA National Agricultural Library Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC), including the AWIC Newsletter, federal laws and guidelines, & miscellaneous bibliographies. 4. Archive site for the following veterinary and animal-related Internet mailing lists: COMPMED, VETMED-L, VETHIS-L, VETINFO, VETLIB-L, AVHIMA-L, DAIRY-L, BEEF-L, FELINE-L, RAT-TALK, PRIMATE-TALK, FISH-ECOLOGY, FISH-JUNIOR, HMATRIX-L, SAFETY, CRUST-L, & MOLLUSCA. 5. Gopher & Web home for the topic of Veterinary Informatics, including information about the American Academy of Veterinary Informatics (AAVI), American Veterinary Computer Society (AVCS), VETINFO (Veterinary Informatics Discussion List) Archives, American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), VETHIS-L (Veterinary Hospital Information Systems) Archives, AVHIMA-L (American Veterinary Health Information Mgt. Assn.) Archives, List of Veterinary Computer-Aided Diagnostic Programs, Educational Programs in Medical Informatics, Medical Informatics Training Programs, AI-Medicine FTP Archives, Artificial Intelligence Medicine Digest, News from the Center for Biomedical Informatics (NIB), Center for Advanced Medical Informatics at Stanford (CAMIS), Australian National University Bioinformatics Gopher, Medical Informatics Files, Conferences, Documents, NLM Computer Factsheets, and information on the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). 6. General Information about the Washington University Division of Comparative Medicine. (restricted to local campus access only). Hey, we're having some fun now....please send your questions & comments about the NETVET WWW and Gopher servers to: Ken Boschert, DVM * Washington University * Div. of Comparative Med. 660 South Euclid Avenue, Box 8061 * St. Louis, MO 63110 Voice: 314-362-3700 * Fax: 314-362-6480 * LABBS: 901-758-0401 INTERNET: ken@wudcm.wustl.edu / NOAH: 73177.3346@compuserve.com ===================================================================== PRODUCT AVAILABILITY/REVIEWS/COMPARISONS ===================================================================== COMPUTERIZED MEDICAL RECORDS STANDARDS From a posting to MEDINF-L By Andy Bradbury Medical File Standard - MedFileS MedFileS is a global project uniting the spectrum of efforts worldwide for computerizing medical records. The Medical File Standard defines an elegant structure for medical information which permits systems to achieve compatibility without loss of individuality. To obtain (via free e-mail) the current MedFileS rules for the Computerized Medical Record Structure, send e-mail to: medfiles@delphi.com with Subject: request info Andy Bradbury M.D., Editor MedFileS Medical File Standard ===================================================================== CLIENTRAXTM PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE From Frank Buckingham, DVM; Veterinary Software Publishing; 921 Reiss Rd.; O'Fallon, IL 62269. Telephone: (618) 624-3688 or 1-800-669-3475; Internet: FXBUCK@aol.com Veterinary Software Publishing announces the latest version of ClienTraxTM , version 3.1 . The program, available for Windows TM , Macintosh TM (and OS/2) computers, provides a complete set of features for veterinary practice. Its "Point and Click" interface means a shorter learning curve. The complete client transaction process can be mastered in a very short time period. The unique QuBE TM or Query By Example system allows the user to easily search for any kind of client or patient (for example, all cats over 10 years) and print mailing labels or cards. ClienTraxTM includes toll-free telephone support with optional 24-hour coverage, quarterly newsletters with how to instructions for marketing, international electronic mail response on America On Line and CompuServe, and user's meetings at national conventions. The system works in single-user and network configurations, on OS/2, WindowsTM and MacintoshTM computers. ClienTraxTM can even support more than one type of computer on the same network. The list of standard integrated features includes: * Database: Client and Patient, History, Referral Tracking. Animal transfer animal between owners. * Accounts Receivable: OTC Sales, Invoicing, 30-60-90 Aging (optional), Service Charges (optional). * Inventory: Full Management system, including Purchasing, multiple vendors, etc. * Reports: Daily Transaction Reports, Transaction reports by date range, Many More! * Marketing: unique QuBETM Query By Example. Find your top 100 clients! Cats over 10 lb.'s, etc. * Certificates: Vaccination, Rabies, Spay / Neuter and Health Certificates. * Electronic Mail: For multi-user versions: Send notes to anyone in the practice. * Medical Records: Freeform, or use History Form template: includes SOAP, etc. * Reminders / Recalls: Customize to meet your needs for any procedure. * Estimates: Can be revised, printed at any time. * Payments: Cash, Check, Credit Card, Coupons or combination. Cash drawer payments supported. * Password Protection: Multiple levels allowed for complete security of sensitive data. * Contact Management: Organize your lists of clients, vendors, friends, etc. Follow-up! * Accounting: Integrated General Ledger. 98% of all Journal entries are made automatically. You need only enter end of month adjustments. The special introductory price is $1,795.00 for the 1 user version, $2,495.00 for 3 user version. Payroll, Appointment Scheduling, Data Conversion and Custom Modifications are also available. ===================================================================== DISTANCE EDUCATION DATABASE From Laury Melton The Distance Education Database produced by the International Centre for Distance Learning at the UK Open University remains freely available for access over the Internet. The monthly update has just been completed resulting in the addition of some 60 additional abstracts in the literature database, 25 new institution descriptions and the revision of over 2400 course descriptions, including many new ones. Abstracts added to the literature database this month are mainly from the proceedings of the 16th World Conference of ICDE, "Distance Education for the Twenty-First Century". You can reach the database by Telnet from anywhere on the Internet. Telnet to acsvax.open.ac.uk At the welcome message please login to the Open University VAX cluster with the Username: icdl You can then access the database using the english version of your country name as Account code. Please enter this without any spaces. The Password is then just AAA You need to be using a VT100 terminal. If you have any difficulty or want to comment, please send e-mail to n.ismail@open.ac.uk or l.r.a.melton@open.ac.uk ===================================================================== AVAILABILITY OF EPIINFO VERSION 6 From mednews (HICNet Medical News) The Epi Info computer programs produced by CDC and the World Health Organization provide public-domain software for word processing, database management, and statistics work in public health; more than 40,000 documented copies of Version 5 are in use in 117 countries. Version 6 of Epi Info was released in June 1994. Version 6 features a configurable pull-down menu, facilities for producing and using hypertext (active text), additional statistics, and many programming improvements. As with previous versions, it runs on IBM*-compatible computers under DOS and requires 640 K of memory (RAM), although use of a hard disk is recommended. A 600-page manual is included on the disks and is available in printed form. Copies of Epi Info and a companion program for geographic mapping (Epi Map) are available from USD, Inc., 2075A West Park Place, Stone Mountain, GA 30087; telephone (404) 469-4098; fax (404) 469-0681. There are charges for Epi Info and Epi Map. Epi Info and Epi Map are available on the worldwide Internet using the following access information: Site: FTP.CDC.GOV; User ID: anonymous; Directory for Epi Info: /PUB/EPI/EPIINFO; Directory for Epi Map: /PUB/EPI/EPIMAP. The compressed files occupy 3-4 megabytes for each product. *Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the Public Health Service or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ===================================================================== NEWS AND COMMENTARY ===================================================================== VETERINARY WORLD WIDE WEB SERVERS From a posting to vetweb@vetmed.auburn.edu By fstuart@vetmed.auburn.edu (Frank Stuart) Here's a list of the Veterinary Schools running web servers that I know of. Additions and corrections are solicited: Auburn: http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/ Florida: http://www.vetmed.ufl.edu/ Iowa State: http://www.iastate.edu/colleges/vetmed/ Mississippi State: http://pegasus.cvm.msstate.edu/ Missouri: http://www.miaims.missouri.edu/vetmed/vetmed.html Murdoch: http://134.115.224.48/MurdochVetSc_homepage.html North Carolina State: http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/cvm/cvmhome.html Oklahoma State: http://www.cvm.okstate.edu/ UC Davis: http://vmgopher.ucdavis.edu/ Virginia-Maryland: http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/ ===================================================================== COMPUTER-BASED DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAMS EVALUATED BOSTON (Reuter) - Could your doctor be replaced by a computer? Someday a machine may be better at discovering what ails you than a physician. But doctors need not worry about being forced into retirement just yet. Four computer programs designed to help diagnose difficult medical problems receive mixed reviews in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The team of researchers that evaluated the programs said they can be useful, but only to someone trained to ignore all the irrelevant information they tend to generate. The editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Jerome Kassirer, who helped develop some of the early prototypes of such programs, said if he were grading them he would give them a ``C''. ``They are, I believe, only an intermediate step toward a far more advanced technology,'' Kassirer wrote in a ``report card'' in the respected medical journal. ``Diagnostic computer programs have come a long way, but they still have a long way to go.'' The four programs -- Dxplain, Iliad, Meditel and QMR -- all performed about equally, according to the researchers, led by Eta Berner of the University of Alabama in Birmingham. In the tests, the programs were given 105 challenging cases to diagnose. All were developed by a team of experts and involved real-life cases where a doctor might seek the help of a specialist because the signs and symptoms were puzzling. The computers responded with a list of suggested diagnoses; the most likely candidate ranked first. When the investigators looked only at the first diagnosis, the computers identified the illness correctly just 10 to 22 percent of the time. When the programs were allowed to list 20 possibilities, the correct diagnosis popped up half the time. The lists produced by the program ``included many diagnoses that a knowledgeable physician would regard as not being particularly useful in explaining the case or guiding further studies,'' the Berner team said. On the other hand, there were several cases where the computer came up with valid possibilities that the human experts had failed to consider. ``Although each program performed better or worse than others on some of the performance measures, none performed consistently better or worse on all measures,'' the researchers said. ===================================================================== CASE-BASED REASONING IN MEDICINE MAILING LIST From a posting to list AAVI A physician diagnosing the illness of a new patient is reminded of a past patient and checks to see if the former diagnosis is relevant. A dosimetrist who is designing a radiotherapy plan for a cancer patient refers to a therapy atlas of past patients for plan suggestions. These are examples of Case-Based Reasoning (CBR), a form of problem solving in which the problem solver reuses a past case to solve a new problem. CBR is both a model of human cognition and a paradigm for computer- based problem solvers. The CBR-MED mailing list provides a forum for the discussion of CBR methods in Medicine. The list brings together medical practitioners, health informaticians, and CBR researchers in service of two goals: 1) To support the delivery of medical care by fostering the development of CBR software that performs health care related tasks. 2) To spur the development of CBR methods by focusing the efforts of researchers on the challenges (large databases, knowledge representation problems, etc.) provided by medical and health informatics problems. To subscribe to CBR-MED, send a message that looks like this: To: listproc@cs.uchicago.edu Subject: subscribe CBR-MED If your name is Joan Smith, your subscription request would look like this: To: listproc@cs.uchicago.edu Subject: subscribe CBR-MED Joan Smith To unsubscribe to CBR-MED, send a message that looks like this: To: listproc@cs.uchicago.edu Subject: unsubscribe CBR-MED Please let me know if you have any problems with the list. Jeff Berger OWNER-CBR-MED@cs.uchicago.edu ===================================================================== THE DOG GENOME PROJECT NOTE: THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS MESSAGE The dog genome project is a collaborative study involving scientists at the University of California, the University of Oregon, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center aimed at producing a map of all of the chromosomes in dogs, which can be used to map the genes causing disease and those genes controlling morphology and behavior. Different dog breeds are distinguished by varieties of morphologies and behaviors that exceed the range of variation in any other species on earth. Dog genetics offers the hope of discovering the genetic basis of both mammalian development and behavior. (The chromosome map) will be useful to the entire scientific community for the purpose of mapping genes causing inherited disease in dogs. It is widely recognized that in many pedigreed dog lines diseases run in families. These diseases include cancer, epilepsy, retinal degeneration, bleeding disorders, skeletal malformations and a host of others. Much of the revolution in human molecular medicine has been catalyzed by the development of the human genetic map, which has allowed genes responsible for human genetic disease to be isolated. The isolation of these genes has provided highly accurate diagnosis of many diseases well before the appearance of the first symptoms. In many cases, insight into the molecular basis of the disease is leading to the development of new therapeutic compounds, and the promise of gene therapy has already been achi eved in one case. None of this progress in human medicine would have been possible without a high quality genetic map. The map being produced by the dog genome project will catalyze a similar explosion in veterinary medicine and will allow more effective breeding practices to eliminate many genetic diseases from breeds currently afflicted. It is important to keep in mind that a genetic map grows in utility as more people contribute to it and benefit from it. Therefore it is the practice of the dog genome project to make all research results available to the scientific community well prior to traditional publication through electronic publication on the World-Wide Web. You can find this information using mosaic:Open URL http://mendel.berkeley.edu/dog.html You can reach us by email: Mellissa Marie Curie DeMille and Stella the paint BC mellissa@mendel.berkeley.edu 510 525 5065 ===================================================================== ONCOLINK - MULTIMEDIA ONCOLOGY RESOURCE OncoLink - The University of Pennsylvania Multimedia Oncology Resource. We would like to announce "OncoLink", a WWW-server and gopher server oriented to CANCER. This resource is directed to physicians, health care personnel, social workers, patients and their supporters. OncoLink won the international award for "Best of the Web'94" in the Professional Services division in May of this year. THIS RESOURCE CAN BE REACHED AT: cancer.med.upenn.edu This cancer information server is currently under development, with changes made daily. Gopher can reach this resource using Port 80. With a WWW-client (e.g. Mosaic), use: http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/ With a gopher client (e.g. gopher) use: gopher cancer.med.upenn.edu 80 Some of the subject headings are: medical oncology gynecologic oncology radiation oncology pediatric oncology surgical oncology veterinary oncology medical physics molecular genetics and cell biology of cancer disease oriented menus menus devoted to certain topics frequently asked questions, including powerlines & EMF, etc. *psychosocial support for oncology patients & families **** links to other oncology centers in the world . . . and much, much more! We shall be exploring interactive BBS and other means of disseminating cancer information throughout the world on the Internet. The maintainer of this resource can be contacted at: BUHLE@XRT.UPENN.EDU Dr. E. Loren Buhle, Jr. INTERNET: BUHLE@XRT.UPENN.EDU University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Phone: 215-662-3084 Rm 440A, 3401 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228 FAX: 215-349-5978 ===================================================================== THE VIRTUAL HUMAN Posted to list AAVI BOULDER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1994 JUL 19 (NB) -- Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center have been awarded a $1 million federal grant to create a database that will in effect put the human body on a computer. The Visible Human Project (VHP) is sponsored by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and involves scanning, x-raying, freezing, slicing and photographing cross sections of a male and a female cadaver. The bodies were donated for the project. Once the lab work is done, the information will be digitized and stored in a computer database so it can be accessed via computer. The images, which have a resolution 16 times that provided by a video camera, will be stacked to create three-dimensional (3-D) images. Access to the database will be through the Internet. NLM Project Manager Michael Ackerman says VHP will help train medical students, educate patients about their medical conditions, help medical personnel diagnose diseases and assist in planning treatments such as radiation and surgery. It can even be used in a surgical simulation. The male cadaver, dubbed Adam by the researchers, has already been scanned, x-rayed and photographed, producing 1,771 one-millimeter cross sections. Work has also begun on Eve, as the female subject is known, and is expected to be finished by mid-August. Ackerman says Adam was a 30-year old caucasian male who died of a drug overdose. Eve, a 59-year old white female died of a heart problem. Ackerman says male candidates to be immortalized by the VHP outnumbered females 10-1. He says that is because "Women don't do the stupid things men do, and they live longer." Candidates had to be free of infectious disease, have minimal trauma, and no burns, bone deformities or artificial devices such as hips. Access to the database is not available to just anyone with a personal computer and Internet access. Ackerman said you need an account number and a password, and users will have to sign an agreement that requires them to specify what they plan to do with the information. They will also have to provide a copy of what they produce. (Jim Mallory/19940719/Press contact: Jim Scott, University of Colorado, 303-492-6431) ===================================================================== EPIVET-L - NEW EPIDEMIOLOGY DISCUSSION GROUP Epivet-L is new discussion group (commenced 5 July 1994) operating out of the University of Prince Edward Island for veterinary epidemiologists. Epivet is a list server established to enhance communications among veterinary epidemiologists worldwide. It is the first part of Epivet-Net, which will eventually be a complete set of tools for vet epidemiologists. The address of the list server is and sending a message to it with the words SUBSCRIBE EPIVET-L in the body of the text will get you logged on. Once you are logged on, you will automatically receive copies of all messages posted to the list server. You can obtain a copy of e-mail addresses of everyone on Epivet by sending the message RECIPIENTS. List owners/contact: Ian Dohoo . Louisa Macphee ===================================================================== VETINFO - NEW LOCATION INFORMATION From "Ken Boschert" The VETINFO (Veterinary Informatics Mailing List) has moved to a new location. New subscription information is detailed below. VETINFO - Veterinary Informatics Discussion List VETINFO is an Internet/Bitnet mailing list for discussing the topics of veterinary medical informatics and uses of computers in veterinary medicine. Generally, the target audience includes: veterinarians, researchers, veterinary students, and interested members of the lay public. Subject matter may include: informatics, clinical decision support systems, laboratory information management, imaging, disease nomenclature and coding systems, expert systems, knowledge bases, meeting announcements, research issues, information requests, job notices, graduate fellowships, equipment exchange, news items, grant information, new books or book reviews. Discussions related to specific hardware and software implementations are welcome, as well as approaches to specific approaches to challenges in veterinary informatics. The primary emphasis of discussion on this list is to stimulate discussion in the area of Informatics, with special reference to the field of Veterinary Medicine. VETINFO is *NOT* the appropriate list to discuss general veterinary medicine. For those issues, we refer you to the VETMED-L list at . VETINFO is hosted by the Washington University Division of Comparative Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. This is a LISTSERV-managed list, so normal subscription instructions apply as follows. To subscribe to the VETINFO mailing list, send Bitnet e-mail to: LISTSERV@WULIST or Internet e-mail to: LISTSERV@WULIST.WUSTL.EDU with the BODY of the mail consisting of the following (the command MUST be in the BODY, NOT the subject): SUBscribe VETINFO Yourfirstname Yourlastname (Example) SUBscribe VETINFO John Doe You should receive a message acknowledging your subscription request. Upon review, you will be added to the list and begin receiving messages from the VETINFO discussion group. Join your colleagues online and contribute to VETINFO. Ken Boschert, DVM; Associate Director; Washington University; Division of Comparative Medicine; Box 8061, 660 South Euclid Ave.; St. Louis, Missouri 63110; Phone: 314-362-3700; Fax: 314-362-6480; E-Mail Addresse: ken@wudcm.wustl.edu Jim Case, DVM, Ph.D; Head, Information Systems; California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory System; University of California; School of Veterinary Medicine; P.O. Box 1770; Davis, California 95617; Phone: 916-752-4408; Fax: 916-752-5680 E-Mail Addresse: jcase@gypsy.ucdavis.edu ===================================================================== INTERACTIVE FROG DISSECTION VIA THE WEB From insttech@curry.edschool.Virginia.EDU (IT Program) New from the University of Virginia: The Curry School of Education's Instructional Technology Program has developed an INTERACTIVE FROG DISSECTION for the World Wide Web. The tutorial combines text with 60 in-line color images and 17 QuickTime movies illustrating dissection procedures and internal organs. Numerous clickable image maps provide interactive practice. Our research with pre-Web versions of this program suggests that it is a valuable preparation tool or even a useful substitute for laboratory dissection. To check it out, just point your Web browser to: http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/~insttech/frog Let us know what you think! Send e-mail to: insttech@virginia.edu Thanks: Mable Kinzie, Bill Looney, Jason Mitchell ===================================================================== MEETINGS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ===================================================================== October 31 - November 3, 1994 Educom'94. San Antonio, TX Contact: 202-872-4200 or conf@educom.edu November 5-9, 1994 18th Annual Symposium On Computer Applications In Medical Care, Washington, DC (See the March-April 1994 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) November 8-11, 1994 International Congress on Medical Informatics, Havana, Cuba (See the Nov-Dec 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) November 10-12, 1994 Asia Pacific Association For Medical Informatics, (APAMI '94), Singapore (See the March-April 1994 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) November 13-16, 1994 ANNIE'94, Emerging Technologies in Medicine and Biology, St. Louis, MO (See the March-April 1994 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) April 26-28, 1995 Computers in Healthcare Education Symposium, Philadelphia, PA From: American Medical Informatics Association Education PSG (see the May-June 1994 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) September 9-14, 1995 MEDINFO'95 - 8th World Congress on Medical Informatics, Vancouver, BC, Canada (See the Jan-Feb 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== SUGGESTED READING ===================================================================== Books Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Academic Discussion Lists. 1994. Lisabeth A. King, Diane Kovacs, and the Directory Team. Ann Okerson, Ed. 4th ed. Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. 575 pp. Paper, $54.00; Diskette $36.00 Articles The August 12, 1994 issue of Science (Vol. 265) is a must read for all those interested in the future of the Internet and networking. The cover picture is full of Mosaic World Wide Web (WWW) screens and there are a number of relevant articles. I think it's fair to say the hype on this technology is at a fever pitch, but a lot of it is well deserved. The article by Schatz & Hardin on pp. 895-901 describe quite eloquently the vision and possibilities to be achieved by the tools at hand. (From "Ken Boschert" ) ===================================================================== CLOSING BITS ===================================================================== WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT? This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of information highway. In 1844 Samuel F.B. Morse sent a message from Washington to Baltimore asking: "What hath God wrought?" TWENTY YEARS AGO ... THE ALTAIR 8800 The first PC sold to the general public was the Altair 8800, which appeared in the December 1974 issue of Popular Electronics. Its $250 price tag purchased a box of circuits and lights, but no software or screen, and it required 50 commands, executed by flipping switches, just to get started. (Tampa Tribune 6/27/94 B&F3) POPULATION BOOM IN CYBERSPACE By the end of this year, nearly four million U.S. households will have signed on with one of the Big Three online services -- American Online, CompuServe or Prodigy. (Investor's Business Daily 6/9/94 A4) DESPERATELY SEEKING THE PAPERLESS OFFICE Figures from the American Forest & Paper Association indicate that the tonnage, since 1983, of annual shipments of U.S. office paper, has gone up 51%. (Fortune 7/11/94 p.62) REVISING FAMILY HISTORY DivorceX offers to expunge all traces of your ex-spouse in the family photo albums, using a popular software called Photoshop. The proprietor scans the photo, erases the unwanted party's image, and reprints the picture -- all for $100-200 a pop. What if you get back together? No problem. He'll reinsert it by the same process. (Wall Street Journal 6/16/94 B1) -------------------------------------------------------------- Ronald D. Smith DVM, PhD Voice: (217) 333-3290 College of Veterinary Medicine (217) 333-2449 University of Illinois FAX: (217) 333-4628 2001 South Lincoln Internet: rd-smith@uiuc.edu Urbana, IL 61801 America OnLine: RDSmith USA CompuServe: 72717.1750