It is essential to search medical information precisely and efficiently in every aspect of medical practices and research activities. The growth of the medical literature has been tremendous in recent years, as exemplified by the annual growth of 710,000 records in MEDLINE in 2009, thus increasing the complexities of literature searching. Yet database search environments are changing toward very user-friendly ways facilitated by various hypertext linking capabilities such as "LinkOuts" to full texts and "reference linkings" among articles using Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). Once a direct search of a keyword is initiated, a searcher can continue searching endlessly and seamlessly by simply clicking various links provided in the records retrieved. Search behaviors of researchers are changing accordingly, avoiding any complex or advanced searches. The basics of database search methods are described in this paper. A brief overview of major medical databases is given by database type to illustrate the differences in the information retrievable from such databases: MEDLINE/PubMed and KoreaMed are abstract databases; SCI/Web of Science, SCOPUS and KoMCI are citation indexes; and PubMed Central and Synapse are full text databases. Some of the advanced search features of each database are also noted: searches using MeSH terms in PubMed and KoreaMed; differences in the "related documents" algorithms of PubMed and SCI; citation analysis using "analyze results" in Web of Science and SCOPUS; and citation tracking in Synapse and PubMed. The Journal of the Korean Medical Association (JKMA) records are used for the illustration of such features.
Hypermedia ; Synapses ; Track and Field

We present an openfree hypertext (also known as wiki) web cluster called BioCC. BioCC is a novel wiki farm that lets researchers create hundreds of biological web sites. The web sites form an organic information network. The contents of all the sites on the BioCC wiki farm are modifiable by anonymous as well as registered users. This enables biologists with diverse backgrounds to form their own Internet bio-communities. Each community can have custom-made layouts for information, discussion, and knowledge exchange. BioCC aims to form an ever-expanding network of openfree biological knowledge databases used and maintained by biological experts, students, and general users. The philosophy behind BioCC is that the formation of biological knowledge is best achieved by open-minded individuals freely exchanging information. In the near future, the amount of genomic information will have flooded society. BioGG can be an effective and quickly updated knowledge database system. BioCC uses an opensource wiki system called Mediawiki. However, for easier editing, a modified version of Mediawiki, called Biowiki, has been applied. Unlike Mediawiki, Biowiki uses a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text editor. BioCC is under a share-alike license called BioLicense (http://biolicense.org). The BioCC top level site is found at http://bio.cc/
Anonyms and Pseudonyms ; Biology* ; Computational Biology ; Humans ; Hypermedia* ; Information Services ; Internet ; Licensure ; Linear Energy Transfer ; Philosophy

We developed a prototype of web-based instruction(WBI) program to provide more convenient and more effective service to the public health officials. This web-based instruction program had specific objectives on vaccination for the public health officials who were working for national immunization program. This course had 21 chapters composed of hypertext or voice-based instruction. Using the WBI courseware of Korean Officials Trainging Institution(KOTI), 32 public health official volunteers joined this prototype 2 week program in April 2001. A Auestionnaire survey for evaluation of subjective satisfaction and related factors, cyber-education behavior, and internet using behavior was performed in April, 2001. Among the answered 29 subjects, 24 were female(82.8%). Mean age was 36.6% 6.16. 79.3% of the 29 subjects connected internet in their office. The highest frequent study duration was < 1 hr(51.7%) per connection. They represented relatively high subjective satisfaction in education form(78.6%), and contents(85.7%). But 62.3% of these subjects answered the subjective relative effectiveness score(which was as 100 in case of classical lecture form) was lower than 100. The place to connect internet was only statistically significant factor between these two groups in bivariable analysis. But we could not found any significant factors in multivariate analysis. 89.7% of the subjects answered they would like to participate any more WBI courses serviced by Korean National Health Institute. This study had restriction of small sample size.
Education ; Education, Distance ; Hypermedia ; Immunization Programs ; Internet ; Multivariate Analysis ; Public Health* ; Sample Size ; Vaccination ; Volunteers

PURPOSE: The creation and maintainance of radiology teaching materials is both laborious and very time-consuming but at a teaching hospital is important. Through use of the technology offered by today's worldwide web, this problem can be efficiently solved, and on this basis, we divised a multimedia radiology self-learning course for abdominal ultrasound and CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A combination of video and audio tapes has been used as teaching material; the authors digitized and converted these to Hypertext Mark-up Language(HTML) format. Films were digitized with a digital camera and compressed to Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG) format, while audio tapes were digitized with a sound recorder and compressed to Real Audio format. RESULTS: The self-learning course for abdominal ultrasound consists of 14 steps, and that for abdominal CT, 19 steps. Both provide images, voice anrrations, and related texts and graphics. The learner can navigate the course at his/her own speed, repeating or skipping any part, as required. CONCLUSION: 'Multimedia on the Worldwide Web' will facilitate easy management and maintenauce of a self-learning course. To make this more suitable for practical use, continual upgrading on the basis of experience is needed.
Hospitals, Teaching ; Hypermedia ; Internet* ; Joints ; Multimedia* ; Teaching Materials ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography ; Voice