Search

The use MEDLINE and related resources of literature information has increased significantly with the increased availability and speed of the Internet. However, literature information is presented in many different ways via the Internet and search facilities and web addresses are frequently changed. Many physicians and medical researchers find it difficult to keep track of what is available and many lack skills in effective searching. The present paper presents an overview of the MEDLINE database and related databases available from the National Library of Medicine and searchable through PubMed and Internet Greatfull Med. We discuss strategies for searching MEDLINE and the coverage of MEDLINE related to that of related databases from the NLM and other sources.

The availability of full text medical journal articles is rapidly increasing with the increased availability of the Internet. The potentials of the new technology present researchers, publishers, and librarians with new problems and challenges. Some resources are made available free of charge, whereas others are distributed as parts of large licences negotiated between publishers and consortia of research libraries. How can researchers maintain an overview of the constantly changing resources? How can libraries cope with tasks rapidly redefined by the technology? And how can publishers survive when production and distribution of literature information, including the handling of peer reviewing, might just as well be performed by the researchers themselves or their organisations? The present paper presents some of the resources available and discusses both national and international projects and activities that deal with these questions.

The aim of the study was to estimate the incidence of Kawasaki's disease and to describe the clinical manifestations and the prognosis of the disease in children in Denmark during the period 1981-1990. In a register of all hospital admissions in Denmark, 99 patients were registered as having Kawasaki's disease. Of those, 89 patients fulfilled the clinical diagnostic criteria. The mean incidence of the ten year period was 1.0 per 100,000 children per year. The incidence of the disease decreased in the age group from zero to seven years after which it was rarely observed. Typical laboratory findings were hypersedimentation, leucocytosis and thrombocytosis. Eight children had cardiomegaly and three had electrocardiographic changes. Echocardiography was performed in 66 patients showing coronary artery aneurysms in nine patients (14%) (six boys and three girls). No further cardiac complications were found.

The effect of employing different interspaces for lumbar puncture during spinal anaesthesia was evaluated in 40 patients receiving 4 ml of 0.5% plain bupivacaine at level L2/L3 or L4/L5. No differences were observed in onset, spread or duration of analgesia. Furthermore, we found that only 80% of the patients, independently of the interspace used, had a cephalad spread to T8 and conclude that spinal anaesthesia using plain bupivacaine is not ideal for supraumbilical surgery.