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Crohn's disease is a debilitating condition that affects the entire gastrointestinal tract and often requires aggressive and invasive therapies. Several studies have suggested dietary triggers for disease activity. We have created a web-based tool to allow participants to record both daily food intake and wellness (i.e., disease-specific quality of life). We seek to determine if measurable correlations exist between these events in patients with Crohn's disease. Advanced data mining techniques are employed to find such correlations and the efficacies of chosen techniques are assessed. We tested our web-based system in a pilot study involving 7 participants, and we found that traditional statistical techniques identified diet and disease activity correlations in short-term data sets.

The Sabiston Textbook of Surgery and other classic textbooks have been invaluable resources for generations of surgeons. Although they play an important role in medical education, printed textbooks often cannot meet the daily information needs of practicing surgeons because they are inaccessible, incomplete, unstructured, and out of date. Advances in communication technology have radically changed the creation and distribution of medical information. Many clinicians now seek evidence to support clinical decisions on the Internet and handheld devices. This article describes the evolution of surgical textbooks from printed volumes to versatile collections of knowledge that serve as both comprehensive resources and question-answering tools.