This paper evaluates “Igaku Chuo Zasshi, ” which is one of the most significant Japanese abstracts in medicine. In the test of the overlap of coverage by three secondary services (Igaku Chuo Zasshi, Excerpta Medica, JICST Kokunai Igaku Sunken file) using five search questions in the clinical field, and three questions in the pharmaceutical field, it is found that Igaku Chuo Zasshi is the most productive in the clinical field, but not in the pharmaceutical field. The search failure by Igaku Chuo Zasshi is caused by the lack of exhaustivity (the average number of indexing terms per article is 1.80). Igaku Chuo Zasshi should assign more indexing terms.

View full abstract

3596 references on “AIDS” which were referred to in NLM Literature Search, 8 volumes (No. 83-8-No. 85-8), were analyzed. These references were published from January 1981 to August 1985. The following results were obtained. 1) The number of journal articles on “AIDS” has increased markedly from 1981 (20 titles) to 1984 (1556 titles), Among ‘Kind of Materials’, ‘Letter’, ‘News’, and ‘Editorial’ were frequent (580 titles or 24.34%). 2) There were 610 serial journals and “Lancet” was the most frequent (245 references or 10.3%). 3) Most of the 1661 first authors were belonged to Immunologist or Pathologist in USA. Japanese first authors were 15 persons (17 refs.). 4) Of the major descriptors, 751 were selected and the most frequent descriptor was “Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” which was given to 1733 of 2382 citations (75.06%). 5) Recently o the major descriptors, “Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” or “Human T-cell Leukemia Virus” have become more frequent than “Homosexuality” or “Sarcoma, Kaposis” or “Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes.” 6) Of the subheadings which were given to the E2 subcategories (therapy), the most frequent one was “Blood Transfusion” (76 citations or 76%). However, “Blood Transfusion” has subheadings, “adverse effects” and seems to indicate source of infection rather than therapy.

View full abstract

This survey is the basis from the results of an on-line bibliographic information retrieval knowledge, concerning canine distemper, FMD virus, and canine dirofilariasis. Some comments describe effective uses of biomedical and bibliographic databases. The databases used, in this survey were AGRICOLA, BIOSIS Previews, CA Search, CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, Life Sciences Collection, MEDLINE, and SciSearch. The themes were searched through DIALOG and compared by a “profile method”. There are, mainly, two expressive databases which are most useful and both are excellent-CAB Abstracts and MEDLINE. The CAB Abstracts is the superior one. Other databases have minor characters of single bibliographic searches in veterinary science. However, anyone of the eight databases is not able to retrieve more than 60% of the total relevant articles. The following characteristics are added: 1. Searchable document numbers of the system. 2. Uniqueness and relevancy of the retrieved records of each database. 3. Variety of the original documents. 4. English abstracts of the record. 5. Terminology of the record. 6. Effectiveness of searchable tags of the record of each subject search. 7. Indexing coverage of the relevant articles, which were most productive, are found in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association and pertaining to the search in canine dirofilariasis. Only CAB Abstracts and MEDLINE are indexed all relevant articles in this type of search. 8. The time lag between the record and publication date of the original articles. 9. Availability of the original articles in Japan. 10. More suggestions about the on-line bibliographic subject searching. Also, stressed is the importance of non-journal information and cited references in various printed documents.

View full abstract

The author points out that Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, who was a professor of the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, and died in Africa of the yellow fever he was investigating, had contact while living in Tokyo, with the people who established the Japan Medical Library. And the possibility that Dr. Noguchi used the Japan Medical Library, which was established in 1898, is also pointed out. Other points such as Dr. Noguchi's life in Tokyo and geographical conditions concerning the possibility of his use of the library are considered.

View full abstract

The Massachusetts Medical Information Link (MEDLINK) is a program of the Publishing Division of the Massachusetts Medical Society, publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine. MEDLINK's first project was to develop the Electronic Mail and the Interlibrary Loan System with the members of the Massachusetts Health Science Library Network (MaHSLiN). The system became operational in February 1985. This study reports the details of the MEDLINK Electronic Information Network.

View full abstract

Many new telephone modems have been introduced in recent months by suppliers hoping to tap the demand for faster communications. Available technology and lower transmission rates make 1200 baud operation far more advantageous than 300 baud. Our library installed 1200 baud equipment in an attempt to make on-line retrieval faster and more cost-effective for the end-user. This report discusses concrete details of (1) telecommunications procedures at 1200 baud; (2) the set of a 1200 baud modem and terminals for better utilization of on-line rerieval; (3) connection times and telecommunication costs, including vendor charges; and (4) the possibility of increased retrieval speed as a service to end-users.

View full abstract