Thanks for the great information Jim. I have already gone to the site and inquired about having Sjogrens Syndrome along with Transverse Myelitis. Great info. Thanks again - Linda ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Lubin<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 2:59 PM Subject: [TMIC] Neuro.Curbside.MD - neurologic disease search engine
For years, it has been difficult to find state of the art medical information on rare neuroimmunologic disorders. Even experienced neurologists may not have the case experience to accurately diagnose and treat rare disease like transverse myelitis, neuromyelitis optica and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. The challenge - particularly for physicians - is to find the right medical information, at the right time, within the right patient context. For the past several months, this unmet need has been tackled by the Transverse Myelitis Association in a unique partnership with Praxeon, a Boston-based healthcare startup. This month, we announce the debut of Curbside.MD (www.curbside.md<http://www.curbside.md/>), the first medical search engine devoted exclusively to neurologic disease. "Curbside" refers to the medical practice of the curbside consult - where physicians informally ask each other for advice on clinical questions. Praxeon set out to replicate that model online, enabling medical professionals to pose naturally phrased queries to real clinical questions, and to get an answer from the best of evidence-based medicine. Curbside.MD achieves this goal. Medical experts can get evidence based answers to real, naturally phrased medical questions. Curbside.MD utilizes a unique semantic fingerprinting technology to enable search around complete sentences and even paragraphs of medical information. Users are guaranteed accurate and relevant results from only the best evidence based information available. And best of all, this is a free site open to everyone. Curbside.MD represents a fundamental innovation within medical search and health informatics. The core technology is an underlying model embedded within the language of medicine. This enables the search engine to specifically understand medical terms and their abbreviations, synonyms and hierarchical relationships. Curbside.MD embodies a number of unique features not found within other search engines that enables the rapid identification of the right clinical answer. Results are organized intuitively into two major categories - Quick Consult for broad overviews for the novice, and Best Evidence for in-depth focus for experts. Users may also 'Specialize' by delving deeper into the literature with analytical tools that extract disease and drug terms for rapid sorting. In the coming months, Praxeon plans on supplementing Curbside.MD with a physician forum. In the Curbside forums, doctors will be able to consult each other on difficult cases, while simultaneously reviewing medical evidence - relevant to their conversation - in real time. This will represent a tremendous advance in information seeking for physicians treating all neurological disorders, including the rarest ones. They will have the opportunity to share their personal experiences and insights with treatment - within an evidence based context. For more details on the forum and other updates to the site, or to post your own comments, check out the curbside blog at http://blog.curbside.md<http://blog.curbside.md/>. Give Curbside a try. Go to www.curbside.md<http://www.curbside.md/> and just type a question in the search box. And don't limit yourself to keywords; challenge Curbside.MD with a complete thought or question, even a paragraph of something you're interested in. We think you'll be impressed with the results and the potential for this new website. Here are some sample questions to start you off: "Is the neuromyelitis optica IgG status of acute partial transverse myelitis predictive of longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis?" http://www.curbside.md/focus/211<http://www.curbside.md/focus/211> "What is the diagnostic workup required to distinguish a spinal epidural abscess from transverse myelitis?" http://www.curbside.md/curbside/entry_page/758<http://www.curbside.md/curbside/entry_page/758>
