Medical webwatch.

Pediatric Education, http://www.pediatriceducation.org is an interesting reference library of regularly updated cases. It is curated by Donna M. D' Alessandro, MD, and Michael P. D'Alessandro, MD, and is said to be a "Pediatric Digital Library and Learning Collaboratory intended to serve as a source of continuing pediatric education." The website can be navigated by "Disease," "Symptom," "Specialty," or "Age" to open case presentations that are considered under history, examination, diagnosis, discussion, learning points, and questions for further discussion. "The project's hypothesis is that residents, fellows, and staff physicians practicing pediatrics can broaden and deepen their knowledge of pediatrics through the use of a continuing pediatric education program that is delivered daily in small granules and integrated into their workflow in the form of pediatric cases." It is designed "for use by residents, fellows, or attending physicians practicing pediatrics. Medical students beginning their study of pediatrics or other healthcare providers practicing pediatrics may find it useful."

Neurological Examinations videos at http://libraiy.med.utah.edu/neurologicexam/html/introduction.html is authored by Paul D. Larsen, MD, of the University of Medicine, and Suzanne S. Stensaas, PhD, of the University of Utah School of Medicine, and offers a comprehensive menu of neurological examinations broken down into "Anatomy," "Normal Examination," "Abnormal Examples," "Quiz," and "Media Resources." Each of these holds a listing of component examinations presented as videos. This is a large and instructive resource, and the material can be downloaded for later viewing.

Physical Diagnosis screening examination, http://www.lumen.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/MEDICINE/PULMONAR/pdselfmienu_f.htm is from the Loyola University Medical Education network and lists video, PDF, or PowerPoint presentations of screening examinations. They say "At each step, how to perform, what is normal, what is abnormal and the knowledge required to perform the test is provided." Self-evaluation modules are included for each step to ensure that you have understood the information.

The Connecticut Tutorials at http://www.conntutorials. com/video.html offers 8 videos from the University of Connecticut Medical Center that can be played online or ordered. Titles include Emergency, Neurology, Cardiology, Pulmonary, Musculoskeletal, Abdominal, HEENT, and Integrative, and the average play time is about 20 minutes. They say that "The Connecticut Tutorials Physical Examination Video is an educational DVD to help physicians, medical students, and allied health workers learn bedside clinical examination skills. This extraordinary physical examination video provides excellent preparation for the USMLE Step II Clinical Skills Assessment (Step 2 CS)" and that they are "divided into nine chapters taught by expert physicians."

Genes and Disease, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=gnd from NCBI "is a collection of articles that discuss genes and the diseases that they cause ... with each genetic disorder, the underlying mutation(s) is discussed, along with clinical features and links to key websites." Each of the 18 chapters presents a brief and very simplified anatomy and physiology of a disease selected from the submenu. These synopses are illustrated either with a small cartoon or microscope slides. The website has information on their database covering 80 genetic disorders, and specific genes responsible for each disease are named, and the pathogenesis is described with reference to the proteins expressed. Links to further information are provided to the bottom left of the page, and the OMNI link will return comprehensive and in-depth disease information. On the top of each page resides an attractive cartoon of the chromosome complement, and when a particular chromosome is clicked, it will display a schematic with the position of specific disease-related genes highlighted. Clicking "Map Viewer" on these pages will access a more detailed representation of the gene positions. The web-site is a succinct and easily accessible introduction to the etiology of diseases with genetic origins.

E-mail: [e-mail] with your favorite websites.