BMJ  2005;331:1345 (3 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7528.1345-a

reviews

NETLINES

• Clinical Cases and Images is a useful resource that brings together various pearls of medical wisdom and aims to bridge the gap between clinical theory and practice (http://clinicalcases.blogspot.com). This well organised site contains a good collection of case histories, with links to imaging, and clinical examination and procedure websites, making this a feature rich site with a strong focus on clinical learning.
  
• I had not heard of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study—a research programme under which adequate treatment for syphilis was withheld from a group of poor black men with the disease—until I read the contribution from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/tuskegee/time.htm). Although the Alabama based study was ethically unsound, it lasted for 40 years, from 1932 to 1972. This web page is a clear summary of this disturbing case, which led to a change in the rules governing research on human subjects. There is information about the background of the study and the subsequent investigation, followed by a timeline ending in an apology from President Clinton in 1997.
  
• The web has a wonderful selection of free software available for download. One such offering is a word processor called AbiWord (www.abiword.org/). As with many of the programs created by volunteers, it is free, and users are encouraged to improve on it and pass it on. It can work on operating systems other than Windows. The website demonstrates what the program is capable of, and some of the features are impressive, such as dictionaries for more than 30 languages.
  
• Want to find out more about evidence based medicine (EBM) and don't know where to start? http://pedsccm.wustl.edu/EBJ/EB_Resources.html is a site that is full of resources for practising EBM. It may not suit everyone—it is a large and detailed site—but many visitors are likely to find it is a well stocked launch pad to finding EBM resources on line. This substantial collection comprises journal articles and websites catalogued in a single page. To prevent people getting lost as they scroll down, the main subject areas—for example, "What is EBM?" "EBM databases," and "Medline search strategies"—repeat themselves every so often.
  

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Leeds DrHarry{at}DrHarry.co.uk

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We welcome suggestions for websites to be included in future Netlines. Readers should contact Harry Brown at the above email address.

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