Robert H. Thalmann
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA

The objective of these multimedia materials is to facilitate, at an early stage in physician training, the recognition of signs of neurologic disorders that are evident in observation of the patient. A system for producing similar materials has been proposed [John Pearson Soc. NeurosciMeeting, 2000]

The underlying premise is that even early in physician training, there should be the opportunity and requirement for the skill of learning in a social setting, from mentors and from peers. Besides an upgraded PC already on hand, the system includes a consumer miniDV format camera [single CCD chip Canon Optura Pi, $1250 from Abt Electronics] with simple capture and editing software [ Digital Origin Intro DV ], that can be used for 1] denovo videography, 2] exporting miniDV files made by others, and 3] via an analog line in, digitizing and capturing conventional analog camcorder outputs. Compression software [$1,000] in addition to that of the camera, was Media Cleaner 5 together with Sorenson 2, Developer's edition to take advantage of its two-passvariable bit rate encoding feature.

The results demonstrate that materials of sufficient quality can be produced economically [<$3000] by people without specialized training. These clips temporally resolve events as brief as tens of milliseconds [tremors, transient eye movements], with spatial resolution in the low and sub millimeter range [to resolve features such as pupillary position and constriction] Quick Time movies depicting certain eye movement disorders and two major movement disorders have been posted to the Web in the context of a commercially available course management system [Blackboard,Inc]. within a BCM password-protected site. These brief [10-60 second] movies are designed to use a Quick Time 4 player and were prepared for progressive download. Adequate image quality is achieved using the 'Real-World' bandwidth of the present Baylor College of Medicine Intranet and as well as a residential DSL line [Actual bandwidth ~0.5megabits/second]. I did not expect and was not able to create images of sufficient quality for viewing via a 55K modem.

1]Unlike many computer resources, this one is designed to be compatible with and promote preclinical learning in mentor-led and collegial settings. It can also be used for individual study.

2]Although many must be thinking of such a project, I can find no one who has actually done it.

3]The project demonstrates two necessary characteristic for this technology to acquire broad use in education: A] A non-specialist can produce WEB products of sufficient quality to depict details of neurological disorders, and B] the products can be produced at reasonable cost.

Robert H. Thalmann
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza
Houston, TX 77030
USA
Phone: 713 798 4957
Fax: 713 790 0545
Email: thalmann@bcm.tmc.edu