The aim of this study was to objectively quantify the effects of radiological teaching on student performance in interpreting radiological images, and to establish whether training location affects performance. 114 clinical students were asked to anonymously interpret radiological cases before and after 26 weeks clinical training. Improvements were assessed by comparing performance on the median question in each assessment using the Kruskal-Wallis analysis. Variations according to different placements were assessed by the Mann-Whitney U-test. There was a highly significant (p<0.001) improvement in the performance of the group with training. The proportion of correct answers to the median question improved from 8% to 43%. Differences between training placements were non-significant. Our study suggests that radiology teaching significantly improves student performance. Future work should look to define the contribution of "clinical exposure" towards this improvement, as well as the various teaching methods employed.

An efficient and robust medical-image indexing procedure should be user-oriented. It is essential to index the images at the right level of description and ensure that the indexed levels match the user's interest level. This study examines 240 medical-image descriptions produced by three different groups of medical-image users (novices, intermediates, and experts) in the area of radiography. This article reports several important findings: First, the effect of domain knowledge has a significant relationship with the use of semantic image attributes in image-users' descriptions. We found that experts employ more high-level image attributes which require highreasoning or diagnostic knowledge to search for a medical image (Abstract Objects and Scenes) than do novices; novices are more likely to describe some basic objects which do not require much radiological knowledge to search for an image they need (Generic Objects) than are experts. Second, all image users in this study prefer to use image attributes of the semantic levels to represent the image that they desired to find, especially using those Received July 3, 2011; revised September 16, 2011; accepted September 16, 2011 © 2011 ASIS&T • Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/asi.21686 specific-level and scene-related attributes. Third, image attributes generated by medical-image users can be mapped to all levels of the pyramid model that was developed to structure visual information. Therefore, the pyramid model could be considered a robust instrument for indexing medical imagery. IntroductionMedical images provide vital clinical data and are considered a powerful educational resource due to their immediate, informative, and illustrative nature. Medical images can be used by clinicians for their daily practice of medicine, such as making diagnoses, planning treatment, and monitoring responses to therapy as well as for medical education and research (Cleveland & Cleveland, 2009;Kalpathy-Cramer & Hersh, 2010;Müller, Michoux, Bandon, & Geissbuhler, 2004). Past studies have reported significant learning improvements when using medical images during classes and self-education for medical students and residents (Dawes, Vowler, Allen, & Dixon, 2004; KalpathyCramer & Hersh, 2010). A single hospital radiology department alone produced 50,000 images per day in 2006 (Müller , 2007). With the dramatic explosion of digital image collections in medicine, it is important to develop advanced techniques for effective and efficient management of this information, enabling users quick and easy access in a clinically meaningful way.Image information systems (e.g., picture archiving and communication systems) provide rapid access to digitalized film images and allow users to access medical-image databases based on combinations of a patient's identification, visit dates, and study characteristics (e.g., modality and study description) (Müller et al., 2004). However, to fulfill users' various requirements under different contexts of u...

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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...' -Isaac AsimovFrom the discovery of penicillin and x-rays to the development of many of today's chemotherapy agents, serendipitous findings tangential to the researcher's intended purpose, those "That's funny…" moments, have greatly impacted the health and well-being of society. As an information behavior, these unexpected findings are an example of the Opportunistic Discovery of Information (ODI). ODI has been described in many contexts, from information behavior in virtual worlds to the impact of information encountering on health behaviors. Yet, little is known about instances of ODI within the context of scientific research. This study uses content analysis to reveal reported instances of ODI in recently published biomedical literature. Our findings propose a taxonomy of term use indicating the presence of serendipity in the research process and reveal the relationship between the authors' word choice for serendipity and specific types of ODI experiences.

IntroductionInternational collaboration is recognised for enhancing the ability to approach complex problems from a variety of perspectives, increasing development of a wider range of research skills and techniques and improving publication and acceptance rates. The aim of this paper is to describe the current status of international collaboration in medical radiation science and compare this to other allied health occupations.MethodsThis study utilised a content analysis approach where co‐authorship of a journal article was used as a proxy for research collaboration and the papers were assigned to countries based on the corporate address given in the by‐line of the publication. A convenience sample method was employed and articles published in the professional medical radiation science journals in the countries represented within our research team – Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) were sampled. Physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy and nursing were chosen for comparison.ResultsRates of international collaboration in medical radiation science journals from Australia, the UK and the USA have steadily increased over the 3‐year period sampled. Medical radiation science demonstrated lower average rates of international collaboration than the other allied health occupations sampled. The average rate of international collaboration in nursing was far below that of the allied health occupations sampled. Overall, the UK had the highest average rate of international collaboration, followed by Australia and the USA, the lowest.ConclusionOverall, medical radiation science is lagging in international collaboration in comparison to other allied health fields.