Posted by Molybdenum on May 22, 2008, at 22:50:31
In reply to Re: We need a script please...!!!, posted by Dr. Bob on May 19, 2008, at 7:23:36
> > I think you're correct in that a spell-checker option would sort out a lot of my issues.
> >
> > Could you make the spell-checker suggest "Remeron (mirtazapine)" when someone types "Rimeron"..?
>
> OK, so as not to reinvent the wheel, have you seen any other sites that do that? Thanks,
>
> BobWell I've looked & looked but I can't find a similar thing on the www! I don't read a zillion forums - and this is the only medical one I'm interested in, but I do subscribe to quite a few Comp Sci related ones - that's my area of expertise. The kind of modified dictionary needed here just wouldn't work at the other forums I visit. In fact, I can't think of any other subject matter that would have this issue / benefit from it like it would for the medical industry. Where else are there so many synonyms?
So I think the best bet would be to talk to whoever does your server & operating systems admin about adding a custom dictionary. I think they'll be able to do that pretty easily. Even if your current SW does not allow for this, the inbuilt dictionary could at least be appended to include the medical name data that would be imported on a regular basis.
For example, each line from your source DB would likely be in the format: Mirtazapine (Remeron, Zispin, Remergil, Norset, Rexer, Remergon, Mirtabene, Avanza, Mirtazon, Axit, Mirtaz, Promyrtil, Noxibel, Mirzaten, Mizapin)
Then your systems admin staff would need to write a little script to turn the above into multiple lines like this:
Remeron (Mirtazapine)
Zispin (Mirtazapine)
Remergil (Mirtazapine)
Norset (Mirtazapine)
etc..- which would then become separate "word" entries in your dictionary.
Another way to get the data would be to do a lookup at another site every time someone started to write a post. So your server would send the term "Remmeron" to another site & it would return several strings such as "Remeron (Mirtazapine)", etc.
So the issue is where to get such a DB from. I don't believe it's proprietary information. A quick googling for "free medical dictionary" has found:
1. USP Dictionary of USAN and International Drug Names developed by the US Pharmacopeia. at http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0464.html#DI
2. http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ This looks a bit more friendly. In fact, on the left hand pane, is:
For webmasters
- Free content for websites
- Linking to the Dictionary
- Dictionary lookup box
- Script word lookup
- Partner with usSounds like they offer this service and considering the URL is "thefreedictionary" - the price sounds right too :)
3. And there's always Wikipedia. We know they have exactly the data required. Take a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirtazapine & there's a nicely formatted list of equivalent names 1/2 a page down. They might very well offer a service where you could either get a regular dump of this data or else do a lookup each time.To reiterate, (I do that a lot) I think this would be a great feature. Not only would the posts become easier to read & more informative but your entire Babble history could become an even more valuable resource. One could just look up "mirtazapine" and know that the hits you get are all that's there. No more trying one brand name after another. And currently any search will likely not reveal what good info there might be contained in threads where a drug-name is misspelt.
Hmmm..... :)
poster:Molybdenum
thread:826556
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20080424/msgs/830626.html