Peer Review

NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASE CENTER

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Oct 14, 2005 by Biology

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The Neuromuscular Disease Center is a reference website that contains
comprehensive and detailed information on various neuromuscular disorders and
syndromes. The information is presented in a text-based outline format with
supporting static visuals either as diagrammatic illustrations and/or
photographic gross/microscopic/EM images. The descriptions of each disease may
include a description of disease properties (anatomically, physiologically, or
cellular/molecular level), epidemiology of the disease, clinical factors and
features, disease progression, typical laboratory findings, treatment options,
and external reference links. Additional information is also provided on
pathology and neurological and molecular/cellular systems. The website contains a database of neuromuscular disorders & syndromes,
including those which are truly neuromuscular (peripheral) in nature and those
which have central nervous system foci. It is organized as a primary reference
source, with broad-ranging details of disorders listed sparsely and linked to
greater detail. The material is up to date and the website is well-maintained
and fairly easy to navigate, though the clear assumption is that the user is
quite knowledgeable in biomedical science methods in both the laboratory and
clinical settings.
Type of Material:: Both clinical and research laboratory descriptions of neuromuscular disorders,
their pathology, clinical presentation, and underlying biological and
biochemical processes.
Recommended Uses:: Reference use for clinical and research laboratory applications, especially when
a full description of a disorder is needed. The links provide a rich
description of the current state of knowledge on many aspects of individual
neuromuscular disorders.
Technical Requirements:: None
Identify Major Learning Goals:: To provide an up-to-date knowledge base for use by research and clinical
professionals.
Target Student Population:: Advanced level medical students and clinicians with emphasis in neuroscience and
molecular biology
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: The assumed prerequisite knowledge includes genetics, physiology, and especially neuromuscular and neuroscience training, plus an ability to use clinical
terminology.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

Outstanding starting point for learning about individual neuromuscular
disorders, or by searching, finding a set of possible disorders that are related in clinical presentation, pathology, known genetic defect, etc.
Well-maintained and current.
The material is very comprehensive at a cellular/molecular level and accurate.
The visuals are a valuable asset to understanding the diseases or systems.

Concerns:

Information is presented in a sparse, outline format with rich links. However, the target audience is highly-educated in biomedical sciences - beyond the level of a typical undergraduate student. The terminology used in the outlines is quite advanced, and will limit the usefulness of the database to students who have not yet completed courses in genetics, human anatomy, physiology, neuroscience, and at least an introduction to clinical diagnosis.
While the content is comprehensive as discrete components (ex: actin, myosin),
there seems to be insufficient synthesis and integration on the interactions or
processes of the systems (how do they actually interact with each other).
As a reference site, I believe the index (and search) should be the strongest element of the site so users can find information in the most efficient way. The index has redundancies in the links at the top of the page and the boxed region next to the alphabet.
A few of the links do not work, and I believe they were to external sites.
A couple of images/animations could benefit with further text description (not as bullet points) about what is happening. Ex: Muscle fiber contraction a key would be useful to know what each element is and how the process occurs.
A key of they symbols (like external links) would be helpful.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

For an advanced audience, the database will be useful.
This site is best used for a user to search for the topic they are looking for.
The site is useful for linking to external journal references in the area. While specific articles are pulled up in the NCBI database, I have seen only 1 article pulled up. I would assume there would be multiple references. I also suggest the link to open up a new page instead of replacing the existing page.

Concerns:

The website is primarily an index and reference source. There is specific pedagogical component of the website.
As a reference tool, it will be useful to include it on the course homepage. However, directed searches should be provided by the instructor to bring out the value of the content embedded within.
If the site is to be more than a reference tool, it will require organization, learning objectives, and self assessments.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The website is logically-designed and fairly easy to navigate. One must know what one is looking for, however. A significant amount of a priori knowledge is required in order to determine which of the links may be significant for the purposes of the user. A very good reference for faculty and advanced degree candidates.
The pages loaded quickly.

Concerns:

The breadth and depth of content could benefit from a more hierarchical
structure and organization to target the needs of the specific target population. I struggled to imagine several scenarios of how I might use this
site without getting overloaded with extraneous information. Who is the target
audience? There is Patient Info is this for physicians to refer their
patients to or for patients to enter the site and get the information themselves?
It is unclear on the purpose of the new or revised section for the user (not the developer) which makes the front page too text heavy. If this element is important to the user, suggest to move these elements to the index section and present them as 2 columns, with the last modified date and the user can sort by item name or date to get this information.
There is no attempt made to explain disorders at an elementary level. This is a strength for the purposes for which the website was intended, which I believe is to act as an authoritative, current guide to best knowledge and practice regarding all neuromuscular disorders.
Because the site is very text-heavy (with very long, scrolling pages), it is poorly organized.
- Links go to either a part on the page, to another web page, or to an external webstie (external journal articles).
- The back button was required to identify where I was.
- Suggest to change: FRONT to Home, as this is the standard nomenclature.
- Suggest having a two-tiered navigation system with a left hand menu to contain the elements of the page and a main navigation across top to specific categories, elements like index, search to be in a subnavigation area to a left
  column beneath the content menu for that page.
- The navigation should be consistent from the home page to the other pages in name and number. For example, lab tests is on the front page, but in the subpages, it is not there and there is alink for patient info.
- As a side note, if I click on both basic and subcellular, they take me to the same page, however, the navigational pop up menus are different this can be disjointing to the user.
- Ex: Myosin and associated muscle proteins page. The table provided (M-line -> Muscle fiber structure) should navigate me through the page in the order of the list. Since the text is very long, it might be helpful to be able to access this navigation while navigating through the page. Some of the links are external, which can also be disjointing for the user.

Other Issues and Comments:

The website author(s) have done a remarkable job of organizing a truly enormous database. The website is no doubt of great value to professionals in neurology, and medical and graduate students and researchers interested in neuromuscular disorders. It also could be quite useful to faculty who are preparing lecture material that may focus on a specific disorder or class of disorders.
There is a lot of valuable content on the website and with reorganization and navigational structure, the content can be easily accessible for the users.

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