Dr Shock speculates that I am busy with Twitter. But that is not the case. I am busy with my historical research on electrotherapy with a focus on magnetic stimulation and psychiatry. Now I am working on the period around 1900.  I found a lot of documents about German magnetotherapy. An electrotechnical engineer Eugen Konrad Müller produced a apparatus that produced an alternating magnetic field with an alternating current.  He claims he saw phosphenes in 1883 when he placed his head near an alternating magnetic field. Around 1900, he founded an institute in Zürich to investigate the effects of the magnetic waves produced by his apparatus. Physicians also got involved. They claimed that the apparatus was able to heal 70% of all conditions caused by an irritated nervous system (for instance neurasthenia) and  vasomotoric problems.  But Müller was not the only one who made an electromagnetic apparatus. The firm Trüb also produced an electromagnetic therapeutic machine. This machine worked with a rotating simple magnet. There was a lot of debate which machine worked and if the machines worked at all.

This is a just a little insight in the research I am doing right now. I want to extend the period to  nowadays and investigate how it came about that magnetic brain stimulation is al around.  I am still looking for interesting articles about magnetotherapy in the UK, France and US around 1900. So if someone has some clues or some interesting links please let me know. The research is not confined the scientific articles. Everything (photos, populair articles, newspaper articles) is interesting.

I would love to go to the exhibition about mental illness and visual arts in Vienna 1900. This would be a nice addition to the things I allready know about this period.

Yesterday I wrote about my pdf-overload and how I am coping with that. Today I will write about other sources information that I want to store or want to be alerted to.  I use:

*) Evernote to store extracts from webpages with the accompanying link. Before using Evernote I used Google Notebook.  But since there are rumours that Google stops supporting Notebook I switched to Evernote. I must say that I liked Notebook better. One of the reasons for that is that I also use Google Reader. I also would like to have the opportunity to work offline, but I did not yet find a solution for that. 

*) Google Reader to read my RSS-feeds. Not so long ago I had over a thousand RSS-feeds but I removed them all and started all over again. Nowadays I have approx. 25 feeds I read. I also created RSS-feeds for Pubmed for deep brain stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation.  Below you can find a video about creating a RSS-feed for a pubmed search term. 

*) Twitter to obtain information before it is even published on one of the weblogs. Since google reader does not yet(?) support some kind of alert if a new message arrives, Twitter gives me alert if something new is posted. But I am not yet a fervent Twitterer. 

*) I almost never use the favorites of my browser. Google Chrome automatically remembers the websites I visit the most. For other websites I just type the URL or I use google to find the url. 

*) I installed WordPress on my Asus EEEPC with linux. I also installed a webserver with mysql. This allows me to take notes during discussions in places where no (wireless) internet is available. These spots still exist in the Netherlands. 

As you can see I still use several software packages to store my information. Ideally, I want to store all the information in one place.

Dr Shock asked for this.  I use five Greasemonkey scripts.

*) Pubmed redirect. First of all I redirect all pubmed pages (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) to the pubmed page (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl) of my university
*) Automatically open UBU link. If the pubmed page consists of a direct (UBU) link this script automatically opens the link to the pages of for instance a journal.
*) Resize window. For some reason I do not know a library page opens in a small windows. This scripts makes sure that the window resizes to the full screen.
*) Automatically open PDF.  If the pubmed page consists of links to pdf’s then this script automatically opens the pdf.
*) Redirect Springerlink. This is a redirect script for Springer pages.

You can find the scripts below. Any questions? Let me know.

—– Pubmed redirect ———————————————

// ==UserScript==
// @name           Redirect Pubmed
// @namespace      Redirect Pubmed
// @description    Redirect Pubmed
// @include        http://*ncbi.nlm.nih.gov*/*
// ==/UserScript==

//alert(document.location.href);
var str =  document.location.href; // get the hyperlink of the current page and store it in the variable str
var matchpos = str.search(/proxy.library.uu.nl/); // see if proxy.library.uu.nl occurs in the variable str 
var rep =   “ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl”;  // store new hyperlink in variable rep
if (matchpos ==-1){ // if str does not contain proxy.library.uu.nl then substitute links
str = str.replace(/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/g, rep); // substitute ncbi.nlm.nih.gov with variable rep
document.location.href= str;
}

———————————————————————–

—– Automatically open UBU Link —————————-
// ==UserScript==
// @name           Automatically open UBU Link
// @namespace      NLM.NIH.GOV.PROXY.LIBRARY.UU.NL
// @include        http://*ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl*
// ==/UserScript==

// an UBU link is characterized by one of the following links: sfx.library.uu.nl, pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender or ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl/entrez/utils/fref.fcgi?PrId

var links = document.getElementsByTagName(‘a’); // get all hyperlinks and store them in variable links
for(var i = 0; i < links.length; i++) { // loop through the hyperlinks in variable links

var url = links[i].href; // store array variable in url
var matchpos = url.search(/sfx.library.uu.nl/) // see if sfx.library.uu.nl occurs in the variable url
if (matchpos !=-1){ // if url contains sfx.library.uu.nl open url in new tab
GM_openInTab(url);

}
var matchpos1 = url.search(/pubmedcentral.nih.gov\/articlerender/); // see if pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender occurs in the variable url
if (matchpos1 !=-1){ // if url contains pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender open url in new tab
document.location = url;

}
var matchpos2 = url.search(/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl\/entrez\/utils\/fref.fcgi\?PrId/); // see if ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl/entrez/utils/fref.fcgi?PrId occurs in the variable url
if (matchpos2 !=-1){ // if url contains ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl/entrez/utils/fref.fcgi?PrId open url in new tab
GM_openInTab(url);

}

}
———————————————————————–

—– Resize window —————— —————————-

// ==UserScript==
// @name           Library
// @namespace      Sfx.library.uu.nl
// @include        http://sfx.library.uu.nl.proxy.library.uu.nl*
// ==/UserScript==

self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

———————————————————————–

———Automatically open PDF ——————————-

// ==UserScript==
// @name           Automatically open PDF
// @namespace      Pubmedcentral
// @include        http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=*
// ==/UserScript==

// if a hyperlink on a http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov.proxy.library.uu.nl/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=* page contains blobtype=pdf then it refers to a pdf. So this scripts looks for such hyperlinks and opens them if it occurs.

var found = 0;
var links = document.getElementsByTagName(‘a’); // get all hyperlinks and store them in variable links
for(var i = 0; i < links.length; i++) { // loop through the hyperlinks in variable links

var url = links[i].href;
var matchpos = url.search(/blobtype\=pdf/);  // see if blobtype=pdf occurs in the variable url

if (matchpos !=-1 && found==0){  // if url contains blobtype=pdf open url in new window
window.location = url;
//alert(url);
found = 1; // to prevent opening more than one window the variable found is set to 1

}

}

———————————————————————–

———Redirect Springerlink ————————————

// ==UserScript==
// @name           Redirect Springerlink
// @namespace      Pubmedcentral
// @include        http://www.springerlink.com/*
// ==/UserScript==

var str =  document.location.href;
var matchpos = str.search(/proxy.library.uu.nl/);
var rep =   “www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.uu.nl”;
if (matchpos ==-1){
str = str.replace(/www.springerlink.com/g, rep);
document.location.href= str;
}

———————————————————————–

As promised I will explain how I am strugling to keep an overview of all the references I collect during my historical research about brain stimulation in psychiatry. Ideally, with a web application I should be able to do all the things I want. But none does exactly what I want. Web applications as Mendeley or Labmeeting are great for sharing your pdf with other people and tagging your pdfs. So let’s start how I work.

*) I start using Endnote. I use the online search option in Endnote to find articles about for instance transcranial magnetic stimulation. The interesting ones I add to my Endnote library. I can use them later to create references in Word.

*) Next I export my references to a text file. This text file is imported in an Access database. I created this database especially for this research. I for instance want to know the last time I opened a pdf. I also want to store quotes from the original article together with the meta information.

*) I use Adobe Pro to annnotate the pdfs. You can highlight or underline text with Abobe Pro.The underlined or highlighted text can then be copied into my Access database. I do not have to retype all the text.

*) Another thing that annoyed me was the many mouse clicks I needed to arrive at the pdf. First I click on the link in my database. Then at home I have to login to the library. Then the Pubmed page opens and I have to click the logo of the journal (if it is electronically available). After clicking that logo I have to click again on a different page and then finally I have my pdf. This takes at least 6 clicks. To overcome this I use Greasemonkey. This is an add-on for Firefox. This add-on uses javascript and can automate things. I created several scripts and now if a pdf is available it will open automatically if I click on a Pubmed link.

*) I store my information on an external harddisk to be able to work at different places.

If you want more information about how I work or if you have ideas how I can improve my process please let me know in the comments.

Updated
An example of the Adobe Online Sharing Service.

Links:

Adobe Online Sharing Acrobat.com is a set of online services — file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor, and web conferencing — you can use to create and share documents, communicate in real time, and simplify working with others. It’s free, so sign up now.

Abobe Pro Pdf reader and manipulation tool

Endnote Reference management software

Greasemonkey Firefox add-on

Labmeeting Online sharing of pdfs

Mendeley Online sharing of pdfs

Stanford University has her own video channel on YouTube.  It also features a series of 7 videos on the future of human health.  It is all about the brain and very interesting. Thanks to Scienceroll. 

Building a Circuit-Diagram for the Brain

Understanding Blindness and the Brain

Brain-Computer Interfaces

Controlling the Brain with Light

Googling the Brain on a Chip

Visualizing Desire

Deafness: Emerging Strategies for a Cure

Since I will be busy finishing my thesis about on a history of brain stimulation in psychiatry with a focus on TMS, DBS and VNS, I will keep you updated about my achievements. This will mean that I will post less about web 2.0 and all that kind of stuff.

Later I will tell something about the way I work. How do I cope with loads of pdf (>100) and loads of references (>3000). But for now I just want to share some interesting videos about brain stimulation. Two are about TMS. The first one is a promotional video (thanks to Brain Stimulant).  It tells us that Deep TMS was invented in 2001, but I am not really sure that is true.  But I will find out during my research.

The next video does not feature a psychiatric application but is nevertheless interesting. It is about eye tracking with TMS.

And the last one is about DBS.

Update
Even more videos on Youtube about this subject.

And Taiwan will host the first international conference on neuroprosthetic devices.

I need some help. I am writing an article about epilepsy in the 19th century. In the article I want to focus on the relation between animal experimentation, epilepsy and electricity during the 19th century. I allready have collected some interesting articles and books.

During my search for information I found the following interesting things: The First Reported Case of Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain, MORGAN, J Hist Med Allied Sci. 1982; XXXVII: 51-64, The history of Modern Epilepsy: The beginning 1865-1914, and The falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology.

But I am sure there is more information on this topic. So if you know where I can find this information please let me know. You can leave it in the comments or send me an e-mail at jan @ medblog.nl.