[A model for integrating biomedical research information]

Any new knowledge obtained from clinical research cannot easily be transferred to clinical practice for several reasons, including publication bias, lack of medical knowledge databases (or lack of their completeness), and lack of integration among these databases. Several initiatives have been launched to organize and combine scientific information and clinical knowledge in order to make them accessible to everyone. The most important of these initiatives was proposed by the National Library of Medicine, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, which has so far developed and integrated several databases that are currently freely available on the internet for use by researchers, physicians, and consumers. The more well-known of these databases are PubMed (the free version of Medline), ClinicalTrials.gov, National Guideline Clearinghouse, Drug Information and MedlinePlus. These have been designed using a uniform language and structure, in order to be able to organize and link the knowledge coming from the medical literature, clinical research, medical guidelines, and experience in the use of drugs. The model is restricted to the US, but could easily be applied in Europe and, in particular, in Italy.