Alternatives Database

NOAH’S ARKIVE

Originally named The International Veterinary Pathology Slide Bank (IVPSB), this database was conceived in the early 1980’s as a repository of slides contributed by individuals and institutions around the world. In 1986, the 3rd edition was the first to become available on laser videodisc format. Now in its 8th edition, the slides are currently being digitised into images for CD–ROM. The Clinical Pathology, Ruminant, and WHEAL (Wildlife, Human, Exotic Animals, Avian, Laboratory Animals) subsets are now available on CD–ROM. Additional subsets are in development; however, there is no projected time frame for availability of all of the planned subsets. The 7th edition of the IVPSB laser videodisc included approximately 30,000 still frame visuals of veterinary medicine (comprising normal breeds of animals, gross lesions, histopathology, normal histology, cytology and haematology, parasitology, poisonous plants, animals with/without clinical signs, schematics, radiographs, electron micrographs and techniques), 4,500 still images from the English videodisc U.K. Path I, 1,500 still images from the Atlantic Veterinary College Histopathology videodisc, and 70,000 frames of real time motion sequences of clinical neurology in the dog and cat. The visuals were donated by over 250 contributors representing 13 countries.

Medium: CD-ROM; laser videodisc
System requirements for CD-ROM subsets: Windows 95/98/2000/NT4.0/ME, with Pentium processor of at least 200 MHz; Macintosh computers may be utilised to open files in JPG, TXT, and PDF formats, but the searchable database is not supported at this time; also required is an image viewer capable of displaying JPG files, such as Microsoft Photoeditor (included with Microsoft Office 2000), Adobe Photoshop, Thumbs Plus, QuickTime, ACDSee, etc. Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to open the image catalogues
System requirements for laser videodisc edition: PC compatible computer with 512 KB RAM Level I, III CAV disc; standard videodisc player (i.e. Pioneer LD-V4400); the videodisc player must be NTSC video format (not PAL or SECAM); the most stable and easiest configured system consists of a PC running Windows 95 and equipped with a Pioneer laser videodisc; software problems may be encountered with any other configuration
Price: US$50.00 (Clinical Pathology subset, on one CD-ROM); US$60.00 (Ruminant subset, on 2 CD-ROMs); US$70.00 (WHEAL subset, on 4 CD-ROMs); US$400.00 (7th edition laser videodisc)