Endocrinological cancers and the internet.

Endocrine cancers are some of the commonest forms of cancer getting mention as early as in old papyruses of Egypt. Our current knowledge about this cluster of cancer has grown immensely with improved survival rates. In the era of specialization and super specialization, we started peeking into these conditions more elaborately and beyond microscopically. The growing awareness demanded categorization of information into disease basics like molecular pathology of initiation and progression; advanced diagnostics; new therapeutic options; patient awareness and involvement in clinical trials. Recent advances in genomics and hereditary counseling have delineated pre-disease forecasting possibilities. With advanced diagnostics and therapeutic modalities, we saw an increase in cancer survivors demanding extra care and moral support. Throughout these developments, we went through a boost in global information communications, the main thrust being the Internet. Networking of computers globally generated a platform that created a ripple of knowledge far and wide. The purpose of this review is to investigate how the Internet is supporting the growth and development of the field of endocrine cancer, and present and future scope of the Internet as a tool for professionals involved in this area. The information furnished here were collected from cited references as well as all websites mentioned in the tables.

E-endocrinology: An update.

Internet, from a long time, has opened up a myriad resource of knowledge and applications for academicians, researchers and clinicians alike in all health care professions across the globe. Basic endocrinologists are exploring through bench-top protocols to understand endocrine system and to design therapeutic interventions. Clinicians are required to continuously look for new developments relating to investigation, diagnosis and therapeutic options in their everyday practice for better quality of life of patients. All these require managing a large body of information. Now, these innovative technologies have opened up newer avenues for endocrinologists. As internet is serving the backbone for modern technologies, it is of utmost necessity to use and refine internet applications for future endocrinologists. Increasingly, easy access to internet has dramatically reduced barriers in sharing information among basic and clinical endocrinologists. Considering the growing scope for endocrinologists in the use of internet, it is necessary to understand internet as a source of information and backbone of modern applications. This review illustrates the expanding roles of the internet for endocrinologists and provides a ready-to-use compilation of useful academic, research, clinical resources, and is expected to introduce, stimulate and guide endocrinologists into the realm of WWW.

Study of vitamin-D receptor (VDR) gene start codon polymorphism (Fok I) in healthy individuals from North India.

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene Fok I polymorphism represents a strong positional candidate susceptibility gene for different diseases like Prostate cancer, Urolithiasis, Inflammatory bowl disease and Osteoporosis. This genetic variation has also been of great interest due to its possible association with polygenic diseases. Allelic frequencies of the F/f start codon polymorphism of VDR gene vary among populations but there is no data regarding its distribution from India. The present study was carried out to determine the normal distribution of VDR gene Fok I polymorphism by using a PCR-based restriction analysis in unrelated normal healthy individuals from North India. We obtained an allelic frequency of 71.5% and 28.5% for (F) and (f) allele and the percentage of genotypes FF, Ff and ff as 46%, 51% and 3% respectively. Our results suggest that the frequency and distribution of this polymorphism in Indian population is substantially different from other populations and ethenic groups.