NETLINES

• The John Snow Society has produced a website to celebrate the life and achievements of this pioneer in anaesthesia and epidemiology (www.johnsnowsociety.org). The home page sports a picture of the John Snow pub (the facts page states that he was teetotal) in London and the site of the pump (just outside the pub) that he proved was the source of a local cholera outbreak. The site has links to the facts page on the life and times of Snow, copies of recent lectures in the “Pumphandle” series, and information about joining the society.

• Endodiabology (http://endodiabology.blogspot.com/) is a newsletter published as a blog for professionals involved with diabetes and endocrinology in the north east of England. It has a mixture of news, meetings, training issues, and educational matters, and links to other relevant sites. Although very much a regional publication, it does show how doctors who work in a local area can easily keep in touch with each other using the self publishing tools of a blog.

• Dermatology websites are always popular, and an excellent example is the Virtual Grand Rounds in Dermatology (www.vgrd.org). A mix of text and pictures is used to illustrate each case, and there is a reasonable archive. The site is designed to be a global resource, and its creators particularly welcome contributions from dermatologists in developing countries. The design of the site is simple, but this makes it easy to navigate, and it serves its purpose well.

• The field of medical information technology is a fast moving one. One UK site that helps to keep tabs on developments is www.e-health-insider.com. Weekly newsletters, up to date news, and articles reviewing the medical IT scene in Britain make this an interesting and informative site. It has links to its most popular downloads, or you can simply subscribe to its email newsletter.

• The Department of Pathology at the Virginia Commonwealth University has made available an excellent collection of grand rounds at www.pathology.vcu.edu/news/rounds.html. The documents are either abstracts or slide presentations, neither of which involve big downloads. I could not find any video or audio files, but it has a decent archive and a programme of future speakers and titles. It is a useful source of material and ideas for a postgraduate learning programme, not necessarily related to pathology.