Internet search engines

Here’s a nice chart I found which compares the features of internet search engines.

News sources – cancer

Here are a few free websites worth checking if you are interested in keeping track of breaking cancer news:

http://www.cancernews.com

http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/

http://www.topix.net/health/cancer 

http://cis.nci.nih.gov/news/new.html

Health, United States

    Health, United States is an annual report prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics which looks at trends in US health. The complete report can be found here. If you dont want to read the whole report check out the executive summary or just look at the charts and graphics

CCRs, ILs and GFs OH MY!

With scientists around the world forever finding and documenting new cell signaling molecules it’s not surprising that the naming and categorization of such factors often gets very confusing. It’s rare that a compound has only one name.

An excellent resource for deciphering what is what is the COPE (Cytokines & Cells Online Pathfinder Encyclopaedia). I cannot tell you how many times this useful resource has helped me out. Not only does it provide alternative terms for each factor – but handy info on receptors and interdependent pathways.

Other, more molecular based resources include The Cytokine Web and The Cytokine Family Database

Enzymes

There are often multiple names for enzymes and the conscientious searcher will want to track them all down. I’m not sure that any one resource offers a one stop shop solution but the ExPASy Enzyme database is a pretty good place to start – providing alternative names and EC numbers. The MeSH indexing system is also pretty well updated in this area. Whether or not you are searching Medline/Pubmed you can check for alternative names and hierachies using the MeSH Browser