Editor's note: This fresh column i...

Editor's note: This fresh column in the Journal focuses upon web-based resources that can further professional and personal increase Online Connections captures the odor of available resources that are of interest to practitioners or patients. The file will include content related to clinical and professional topics that are readyed in each month's Journal and additional information about Internet access and use.

Health care professionals and patients view transplant transactions as miraculous and fascinating affairs Internet resources that are dedicated to disease processe transplant managements donations, and human interest stories abound. This month's row presents a list of starting points related to transplantation in general and kidney transplantation specifically. This list is at no means comprehensive, but via the sites listed, any aspect of the transplantation proces can be explored. The sites listed in this rounded pillar are well designed and stand disclosed for the breadth and extent of the information they provide.

SURFING THE SITES

An admirable very well-organized web site called TransWeb (www.transweb.org) addresses general affairs about organ transplantation and donation. yet not specifically focused on kidney transplantation, the comprehensive resources at TransWeb provide health care consumer and professionals an of the best introduction to the emotional, physical, surgical, and logistical issues that encompass organ donation and transplantation. The site includes the latest of recent origins on transplant procedures and advances, stories from organ recipients and donors, an overview of the transplant proces from the patient's perspective, and a calendar of transplant-related discourses The site also includes information upon the "Transplant Games," which are held each two years for organ recipients, donor families, and other members of the transplant community. These clusters gather for fun-focused track and field competition among organ recipients. It is an amazing affair that celebrates the second chance transplantation gives the recipients. The site has pertinent easy in mind and extensive Internet links.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) (www.unos.org), a nonprofit organization, maintains the national organ acquisition and allocation network beneath a contract from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) As the center of all vital organ (ie, kidney, kidney-pancreas, pancreas, intestine, heart, lung heart-lung, liver) transplantation activity in the United States, UNOS creates the protocols that command tissue procurement and allocation. It also maintains the largest medical databases in the world, tracking donor and recipient matching information and vital statistics regarding each vital organ transplantation in the United States since 1982 recents patient information, statistics, data entreats Internet links, and more are available at this site, as well as the bylaws and regulations that sway tissue allocation.

fresh congressional attempts to change the popular organ allocation system have been the enthrall of controversy. You can read about the two sides of the issue through visiting the UNOS site and then checking the HH Division of Transplantation site at www.hrsa .dhhs.gov/osp/dot.

For information regarding the kidney, visit RenalNet (www .renalnet.org). RenalNet is a clearinghouse for Internet resources dealing with all aspects of kidney transplantation and kidney disorders. Here you will find contacts to professional organizations worldwide, research data, patient information, and information upon end-stage renal disease pathology and dialysis. As an Internet site, RenalNet is large and well designed. It is a great starting point for any inquiry into information about the kidney.

Another kidney-focused resource is available between the sides of MedWeb at the Emory University Health Sciences Library at www.gen.emory.edu/MEDWEB /keyword/nephrology.html. MedWeb is an of the best overall health care resource, with 40 topic areas listed in the nephrology section. The site provides bibliographies to journal articles, Internet links to discussion form into groupss and more.

The Yale library method provides an excellent overall kidney resource at www.med.yale.edu /library/sir/select.phtml?prof_subject=Medicine~Nephrology. This list is well organized and extensive and links to other sites about all aspects of the kidney (eg end-stage renal disease, transplantation, medications, research, clinical trials).

If you want more specific information, check gone out the Atlas of Renal Pathology, created from the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, at www.ajkdjoumal.org. Abstracts and articles about new developments in the field are available online. Also, you will find an image bank that provides slide-quality, downloadable images of renal tissue and detailed descriptions of the disorders.

A similar site, WebPath at the University of Utah health science library, provides detailed information in succession renal pathology at www .medlib.med.utah.edu/WebPath /webpath.html. This site is designed for medical close examiners and health care professionals. It provides a pathology intimation for many disorders, including those affecting the kidney. turn the thoughts under the organ system heading and "Renal Pathology." Descriptions and slide images are shown