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               Cancer: Just the FAQs

Answer to a Frequently-Asked Question (FAQ): 
 
What online sources of information are available about cancer? 
 
1. CancerNet. 
 
CancerNet is by far the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of
information about cancer.  It is maintained by the (United States)
National Cancer Institute.  Included in this database is a
well-maintained list of other information sources, such as MEDLINE, so
for most people this is THE place to start.  Sources of information that
are listed in CancerNet are (usually) not repeated in this FAQ.   
 
Send e-mail to:   
 
    cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov  
 
with no subject, and the word "help" as the message.  They will send you
a message explaining how to use the system.  They can also be reached by
calling the voice line: 1-800-4CANCER.  For those without online access,
they can send out brochures and FAX'es.   
 
CancerNet is available through voice phone, traditional mail, FAX,
e-mail, gopher, ftp, and World Wide Web.  Contact CancerNet via e-mail or
voice phone for current access instructions.   
 
2. Commercial online services. 
 
Many online services have forums for people to discuss cancer.   
 
CompuServe's forum (GO CANCER) has many friendly people there who are
either cancer patients or medical professionals.   
 
Prodigy is said to have a good Medical Bulletin Board, with several
different subjects under the Cancer topic, including a prostate cancer
group.   
 
At the time this FAQ was updated, no one has commented on the quality of
the cancer forums on other online services, but such comments would be
welcome.   
 
To start an account, contact the service of your choice.  Each service
can be contacted by voice through an 800 number.  Call the 800 directory
service (voice) at 800-555-1212 for the 800 number of the service you
would like to try.  Most services offer free or reduced-cost service for
the first month of use.  You might want to check recent computer-related
magazines for special offers and coupons.   
  
3.  Gopher and WWW 
 
To get the most current Gopher/World Wide Web addresses of interest, it's
best to just get on and start searching.  To help you get started, here's
a list of servers that others have found useful.  The list may not be up
to date, but it should provide some good starting points.   
 
If you don't know what Gopher and WWW are, look for some FAQ's in the new
users newsgroups or the gopher/WWW newsgroups, or contact your local help
desk or system administrator.   
 
gopher://gopher.nih.gov - Cancernet gopher  
http://www.nih.gov/ - NIH WWW server  
http://billings.nlm.nih.gov/welcome.html - National Library of Medicine 
http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/ - OncoLink, from the U. of Pennsylvania 
gopher://cancer.med.upenn.edu:80 - OncoLink, via gopher 
gopher://utmdacc.uth.tmc.edu - M.D.Anderson (cancer center) 
gopher://gopher.dfci.harvard.edu - Dana-Farber (cancer center) 
gopher://bigmac.mskcc.org - Sloan-Kettering (cancer center) 
gopher://gopher.ncc.go.jp/ - National Cancer Center Tokyo 
gopher://istge.ist.unige.it - IST (Nat Inst for Cancer Research) (Italy) 
gopher://yaleinfo.yale.edu:7000/11/Biomed - Yale Medical Center  
gopher://serversun.mdv.gwdg.de/ - GWDG Goettingen  
gopher://med-gopher.stanford.edu/ - Stanford medical center  
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ - HyperDOC at US National Library of Medicine  
ftp://ftp.sura.net/pub/nic/ - Health sciences resources list  
gopher://weeds.mgh.harvard.edu/ - Global Biological Information Servers  
at Harvard - also by topic.  
 
4.  The FDA BBS. 

For information on specific drugs, you might try the FDA BBS (U. S. Food
and Drug Administration's Bulletin Board System).  Using the telnet
facility, telnet to "fdabbs.fda.gov", and login as "bbs".    
  
Technical Support is available for the FDA BBS System from 7:00 A.M. to
7:00 P.M. EST Monday through Friday. For support, contact the Parklawn
Computer Center (PCC) at (301)443-7318.  If you are looking for a
specific report or article, contact the FDA Press Office at
(301)443-3285.   
 
5.  Local BBS systems. 

(From Steve King, sking@holonet.net, steve.king@fatal.com) 

Doug MacLean and I host the Cancer Recovery Conference on the RIME BBS
net.  We seem to have no medical professionals in the conference to
answer technical questions, but we do provide peer support.  I've been in
remission for six years and Doug is still going through treatment. 
 
To access our conference you need to call a BBS that carries the RIME BBS
network, which is similar to FidoNet.  If the BBS doesn't carry the
Cancer Recovery Conference, ask the Sysop if he/she will subscribe to it. 
Most Sysops are quite willing to add conferences at their callers
request, particularly support conferences such as this one. 
  
6.  Online library catalogs (to help find books). 

There are many good (and some awful) books about cancer and
cancer-related issues.  You local library may have its catalog 
online, especially if it's a University-related library.   
  
7.  Net News 

In case this FAQ was forwarded to you by e-mail, you might want to know
that it is posted every week or so on the news groups "sci.med", and
"alt.support.cancer".  These are both good newsgroups for cancer
information and support.  The FAQ is also posted on "news.answers", a
group for FAQ's. 
  
8.  The NYU BBS for Brain Tumor Support and Research. 
 
From: al.musella@woodybbs.com (Al Musella) 

The head of Neurosurgery at NYU set up a commercial bbs system for brain
tumor support and research.  It is called:  Brain tumor on-line.  For
information, call voice:  800-785-3312. It is pretty new, and not many
people are on it yet, but there are a few doctors from NYU and the Mayo
clinic - so it is a good source of info if you have a brain tumor. 
 
9.  Other FAQ's. 

From: Steve Dunn (snydere@ucsub.Colorado.EDU)  
 
I have an FAQ on new developments in breast cancer. This is definitely
not a complete guide to breast cancer, rather it is a compilation of
things I happen to have run across on the subject that I'd want to know
about if I had breast cancer. I also have FAQ's on good general books on
cancer I and on online information sources. I also have an FAQ on books
on alternative cancer therapies. All available by email on request. 
 
10.  OncoLink 

OncoLink - The University of Pennsylvania Multimedia Oncology Resource. 
 
We would like to announce "OncoLink", a WWW-server and gopher server
oriented to CANCER. This resource is directed to physicians, health care
personnel, social workers, patients and their supporters. 
 
THIS RESOURCE CAN BE REACHED AT: cancer.med.upenn.edu 
 
This cancer information server is currently under development, with
changes made daily. Gopher can reach this resource using Port 80. 
 
With a WWW-client (e.g. Mosaic), use:   http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/ With
a gopher client (e.g. gopher) use: gopher cancer.med.upenn.edu 80 
 
The current subject headings are: 
 
     medical oncology 
     gynecologic oncology 
     radiation oncology 
     pediatric oncology 
     surgical oncology 
     medical physics 
    *psychosocial support for oncology patients & families **** 
     links to other oncology centers in the world 
 
We shall be exploring interactive BBS and other means of disseminating 
cancer information throughout the world on the Internet. The maintainer
of this resource can be contacted at: BUHLE@XRT.UPENN.EDU 
 
  Dr. E. Loren Buhle, Jr.  INTERNET: BUHLE@XRT.UPENN.EDU 
  University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine 
  Phone: 215-662-3084 
  Rm 440A, 3401 Walnut St. 
  Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228   
  FAX: 215-349-5978 
 
 11.  The Virtual Hospital 

From: sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov (Michael D'Alessandro, M.D.) 
Date: 16 Mar 1994 17:44:24 GMT 
 
The Virtual Hospital: A New Paradigm for Electronic Publishing in the
Health Sciences 
 
The Virtual Hospital (VH) is a continuously updated medical multimedia
database stored on computers and accessed through high-speed computer
networks 24 hours a day.  The VH will provide invaluable patient care
support and distance learning to health science practitioners. The VH's
information may be used to answer patient care questions, thus putting
the latest medical information at practitioners' fingertips. This same
information may be used for continuing medical education (CME);
delivering CME to practitioners' offices and homes at a convenient 
time and location. 
 
The VH's medical media is stored in a multimedia database on a file
server (storage computer) linked to the Internet, the data superhighway
of today.  The media is organized into medical multimedia textbooks
(MMTBs).  A MMTB is a multimedia software program that patterns its user
interface after a printed textbook but incorporates functions beyond
those of a printed textbook.  The MMTB provides free text searching and
the ability to play video and audio clips. The multimedia database is
organized using the World Wide Web (WWW) software technology. The WWW
facilitates the acquisition, storage, and organization of information on
the Internet.  WWW file servers organize and store information in a 
coherent knowledge structure or "web," while WWW clients, available for
all major personal computers, are the tools that the user employs to 
access the information that it contains. 
 
The VH will contain MMTBs, diagnostic algorithms, patient simulations,
teaching files, historical information, and patient instructional and CME
materials. Information for the VH is being gathered from lectures,
teaching conferences and grand rounds in all of our Health Science
Colleges. 
 
The VH is currently undergoing initial loading and proofing of content,
and will be fully operational in the next 6 months. In the interim, 
there is already a large amount of useful medical information within it,
so please stop by and browse. The Virtual Hospital is a service of 
the Electric Differential Multimedia Lab in the Department of Radiology
in the University of Iowa College of Medicine. 
 
The URL for the Virtual Hospital is: 
 
http://vh.radiology.uiowa.edu/ 

Michael D'Alessandro, M.D.,  
Department of Radiology, 
The Children's Hospital, Boston 
Email: sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov 

13.  Shareware Programs via FTP 
 
From: hoang@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (My Khanh Hoang) 
Date: 17 May 1994 08:02:51 GMT 
 
The following ftp site: ftp.cica.indiana.edu has several shareware
programs that may be helpful. One particular relevant program is Reduce
Cancer Risk in pub/pc/win3/misc. 
 

14.  The Breast Cancer Information Clearinghouse 

The Breast Cancer Information Clearinghouse is an Internet accessible 
resource for breast cancer patients and their families.   
 
It is our vision that the Breast Cancer Information Clearinghouse will be
a repository for all current information about breast cancer which will
allow patients, survivors and advocates to do 'one stop shopping' for
information about this disease.  It is also our goal that an on-line
survivors network can be established which will allow patients to
communicate with someone who has experienced the same or a similar
prognosis and treatment. 
 
The BCIC is accessible via gopher at nysernet.org, or through WWW at
http://nysernet.org/ 
 
e-mail any comments or suggestions to tmdamon@nysernet.org 
 
Please contribute to the FAQ!  If you have a source of online  
information about cancer that is NOT listed above, AND it is NOT  
listed within any of the above sources (such as CancerNet), then  
please contact the original poster of this message and tell them  
about it.  We are eager to make this list as comprehensive and  
up-to-date as possible. 
 
Good luck, God bless you, and KEEP FIGHTING.  Informed, motivated  
patients live longer!   
 
(end of the Cancer FAQ)

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