Abstract
Abstract: :
In 1998 we introduced the IRPA Scientific Newsletter, an integrative website later renamed Retina International’s Scientific Newsletter (RISN) (www.retina–international.org/sci–news/) when the International Retinitis Pigmentosa Association changed its name [1]. The RISN assembles internet databases, data from published literature, and prime information contributed by research teams. Since its inception several features have resulted in 222 pages on the website, including features like "Editor‘s Notes from Literature", "The Mutation Database", "The Disease Database", or the "The Animal Model Database". Our major objective over the past 7 years has been to provide information for scientists, clinicians, and patients. 800 to 1000 visitors to the site honor this effort each month. The major advantage of our approach is the accessibility to data in a compiled format. In the past, World Wide Web (WWW) searches yielded incomplete information .Typically, internet resources deal with a single aspect of information, like disease loci, gene sequence and structure, or pathogenesis. In contrast, the data presented in the RISN is the result of the editor’s screen of literature and data provided on the WWW. Since the number of useful sites on the WWW is so abundant hyperlinks to these resources have been included. Input from our visitors urged us to improve the layout as well as to include useful pages that help understand and find the data provided. We avoided the use of frames to ensure accessibility by screen readers and interlinked the data inside the RISN for easy navigation through the pages. An abbreviations page and a glossary on the terms used on our website shall give even the most inexperienced reader the possibility to follow the progress in retinal science. [1] Preising,M., Lorenz,B. (1998) IRPA scientific newsletter–a new website to integrate data on hereditary retinal disorders. Ophthalm.Genet. 19 (4): 213–214.
Keywords: genetics • gene screening • gene/expression