New Content, New Topics Fill Buckets to Overflowing
So far, 2004 is shaping up to be the "Year of the Brain" at Medscape, with quite a few new features joining old favorites to fill our information buckets to overflowing. For example, take a look at our newest interactive series, Case Files from the University of Chicago Sleep Disorders Center. These cases will highlight one of the most puzzling yet pervasive health problems of Americans today -- getting a good night's sleep. We hope that these cases will enable specialists and generalists alike to recognize and remedy the myriad factors that can spoil a person's ability to sleep. The series joins our Neuroimaging Case Challenges and Clinical Cases in Neurology From Johns Hopkins in providing a virtual hands-on informational and educational experience. But it also joins other current and future articles and CME programs on Medscape about conditions that affect sleep, including restless legs syndrome and other disorders of sleep. And, in the near future, look for a Resource Center and Special Reports Newsletter focusing on insomnia, and conference coverage from the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

I'm also proud of several new features focusing on another pervasive health problem: chronic pain. Notably, we now have two Resource Centers, one that concentrates on pharmacologic management and another that brings together information on advanced approaches for pain, such as neurostimulation. Furthermore, to make available the most recent research and current pain medicine practices, we are now including conference coverage of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. This coverage joins that of the American Pain Society and American Academy of Neurology to further round out the body of news, reviews, data, evidence, science, and commentary on this important topic available on the Medscape Neurology & Neurosurgery site.

Finally, I'd like to revisit several terrific CME-accredited Webcasts we've hosted, which are still available as slides and transcripts on the site. In November 2003, two experts in the field of interventional pain management discussed key diagnostic and management strategies for patients with persistent, nonmalignant pain in Pain Is the Fifth Vital Sign: The Role of Primary Care in Pain Management. In January, two noted epileptologists provided an overview of the latest data on pharmacologic management of epilepsy in children and adults in the Web conference Recent Advances in the Management of Epilepsy. And on March 31, Parkinson's disease authorities discussed how to manage the pitfalls encountered in levodopa therapy in Management of Levodopa Therapy in Parkinson's Disease. I hope you'll take a look at these programs and that these and all of the other information on Medscape Neurology & Neurosurgery will enhance your practice of medicine.

If you have comments or questions about this editorial or the Neurology & Neurosurgery site, please contact me at neuroeditor@webmd.net.