Abstract
The web offers a vast array of excellent resources for pathology images, graphics, databases, and photomicrographs. Several of them are highlighted here with emphasis on educational sites for residents or students interested in pursuing veterinary pathology. The resources in toxicologic pathology are more limited but many useful images are available.
Martindale’s The ‘Virtual’ Veterinary Center© 〈www.martindalecenter.com/Vet_8_Subject.html〉 (2007) is a very interesting comprehensive site out of the United Kingdom with links on a myriad of subjects ranging from ranch and farm management, to clinical medicine, to anatomical and clinical pathology. In the pathology section are several veterinary histology and pathology atlas sites from various veterinary schools in the US and UK, and a link to the excellent University of Iowa Virtual Slidebox. There is another link for a veterinary neurohistology atlas supported by the University of Minnesota with graphics and some histopathology. Additionally, there are several modules for histology laboratories and explanation of procedures and special stains. The images from this site vary from school to school but the majority of sites are easily viewable and many are labeled for the budding pathology resident or for review.
Most veterinary pathologists are undoubtedly already familiar with John King’s Necropsy Show & Tell© website for gross images 〈http://w3.vet.cornell.edu/nst,2007〉 and NOAH’s Archive out of the University of Georgia 〈www.vet.uga.edu/VPP/noah/index.php〉 (2004), which is available for a fee with an order form found on the website. Another excellent website with a mock gross exam format is from Oklahoma State 〈http://www.cvm.okstate.edu/instruction/mmcurr/AnatomicPathology/Default.htm 〉 (2001). Pathweb©, the virtual Pathology Museum, is sponsored by the Virtual Pathology Facility of the Pathology Department of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine 〈http://pathweb.uchc.edu〉 (2005). Pathweb includes a section where one can diagnose gross photos and follow up with higher magnifications of histology sections—the cases are human but stands as a good exercise for those preparing for the ACVP boards regardless of the species.
Another tremendous find is PathMax©, a website which is primarily an index of links to both human and veterinary medicine and pathology resources. The main website for PathMax 〈http://www.pathmax.com/index.html〉 (2006) has a link to an extensive pathology section and one can access the link to veterinary pathology from this menu as well. The veterinary pathology section 〈http://www.pathmax.com/vetlink.html〉 includes links to websites in academia, research, government, and industry where all sites have been reviewed for usefulness and content. In addition, there is a section with links to publishers or retailers for major pathology journals and textbooks. Through the medicine link, PathMax offers links to numerous human pathology sites, many of which offer excellent disease pathogeneses, gross photos and photomicrographs. One of the primary benefits of PathMax is easy and fast access to main veterinary pathology websites such as the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the American and European Colleges of Veterinary Pathologists, the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and the Charles Louis Davis Foundation, just to name a few. A similar site with an extensive list of links to numerous veterinary schools, pathology, anatomy and clinical sites is available at NetVet© 〈http://netvet.wustl.edu/vetimg.htm〉 (1998).
There are some excellent organ-specific sites available for both veterinary and human pathologists. DermPathTutor© 〈http://tray.dermatology.uiowa.edu/DPT/DPTutor.htm〉 (2000), is a dermatopathology tutorial out of the University of Iowa College of Medicine. This site functions as a series of algorithms based on morphologic characteristics with photomicrographs at various magnifications, cytology, and special stains. A comprehensive site on neuropathology is available from Cornell 〈http://web.vet.cornell.edu/public/oed/neuropathology/index.asp〉 (2000) as a supplement to the text Veterinary Neuropathology (B. Summers, A. de Lahunta and J.F. Cummings, 1995). Webpathology© 〈http://www.webpathology.com〉 (2005) is a site by Dr. Dharam M. Ramnani, M.D dedicated to urology. The images and descriptions are thorough with several magnifications and very high quality photomicrographs.
Last but not least is a true diamond in the rough called Comparative Placentation© 〈http://medicine.ucsd.edu/cpa/index.html〉 (2007), a website by Dr. Kurt Benirschke, a MD pathologist, who developed an interest in placental and comparative reproductive pathology. Dr. Benirschke directly influenced the creation of The Zoological Society of San Diego’s center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES), the largest zoo-based multidisciplinary research team in the world. This site offers an unbelievable array of zoo, wildlife and many domestic species and includes detailed information on each species complete with photos, histology, genetics, pathological features and extensive references. It would be instructive to visit this site to review histology of placenta from several domestic species, as it is a tissue that often appears on board exams.
Want options for image storage? Picasa™is free downloadable program (from Google) for managing photos and images in a very simple and user-friendly manner 〈http://picasa.google.com/index.html〉 (2007). The program automatically searches and categorizes all photos and images from your database or hard drive within minutes and has many features available to sort, delete, rename, edit or send photos. Picasa also backs up all your photos before you edit them so there’s no risk of losing or permanently altering images until you’re ready. A great feature is the easy options for emailing photos (resizes images automatically as not to overload the inbox!) and posting photos to the web.
As a final note, there are a plethora of search engines available on the web to aid in your quest for images. The Weill Cornell Medical Library Finding Images on the Web or in Print 〈http://library.med.cornell.edu/Library/HTML/images.htm〉 (2006) is a useful aid with multiple links to other associated sites, including the Tri-Institutional Library catalog (Tri-Cat). The link for “Finding Medical Images on the Web” suggests several good search engines, as well as an alphabetical list of image websites. Additionally, there is a link for help with finding printed images in books or journals. This website also includes very detailed information on properly utilizing images from copyrighted sources for teaching purposes. Of course, images from web sites or publications should be acknowledged in any presentation or publication. One library has suggested guidelines based on recommendations from Harvard University 〈http://www.lisa.sbu.ac.uk/helpsheets/hs31.pdf〉 although there is no universally accepted set of guidelines.
Abstract: For over 35 years, many synthetic and natural chemicals have been tested by government agencies, private companies and research institutes for carcinogenic activity in rats and mice in classical 2 year studies as part of a toxicity profile ultimately used for human toxicity and carcinogenicity risk assessment. With an increasing number of pharmaceutical and agricultural chemicals shown to be carcinogenic in these bioassays, research into the mechanisms of toxicity and carcinogenesis has intensified. The relevance of the induced tumors in rodents has been questioned after much research. Research has provided evidence to some scientists that doses used in the bioassays may represent situations where toxicity pathways do not develop in human exposed to levels of these chemicals, toxicity itself may create situations where tumors develop only under those situations, species specific responses may exist, and tumors induced may not be relevant to human risk. Regulatory agencies have considered these and other factors when preparing regulatory decisions on regulation of these chemicals. Thus, the USA FDA often has approved drugs despite their carcinogenicity in rodents and the USA EPA has explored many situations where considerations of the mechanisms of carcinogenesis in rodents and humans play a role in their regulatory decisions. Unfortunately, much of the decisions are based on unproven and hypothetical mechanisms of carcinogenesis in rodents and humans. Despite this situation, the impact of these decisions on future considerations and decisions for regulation of chemicals suggests that the US regulatory agencies consider that the occurrence of increased incidences of tumors in standard 2 year rodent carcinogenesis bioassay is often not relevant to human carcinogenesis risk assessment.