BrainNet Europe is a "Network of Excellence" funded by the European Commission in the 6th Framework Program "Life Science" (LSHM-CT-2004-503039) since 2004. It consists of 19 established brain banks across Europe and is coordinated by the Centre for Neuropathology and Prion Research Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.

The goal of BrainNet Europe is to define gold standards in tissue sampling practice and in neuropathological diagnostics. One of the aims is to inform about the importance of brain donation for the research into illnesses of the central nervous system and the treatment of brain diseases like Parkinson's.

The electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC) provides electronic Summaries of Product Characteristics (SPCs) and Patient Information Leaflets (PILs).

It provides information on thousands of licensed medicines available in the UK. The eMC is supported by over 130 contributing pharmaceutical companies and is updated daily and is free to use.

The eMC is continuously updated with new and revised SPC and PIL information which, after approval by the licensing authorities, is submitted directly by pharmaceutical companies.

Email:info@medicines.org.uk

EPG provides medicine and disease information to healthcare professionals. Developed as a knowledge base and decision support tool, this website provides free access for physicians, doctors - including general practitioners, family doctors, and specialists - nurses, student doctors and other healthcare professionals to prescription drug data including labelling, medicine information, treatment guidelines, medical news, clinical trial results, health features and articles.

Users can search medicine and drug data, e-cme, reference material, study and treatment content using a text based search that provides catagorised results. Registration and access to all content is subject to our terms of use policy.

epgonline.org is published by IMR International Limited under the EPG Health Media portfolio. The service is sanctioned by the European Medical Association, a not for profit medical organisation representing the interests of over a million practicing doctors.

Funding for this website and the EPG services is derived from sponsorship and unrestricted educational grants from the pharamaceutical industry.

The European Neurological Society (ENS) was launched in 1986. Modelled after the American Academy of neurology, in which teaching courses at its annual meeting play a prominent role, members can be found among clinicians and scientists whose interest is directed towards practice, teaching or research in neurology and cognate fields.

Today the ENS has a membership of about 2300 individual neurologists from 60 countries worldwide.

The official journal of the society is The Journal of Neurology which is published by Steinkopff Verlag, Germany.

European Neurological Society
Association House
Postfach
4002 Basel
Switzerland

Tel: +41 61 691 51 11
Fax: +41 61 686 77 88
Email: info@ensinfo.org

The European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM) is an independent pan-European, cross-sector patient safety Alliance campaigning for the exclusion of counterfeit and substandard medicines from the supply chain. Raising public awareness of the issues surrounding counterfeit medicines forms a key part of the activities of the EAASM.

Email: enquiries@eaasm.eu

The European Brain Council (EBC) is a coordinating council formed by European organizations within neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, basic brain research (neuroscience), patient organizations for neurology and psychiatry, and industry. The aim of creating the EBC was to have one voice to represent brain research and brain diseases towards the European Commission, the European Parliament and other decision-makers.

The aims of the EBC are to promote basic and clinical brain research, to improve the prevention diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and care of those affected by a brain disease (traditionally called neurological and psychiatric diseases) and to promote increased teaching in brain related disciplines at medical school and elsewhere. The EBC also aims at increasing the awareness in the general population of brain diseases and brain research, thus improving the communication between science and society.

Tel: +39 055 43 62 098
Fax: +39 055 42 71 280
Email: info@europeanbraincouncil.org

The European Disability Forum (EDF) is an independent European non-governmental organisation (ENGO) that represents the interests of 50 million disabled people in the European Union and stands for their rights.

The work of EDF is organised around a democratic and transparent representative structure. All impairment groups and the families of disabled people unable to speak for themselves are represented and directly involved in the work of EDF.

Moreover, all the decisions are taken by disabled people or the families of disabled persons unable to represent themselves.

The European Disability Forum, which champions the rights of people with disabilities on a European basis, is actively campaigning for a barrier-free Europe in terms of all types of transport. See http://www.edf-feph.org/Page_Generale.asp?DocID=13362 for more information regarding transport. Many European countries have disability discrimination acts that aim to make aspects of daily living, including transport, more accessible.

39-41, Rue du Commerce
1000 – Brussels
Belgium

Tel:+ 32 2 282 46 00
Fax:+ 32 2 282 46 09
Email:secretariat@edf-feph.org

Quick links to EDF information pages:

• Lobbying the European Union towards a barrier-free Europe for all

Based in Orlando, Florida, Ivanhoe Broadcast News is the country's largest television news-gathering organization covering medical breakthroughs, family health and consumer news for women.

In January 1996, they launched Ivanhoe.com. This site was introduced as a logical extension of their television coverage.

This is a high quality web site announcing medical breakthroughs in all areas of healthcare.  It has an archive section, but this requires registration.  As the site is based in the United States of America there is considerable information from the US which may or may not have relevance elsewhere.

The Medical Education Partnership (MEP Ltd) was established by Jane Jones in 1997 as the publishing and medical education wing of GCI Healthcare.

Medical Education Partnership Ltd specialises in the production of high-quality, independent publications for health professionals. These can be quarterly journals, supplements, reports, booklets, newsletters or reference books.

Medical Education Partnership Ltd
Omnibus House
39-41 North Road
London
N7 9DP
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7715 0390
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7715 0391
Email: alockyer@mepltd.co.uk

Patient UK was first launched in 1997 by PiP (Patient Information Publications) and later relaunched in December 2002, as a joint venture between PiP and EMIS (Egton Medical Information Systems). It started as a directory of UK websites which provided information of health, disease and related issues.

PiP is a partnership between Dr Tim Kenny and Dr Beverley Kenny. They have been GPs in Tyne and Wear, England, for over 10 years and have a particular interest in writing and providing evidence based patient information. They are editors and lead authors for the content on Patient UK.

EMIS develops, supplies and supports General Practice computing systems. The company was started by family doctors and has been growing steadily for the last 20 years. It is currently the market leader, having systems installed in over 50% of practices in the UK.

EMIS has a special interest and experience in making electronic systems that allow doctors and patients to quickly find appropriate medical information. The information leaflets on this website are included in the EMIS clinical system and doctors and nurses print off these leaflets during consultations to give to patients and carers.

The aim of this website is to provide non-medical people in the UK with good quality information about health and disease. The authors do this by writing evidence based information leaflets on a wide range of medical and health topics. They also review health and illness related websites and link to many of these from the web directory included on this website. UK sites are the primary links in the web directory as they feel that residents in the UK prefer to obtain health information from UK sources. They also suggest some links to selected overseas sites.

Health professionals and people from outside the UK may also find Patient UK a useful resource. The PatientPlus section is likely to be of particular interest to health professionals.

Founded in 2000, PatientView is an independent, global, research-and-publishing organisation that works closely with patients and health and social campaigning groups worldwide. PatientView surveys the opinions of patients and health advocacy groups on healthcare delivery and disease-based issues worldwide, analyses trends, and feeds results back into the public domain (thereby benefiting patients, citizens, and health advocacy groups, as well as other healthcare stakeholders).

PatientView has written two directories of health advocacy groups.

The European Patient Group Directory lists overview details of key pan-European health advocacy groups and is available as a free download.

The Handbook of [UK] Patient Groups reference book enables readers to easily identify and communicate with over 400 of the UK's major patient organisations.

Private Healthcare Guide.com has been designed to provide a comprehensive guide to all private healthcare issues, products and services including: private healthcare services, cosmetic surgery, alternative medicines, opticians, physiotherapists, chiropractors, clinics and health insurance.

Email: info@privatehealthcareguide.com

Synapse is a magazine produced by Oyster, a specialist medical publisher producing quarterly magazines and medical journals in key medical specialities for secondary and primary care teams.

Synapse is aimed at those working in primary care neurology and reports on the latest advances and policy developments, new initiatives on best practice, as well as expertise from secondary care. The publication is supported by an educational grant from UCB Pharma Ltd.

Magazines are available in both printed and electronic format.

Established in 2006, Touch Neurology serves the information needs of the neuroscience and neurology community, creating a stimulating and informative arena that collate the expertise of market leaders and international organisations.

TouchNeurology.com is an online continuation of its Touch Briefings counterpart, the Neurology Review series, bi-annual publications that provide market intelligence and targeted advertising platforms surrounding this specialist market.

The overall mission of Touch Neurological Disease.com is to make the physician’s task of information gathering simpler, more fruitful, and less time-consuming, providing tools to enable physicians and healthcare professionals to develop innovative ways to explore the scientific arena and interact with each other to push the boundaries of research. In addition we provide up-to-date product and industry news, an extensive product directory and end-user product reviews, as well as the ability for visitors to review the products they use. Visitors can also use the site to search for application notes and highlight important scientific and medical conferences.

Touch Briefings publishes a rich and diverse portfolio of information and communications products within key growth sectors, with emphasis on the pharmaceutical, clinical and energy arenas. Through this portfolio - of over 80 print publications, a suite of industry-leading websites and client-specific platforms - Touch Briefings delivers comprehensive information that educates and informs key industry leaders.

Touch Briefings
Cardinal Tower
12 Farringdon Road
London
EC1M 3NN
UK

Tel: +44 20 7452 5000
Email: info@touchbriefings.com