The aim of this programme is to provide histopathologists with a desktop reference to immunohistochemistry. It should be possible to find the information that you want quickly and easily. Because the programme is written as standard Microsoft HTML Help, anyone who uses Microsoft Windows should already know how to use it.
The tripane layout of the screen will be familiar to you from your Internet browser.
The pane at the top shows:
Back takes you to the last page that you were looking at.
Print sends the current page to the printer.
Options, includes:
Hide tabs - useful if the page contains a large table and you want to see all of it.
Search highlight on - this setting is recommended so that the words that match a search are picked out for you.
The pane on the left has four tabs:
Contents lists the pages in a logical order. Each "book" may contain other "books" and "pages". Double click on a book to expand/contract its subheadings. Single click on a book or page to show its contents.
Index lists the pages in alphabetical order.
Search allows you to do a full word search. If you want to search for an entire phrase, enclose it in quotation marks. CD 4 without quotation marks will find all pages which contain both "CD" and"4", but "CD 4" will find only the string "CD4". Wildcards are allowed; * replaces any number of letters, ? replaces a single letter. The pages which match your search are listed for you to choose from.
Favorites is a place to put those pages which you, permanently or temporarily, find most useful.
The pane on the right is were the real business is. These pages work like any web pages. Click on a highlight to make a hyperlink jump or display a pop up. You can always use the "back" button to return to the page you had been on. You can search for a word within a page using the Find facility invoked by <Ctrl-F>.
The idea is that you should be able to move rapidly from a page about a tumour and its immunohistochemistry to a page about an antibody and the tumours it stains, and back again.
Where results are expressed as ratios, these represent the number of positive cases / number of tumours studied.
This is very much work in progress. I have written a page for most of the antibodies which I am aware of in diagnostic use. However, it is going to take a long time to write pages for a comprehensive set of tumours and differential diagnoses. The current pages are an idiosyncratic selection, but they are tumours for which I have recently come across useful papers, sometimes because they have recently posed me with a diagnostic difficulty.
Do let me know what you think. Let me know which bits you like, and which you don't. Point out any errors. Email me if you would like to receive notice of updates (100046.1102@Compuserve.com). Updates will be posted at: http://e-immunohistochemistry.info.
The compiled help file can be viewed on a Mac using the application chmox (it is free to download from: http://chmox.sourceforge.net).
By all means pass on copies of this vade mecum to colleagues. I would ask that anyone who has the technical knowledge to decompile and modify this file does not distribute modified versions without consultation. But if you wish to contribute, send me information: if used, it will be acknowledged on the pages generated.
Paul Bishop BA, MB BCh, FRCPath.