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Hello, Hre's an idea. I looked over some of the NIH web pages and found them to be quite extensive. Because so many of the people who serve at the NIH are computer literate, computer communication is used widely there. This provides an opportunity for some needed NIH watching. A few communications channels other than the web are used. Meeting notices are posted in the Federal Register, which is published on-line by the US Government Printing Office www.gpo.gov. Testimony before and reporting to Congressional committees by NIH personnel are published in the Congressional Record, which also is on-line via GPO. The NIH has a listserv program, which runs a number of mailing lists for NIH special interest groups as well as a list which sends out the table of contents of a larger publication of grant announcements. But web pages seem to be used for most communication intended for the public, and for a significant quantity of internal communications as well. I found a bi-weekly newsletter, called the NIH Record. You get to it by clicking on "news". The latest issue (10/20/98) contains an article about the public meeting which NIH Director Varmus held on the subject of the Office of Public Liaison and the Council of Public Representatives, which the Institute of Medicine had recommended in its review of NIH priority setting. From a search of NIH web pages using the word "Parkinson's" I found a news article on research being conducted at Henry Ford Hospital about lead (the metal) as a possible cause of PD. I found that the National Institute of Environmental Health Science is soliciting research proposals on research into environmental causes of PD which involves not just epidemiology but also research into the action of toxins on nerve cells. There are a few people on the list who voluntarily provide us the service of posting medical news. I see a need for someone to be the NIH watcher, and to re-post to our list news items which originate from the NIH, or at least indicate the existence of them elsewhere and give the internet addresses for them. With an increase in NIH funding and instructions from Congress in the reports accompanying the appropriations bills on spending funds for Udall purposes, there will be a number of PD-related things to watch out for. One example is the three new centers of excellence announcement, an official version of which should be forthcoming. And there should be a notice sometime in the future of a further public meeting on IOM recommendations regarding research priority setting. Somtimes getting to the NIH info requires a bit of searching and a familiarity with the web pages organization. It would provide us a great service if someone were to undertake being the list's expert NIH watcher. Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ age 60/dx 1990