Talk:Endocrinology

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Revision as of 13:19, 25 February 2009 by imported>Howard C. Berkowitz (→‎Is endocrinology like Justice Potter Stewart's definition of pornography?: new section)
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 Definition Generically, the study of glands and the hormonal regulation of physiology; also the subspecialty of internal medicine concerned with diseases of the endocrine system [d] [e]
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Wow--look out, folks. New article under construction. --Larry Sanger 17:19, 21 January 2007 (CST)

Is endocrinology like Justice Potter Stewart's definition of pornography?

Stewart once judicially observed that he couldn't define hard-core pornography, but he knew it when he saw it.

Endocrinology has some of that problem. The MeSH definition focusing on the literal endocrine glands, of course, excludes the clinically significant areas of exocrine glands and such things as the HPA. One of the articles here speaks of it as the study of hormones, but that doesn't quite cover direct innervation — or does it? Are all neurotransmitters hormones? Where is the line between a cytokine and a hormone? Is there one? Are intracellular second messengers hormones? Can one draw the endocrinological line at the outside of the cell membrane?

I wait with admiration and interest. Howard C. Berkowitz 19:18, 25 February 2009 (UTC)