The Health Promotion Clearinghouse
*The Health Promotion Clearinghouse* *Overview * *Why Take a Population Health Approach? * A population health approach focuses on improving the health status of the population. Action is directed at the health of an entire population, or sub-population, rather than individuals. Focusing on the health of populations also necessitates the reduction in inequalities in health status between population groups. An underlying assumption of a population health approach is that reductions in health inequities require reductions in material and social inequities. The outcomes or benefits o... mais »
End-of-Life Care Planning
*End-of-Life Care Planning: *Research shows that the medical care elderly receive at the end-of-life is often different from what they would choose, and most elderly say they would prefer to die at home rather than in hospitals and nursing homes as most now do. More than one in four elderly Americans are incapacitated at the end of their lives and unable to make their own medical care decisions, according to the first large-scale study of advance directives based on the deaths of HRS participants. The researchers found that the overwhelming majority of older adults who died with ad... mais »
storage in the cloud
Infinite storage in the cloudFebruary 14, 2012 by Amara D. Angelica Bitcasa has created a new cloud service that promises “infinite storage” in the cloud for Windows and Mac. Once you install Bitcasa it prompts you to choose which of your folders to “cloudify.” Cloudified folders are uploaded to Bitcasa’s cloud right away and get a Bitcasa logo added to the system tray or Finder. Any time you save, copy, or paste new files into a cloudified folder they also uploaded. You’ll also be able to access your files from any device, wherever you are, the company says. It’s not available public... mais »
human antiviral system
*Na mesma direção aportada pela AMICOR Maria Inês Reinert Azambuja, juntando virus, atheroesclerose, inflamação e sistema imunitário...*Cell death unleashes full force of human antiviral systemFebruary 13, 2012 A scientific team led by researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Charité Berlin Medical University has discove showing how much our immune system is provoked into action when confronted by viral intruders. The possibility of exploiting this mechanism in vaccines holds promise for the development of new ways of preventing and treating infectious diseases and can... mais »
Google’s page-rank software
Applying Google’s page-rank software to the molecular worldFebruary 15, 2012 [image: Page Rank] Google's PageRank software has been adapted to determine the way molecules are shaped, organized, and combined (credit: WSU) Aurora Clark, an associate professor of chemistry at Washington State University, has adapted Google’s PageRank software to create molecular networks that scientists can use to determine molecular shapes and chemical reactions without the expense, logistics, and occasional danger of lab experiments. The software focuses on hydrogen bonds in water, earth’s most abundan... mais »
breast cancer
Radiation treatment transforms breast cancer cells into cancer stem cellsFebruary 15, 2012 The molecular pathways that maintain "stem-ness" in stem cells are also active in numerous cancers. This similarity has led scientists to propose that cancers may arise when some event produces a mutation in a stem cell, robbing it of the ability to regulate cell division. This figure illustrates 3 hypotheses of how a cancer stem cell may arise: (1) A stem cell undergoes a mutation, (2) A progenitor cell undergoes two or more mutations, or (3) A fully differentiated cell undergoes several muta... mais »
‘suicide’ messages to cancer cells
DNA nanorobots deliver ‘suicide’ messages to cancer cells, other diseasesFebruary 17, 2012 *[+]*[image: gatednanorobot1c] Hinged nanorobot opens when target molecules are sensed Researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed a nanorobotic device made from DNA that could potentially seek out specific cell targets within a complex mixture of cell types and deliver important molecular instructions, such as telling cancer cells to self-destruct. Inspired by the mechanics of the body’s own immune system, the technology might one day... mais »
Dementia, Stroke risk test
Simple Tests May Flag Dementia, Stroke Risk By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: February 15, 2012 Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner * * Action Points - Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. - Explain that walking speed and hand-grip strength during middle age corr... mais »
understand online conversations
Can computers understand online conversations? New software being developed at Oxford University may be able to instantly measure the emotions and reactions of large populations by evaluating the words we use on the internet. Investors seem to think this idea will pay off. So, why do we care? Well, this software, called TheySay, uses something called corpora linguistics, which basically means... Read more ››
Patients and Doctors
Perspective 200th Anniversary Article Patients and Doctors — The Evolution of a Relationship Robert D. Truog, M.D. N Engl J Med 2012; 366:581-585February 16, 2012 Comments open through December 31, 2012 ArticleReferencesComments Audio Interview [image: Interview with Robert Truog on issues in medical ethics and the physician-patient relationship.] Interview with Robert Truog on issues in medical ethics and the physician-patient relationship. (21:39) - Listen - Download The relationship between patients and doctors is at the core of medical ethics, serving as an anchor for many ... mais »
Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease Dementia
*Revised Criteria for Mild Cognitive Impairment May Compromise the Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease Dementia* John C. Morris, MD *Arch Neurol.* Published online February 6, 2012. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2011.3152 *ABSTRACT* ------------------------------ *Objective * To evaluate the potential impact of revised criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), developed by a work group sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association, on the diagnosis of very mild and mild Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia.*Design * Retrospective review of ratings of functional imp... mais »
Population Health
Conceptualising population health: The mechanistic interpretation of reality can be traced to the influential work by René Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton. Their theories were able to accurately predict most physical phenomena relating to motion, optics and gravity. This paradigm had at least three principles and approaches: reductionism, linearity and hierarchy. These ideas appear to have influenced social scientists and the discourse on population health. In contrast, Complexity Science takes a more holistic view of systems. It views natural systems as being 'open', with fuzzy bor... mais »
Benfluorex
Over 1300 deaths in Mediator scandal in FranceFEBRUARY 9, 2012 Lisa Nainggolan *Villejuif**, France* - The number of deaths attributable to heart-valve insufficiency as a result of the use of *benfluorex*(Mediator, Servier) in France is much greater than previously thought, say two French researchers [*1*]. They estimate that 3100 people were hospitalized and over 1300 died due to valvular insufficiency associated with benfluorex use in the country during the period from 1976 to 2009. And these figures are likely underestimates, say *Drs Agnes Fournier* (INSERM,... mais »
Big Data
The Age of Big DataBy STEVE LOHRPublished: February 11, 2012 Enlarge This Image GOOD with numbers? Fascinated by data? The sound you hear is opportunity knocking. Chad Hagen * * Mo Zhou was snapped up by I.B.M. last summer, as a freshly minted Yale M.B.A., to join the technology company’s fast-growing ranks of data consultants. They help businesses make sense of an explosion of data — Web traffic and social network comments, as well as software and sensors that monitor shipments, suppliers and customers — to guide decisions, trim costs and lift sales. “I’ve always had a love of numb...mais »
