information

Medpedia Now Includes News & Analysis, Alerts, Q&A

December 7, 2009 | by Walter Jessen

The Medpedia Project is a long-term, worldwide initiative to develop an online collaborative source of health and medical information for medical professionals and the general public. Launched in February 2009, the website currently has 34,100 pages of health and medical content (based on a Google domain search), an increase of over 2-fold since July 2009.

The Medpedia Project recently announced the addition of three new tools for sharing and advancing medical knowledge [2]. The services complement Medpedia’s reliable crowdsourcing of health and medical information.

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Finding Credible Health Information Online: MedLibs Round 1.8

November 11, 2009 | by Walter Jessen

Welcome to the eighth edition of MedLib’s Round, the monthly blog carnival that highlights some of the best writing on medical librarianship, encompassing all stages in the publication and dissemination of medical information: writing, publishing, searching, citing, managing and social networking.

There’s a revolution occurring on the Web: those “authoritative” articles written on traditional, static websites are being replaced with blogs, wikis and online social networks. In the sphere of health, medicine and information technology, this “real-time Web” consists of many who are professionals in the field; their posts are listed below.
In the digital age, these are the characteristics of new media: recent, relevant, reachable and reliable.

Here at Highlight HEALTH, we advocate health literacy for improving self-management in health. To that end, all the sites in the The Highlight HEALTH Network strive to consistently provide credible, reliable sources of health and medical information.

A 2008 study by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest found that searching for health information online can be dangerous, with search engine results pages dominated by websites that appeared legitimate but had zero medical authority [1]. Our hope is that this edition of MedLib’s Round — themed Finding credible health information online — will offer ideas and advice to help people use the Web more effectively to search and find credible health information.

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Health 2.0 Highlights: November 1st, 2009

November 1, 2009 | by Walter Jessen

A Clinical Infusion of Google Wave | phil baumann online
Phil Baumann provides an overview on Google Wave and asks if the underlying technology offers any glimpse into improving clinical collaboration?
Google sidewiki: what can pharma do? | STweM
Andrew Spong ruminates about Google sidewiki and whether pharma will engage in debate regarding comments added to drug information websites.
A TRIP Down Database Lane: A Talk With Jon Brassey | Significant Science
The TRIP Database (Turning Research Into Practice) is a clinical search tool designed to allow health professionals to rapidly identify the highest quality clinical evidence for clinical practice. Hope Leman interviews one of the founders of the TRIP database, Jon Brassey.
Over 400 Hospitals use Social Media | Found In Cache
Ed Bennett reports that over 400 hospitals in the U.S. are now using some form of Social Media.
Behavior Change: A Central Topic at Health 2.0 | The Decision Tree
Social contagion is of great relevance to health and was a central topic at the Health 2.0 conference last month.
Health 2.0 Conference Day 2: Consumer Aggregators | The Decision Tree
The world is becoming increasingly mobile. Several consumer aggregator applications presented at the Health 2.0 conference are focused on "on-demand" information and will enable patients to harness their medical data.

Health Highlights – September 22nd, 2009

September 22, 2009 | by Walter Jessen

Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.

HIPAA’s Broken Promise | e-Patients.net
When researchers have access to private health information, they can use it to develop treatments and therapies. However, there's a danger to all that identifying information floating around. Susannah Fox weighs the costs and benefits of anonymizing personal health data.
Solidarity (at High Costs): The French Health Care System | Healthcare Hacks
How les francais manage healthcare – high quality, universal coverage without reliance on a single-payer system.
The Trouble with Wikipedia as a Source for Medical Information | Laika’s MedLibLog
Jacqueline provides an in-depth review on the use of Wikipedia as a source of health information, citing several reasons why health consumers should use the resourc with caution.
Science versus pseudoscience | Science-Based Medicine
Homeopathy and nutritionists vs. real science.
Interview: Susannah Fox, Pew Internet Project | Pulse + Signal
Andre Blackman interviews Susannah Fox of the Pew Internet Project about new media advances in public health.
Anti-"publication bias" efforts not panning out for science | Ars Technica
Negative results can be useful, especially when it comes to drugs that don't work. However, a recent JAMA study shows that many clinical trial results published differ significantly from their proposed experimental design.

Cancer Research Blog Carnival #21 – National Cancer Research Month

May 1, 2009 | by Walter Jessen

Welcome to the 21st edition of the Cancer Research Blog Carnival, the monthly blog carnival that discusses what’s new in cancer research and includes posts covering cancer biology, cancer genetics, cancer diagnostics and cancer therapeutics. Concomitant with this edition is the start of National Cancer Research Month.

In 2007, the United States Congress declared May National Cancer Research Month. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) secured resolutions to raise awareness of the critical advances in cancer research made by its 27,000 members and cancer researchers worldwide, and its efforts to ensure a secure future for continued progress against a group of diseases which strike one in every two men and one in every three women.

Today, ten million cancer survivors are alive in America due to advances in cancer research [1]. National Cancer Research Month reminds us that basic, clinical, epidemiological and behavioral research are essential to identifying causes and developing strategies for cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cures.

With that, let’s find out more about what’s happening in cancer research this month.

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