The Most Reliable COVID-19 Online Resources: Your Ultimate Guide
In the era of fake news, mask naysayers and, dare we say, covidiots, relevant news often gets lost under the rubble of conspiracy theories and what not. 2020 already feels like a lucid fever dream as it is and we would be better off being well-informed by trustworthy sources of information.
However, even leading authorities are lagging behind in this respect. The WHO only recently stopped releasing its daily PDF COVID reports in favour of an online dashboard. On the other hand, Johns Hopkins put one together in 3 days in January. It took the WHO 8 months since the first outbreak to have its own. The health authority als...
Source: The Medical Futurist - September 17, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: Digital Health Research Healthcare Policy Security & Privacy testing online resources digital technology applications covid covid19 Good Judgement Project WHO sewage data vaccine who dashboard worldometer Johns Hopkins JHU Source Type: blogs
The Decline of Science In the Pandemic
Early in the pandemic there was a widespread belief that science would be our salvation. With the help of science we would be spared the worst consequences, such as occurred during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. A vaccine would arrive, reliably, after a few hard months of research, and in short order the problem would...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - September 16, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Policy & Ethics COVID-19 pandemic science Source Type: blogs
REVIEW: Rypeapp Language Membership
The world has shifted virtual in 2020 and that includes educational services like language learning. While travel has taken a pause, many of us are still eager to connect with people from other cultures and resume our language learning progress.
In this review, we’ll cover what Rype is about, how it works, prices, pros and cons, and more.
What is Rype?
Rype is an online language lessons membership that connects you with professional language tutors for one-on-one sessions. They currently offer ten languages: Spanish, French, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, and Arabic. With a me...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - September 15, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Erin Falconer Tags: book reviews Erin's Things featured self education self-improvement success learn a language pickthebrain product review Source Type: blogs
Artificial Iris Inside Smart Contacts Corrects Vision Disorders
The pupil of the eye allows light to reach the retina, and a number of vision disorders are related to irregularities in the iris that surrounds the pupil. People with aniridia, for example, have some or all of the iris missing, exhibiting a large pupil that results in unfocused vision.
Now, a collaboration between Imec, a Belgian research institution, Ghent University, Spain’s Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz, and Holst Centre in The Netherlands, has led to the development of an artificial iris integrated inside a contact lens that can automatically set the proper pupil size to achi...
Source: Medgadget - September 11, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Materials Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
COVID and pregnancy
As a member of the departmental EDI group, I wrote this as an email to Library and Leicester Learning Institute staff, as part of a series on how COVID affected protected groups. Here is the email, minus anything specifically University of Leicester.All links were checked on 3rd July 2020.NHS,including information in British Sign Language.NHS Inform (from NHS Scotland): haslinks to health information in languages other than English, and the COVID information may include information about pregnancy. There is information in Arabic, Bengali, British Sign Language, Chinese, Hindi, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian...
Source: Browsing - September 10, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: blogs
China Is Learning from the Rest of the World: From Winemaking, to Trade Agreements, to Antidumping
ConclusionAt some point, if the Chinese wine producers are able to start exporting significant amounts of their production, the Chinese support for this industry could make Chinese wine subject to complaints about " unfair " trade practices of its own. For now, though, the complaints about " unfair " trade are going in the other direction: It is the Chinese producers who are complaining about " unfair " trade by Australian wine producers.Perhaps these Chinese actionsare the result of broader conflicts in Australia-China relations, but if so, that fact can ' t be used to stop the investigations from going forward. When anti...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 10, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Simon Lester, Huan Zhu Source Type: blogs
Helping shape the future of lifelong learning via SEK Education Group
This week, as many students around the globe finally go back to school to meet their peers and teachers in person for the first time since March, it is an honor to announce that our very own Álvaro Fernández Ibáñez has joined the International Advisory Board of SEK Education Group, which runs 9 bilingual IB schools, and a major university, in Spain, France, Ireland and Qatar.
He (and us) look forward to seeing over 9,000 students from 70 different nationalities plus their many teachers and administrators, further develop their unique brains and minds in years ahead!
About SEK Education Group:
With schools in Madrid, Ba...
Source: SharpBrains - September 9, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning bilingual brains Lifelong-learning minds schooling schools SEK Education Group students teachers Source Type: blogs
Krugged
I am guessing that will become a new verb. Anyway, I have refrained from saying anything about thebizarre tale of Jessica Krugmanbecause I didn ' t think I had anything particularly to add to the discussion. On reflection however, I think I do.As readers presumably know, this is a historian of European Jewish heritage who grew up in Kansas City, but spent her professional career pretending to be of African heritage. Her scholarly work concerned the African diaspora, and by all accounts I have read it was well regarded. There is much about this story that is somewhat puzzling, and also revealing. One of the more discon...
Source: Stayin' Alive - September 8, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Sewage Data As A Surprising Predictor For COVID-19 Cases
You might not think much of them, but bodily fluids offer a treasure trove of information for medical diagnoses. Indeed, scientists are now looking past the drain and directly into sewage to gather data about COVID-19.
You might not have heard about it, but it turns out it is possible to detect and measure the amount of virus DNA in sewage samples which can predict case number by about 7-10 days in advance. Several countries are already employing this method to predict infection cases; and it is yet another example of an unusual association between a data source and outcomes. Combining the information gathered fro...
Source: The Medical Futurist - September 7, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: Healthcare Design Security & Privacy prediction rna epidemiology gastrointestinal covid sewage data covid-19 cdc wastewater Yale Source Type: blogs
Back to school Mums
There’s an amusing, “Which back-to-school Mum are you?” doing the social media rounds. It sees Sue sending her kids back fully PPE’d, Trisha seriously concerned for the teachers’ safety, Betty in floods until they get home, and Mavis foreseeing burnout by the end of the week because of her newly full diary. But, they overlooked one kind of Mum…
The one that will insist on her human right not to wear a mask, completely ignores social distancing everywhere, brings husband Mick and Auntie Helen to wave the kids off, storms into the Head’s office shouting her mouth off about the HPV va...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - September 3, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Where Are 3D-Printed Casts?
In 2015, I met Scott Summit, Design Director of 3DSystems. At that time, he was wearing a cast due to ongoing issues with his wrist. He told me it was a cast specific for himself; and one that his physician could open and close in seconds. He even told me he could shower with it, without the need to wrap it in plastic bags. That was, of course, no ordinary cast as it was a 3D-printed cast.
However, since that time, I haven’t come across any medical practitioners who offer 3D-printed casts as part of normal care. Nor have I seen people with casts wearing 3D-printed ones. There are companies that do produce these pe...
Source: The Medical Futurist - September 3, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: 3D Printing Future of Medicine future of hospital plaster cast 3d printed Xkelet CastPrint Exovite Source Type: blogs
How to help families struggling to find their way in a foreign culture [PODCAST]
“We are blessed to work in a clinic that has a very large immigrant population. Over the years, we have cared for those who speak over 80+ languages with an even higher number of unique countries and regions represented. Arabic and Spanish are our two most commonly spoken non-English languages. We also have patients who […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 29, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/the-podcast-by-kevinmd" rel="tag" > The Podcast by KevinMD < /a > < /span > Tags: Podcast Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
FDA Determined Convalescent Plasma Is Safe, Leaves Decisions on Efficacy up to Clinicians/ Patients. That’s the Way It Should Always Be
Jeffrey A. SingerYesterday the Food and Drug Administration released a clinical memorandum giving Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) therapy, a previously unapproved biological product. Forseveral months clinicians treating severely ill COVID-19 patients have transfused plasma donated by convalescing COVID-19 patients, rich with the antibodies to the virus produced by their immune system, hoping that these same antibodies can help patients suffering from active infection. Early results have been promising but, as somecritics of the FDA decision have stated, more data is needed befo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 24, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Study: Meditation practice, both formal and informal, helps develop equanimity over time
This study suggests that even for those new to the practice of mindfulness, they can experience short-term increases in emotional stability with a body scan.
Cultivating this state could possibly help us cope with the current chaos we are living through, at least a little bit better. The connection between meditation and equanimity may be a solace for those looking to find peace with the unknown. If you are able to go about your life with a more even-minded state of mind, you’ll be in better shape to take care of yourself and others.
– Sophie McMullen is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she majored in psychology...
Source: SharpBrains - August 20, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greater Good Science Center Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness Peak Performance Professional Development anger anxiety body scan meditation boredom breathing meditation coronavirus equanimity mental habits mind mindfulness-meditation pandemic stat Source Type: blogs
Digital Health Makes Healthcare Globalised
Consider Atlas Biomed, the company behind the at-home microbiome test: it is based in the U.K. Some 1,900 kilometers away in Italy, Dante Labs offers direct-to-consumer whole genome sequencing kits. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in the U. S., is Fitbit, which ships its fitness trackers around the world. Despite being headquartered in different countries and even in different continents, patients now have access to quality digital health services wherever they are (save for some shipping restrictions).
This aspect of digital health heralds one of its lesser-explored advantages: it enables healthcare to be ...
Source: The Medical Futurist - August 18, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: Future of Medicine Healthcare Design Healthcare Policy digital health Source Type: blogs
