Monday, December 18, 2006

"Health care information matters"

Adam Bosworth, Google's Vice President of Engineering, talked about his interests in the issues of health care and health information. When helping care for his mother who battled with cancer for four years and eventually died, he saw firsthand how challenging the health care system was in supporting caregivers and communicating between different medical organisations.

He found it incredibly challenging to get the right information that could help his mother make the right decisions in very difficult times. He felt strongly that patients need easy acess to medical information and be able to organize their own health information so that they can control their own health information.

In his speech " Connecting Americans to their health care : empowered consumers, personal health records and emerging technologies" at a national conference in Washington, D. C., he said that the lack of easily accessible, comprehensive medical records results in people suffering and dying unnecessarily. An efficient system would improve the standard of care by giving patients control over their health and medical information, patients would be able to easily retrieve and share their information in its totality and use it to ensure that they get the best possible quality of care. He is confident that increased and more trageted use of technology will help improve healthcare for all. Read more ….

Friday, December 15, 2006

Health News Bulletin - 15 December 2006

Drop in new breast cancer cases in the US could be linked to millions of women gave up HRT following reports questioning its safety.

Journal "Heart" study -the number of deaths caused by SADS is 8 times higher than estimate, average age of death was 32 and 63% were men.

BMJ study - people with higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was linked to lower heart disease and obesity rates.

BMJ study - proposals to improve patient safety as many incidents were found unreported, with doctors being the worst culprits.

BMJ report - 1 in 5 adults are obese in the UK, if left unchecked, could bankcrupt the NHS.

NICE guidelines on obesity incuding helpline numbers attached to oversize clothes.

Journal "Archives of Internal Medicine" - Height loss in old age is associated with increased risk of heart attacks and death.

Fat scan could reveal hidden fat and the precise location of fat has more of a bearing on health than simply being overweight.

Women who have epidurals during childbirth have more breastfeeding difficulties.

Clinical trials for a new type of dissolving stents to unblock diseased arteries and to perform further surgery on the artery.

The government is to tell the NHS England to balance the books as its first target.

The American Journal of Epidemiology - taking aspirin and other NSAIDs may halve the risk of developing an enlarged prostate but with possible side effects.

A new study found the prescription painkiller, dihydrocodeine, cheaper and safer than methadone, but as effective at treating heroin addicts.

Pfizer, the US drug manufacturer dropped heart and cholesterol drug torcetrapib after tests linked it to increased deaths and heart disease among trial patients

Excess weight increases the risk of developing several types of cancer.

Journal "Clinical Cancer Research" - extra genes, FGFR1, found in lobular breast cancer cells suggesting that blocking FGFR1 activity may slow, stop or reverse tumour growth.

Doctors' dilemmas and the need for medical ethics training.

Monday, December 11, 2006

BMJ article - authors' reply

The authors of the article " Googling for a diagnosis", H Tang and J Ng, made a number of points in their reply to the responses to their article posted on the BMJ website :

1. There is a general misinterpretation by the press that doctors/ patients could make diagnosis by using web search engines. They argued that diagnosis can only be made by doctors who are competent after years of training and clinical experience. Doctors should also critically appraised the articles they found from the web.

2. They pointed out that doctors make diagnosis, not Google, therefore there is no danger of Google misdiagnosing diseases.

3. It would be unwise to ignore the web as a resource of information if traditional sources have failed to answer these questions.

4. They believed the internet empowers both patients and doctors and may improve the quality of care when used properly.

5. Doctors in training are in good position to guide their patients to reliable websites, therefore they should learn how to use the Internet effectively.

Monday, December 04, 2006

World AIDS Day

Free access to AIDS journals in recognition of World AIDS Day

1 December is the World AIDS Day. The publisher Mary Ann Liebert will provide complimentary access to everyone to all archival online issues of the company's AIDS journals through the end of December in recognition of World AIDS Day.

Press release - The company launched the 1st journal on AIDS in 1985 and has a policy that its publications are available electronically for free for many developing countries to ensure that important research and clinical information is available to those who may not have access to it. The founder of the company, Mary Ann Liebert, said " Providing developing nations with access to this cutting-edge research is critical……..Knowledge is prevention in itself…. "

The December free access is available for :
AIDS Patient Care and STDs
AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses

Online collection of AIDS posters

In conjunction with the World AIDS Day, UCLA Library launched an online collection of AIDS poster from countries all over the world on 1 December. The collection is thought to be of interest to those who are interested in the history of HIV/AIDS epidemic and attempt to control it.