IBM scientists use data to predict infectious disease outbreaks

IBM scientists are collaborating with Johns Hopkins University and University of California, San Francisco to combat illness and infectious diseases in real-time with smarter data tools for public health. The focus is to help contain global outbreaks of dengue fever and malaria by applying the latest analytic models, computing technology and mathematical skills on an open-source framework.

 

 

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CDC warns “we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era”

For some patients and for some microbes, we are already in the post-antibiotic era.

The Centers for Disease Control, in a highly unusual new report, warned that America is threatened by a wave of new antibiotic-proof germs that could threaten public health, and that overuse of antibiotics in health care and industrial agriculture bears much of the blame.

 

 

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Cancer care in the U.S. is failing

Communication is the key when it comes to cancer care.

A new report has been released recently by the Institute of Medicine (IOM)  on the state of cancer care in the United States.   The IOM is a non-profit, non-governmental advisory group.  To get on one of their advisory boards you have to be a national, if not international, expert in whatever field is being studied. According to the cancer advisory board, the state of cancer care in the United States is abysmal.

 

 

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Scientists create first smartphone attachment that can detect a single virus, nanoparticles

UCLA smartphone virus scanner

Scientists have finally developed a technology that makes it possible to avoid a trip to the doctor.  The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science scientists have created a lightweight, virus-detecting device that attaches to a common smartphone and is able to scan the human body for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) particles. The troublesome virus is the root of various illnesses, including birth defects like deafness and brain damage. HCMV can also expedite the death of adults who have HIV, a weak immune system and those who have undergone organ transplants, making early detection of the virus useful.

 

 

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E-cigarette use doubles among middle and high school students

More than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide had tried e-cigarettes in 2012.

Electronic cigarettes use among middle and high school students has been rising rapidly, a trend that public health officials worry could undermine decades of efforts to reduce youth smoking and put a growing number of teenagers on a path toward conventional cigarettes.

 

 

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There is more depression among clergy than the general population: Study

Clergy members are at a higher risk of depression.

Using phone surveys and written questionnaires, researchers from the Clergy Health Initiative at Duke Divinity School decided to look into the mental health of members of the clergy.  They interviewed over 1,700 United Methodist pastors, and found that depression is about 1.6 times higher in that group compared to the general population (8.7% versus 5.5%).

 

 

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Top 10 cutting-edge technologies in development

Tube transportation is the future of transportation.

You shouldn’t give up on flying cars or hoverboards just yet. As technology continues to march on, everything will go into development sooner or later—as demonstrated by the existence of these things, which we’ll almost certainly see within our lifetimes.

 

 

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Drones to deliver defibrillators to heart attack victims

The Defikopter

Definetz, a German non-profit group, wants to make defibrillators readily available across its country so that any time someone has a heart attack, the life saving devices are within arms reach. Definetz is looking to drones to help it bring its vision to fruition. The group has announced the Defikopter, a concept device it designed with drone-maker Height Tech to fly defibrillators to emergency responders or the public by way of a GPS-enabled smartphone app.

 

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