BetaNews: Google adds pollen forecasts to searches. “A lot of people like to know what the weather is going to be like, but if you suffer from hay fever it can be all the more important to know what to expect. To make life a little easier for people struck by ‘seasonal allergies,’ Google is rolling out pollen forecasting.”
health
NLM Shutting Down NIHSeniorHealth.gov Web Site
The National Library of Medicine is shutting down the NIHSeniorHealth.gov web site. “Beginning August 1, 2017, NIHSeniorHealth.gov will redirect visitors to the Health and Aging section of NIA Web site. There, visitors will find up-to-date and reliable information on aging research and health and wellness for older adults. Additionally, the NIA Go4Life Web site offers exercises, motivational tips, and free resources to help older adults start and continue exercising. Other sources of information for older adults and their families include the NIHSeniorHealth YouTube Channel, which includes more than 110 videos about various health and wellness information, and the NLM consumer health Web site, MedlinePlus, which offers three topics Exercise for Seniors, Nutrition for Seniors, and Seniors’ Health.”
Xinhua: Social media help to predict epidemics in New Zealand
Xinhua: Social media help to predict epidemics in New Zealand. “The Ministry of Health is trialing an innovative approach aimed at improving its response to epidemics by predicting outbreaks earlier. The project uses alternative sources of information to detect trends that indicate the spread of infectious diseases, including social media and a range of historic and current data sets, Coleman said.”
Phys.org: Penn interactive map shows community traits built from more than 37 billion tweets
Phys.org: Penn interactive map shows community traits built from more than 37 billion tweets. “It’s no secret that communities across the United States differ greatly. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s World Well-Being Project sought a simple way to capture, explore and share such differences on a large scale. Their end goal: to provide individuals with valuable insights about where they live and offer comparisons to other communities. The result is the Well-Being Map, an interactive, freely available tool based on the statistical language analysis of more than 37 billion publicly shared, geo-tagged tweets and on regional demographic data.”
Emory University: Emory develops national database of clinics that prescribe HIV prevention drug PrEP
Emory University: Emory develops national database of clinics that prescribe HIV prevention drug PrEP. “By now, many people who are at risk for contracting HIV have heard of PrEP. They know pre-exposure prophylaxis is extremely effective in preventing the spread of the virus. What they often don’t know is where to get it or how to navigate the insurance paperwork to pay for it. Aaron Siegler has just made that job easier. A research assistant professor in epidemiology at Rollins School of Public Health, Siegler developed the PrEP Locator, the first national database of clinics that prescribe PrEP.”
Now available from OHSU Library: Digital collection of primary sources and legacy data on public health in Oregon (Historical Notes)
From the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Library: Now available from OHSU Library: Digital collection of primary sources and legacy data on public health in Oregon. “OHSU Library is pleased to announce the completion of its digitization project, Public Health in Oregon: Accessing Historical Data for Scientific Discovery, funded by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). The project provides public access to digitized rare and unique materials related to public health in Oregon, as well as open access to the structured datasets they contain. The library is presenting the results in a digital collection of 351 items, as well as a narrative exhibit of original research on the history of public health in Oregon.” If this is ringing a bell it’s because I mentioned the launch of this project in March 2016..
ProPublica: Medicare Halts Release of Much-Anticipated Data
ProPublica: Medicare Halts Release of Much-Anticipated Data. “Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have been validating the accuracy of the data and, in recent months, were preparing to release it to researchers. Medicare already shares data on the 38 million patients in the traditional Medicare program, which the government runs. … The grand unveiling of the new data was scheduled to take place at the annual research meeting of AcademyHealth, a festival of health wonkery, which just concluded in New Orleans. But at the last minute, the session was canceled.”
