National Library of Medicine: “Facts And Inferences”—Digitizing Shadows From The Walls Of Death Part 1. “NLM has digitized and made publicly available for the first time, one of four known copies of Shadows from the Walls of Death: Facts and Inferences Prefacing a Book of Specimens of Arsenical Wall Papers, 1874. In this three-part series learn more about the origins of this rare book, the digitization effort, and the arsenic pigments of the 19th century.”
health
University of Calgary: Nursing researcher’s storytelling tool brings together small stories and big data
University of Calgary: Nursing researcher’s storytelling tool brings together small stories and big data. “An empathic cultural map offers detailed, qualitative insights into individual and group experiences of living and working in a particular area. In that sense, with ECM, users can navigate geographical maps on the interactive pages and discover spatial and numeric data, from walkability scores in Calgary neighbourhoods to immigration rates across the globe. But they also encounter audio interviews, scanned journal entries and stories about the new immigrants to Calgary and their personal anecdotes. The juxtaposition encourages users to see links across data which might not always be traditionally evident, with the aim of making connections and seeing key facilitators, blockers or constraints relevant to health.”
UCLA: UCLA researchers use search engines, social media to predict syphilis trends
UCLA: UCLA researchers use search engines, social media to predict syphilis trends. “Two studies from the UCLA-based University of California Institute for Prediction Technology, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, found an association between certain risk-related terms that Google and Twitter users researched or tweeted about and subsequent syphilis trends that were reported to the CDC. The researchers were able to pinpoint these cases at state or county levels, depending on the platform used.”
CBC: Think twice before consulting Dr. Google, researchers say
CBC: Think twice before consulting Dr. Google, researchers say. “Eye twitching? Weird stomach pain? Leg cramp? Is it a symptom of a serious disease? Beware the temptation to ask Dr. Google. A recent study suggests internet health searching could make you feel worse. It could leave you even less informed. And you’re also potentially revealing private health information. It’s part of a growing body of research into the potential side-effects of consulting the internet about health issues — something that creates a risk of ‘cyberchondria.'”
NPR: How Social Media Can Reveal Overlooked Drug Reactions
NPR: How Social Media Can Reveal Overlooked Drug Reactions. “When Allison Ruddick was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in October 2014, she turned to the world of hashtags. After her initial diagnosis it wasn’t clear if the cancer had metastasized, so she was in for a nerve-wracking wait, she says. She wanted outside advice. ‘But they don’t really give you a handbook, so you search kind of anywhere for answers,’ Ruddick says. ‘Social media was one of the first places I went.’ Under the hashtags #colorectalcancer and #nevertooyoung on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, other patients were sharing a fuller picture of their experience with cancer treatments.”
Arizona Public Media: Do Social Media Posts About Exercise Motivate? It’s Not Black or White, Study Says
Arizona Public Media: Do Social Media Posts About Exercise Motivate? It’s Not Black or White, Study Says. “A new report co-authored by a University of Arizona researcher has mixed news for users of social media. The study found that some people become more self-conscious after seeing an exercise-related post, while others are motivated to do more physical activity as a result. UA communications professor Stephen Rains was an author behind the study. He noted the findings were similar to others looking at the impact of social media.”
New York Times: How Companies Scour Our Digital Lives for Clues to Our Health
New York Times: How Companies Scour Our Digital Lives for Clues to Our Health. “Your digital footprint — how often you post on social media, how quickly you scroll through your contacts, how frequently you check your phone late at night — could hold clues to your physical and mental health. That at least is the theory behind an emerging field, digital phenotyping, that is trying to assess people’s well-being based on their interactions with digital devices. ”
