May 4th, 2011 by Medgadget in Health Tips, News
Tags: Apps, Flu, FluPhone, Infectious Disease, Influenza, Mobile Devices, Mobile Phones, Super Spreaders, Trackers
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“Are you a super-spreader?” That’s the catchphrase for a new study out of the University of Cambridge. However, if you answered “yes”, you may want to stay home and cover your mouth, because the study was designed to track the spread of influenza using cellular phone technology.
The study (and accompanying app) is called FluPhone, and it uses cell phones to collect information on social encounters within the study sample of participants in Cambridge. A phone’s Bluetooth antenna detects encounters with other participants and also records the proximity to each other. The built-in GPS chip tracks each user’s location, but this feature was disabled due to recent ethical concerns. Finally, the phone’s 3G/GPRS antenna sends all the proximity data automatically back to researchers for analysis. Other features include the ability to program a specific disease model by introducing a virtual “pathogen” which can be transmitted via Bluetooth when at least two users are near each other.
In addition to revealing useful data about the spread of disease and how to minimize its effects, the study could also be helpful for creating more effective public health messages.
More from the University of Cambridge: FluPhone: disease tracking by app…
Research project page…
FluPhone participant website…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
May 3rd, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in News, Opinion
Tags: Ethics, Hand Transplantation, Immunosuppression, Medical Ethics, Nerves, Plastic Surgery
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There was a lovely news article on the first California hand transplant patient in the LA Times earlier this week: Hand transplant patient speaks (bold emphasis is mine)
Emily Fennell, 26, last month became the first person in California to have the revolutionary surgery. Six weeks and many hours of therapy later, she has no regrets. …..
On March 5, Fennell became the first person to undergo a hand transplant in California and the 13th nationwide to have the revolutionary surgery. . ….
“It’s crazy how good it looks,” she said at her occupational therapy session one morning last week at UCLA, where she spends about eight hours a day working on learning how to move her new hand and fingers. “I knew the match wouldn’t be perfect, but if you didn’t know what happened, you’d think I just had some kind of orthopedic surgery.” ….
Doctors told her that the biggest risk from the surgery comes from the side effects of lifelong use of strong immunosuppressant medications, which can cause high blood pressure, kidney or liver damage, elevated cancer risks and lower resistance to infections. …..
“I decided the benefits were worth those risks,” Fennel said. She has adjusted well to the medications. …. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
May 3rd, 2011 by DavidHarlow in News, True Stories
Tags: Facebook, HIPAA, Hospitals, Physician Fired, Physicians, Privacy, Privacy Violation, Rhode Island, Social Media
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In recent years many health care providers and managers have told me, time and again, that the health care world is accustomed to managing confidential patient information, and therefore doesn’t need much in the way of social media training and policy development. This week brings news that should make those folks sit up and take notice. A physician in Rhode Island, who was fired for a Facebook faux pas, has now been fined by the state medical board as well. The physician posted a little too much information on Facebook — information about a patient that, combined with other publicly available information, allowed third parties to identify the patient. The details of the story are available here and here.
The key takeaway from this story — and the Johnny-come-lately approach to health care social media taken by the Rhode Island hospital in question and the Boston teaching hospital that the Boston Globe turned to for comment — is that prevention is the best medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
May 2nd, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in News
Tags: Boys And Girls Clubs, Breast Implants, Embezzlement, Jail, Lynette Rojas
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A former executive assistant for the La Habra Boys and Girls Club was sentenced today to three years in prison for embezzling about $135,000 from the organization over two years, using some of the stolen money to pay for breast implants. Superior Court Judge Roger Robbins also ordered Lynette Rojas to pay $270,000 in fines and $165,113.08 in restitution to the club. But the 37-year- old La Habra residents appears unable to pay any of the money back, Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche said. Rojas, who could have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted at trial, pleaded guilty April 4 after Robbins agreed to sentence her to three years behind bars.
Source: dailybreeze.com/news/ci_17874455?source=rss
Lynette Rojas stole $135,000 from the Boys and Girls Club of La Habra and used part of the money to have breast implant surgery. She took a plea deal as opposed to going to trial. I wonder if her surgeon had to pay back the money she paid him.
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
May 1st, 2011 by Berci in News, Opinion
Tags: Blogs, Facebook, Health 2.0, Physicians, Should Physicians Participate In Social Media, Social Media, Twitter
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Healthcare IT News recently asked its readers about their thoughts on doctors using social media.
The interesting part here is when 13% of participants think that doctors should not be using social media at all. I wonder why they ignore social media that much. Maybe because they have never heard about the limitations, dangers and potential tools to fight these dangers. Maybe we should talk more about these issues.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
