health insurance: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

My most embarrassing & kick ass moments of Blogher

Ah, Blogher fumes still rumbling thru my veins...

So Florinda mentions TWICE my most embarrassing moment of Blogher. She asked me for an autograph on the Ms. magazine that I just handed her. I laughed and saw she was dead serious. It was extra funny because my husband had just been teasing me the day before about "When is your signing at Women & Children First?" But Florinda was serious and since I love her so, I took her pen, my pen?, and signed my name under my photo. I meant to write a peace symbol and then my name. But it came out as [Peace sign], [heart] and feminism.

Then came my favorite sluts...I gave them a copy of the magazine before the panel started. After I composed myself from signing Florinda's copy, one of them asked me to autograph their copy with a fushia Sharpie. More nervous chuckling.

By now my dear readers, you should know that while I'm excited about all the stuff I do, I am also a horrible promoter. I'm currently fundraising to hire Cinnamon for that role. I'm only a few thousand short, so someone give me a huge ass book deal! haha...Seriously thou, I'm awful at it, thou I am getting better. But the thought of anyone wanting my autograph is too overwhelming for me to really comprehend, so it pushes me to being more embarrassed than anything. I guess cause I just don't know how to handle it.

So what was the most kick ass moment of Blogher? Introducing friends to Gloria Feldt. I mean, hello!? How many years have I been getting mass emails & snail mail from her about Planned Parenthood? And because of the Progressive Women's Voices program, I know her well enough to introduce her around. Oh, yeah...now that's bad ass.

But it helped show me (and it should you too) that we're all experts at something (thanks Katie) and well, blogging is one of the things I'm an expert at. I might not be a Forbes Power Mom blogger, but I know a thing or two about this medium. I also love, love, LOVE connecting amazing women to each other. I am the human LinkedIn/Friend Finder. And honestly, I love it because I can talk until my neighbors come home about you and this other amazing woman. And yes, that means I don't have to talk about me! Perfect, eh?

So if you ever pay me a compliment and I get all "aw, shucks..." that really is how I am. And while it is embarrassing, it's also pretty fab too. Thanks.

Health News of the Day, part 2

Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day.

Eating omega-3-rich seafood may be a mood-lifter for women who are feeling depressed during pregnancy. Seafood may help depression in pregnancy - but pregnant women should limit consumption due to its mercury content... "Although common in western countries, depression is virtually absent in countries where people eat a lot of fish" http://bit.ly/jVrJA - Sounds like a bald statement...
Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes http://bit.ly/Z61jv - Not for me but the brave ones here may check it out.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen just started a blog at Blogger.com: Welcome to medical blogosphere! It looks like 140 characters on Twitter were not enough for @elizcohencnn - so here is the blog http://bit.ly/11sc4j
Pathtalk.org is a weblog about pathology http://pathtalk.org
Inspiring non-scientists: A Nature editorial reviews the TED Talks approach http://bit.ly/123EIx
Top 1,000 Hospital Web sites (worldwide) - http://bit.ly/15VkVQ , also Top US list: http://bit.ly/5YRC8 A huge data set.

Medical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source/links, etc. The inclusion of a Twitter update (tweet) does not represent endorsement or agreement of any kind. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support.

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain

List of biomedical journals on Twitter

This is a list of biomedical journals on Twitter http://bit.ly/qM5wL - Just added NEJM, feel free to contribute. The list was started by @laikas, a medical librarian in the Netherlands and is open to edit.

It is fascinating to see how well Google Spreadsheets works as a structured wiki:

The spreadsheet was embedded by using Google Web Elements.

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

Unlogged-into Hotmail and Gmail account expire after 9 months and unlogged-into Yahoo accounts expire after 6 http://bit.ly/KzIGe
Google is trying to convince content owners that YouTube videos can make money after all: http://bit.ly/3Cjloz
See an example of using Google Books to illustrate a blog post: Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) http://bit.ly/19j1Q3
Health 1.0, Health 2.0, Health 3.0 http://bit.ly/uuITi
"View/Share PDFs with Google Docs. At some point in the near future, G Docs will allow you to upload any type of files" http://bit.ly/eLYtp
"Twitters redesign makes it look like a search engine, not a networking tool, but isn't that why we use it?" http://bit.ly/5wvZN" - No.
Q & A: Opting Out of Facebook Ads http://bit.ly/oGNBJ
HOW TO: Deal With Social Networking Overload http://bit.ly/Tx9Q9 - How-to guide number 1002 by Mashable :) - My advice: http://bit.ly/lT1TR
The top Mahalo.com page manager can expect to earn 21,616 Mahalo dollars per year (exchange rate of $0.75) http://bit.ly/feHAC
"Use Google Docs & Checkout to Sell Online: You can get your first online store up-and-running in under 5 minutes" http://bit.ly/wyRrE

Health News of the Day

Black Tea May Lower Blood Sugar, contains a polysaccharide that mimics type 2 diabetes drugs Precose and Glyset. Black tea polysaccharides inhibit an enzyme called alpha-glucosidase, which turns starch into glucose http://bit.ly/uAhvn - Warning: Do not stop your diabetes medications.
Immunity-suppressing drugs used in SLE can decrease the effects of flu vaccines, a Dutch study warns http://bit.ly/xLPbt
Plagiarism accusation hits stem-cell research: Editor retracts "sperm-creation paper" http://bit.ly/fBj33
Floppy iris syndrome: "semipermanent" drug effect of tamsulosin (Flomax)? http://bit.ly/18ltt0
Treating Patients as Partners, by Way of Informed Consent - NYT http://bit.ly/16SwYU
"How To Respond to an Angry Patient Complaint" by Susan Keane Baker http://bit.ly/AlY1D
Photos: A Careful Exam helps when looking for the cause of atrial fibrillation http://bit.ly/ft2Vt
Paco Addiction: Argentina's Ongoing Struggle http://bit.ly/l39pA

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

MarketWatch: "A backlash against Twitter is building. "Twitter has no business model," Taplin said. "It's a fad. They come and go. My students don't care about Twitter at all" Taplin said "It's a time-waster for them. What they're using is Facebook. There isn't a single student in my large lecture hall who doesn't use Facebook. They like the clean interface." http://bit.ly/2bSS87
Top Fifty (50) Twitter Users in Medicine http://bit.ly/Ahvd3
NEJM is now on Twitter @NEJM and Facebook http://bit.ly/oPWwk
Airlines Follow Passengers Onto Social Media Sites http://bit.ly/pfUNN
9 Tips for Having a Good Bad Day. http://bit.ly/vnSvE
Bing will become Google's main competitor in search, with a market share of 28% in the US and 11% worldwide http://bit.ly/kHjTU
Mobile broadband users face stiff penalties for exceeding their download limits http://bit.ly/7PDkH
"The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC" http://bit.ly/AFcMz

The Science of Extrapolating

The Science (or pseudoscience) of Extrapolating.

Image source: http://xkcd.com/605, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

Health News of the Day

Professor of bioethics in NYT: "Why We Must Ration Health Care" http://bit.ly/cYTSB
Noninvasive selective visualization of the whole peripheral nervous system by Whole-Body MRI Neurography http://bit.ly/pDTJk
30-day rate of death after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding was 0.3% http://bit.ly/dbsN3
Gardner's syndrome (familial adenomatous polyposis) is a cilia-related disorder http://bit.ly/2laVS
Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study http://bit.ly/1AV0Pn
Protein Clumps May Appear in the Brain Years Before Memory Problems in Alzheimer's Dementia http://bit.ly/3Ztix
"Should you trust health advice from the web?" New Scientist http://bit.ly/5Pi43
NEJM is now on Twitter @NEJM and Facebook http://bit.ly/oPWwk

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

H1N1 Flu Screening in China: People in hazmat suits come aboard the plane with laser beams

Video: Plane from San Francisco to Shanghai Pudong Airport arrives in Shanghai and pulls into the gate. Passengers are asked to remain in seats while people in white hazmat suits come aboard to take the temperature of every passenger by way of a laser beam aimed at their foreheads.

References:
A New Airport Ritual, Swine Flu Screening. NY Times.

Health News of the Day, part 2

Study: "Humans prefer cockiness to expertise". "Bad news for scientists who try to be honest about gaps in their knowledge: Humans prefer cockiness to expertise" http://bit.ly/ovuWg
A common blue food dye might provide the best treatment available so far for spinal cord injuries (in mice) http://bit.ly/f9zH9 Blue dye used in M&Ms and Gatorade may interrupt the cell death that follows spinal cord injury http://bit.ly/6iEIL -- Rats injected with BBG blue dye to treat spinal injury regained their mobility but temporarily turned blue. http://bit.ly/1GpnS
Tanning Beds Get Highest Carcinogen Rating: Melanoma risk rises 75 percent when device use begins before age 30 http://bit.ly/17jwfE
"NIH is encouraging its scientists to edit and even initiate Wikipedia articles in their fields." http://tr.im/uuyw

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

Information Overload, the Index Medicus, and PubMed. PubMed contains 18,782,970 citations in the medical literature, adding over 670,000 new entries per year http://bit.ly/10DrLp
"How to Find out Who's using Facebook in your Hospital" and what to do if you don't like their "unofficial group" http://bit.ly/lR6tp
"Do You Have These Core Human Skills?" by Josh Kaufman http://bit.ly/hRIPi
A New Page: Can the Kindle really improve on the book? http://bit.ly/2WZjVj
British gov "Twitter policy" http://bit.ly/3lkYsL (organizations finally writing policies; now should think about strategies) via @giustini
A blog devoted to "Building an effective online presence for health professionals" http://bit.ly/9fJMh
Will one Chicago woman's Tweet cost her $50,000 in the form of a defamation lawsuit? http://bit.ly/VXvXK
Paul Krugman gets 1200 or more comments to his opinion pieces. http://bit.ly/R94Qs
Fed boss Bernanke faces personal downturn: His net worth dropped by almost a third in last year http://bit.ly/FOZYh

Video: "Ben Goldacre on MMR, autism and media mendacity"

From Wikipedia:

Ben Goldacre is a British medical doctor and journalist, and the author of the The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column.

Health News of the Day

Divorce and death of a spouse frequently have long-term negative consequences for health, even in people who remarry. People who were divorced or widowed were 20% more likely to have heart disease, diabetes, cancer http://bit.ly/3nko5A
Higher speed limits led to about 12,500 more deaths on US roads between 1995 and 2005. In 1974, Maximum Speed Law put a 55 mph speed limit on all interstate roads - led to 16.4% drop in car crash mortality http://bit.ly/4ryZS7

NIH stopped a trial of sildenafil (Viagra) in sickle cell patients with pulmonary HTN due to serious medical problems. "30% of sickle cell disease patients develop pulmonary hypertension, which can kill them suddenly" http://bit.ly/Wp6lu -- Sildenafil works in symptomatic pulmonary arterial hypertension according to a 2005 NEJM study http://bit.ly/SRcGE - but this trial was in sickle cell disease patients. There is another ongoing study: Sildenafil for Treatment of Priapism in Men With Sickle Cell Anemia http://bit.ly/2sNt0Z
WHO: Tanning Beds Cause Melanoma, moved UV tanning beds to its highest cancer risk category -"carcinogenic to humans" http://bit.ly/mZA6A
Early review by a respiratory physician leads to a shorter length of stay in non-severe community-acquired pneumonia http://bit.ly/ulezb
Jen McCabe Gorman shares her experience on YouTube as she opens her genetic profile results from 23andMe http://bit.ly/NwYY
PubMed: The commonest reason for inserting foreign bodies http://bit.ly/1bbFcE
CSF biomarkers for Alzheimer’s: A42, T-tau, P-tau (amyloid1-42, total tau protein, tau phosphorylated position 181 threonine)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Summary of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act

August 4, 2009, a parental notice for minors to obtain an abortion is scheduled to go into effect. I am posting a summary of the law on this blog for any minor who might be reading. If you have questions about this law, please contact the ACLU Illinois:

A. Notice Requirement

· The statute requires that an abortion provider in Illinois seeking to perform an abortion for a “minor” must give “at least 48 hours actual notice to an adult family member of the pregnant minor.”

· A “minor” is defined as a person (1) under the age of 18, (2) who has never been married, and (3) has not been legally emancipated under the Emancipation of Minors Act.

· The statute applies in the context of both medical and surgical abortions.

· “Adult family member” is defined as “a person over 21 years of age who is the parent, grandparent, step-parent living in the household, or legal guardian” of the pregnant teen.

· “Actual notice” is defined as “giving of notice directly, in person, or by telephone.”

· 48 hours “Constructive notice” may be given if actual notice is not possible after a “reasonable effort.” “Constructive notice” is defined as “certified mail to the last known address of the person entitled to notice, with delivery deemed to have occurred 48 hours after the certified notice is mailed.”

B. Notice is not required when:

· A patient under 18 years of age is or has been married or is legally emancipated under the Emancipation of Minors Act.

· The referring physician certifies in writing that he or she has given at least 48 hours notice to an “adult family member” of the pregnant minor.

· The minor is accompanied by an “adult family member.”

· Notice is waived in writing by an “adult family member.”

· The attending physician certifies in the minor’s medical record that a medical emergency exists and there is insufficient time to provide the required notice.

· The minor declares in writing that she is a victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse by an “adult family member.” In this case, mandated reporting under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act need not occur until after the abortion has been performed.

· The minor has obtained a court order waiving the notice requirement through the judicial bypass procedure.

Health News of the Day, part 2

Dental diseases could become increasingly regarded as the early marker of adverse lifestyle choices http://bit.ly/2PtkJ
"No differences in risk of heart attack, stroke, or death between people who reached BP of 140/90 & those with 135/85" http://bit.ly/1AzQGa
Patient Voices: Kidney Disease http://bit.ly/4Bc6SJ -- Patient Voices: Psoriasis http://bit.ly/KSJXA
CNN video: Lance Armstrong opens up about critics and what it feels like to not win the Tour de France. http://bit.ly/13MLpy
"Are Americans healthier than other nations?" http://bit.ly/4WkTk
"The Dog-Eat-Dog World of Applying to Med School" - NY Times http://bit.ly/u41s8

Latina Leaders and New Media

I attended the NCLR session, "Serving, Leading and Inspiring: Latinas in Elected and Appointed Office" which was great. So many amazing stories! I'll write them up later on. But afterwards I was able to grab my former State Sentor Iris Martinez (disclosure: I have donated to her campaign), State Representative Susana Mendoza and Elmy Bermejo, Chair of the board of HOPE, for a few minutes on social media.

It was a case study in how different we see social media and who is using it.

For Senator Martinez, she does not have a dedicated press person to help manage any social media outreach. Senators share press people, so one press person could be handling 4-5 or even 10 state senators. This doesn't seem to lead to having the time or energy to handle any substantive social media presence. I've talked with friends over the last few years and most of us are frustrated that elected officials aren't using the Internet to it's fullest extent. Martinez is committed to updating her website soon and looking for ways to increase her presence online.

Representative Mendoza is on Facebook and Twitter. It's really her on the other end of the iPhone, which was peeking out of her suit jacket, sending in updates. She says that she resisted joining for a long time, but quickly came to realize the power of social media/networking. While she was on the impeachment panel for former Gov. Blagojevich, she got a TON of feedback from people around the state about the impeachment as well as about her. "I got messages from Republicans in Lake County saying "I've never voted for a Democrat, but I'd vote for you if you ran for higher office." You don't let all of that go to your head, but it's great to hear from so many people. Facebook is the best door knocker!" We discussed how someone at her level of politics or even more local could definitely use Facebook and other social media tools to expand ones base in order to run for a higher office. She does say that she tries not to update too much and any updates are fairly relevant. Too many elected officials update too much and border on annoying.

Mendoza knows that her community still has issues with the digital divide and sees more non-constituents giving her feedback through social media tools. But is committed to bringing resources to the community. As she sees it, getting more people connected to computers will only increase their voices and education.

HOPE is working in California to increase the number of Latinas in leadership. They are also working on launching a poll to see how Latinas in California are using social media. Who is using it, why, how as well as seeing who isn't using it or even has access to social media. The digital divide is also a huge issue for HOPE and they want to see the divide decrease. As for their leadership training, they are targeting Latinas with potential. After a Latina goes through the training, they have access to the entire state wide network. One Latina who was campaigning had a goal of raising $5,000 in a week. With HOPE's network if every Latina on the list gave $20, she would have reached one week's goal.

And that's what HOPE is trying to do. Get more Latinas engaged in politics through running for office, working on campaigns and GIVING to campaigns. Bermejo says that it's working. Latinas are voting more, organizing receptions for other candidates and are giving more to campaigns.

The networks are forming one Latina at a time and by connecting online through Facebook, Twitter or whatever we create, I think that we'll be quite a force to be reckoned with.

Last surviving British soldier from World War I died at the age of 111, didn't speak about the war until he turned 100

From CNN:

Harry Patch -- the last surviving British soldier from World War I -- died On July 25 at the age of 111.

Patch was the last surviving soldier to have witnessed the horrors of trench warfare in the first World War. He fought and was seriously wounded in Belgium, in 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele, in which 70,000 of his fellow soldiers died -- including three of his close friends.

His wife died in 1976, and their two sons also later died. Patch remarried in 1980, but he became a widower for the second time four years later.

Patch didn't speak about the war until he turned 100. "He tried to suppress the memories and to live as normal a life as possible; the culture of his time said that he was fortunate to have survived and that he should get on with his life."

Patch returned to Belgium in 2002, something he had said he would never do, and laid a wreath to his battalion. Two years later, he met and shook hands with a German artilleryman from the Western Front. Patch later laid a wreath at Langemark Cemetery for the German war dead.

References:
Last British Army WWI veteran dead at 111. CNN.
Harry Patch, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Image source: Wikipedia, Photo of Harry Patch, Jim Ross, GNU Free Documentation License.

Do you delete your tweets?

Do you delete your tweets? I do it all the time. All tweets that do not make sense in single view, especially replies like "yes/no" get deleted. Also, I delete most conversational ones that make little sense without the tweet they replied to. See the example below: http://bit.ly/133smM

DrVes@Allergy Agree.8 minutes ago from web in reply to Allergy

The drawback of Twitter, as compared to FriendFeed, is that you can't see a conversation string without using other services.

I treat tweets like words in a word processor - delete, change and replace until you get the meaning right. A tweet is not a blog post.

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

A Small Study Reveals High Levels of Twitter Use at (Non-medical) Conferences: 95% of (non-medical) conference attendees already had a Twitter account, 67% used it to tweet during the conference. 74% of non-medical conference attendees send 11-20 Twitter messages per day, 51% discussed topics via @ replies and DMs. The data sample was too small - only 5 conferences and 41attendees http://bit.ly/4miqX5
Video: Where is Matt? (2008) - 42 countries, and a cast of thousands http://bit.ly/t0cAV
"Blogosphere gives hospitals, medical talk an outlet" http://bit.ly/OX6gY
The Business Insider: "What A Nigerian Facebook Scam Looks Like" http://bit.ly/QEWHV
The Big Picture: Stories from Israel, Tanzania and Malaysia http://bit.ly/3jCuah
How to Create a Walking Tour with Google City Tours http://bit.ly/JXLD3

Health News of the Day

Obesity costs the U.S. health care system up to $147 billion a year: An extra $1,429 per year for each obese person. http://bit.ly/dvSOz -- CDC: Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States http://bit.ly/oP3t6
"Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments." Study participants scoring in bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their ability http://bit.ly/9UJxO
Proposed ban on drug commercials: ads take advantage of hypochondriacs, lead pts to pressure doctors for prescriptions. Critics say the ads overstate benefits and understate risks. http://bit.ly/dDMZf
No surprise: Adults with high leisure-time Internet and computer use were more likely to be overweight or obese http://bit.ly/raMd9
What is coup d'ongle sign in pityriasis versicolor? Scratch sign (coup d'ongle, Besnier's) in pityriasis versicolor is loosing of barely perceptible scale with a fingernail http://bit.ly/G7zPu
Migrant doctors: Over half of primary care doctors are from abroad http://bit.ly/Soe9z

Monday, July 27, 2009

Health News of the Day, part 2

The antihistamine ketotifen and cromolyn successfully treat diabetes and obesity in mice. Mast cells are abundant in fat tissues of obese and diabetic people and mice. Antihistamines could work as new therapy http://bit.ly/1UKKt4
Evolution study: Women are getting more beautiful, while men remain as aesthetically unappealing as their caveman ancestors http://bit.ly/1a9bas
101 Simple Salads for the Season - NY Times http://bit.ly/SIw0H
In the Clinic Slide Sets from Annals of Internal Medicine http://bit.ly/Q6Oe - Smoking Cessation - Free Sample. The cover of Annals of Internal Medicine is not what you expect... :) http://bit.ly/3aK5a2
Contador, 26 wins 2nd Tour de France; Lance Armstrong, 37 capped his return to race with an impressive 3rd-place finish. 37-year-old Armstrong, seven-time Tour champion, is the second-oldest rider to reach the Tour podium http://bit.ly/M7u3s
The greatest racehorse of all time was "perfectly average" - BBC: http://bit.ly/zpl4M and http://bit.ly/QYfPR

Health News of the Day

Video: A conversation with Denis Cortese, President and CEO of Mayo Clinic (http://bit.ly/t4OWY) via @charlierose
Video: A conversation with Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management & Budget (http://bit.ly/39gin) via @charlierose
Internists annoyed by being called a Primary Care "Provider", gatekeeper - ACP blog http://bit.ly/15AwdS

In the Clinic Slide Sets from Annals of Internal Medicine http://bit.ly/Q6Oe - Smoking Cessation - Free Sample

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

Academic Reputation in the Future http://bit.ly/NJiDn
Many physicians are unaware that the first search results for their name are doctor rating websites. A blog/Twitter account would be helpful.
Why Comments Matter http://bit.ly/163cBt
Why Bezos and Hsieh used new media instead of old to make their Amazon/Zappos announcement. http://bit.ly/zycEf
"Why physicians may never have their own Facebook" http://bit.ly/kA0vJ
Video: "Brilliant Woman Solves All of California's Problems" at Santa Cruz City Council http://bit.ly/5fHQC
"Who Is Chris Brogan: The Story of Me" http://bit.ly/Aw3xV
Explore Points of Interest with Yahoo! Image Search http://bit.ly/uTIbf
Buckeye Surgeon: "The meaning of life" http://bit.ly/3C4EXV

TED Talks: Bonnie Bassler on how bacteria "talk"

Video: Bonnie Bassler on how bacteria "talk" (18 minutes).

"Bonnie Bassler discovered that bacteria "talk" to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry -- and our understanding of ourselves."

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Blogher 2009 is history...

and I'm pooped!

But as is par for the course, life's roller coaster keeps chugging up that hill.

I was lucky enough to get a small number of Ms. magazine copies to pass out at Blogher and I've already gotten word that some stores are selling it despite an August 4th news stand date. This means that I need to brace myself for a small uptick in traffic.

I have to laugh at this because I spoke this morning at the National Council for La Raza (ya know, Sotomayor's racist organization!) on social media and one of the last questions was about rankings. I told the man (damn, what was his blog again? This is what happens when I'm on stage without a pen!) that I gave up on my stats and rankings a long time ago. I gave up because I know I'm listed on some pretty big blogs exclusive blogrolls. I know that I go to places like La Raza & Blogher and get "I love your blog!" comments from people who I have no idea who they are. Thus, stats can suck it. Feedburner, Google stats, Google rank and especially Technorati seem to be unable to explain why I seem to be fairly popular. I'm not A-list, but I'm not totally D-list anymore. But that's not why I missed the D-List lunch - I swear I thought we were having breakfast! haha...

But I'll be back at the La Raza conference for a short event on Monday and part of Tuesday burning up my press pass.

And if you read my blog on my blog instead of a RSS reader (it's ok, that's how I read your blog too.) you might notice that my Blogher button has been replaced by a Blogalicious button! Oh yes, I'll be traveling to Atlanta to hang with fellow women of color bloggers & some of our super kewl white girlfriends.

BUT...that will be after I get back from Tampa for the Florida Consortium for Women's Studies. I submitted a proposal to look at how the increase in women in general on campuses might be helping the increase of women in STEM. A total, total preliminary study, but I'm hoping that it will give me some direction for some research projects.

Whew!

Like I said, the roller coaster keeps chugging along. Some days I feel like I'm being run over or dragged, but more often than not, I'm enjoying the ride.

And to all my coworkers who read Ms and now have found my blog, Hi!

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

Twitter 101 is a suite of web pages that explains how to use Twitter for business http://bit.ly/137iTd
Twitter Unveils A Live-Updating Search Widget http://bit.ly/UX7DD and http://bit.ly/Bi3gk -- Twitter Profile Widget was also updated: Customize Your Profile Widget and embed in your blog http://bit.ly/19rkUa
Twitt-iquette: Top 10 Twitter Faux Pas http://bit.ly/161bDJ
"Facebook Wants To Know If You’d Mind Sharing All Of Your Information" http://bit.ly/Lq4GU
Poll Results: Why Do You Tweet? http://bit.ly/zV1pT
Fluent Mobile combines trusted news sources into a single, easy-to-read and up-to-the-minute mobile newspaper http://bit.ly/137aLO
Since when did medical bloggers start calling each other names such as "ignorant, cold-hearted jerk"? http://bit.ly/IMkCk - Sad situation.
Paulo Coelho Knows How to Use Social Media Better http://bit.ly/2f9CPh

Health News of the Day

Healthcare reform in America: 1934-present - WSJ interactive graphics http://bit.ly/Pqg4d
Scientists convert a camera cell phone into a fluorescent microscope capable of detecting TB bacteria in saliva sample http://bit.ly/3wxqvg
Scientists say a daily walk in the sunshine could be all that is needed to delay a knee replacement. "People with healthy vitamin D levels maintained their cartilage for longer. In Tasmania, roughly half of the adult population is vitamin D deficient. If we were to make everyone vitamin D sufficient in Tasmania, we'd delay the time of knee replacement by 14 years" http://bit.ly/FnsVP
CDC: All U.S. children should get seasonal flu shot http://bit.ly/Ws9WJ
60% of ACP Internist readers use social media not only personally and professionally but clinically as well. Surprising: 25% of ACP Internist readers (mostly physicians) use social media for clinical purposes - see the examples http://bit.ly/qd24S
The University of Maryland Medical Encyclopedia brings 50,000 pages of medical content to your iPhone http://bit.ly/LPhvA
The Wash. Post looks at what sets Cleveland Clinic apart in terms of achieving higher quality at lower cost http://bit.ly/2plUL6

TED Talks: Kary Mullis' next-gen cure for killer infections

Video: Kary Mullis' next-gen cure for killer infections (4 minutes).

"Drug-resistant bacteria kills, even in top hospitals. But now tough infections like staph and anthrax may be in for a surprise. Nobel-winning chemist Kary Mullis, who watched a friend die when powerful antibiotics failed, unveils a radical new cure that shows extraordinary promise."

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

EtherPad Gets A Makeover And Becomes Even More Of A Threat To Google Docs http://etherpad.com and http://bit.ly/N4jsT
RT @lancearmstrong: http://twitpic.com/bb7k5 - Never forget your beginner's spirit!
Pogue in NYT: "The Irksome Cellphone Industry" http://bit.ly/JVfvy
Denny's engages customers and critics on Twitter: @dennysgrandslam -- http://bit.ly/IWVRA and http://bit.ly/4Pm1S
Micropayment service @twitpay: "Social payments over Twitter" https://twitpay.me and http://bit.ly/3SQbA
People thought that Twitter was so simple that it doesn't need an instruction manual but here it is: Twitter 101 http://bit.ly/k8cDT
A.P. Cracks Down on Unpaid Use of Articles on Web - even a headline may not be fair use according to A.P. http://bit.ly/LqUTR
Muscle flexing in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya http://bit.ly/6YXLD

Health News of the Day

Effects of Pay for Performance on the Quality of Primary Care in England: initial gain, then slowing, even decline http://bit.ly/lTpJd
Countries with "opt-out" approach have organ-donation rates above 90%, whereas opt-in countries have rates of 5 to 15% http://bit.ly/oxaGs
Replicating Cleveland Clinic's Success Nationwide May Pose Major Challenges - WSJ http://bit.ly/19wpd5
The FDA today warned Americans not to use electronic cigarettes http://bit.ly/jR8ON
Study: Guided tissue regeneration, or GTR works for receding gums http://bit.ly/gHZY4
Nature Editorial on hyping research: "Reporting of scientific research is sometimes exaggerated or at worse inaccurate" http://bit.ly/nKdp
Can't Miss ECG Findings, Life-threatening Conditions - Medscape: http://bit.ly/msiqD (Registration required. Free)
Activist group sues Denny's over sodium levels - some meals at Denny's contain more than 5,000 milligrams http://bit.ly/IWVRA

Doctors: Can social media land you a job?

Doctors: Can social media land you a job? - PracticeLink magazine, page 21. Click the widget embedded below for the other issues of the magazine.

Presentation: Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire Teachers

Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire

View more Microsoft Word documents from tippydawn.

Presentation: Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire Teachers.

How many of these companies will be out of business in 12 months?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Video: Medical Information Mastery

Video: Medical Information Mastery. University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine physician Derek Hubbard, MD instructs family doctors on how to find clinical information at the point of care.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Foods That Can Lower Blood Pressure by ChefMD

Check the other videos by ChefMD.

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

David Letterman to Kevin Spacey: "Does it cost you money to be on Twitter?" http://bit.ly/duxVH
How businesses use Twitter http://bit.ly/cY9KY -- Responding to consumer complaints via Twitter (pdf) http://tinyurl.com/lr9e5d -- 5 Twitter tips for your company http://bit.ly/1QDwW
"50 must-follow #Health20 heroes on Twitter" http://bit.ly/14nLZo
Google Docs, Slowly Morphing into Google Drive http://bit.ly/hN4nj

Health News of the Day

The Washington Post on doctor rating websites: "Want Treatment? Just Sign This No-Complaint Contract" http://bit.ly/vv0AV
"How To Debunk A Health Myth: A dose of skepticism can be good for you." http://bit.ly/3Pj7IS
CNN: "When you’re under anesthesia, do you know who’s actually doing the surgery?" http://bit.ly/6R7OE - Check some of the word choices too...
BMI - the body-mass index - was developed in 1832... http://bit.ly/14VZLj
"Return to McAllen: A Father-Son Interview" http://bit.ly/HCjpW
NPR Science: How Much Heat Can You Take? http://bit.ly/1JMHjZ
"Microbes ‘R’ Us" - from an evolutionary biologist http://bit.ly/16Pjmt
"Scientist creates a social networking site that users call "wonderful nerd-fest" http://bit.ly/jgOv2
"Multiple choice medical school exams favour male students" http://bit.ly/uCdTO
Kids Growth Chart Percentiles Calculator by Vincent Iannelli, M.D., About.com http://bit.ly/nhXKo -- not health news but a useful link.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Health News of the Day, part 2

Association Between Superficial Vein Thrombosis and DVT of Lower Extremities: 24% had a concomitant asymptomatic DVT http://bit.ly/10TpyZ
Helicobacter pylori eradication treatment seems to reduce gastric cancer risk. http://bit.ly/15hvop
Men Who Followed 6 Healthy Lifestyle Habits Cut Their Risk of Heart Failure in Half http://bit.ly/89lXz
6 healthy lifestyle factors were associated with a lower risk of developing high blood pressure http://bit.ly/fTrQ5
Parainfluenza virus efficiently delivers corrected gene to cystic fibrosis cells (25% of cells vs. 0.1% in old studies) http://bit.ly/jZszA
“Medical research and social media: Can wikis be used as a publishing platform in medicine“? http://bit.ly/oDdia
Web 2.0 Resources in Radiology: Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis, Twitter, etc. http://bit.ly/4oR6xs
WSJ: "The AMA signs its members up to be civil servants." http://bit.ly/21UZO
Mobile device resources, top 10 free downloads, Univ Arkansas Medical Library http://bit.ly/4nobQ

Tweets About Social Media

From my Twitter account:

206 Hospitals using Social Media - What’s Next? http://ebennett.org/hsnl-8/ by @EdBennett
"5 Reasons Why Twitter Is Relevant To Healthcare" http://bit.ly/VZmp6
"40 Superb Psychology Blogs" http://bit.ly/mLbWt
"20 Free Online Resources for Med Students" http://bit.ly/GQpkQ - I would add http://clinicalcases.org
"If you find yourself in competition with the Internet, you should find a way out." http://bit.ly/JkOBL
Matt Cutts from Google: If you're blogging for yourself: You've already won! http://bit.ly/Vi17B - I agree.
TED Talks: Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good http://bit.ly/qsv3x
Boston.com: Natural World photo gallery, beautiful and touching http://bit.ly/UBUgT
Detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V - have gone online http://bit.ly/LEjbR
Funny photo(s) of the day: "Drama in the tub" http://bit.ly/AG0zi