Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Blogs
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Peer Review 2.0
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I’m really angry when I want to access a paper and has o pay for that. I totally understand that journals have to make money somehow but I don’t believe they cannot come up with a better business model in 2010.
Obviously open science is not just about open access but also making scientific processes automatic with online tools. Jean-Claude Bradley has always been a pioneer in this field: (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 20, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Open Access Slideshow Web 2.0 e-Science Source Type: blogs
Virtual AutopsyEmail this article to a colleague.
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Medgadget published a report about Virtobot that shows what the future of forensic medicine will look like.
The robot scans the contours and texture of the human body by projecting light bars on it and acquiring high definition images. These data are combined with the CT images acquired by the scanner in the same room. A three dimensional image of the body is then reconstructed that can be used during forensic examinations and be preserved as long as necessary.
You might remember when Swedish researchers developed an interactive touchscreen 3D autopsy table, the Virtual Autopsy Table: (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 20, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Health 2.0 Invention Medicine Medicine 2.0 Video Web 2.0 Source Type: blogs
Colonoscopy Song: Best HitsEmail this article to a colleague.
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Kevin, MD posted a video of Peter Yarrow who teamed up with CBS to deliver a serious message about the importance of screening for colon cancer. Well, this is not the only video focusing on this issue. (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 20, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Fun Health Medicine Video Web 2.0 Source Type: blogs
Pathway Genomics: Let’s see my genesEmail this article to a colleague.
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As I’m doing PhD in clinical genomics and I’m really interested in the connection between internet and medicine, so I was very happy when Pathway Genomics, one of the newest direct-to-consumer genetic companies, offered me a free genetic test. After an interview I did with them, I sent my saliva sample back and 3-4 weeks later, I received an e-mail that my results were ready. This is just an entry about my experience and the things I found interesting. As I got a free test from Navigenics a year ago, I plan to compare these services in a future entry.
The reason why I was very interested in the service of Path...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 19, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Genetic screening Genetic testing Genome Health Health 2.0 Medicine Medicine 2.0 Personalized medicine Web 2.0 genetics Source Type: blogs
KatzEmail this article to a colleague.
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Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression)
Source: Gene Expression - March 19, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Blog Source Type: blogs
The luck of the IrishEmail this article to a colleague.
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Henry Louis Gates Jr. is looking for his male Irish forebear using genetics:
Well, it turns out that the men sharing that Ui Neill haplotype tended to have certain surnames. If we use those surnames, we narrow the number of possibilities in Allegany and Hampshire counties to 178 men born between 1800 and 1830 bearing 22 surnames.
What's so exciting about this? Well, it turns out that the men in the Gates family line have a particular mutation, a slight variation, in our Ui Neill haplotype. And we inherited that slight mutation, a spelling variant in that DNA signature, through one of those 178 guys. If the father of Jane'...
Source: Gene Expression - March 18, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetics Source Type: blogs
GE: Steps in Healthcare InnovationEmail this article to a colleague.
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GE is trying to take some serious steps in healthcare innovation. Here are a few examples.
Morsel - a mobile health application designed to help consumers take small, daily steps to better health.
Better Health Converstation – a tool for patients developed by GE and WebMD to help guide the conversation between patients and doctors on the next visit.
Healthy How Tos – Health-based how-to videos created by GE and Howcast. (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 18, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Health Health 2.0 Healthcare Innovation Medicine Medicine 2.0 Mobile Video Web 2.0 Source Type: blogs
A moment of Clarity. Some DTCG is not bad.Email this article to a colleague.
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Ok,Here is the G-d's honest truth. Not all SNP/DTCG companies are bad. What do I mean by bad? Not all SNP/DTCG companies misrepresented that which is not medically useful as medically useful.I look at Pathway and Counsyl for example. Fast followers looking to say what they do and mean what they say.Some of these DTCG tests could be clinically relevant and useful. The problem I have, is that there is no point at which I can say, "Hey I just want the clinically relevant stuff!" No ear wax please.I need that as a clinician. If I want a huge panel of say CYP450 tests, where do I go? there are some labs that do this and charge ...
Source: Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You - March 18, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: DTCG The personalized medicine group of CT The Gene Sherpa Genomic Medicine Source Type: blogs
We be symbolicEmail this article to a colleague.
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The Evolution Of Symbolic Language by Terrence Deacon and Ursula Goodenough. Deacon's The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain is a book I liked a great deal, though in hindsight I don't think I had the background to appreciate it in any depth (nor do I now). Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression)
Source: Gene Expression - March 18, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Cognitive Science Source Type: blogs
Evolutionary history reversibleEmail this article to a colleague.
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At least in this case, Troglomorphism, trichobothriotaxy and typhlochactid phylogeny (Scorpiones, Chactoidea): more evidence that troglobitism is not an evolutionary dead-end:
The scorpion family Typhlochactidae Mitchell, 1971 is endemic to eastern Mexico and exclusively troglomorphic. Six of the nine species in the family are hypogean (troglobitic), morphologically specialized for life in the cave environment, whereas three are endogean (humicolous) and comparably less specialized. The family therefore provides a model for testing the hypotheses that ecological specialists (stenotopes) evolve from generalist ancestors (eu...
Source: Gene Expression - March 18, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Evolution Source Type: blogs
Small dogs & wolves in The New York TimesEmail this article to a colleague.
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A few weeks ago I commented on the paper about the origin of the small dog phenotype in the Middle East. Now The New York Times has an article on a newer paper, New Finding Puts Origins Of Dogs in Middle East. Here's the conclusion:
Dog domestication and human settlement occurred at the same time, some 15,000 years ago, raising the possibility that dogs may have had a complex impact on the structure of human society. Dogs could have been the sentries that let hunter gatherers settle without fear of surprise attack. They may also have been the first major item of inherited wealth, preceding cattle, and so could have laid th...
Source: Gene Expression - March 18, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetics Source Type: blogs
E-Patients: Please Have Your Voices Heard!Email this article to a colleague.
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On the 5th week of my Internet in Medicine university accredited course, I talk about e-patients and how they will change medicine. Last semester, Kerri Morrone Sparling kindly accepted my invitation and uploaded a video to Youtube which students could watch during and after the course. It was a personal message for them about how to become patient-centric doctors.
Dear empowered patients, feel free to upload your 1-2 minute-long messages to Youtube so students can hear how to become good doctors from the best sources. Please upload it before the 25th of March. Thank you! (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 18, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Health 2.0 Medicine Medicine 2.0 Medicine 2.0 Course Video Web 2.0 e-patient Source Type: blogs
The continuing "death of comments"Email this article to a colleague.
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A week ago I observed that commenting was being transformed with the spread of Disqus and Echo. The Big Money has now introduced Echo:
The comments themselves are also more interactive. Any of your postings can be shared with your friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, or any of your connections on the other supported services. You can also reply to fellow commenters, tell them you like their posts, or flag any inappropriate or spam messages that you see. All commenters have their own profiles, which you can find by clicking on their profile names and viewing their details. There you'll be able to find all the comments...
Source: Gene Expression - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Culture Source Type: blogs
SciPlore MindMappingEmail this article to a colleague.
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I’ve recently written about the paper Academic Search Engine Optimization in Google Scholar authored by Jöran Beel and now he shared the software he is developing with me. It integrates mind mapping with reference and PDF management.
Are you using mind mapping tools such as MindManager, FreeMind or XMind? And reference management tools such as JabRef, Endnote, or Zotero? And do you sometimes even create bookmark in PDFs? Then you should have a look at SciPlore MindMapping.
SciPlore MindMapping is the first mind mapping tool focusing on researchers’ needs by integrating mind mapping with reference and pdf manage...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Web 2.0 e-Science Source Type: blogs
Congrats new AAM fellowsEmail this article to a colleague.
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Congrats to Neurospora biologists Louise Glass and Jay Dunlap on their election to American Academy of Microbiology. (Source: Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics)
Source: Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Jason Stajich Tags: news AAM ASM award microbiology neurospora people Source Type: blogs
Wolfram|Alpha Knows Your DNAEmail this article to a colleague.
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I’ve written about Wolfram Alpha several times, I really like it and think it saves me plenty of time while searching online.
I use WolframAlpha because sometimes (if I know exactly what I want to find) it saves me plenty of time and clicks. If I want to calculate BMI, Google lists me several calculators. WolframAlpha calculates it itself. If I want to find information very fast about a clinical marker, Google gives me resources, WA gives me the best answer in one click. I also use it for ICD classification, as it’s more easily accessible than Wikipedia; for epidemiological data and other calculations.
To sum it up...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Innovation Medical Search Medicine Medicine 2.0 Web 2.0 WolframAlpha genetics science Source Type: blogs
The End of Publishing on A Creative VideoEmail this article to a colleague.
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It certainly took a lot of time to produce it but it’s really clever: (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Video Source Type: blogs
How can MDVIP use Navigenics Test for Medicine?Email this article to a colleague.
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This report is not intended to diagnose or treat"I think that while it is nice to not say that, when in fact people are using it to diagnose, it is even goofier to say that it is not intended to substitute for a professional's diagnosis. Ok, so are you saying1. This is not to be used for diagnosis/medical advice2. This is to be used for diagnosis, but the professional's diagnosis trumps ours3. This test is meant to be used by professionals to aid them in diagnosis and treatmentI am really confused here. Is this a medical test or not. Just come right out and say it!The Sherpa Says: Say what you do, do what you say you do. I...
Source: Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
SNPs for breast cancer risk? It Depends.Email this article to a colleague.
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I hold in my hot little hands a copy of the NEJM, March 18th edition. In it there is an article which isn't even released yet.Entitled "Performance of Common Genetic Variants in Breast-Cancer Risk Models"Remember when we did this for heart disease risk? FAIL WHALE.....Do you think it will happen again?The Study10 common genetic variantsrs1045485rs13281615rs13387042rs2981582rs3803662rs3817198rs889312rs7716600rs11249433rs999737I had to create a couple of pages on SNPedia for this list FYI.....The Methods:Cases and controls-WHI, ACS CPSII Nutrition Cohort, Nurses Health Study, Prostate/Lung/Colorectal/Ovarian Cancer Screening...
Source: Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: fgfr2 TOX3 LSP1 MAP3K1 RAD51L1 CASP8 9p21 Source Type: blogs
South ParkEmail this article to a colleague.
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14th season begins tonight. The website. You can usually get the episode a bit earlier at Allabout-SP.net. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression)
Source: Gene Expression - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Blog Source Type: blogs
A little bit of the Others in UsEmail this article to a colleague.
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Dienekes has reposted some of the abstracts from the meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. This one caught my eye, (Source: Gene Expression)
Source: Gene Expression - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetics Source Type: blogs
Diversity in the tech worldEmail this article to a colleague.
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A few weeks ago I had dinner and drinks with an old friend who works for the firm which invented the x86 series of microprocessors. He's doing well financially right now, and was very bullish on his firm. More specifically it seems that they're on a hiring binge (he knows because he's been on hiring committees). So a while back he forwarded a resume of a graduate school acquaintance to human resources. His boss came up to him later and told him that there were remunerative benefits to forwarding resumes. If the individual gets hired:
- There is a entry-level $2,000 bonus to the referrer
- But, if the hire is female, ther...
Source: Gene Expression - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Culture Source Type: blogs
You have no privacyEmail this article to a colleague.
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How Privacy Vanishes Online. Pretty banal actually. Social networking has really changed things. As I've said before I'm fascinated by the large number of people who, even those who want to be anonymous, enter in their real email addresses when leaving a comment. There seems a default "trust unless you shouldn't trust" setting, so we naively input our information assuming it isn't being mined by someone. In any case, a bigger issue in the future I think will be stupid government officials who scan up documents which they shouldn't scan up. It's happened a few times so far, but I think it'll get worse in this decade. Read t...
Source: Gene Expression - March 17, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Culture Source Type: blogs
The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is WrongEmail this article to a colleague.
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Over the past week I've been asked via email and on message boards about about David Shenk's new book, The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong. Since I haven't read the book I can't really comment, but I did finally listen to Will Wilkinson's interview with Shenk on bloggingheads.tv. It seems to me that Will exhibited more clarity and precision in one sentence in relation to the term heritability than Shenk did in 10 minutes. It is true there are many people who don't understand that 80% heritable does not mean that a trait is "80% genetic." In fact, I really don't k...
Source: Gene Expression - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetics Source Type: blogs
I see white people (in China)Email this article to a colleague.
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There's an article in The New York Times on the recent paper which extracted genetic material from remains in Xinjiang dated to 4,000 years ago. Remember that these remains exhibited male lineages which were west Eurasian, specifically R1a1, while the female lineages (mtDNA) were more heterogeneous, both eastern and western. This particular twist in history is of very strong interest. I think there are three reasons for this. First, it is counter-intuitive, as we don't have a good grasp of how mobile ancient nomadic populations were. Most of their history is unaccessible because they were often not literate. We know of the...
Source: Gene Expression - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: History Source Type: blogs
Gendercide: the world wide war on girlsEmail this article to a colleague.
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When society rejects life it is always the women who feel the impact. From the exploitation of women's bodies for embryonic stem cell research and cloning to forced abortions in China, from the aftermath of legal abortion to gender selection, girls get short end of the stick.It makes sense that women would be marginalized in a pro-death world. We grow life. If life isn't desired, than neither are we.Everyone know about the preference for boys in China and how sex selective abortions and infanticide have caused an imbalance in favor of males. A new Economist article challenges the idea that this phenomenon is limite...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Abortion Source Type: blogs
Going green may make you meanEmail this article to a colleague.
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A least that is the conclusion of researchers in Canada that found that "green" consumers were more likely to steal and less likely to be kind. From The Guardian UK:When Al Gore was caught running up huge energy bills at home at the same time as lecturing on the need to save electricity, it turns out that he was only reverting to "green" type.According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour", otherwise known as "...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Science and Ethics Source Type: blogs
The Argument Against DTC Genomics Marketing and suchEmail this article to a colleague.
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Keith Grimaldi and Daniel MacArthur and Andrew Yates and I have a little bit of confusion. I think we are arguing over 2 different points.First, Keith, Daniel and Drew need to go read a paper I authored entitled "In Need of a Reality Check" published in the May 2009 Nature Biotech Journal.I think many people have misunderstood our messages. So to be simple.A. Keep the Medical, Well, Medical.1. Medical Genetic tests that are to be used clinically should have clinical input2. Medical Genetic tests should be regulated according to the laws of each state/country3. DTC Genomic tests come in several flavors. The DTCG Medical tes...
Source: Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: 23andme andrew yates keith grimaldi daniel macarthur Source Type: blogs
Tickle PartayEmail this article to a colleague.
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Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression)
Source: Gene Expression - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Blog Source Type: blogs
Apartheid of Iberian Neandertals & modern humansEmail this article to a colleague.
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This article presents data on the stratigraphy, archaeology, and 14C AMS dates of three Early Upper Palaeolithic and four Late Middle Palaeolithic levels excavated in Cova Gran. All these archaeological levels fall within the 34-32 ka time span, the temporal frame in which major events of Neanderthal extinction took place. The earliest Early Upper Palaeolithic (497D) and the latest Middle Palaeolithic (S1B) levels in Cova Gran are separated by a sterile gap and permit pinpointing the time period in which the Mousterian disappeared from Northeastern Spain. Technological differences between the Early Upper Palaeolithic and L...
Source: Gene Expression - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Ecology Source Type: blogs
Twins in KeralaEmail this article to a colleague.
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The strange case of the twins of Kodinji:
The latest survey, from December 2009, counted 265 pairs of twins in the village, which is home to about 3,000 families and 13,000 inhabitants. This equates to a twinning rate of about 30 to 35 per 1,000 live births within a radius of about 500 metres. The average in the rest of the country is 8.1 per 1,000 live births.
...
Unlike in Cândido Godói, consanguineous (blood-related) marriages are not a factor in the Kodinji twin phenomenon. "The majority of the population is Muslim, but the incidences of twinning are present even among the small minority of Hindu families," Sribiju...
Source: Gene Expression - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Anthroplogy Source Type: blogs
Internet in Medicine Course Week 3: RSS and MicrobloggingEmail this article to a colleague.
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The new semester of the Internet in Medicine university accredited course for medical students just launched and 120 students registered for the course which is a great pleasure. Now here are the core points of my presentations as well as useful videos and links.
The third week is dedicated to RSS and microblogging. In the first slideshow, I described what RSS is, how to use trend trackers and which tools can help you follow the medical literature easily.
Before, we had to surf on the web. Now we let the content and information come to us automatically.
Definition and story of RSS.
Advantages of RSS (easy to use, free...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Health 2.0 Medicine Medicine 2.0 Medicine 2.0 Course Web 2.0 Source Type: blogs
Telling Stories, Understanding Real Life Genetics - just what the doctor ordered!Email this article to a colleague.
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The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the UK Government’s principal medical adviser and the professional head of all medical staff in England, has stressed the need for more awareness and understanding of rare diseases in the ‘rare is common’ section in his 2009 annual report on the state of public health published yesterday
Rare diseases, which are often genetic, are defined are those affecting fewer than five in every 10,000 people. There are more than 6,000 rare diseases, so in fact one person in every 17 has a rare disease. The conditions are usually chronic and often start in childhood...
Source: Genomics Policy - March 16, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Rhian Morgan Source Type: blogs
Obamas New Embryonic Stem Cells Rules More Troublesome than Bush'sEmail this article to a colleague.
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Ohhh the irony. From the Washington Post:One year after President Obama announced he was lifting his predecessor's controversial restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, some scientists are complaining that so far the new policy is -- ironically -- more of a burden than a boon to their work."The situation at the moment is worse than it was under the Bush administration," said Charles Murry, a professor of pathology and bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. "Because of this, we are going to waste a lot of time."At issue is the fate of the 21 "lin...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Stem cells, Embryonic Source Type: blogs
Human Egg Lottery as IVF PromotionEmail this article to a colleague.
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Just when I think the infertility industry cannot make women's bodies more of a commodity to be bought and sold, they surprise me. This time its a raffle. From Chattabox.com:A fertility clinic in London is holding a raffle for a free human egg and IVF procedure to attract patients who might be interested in treatments.The Genetics & IVF Institute (GIVF) is an IVF clinic that uses specific profiling, such as race, health, and educational background of the donor, when offering the egg.They are also charge £13,000 for an egg and treatments in the US.The clinic takes advantage of American law, which allows women to be...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: IVF Source Type: blogs
Vitamin D & influenza - randomized trialEmail this article to a colleague.
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Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren:
Design: From December 2008 through March 2009, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing vitamin D3 supplements (1200 IU/d) with placebo in schoolchildren. The primary outcome was the incidence of influenza A, diagnosed with influenza antigen testing with a nasopharyngeal swab specimen.
Results: Influenza A occurred in 18 of 167 (10.8%) children in the vitamin D3 group compared with 31 of 167 (18.6%) children in the placebo group [relative risk (RR), 0.58; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.99; P = 0.04]. The re...
Source: Gene Expression - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Medicine Source Type: blogs
God is too cute to be a literalistEmail this article to a colleague.
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And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible's Original Meaning is a litany of how the mapping from Hebrew to other languages has resulted in a distortion of the precise idiom of the original. I actually thought the best example of this given was a non-Biblical one, the fact that English-speakers are totally clueless as to the implication of the title of the Mexican film Like Water for Chocolate, which sends a rather clear message only intelligible in a Spanish speaking context. English speakers have tended to generate novel meanings from the cryptic title at total variance with the original intent and clarity in Spani...
Source: Gene Expression - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Religion Source Type: blogs
Scienceroll.com: Weekly IntroductionEmail this article to a colleague.
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I would like to share my favourite and ongoing projects with you so I can give you a proper introduction to Scienceroll.com. You can also find me on Twitter or on Friendfeed.
For news and articles about the impact of web 2.0 on medicine and healthcare, please follow the Medicine 2.0 Friendfood room.
For news and articles about personalized medicine and genetics, please follow the Gene Genie Friendfeed room.
Medicine 2.0 University Course: This is the third semester of the first university course that focuses on web 2.0 and medicine for medical students. Now, almost 100 students attend the 20 slideshows through 10 weeks an...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Medicine Source Type: blogs
Internet in Medicine Course Week 2: Medical bloggingEmail this article to a colleague.
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The new semester of the Internet in Medicine university accredited course for medical students just launched and 120 students registered for the course which is a great pleasure. Now here are the core points of my presentations as well as useful videos and links.
The second week is always dedicated to the medical blogosphere. Key points of the first slideshow:
Definition of blog, post, trackback, pingback, comment, tag.
First blog: Jorn Barger, 1997
Technorati statistics about the state of the entire blogosphere
Blogs in plain English:
Types of blogs and bloggers
Major medical blogs as examples: Kevin, MD; Medgadget; S...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Health 2.0 Medicine Medicine 2.0 Medicine 2.0 Course Web 2.0 Source Type: blogs
Health 2.0 News: Virtual patients, Design Challenge and the FutureEmail this article to a colleague.
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PatientsLikeMe Reports High Rate of Adverse Event Reporting Among Its Members (Pharma Marketing Blog): Patientslikeme will certainly play an important role in driving the pharma sector towards social media.
The 2010 DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge: The DiabetesMine blog presents this year’s Design Challenge in which innovations in diabetes can win prizes.
WebMD + Social Media, NOT! (Chilmark Research): WebMD wanted to take a step towards web 2.0, but didn’t do it in the best manner.
My name is Christopher. I have CF and was born in Novartis (Advertising and Health): A virtual patient promotes a new pha...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Health Health 2.0 Innovation Medicine Medicine 2.0 Pharma Web 2.0 What's on the web? Source Type: blogs
A top twitter!Email this article to a colleague.
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Last week I read an interesting tweet highlighting the significance of family history and health, and how our understanding of genome sequencing will potentially influence and inform health care in the future. Ian Sample, Science correspondent for the Guardian, reported on 10th March, ‘Genomes of an entire family sequenced in world first’.
In brief, scientists at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle have sequenced the entire genomes of four family members. Researchers then used this information to pinpoint genes responsible for diseases affecting the family. The American family of four is described as unusua...
Source: Genomics Policy - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Kim Madden Source Type: blogs
IVF doctors to raffle human eggEmail this article to a colleague.
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The Sunday Times
Lois Rogers reports that a FERTILITY clinic is raffling a human egg in London to promote its new “baby profiling” service, which circumvents British IVF (in vitro fertilisation) laws.
The winner will be able to pick the egg donor by racial background, upbringing and education. Payment for profit is illegal in Britain, but the £13,000 of free IVF treatment will be provided in America.
The raffle, to be held on Wednesday, is to promote a tie-up between the Bridge Centre, a fertility clinic in London, and the Genetics and IVF Institute (GIVF) in Fairfax, Virginia.
The Anglo-American commercia...
Source: Genomics Policy - March 15, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Juping Yu Source Type: blogs
BRCA testing by 23andME is the same as Myriad Genetics.Email this article to a colleague.
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February 2009 23andMe entered into clinical medical testing of DNA variants which are the exact same variants Myriad Genetics tests for. There is only ONE use for this test. That is a clinical use. When these results are obtained clinical counseling is the standard of care for delivery of these results. Not a flashy webportal......Minimizing the seriousness of a medical test looked just as awkward by us in the first video as it should be by showing it on a blimp or at a cocktail party or highway billboard sign.....All things that Linda Avey and Anne Woj decided to have their company do....The Sherpa Says: Misha is correct,...
Source: Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You - March 14, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
Psychiatry and Web 2.0Email this article to a colleague.
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As Webicina.com is getting closer to a huge milestone, here is the newest addition, Psychiatry and Web 2.0, that focuses on selected mobile apps, blogs, podcasts, Twitterers, communities, slideshows and many more social media tools dedicated to psychiatry.
The number of mental health or psychiatry-related websites is constantly growing and it is getting harder to find relevant, reliable resources, but with PeRSSonalized Psychiatry it will be a piece of cake for You. (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 14, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Health Health 2.0 Innovation Medicine Medicine 2.0 PeRSSonalized Medicine Web 2.0 Webicina Source Type: blogs
Small dogs guideEmail this article to a colleague.
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Via a comment, a site which you will love, or which will drive you insane, Complete Small Dogs Guide. I found this story about a chihuahua carried away by a large bird, only to return to its owner. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression)
Source: Gene Expression - March 14, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Culture Source Type: blogs
The great productivity transientEmail this article to a colleague.
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This comment from Chris is interesting:
I would speculate that the the massive productivity gains were due to a massive resorting of American society along cognitive lines; from 1940 to 1970 a large number of high ability people who were previously locked into agriculture and industry were able to sort themselves into more innovative positions. This would lead to a massive burst of innovation, which led to increases in productivity, as previously unlocked talent was put to use.
From 1970 to 1990 this resorting was mostly winding down and productivity in the economy was heavily constrained by the population due to people s...
Source: Gene Expression - March 13, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Anthroplogy Source Type: blogs
Private interest + Government Cheese = for-profit education racketEmail this article to a colleague.
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In Hard Times, Lured Into Trade School and Debt:
At institutions that train students for careers in areas like health care, computers and food service, enrollments are soaring as people anxious about weak job prospects borrow aggressively to pay tuition exceeding $30,000 a year.
...
The Apollo Group -- which owns the for-profit University of Phoenix -- derived 86 percent of its revenue from federal student aid last fiscal year, according to BMO. Two years earlier, it was 69 percent.
For-profit schools have proved adept at capturing Pell grants, which are a centerpiece of the Obama administration's efforts to make higher...
Source: Gene Expression - March 13, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Culture Source Type: blogs
Google Data Explorer and Visualizing Health SupplementsEmail this article to a colleague.
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If you are interested in the scientific evidence behind some health supplements, this is the best tool you can use as it helps visualize the huge amount of information and also medical conditions related to the supplements.
For those data geeks out there, here is Google Public Data Explorer, a visualization tool that lets you explore, visualize and share data. Some datasets including cancer statistics have already been uploaded. (Source: ScienceRoll)
Source: ScienceRoll - March 13, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Google Health Health 2.0 Healthcare Medicine Medicine 2.0 Visualization Web 2.0 Source Type: blogs
23andMe: Medical Advice?Email this article to a colleague.
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ThinkGene reported that Myriad and 23andMe perform the same breast cancer genetic test on the BRCA gene. The problem is 23andMe cannot provide medical advice. The conclusion is interesting and it would be great to hear what 23andMe has to say about this.
The objections to this claim are that this same test is already defined for use as “health ascertainment or disease purposes” and that the use of this test is already included in standard medical practices in the United States. One implementation of this test for use as “health ascertainment or disease purposes” includes the Myriad “Multisite 3 BRACAnalysis” te...
Source: ScienceRoll - March 13, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Bertalan Meskó Tags: Genetic testing Video genetics Source Type: blogs
The FDA, 2c19 and the ACCEmail this article to a colleague.
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Did anyone see the FDA issuance of the better warning that as many as 14% of patients will not benefit from Plavix/Clopidogrel? Did anyone see the cold shower being poured on by the press and the cardiologists?This from WSJ blogChristopher Cannon Assoc. Prof at Harvard says:The ACC will need to develop protocols, "Thus a real conundrum"He then says "I expect mass confusion in response to this FDA warning"Well Chris, It's not as if we haven't been shouting from the rooftops about this for over a year now.......And from WebMD"The test costs about 500 USD according to Courtney Harper PhD, Director of the FDAs division of chem...
Source: Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You - March 13, 2010 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
