New Find

Vote!

In case you haven’t heard, today is election day. Remember that to find your precinct or a sample ballot, the Louisiana Secretary of State offers GeauxVote website with that information.

Halloween Study Break

Check out this cool site from The National Library of Medicine.

Staking our Technorati claim

Technorati Profile

Move along, just trying to get some web statistics stuff set up here.

Dark Chocolate=Good

And good for you? According to a story released yesterday by Reuters Health, dark chocolate font size=”-1″>(link removed) may keep your healthy. The original research appeared in Journal of Nutrition, v.138 (9) 1671-76 September 2008. Just what I need an excuse to indulge my love of chocolate.

2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Hot on the heels of last week’s IgNobel prizes comes the real thing. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was announced earlier today, with HPV and HIV research sharing the award.

2008 Nobel Laureates in Medicine

A search on Barr?â?®-Sinoussi is a case study of idiosyncrasies of Author searching in PubMed. Throughout her career Barr?â?®-Sinoussi has articles published under the name Barr?â?®, F, Sinoussi, FB, and Sinoussi-Barr?â?®, F. An article by Barre-Sinoussi, B also turns up, which is probably the 2008 Nobel Laureate mis-attributed in the article.

Reference librarian Mary Marix provided the adventures in PubMed author searching for this post. MK

Chemistry Ig Nobel prize awarded to Coke spermicide research

The 2008 Ig Nobel Prizes, which “celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology” were awarded last night, October 2nd at the 18th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University. Although the awards are tongue in cheek, they do recognize work published in research journals. This year’s Chemistry prize, for example, went jointly to a 1985 New England Journal of Medicine work for discovering that Coca-Cola is an effective spermicide, and a 1987 Human Toxicology work for discovering that it is not.

There’s a webcast of the ceremony available, or click here to see a list of winners by category.

Geaux Vote

Tomorrow (Saturday, October 3rd) is an election day in Louisiana. And if you can’t remember your polling place or are confused as to what you’re supposed to be voting on – check out the Secretary of State’s website, GeauxVote. Find out what’s on your ballot now!

snippet of the go vote website

MD Networks

What online tools do medical professionals use to network with their peers? Check out these sites, compiled by the MLA’s EMTS section:

Grand Rounds – http://frommedskool.com/grand-rounds/
A blog ?óÔé¼?ôcarnival?óÔé¼?Ø which showcases the weekly best of the medical blogosphere. It is hosted by a different medical blogger each week.

Applequack.com ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ http://applequack.com/
A blog written by a doctor in Australia, it contains reviews of medical software for the Mac, and hacks for doctors, biomedical researchers and students.

Tech Medicine ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ http://www.healthline.com/blogs/medical_devices/
A blog written by practicing nephrologist and medical school faculty member, he is interested in medicine and technology

The Efficient MD blog – http://efficientmd.blogspot.com/
Reviews of innovations, “life hacks,” gadgets, techniques, and useful tools designed to improve the professional lives of physicians

The Efficient MD Wiki – http://wiki.efficientmd.com/
Designed to help healthcare professional and medical students discover clinical pearls and useful resources

Sermo ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ http://www.sermo.com
Social networking for doctors, the current largest, only physicians can join

DoctorNetworking.com – http://doctornetworking.com/
Professional networking site for physicians, only for physicians – must include your state license number as part of registration.

Docsboard.com – http://www.docsboard.com/
Non-commercial physician discussion forum aimed at practicing physicians and residents in training. The site is intended to help physicians exchange ideas and discuss matters concerning the profession. Limited access to just physicians.

Doctors and Med Students on Twitter – http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorsontwitter
An RSS feed of Twitter feeds mashed together. Twitter is a ‘microblogging’ service similar to text messaging, where users post updates to the question ‘What are you doing’ in 160 characters or less.

What’s your favorite?

La. gets a ‘D’ in childhood obesity

A new report from Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge reveals that 36% of Louisiana children ages 10-17 are overweight, and assigns an overall grade of D based on the prevalence of obesity and insufficient exercise programs for young people.

The study, Louisiana’s Report Card on Physical Activity and Health for Children and Youth, will be the focus of the center’s conference starting Wednesday in Baton Rouge to examine solutions to childhood obesity and diabetes. The report is available for free online: http://www.pbrc.edu/report_card/

Interestingly enough, while the Louisiana Council on Obesity Prevention and Management is the conference’s lead sponsor, according to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. was a contributing sponsor and McDonald’s was an in-kind sponsor for the week’s conference.

Both Ariane Rung, PhD, LSU School of Public Health, and Melinda Sothern, PhD, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, were on the Report Card’s Advisory Committee.

More information on the Report from the Times-Picayune:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base//news-6/122214745657990.xml&coll=1

“Dive of Death”: health effects of inverting the body

What are the health effects of hanging upside down for three days? The American public will soon find out, as magician David Blaine attempts to hang upside down over Central Park from now until Wednesday night.

In medical circles, hanging upside down can also be referred to as inversion therapy: hanging upside down ?óÔé¼ÔÇØ supported by your ankles ?óÔé¼ÔÇØ to allow gravity to naturally decompress disks and nerve roots in your spine. It is generally used to relieve back pain, but studies have found no significant long-term benefit.

The health effects of hanging upside down for prolonged periods of time are interesting. Blood pressure to the head can significantly increase and breathing can be restricted. Hanging upside down can also influence how the body identifies smells.

Library Newsletter Fall Issue Available

The latest issue of the Library?óÔé¼Ôäós Newsletter has been released. Archives of the newsletter are also available from 1998 to the present. Articles include:

Students! Get published in Public Health Reports

Interested in publishing? The Association of Schools of Public Health recently announced that it will begin a peer-reviewed Student Column in the Public Health Reports journal.

Potential submitters may be current students, current fellows, or recent graduates (within two years) of CEPH-accredited schools of public health. ASPH also seeks student reviewers for the column. For more information, visit www.publichealthreports.org.

Debunking Autism theory

An editorial in the New York Times today points to a new case-control study that attempts to replicate the controversial Wakefield study on autism, which in 1998 drew an inferential link between the MMR vaccine, gastrointestinal problems found in many autistic children and autism.

The new study, conducted by researchers from Columbia University, Massachusetts General Hospital and the CDC, tried and failed to replicate the earlier findings. The new study, published in PLoS One, is freely available on the web: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003140

New Look for Links

The LSUHSC New Orleans Libraries have launched a new Links page using the social bookmarking website, Delicious. The new page features a tag cloud for easy access to the items tagged by LSUHSC Librarians.

One Book, One New Orleans

The Literacy Alliance of New Orleans, along with the Young Leadership Council, has sponsored a community reading program since Spring 2004. They have recently announced this year’s book, City of Refuge by Tom Piazza. The program period begins September 15th and should end mid-November.

One Book One NOLA 2008