Data in Diabetes April 30, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, e-patient.add a comment
As a physician and genomics researcher, I’m a man of data so I loved to see the approach of Dan Hon regarding type 2 diabetes and the data he acquired every day about himself which helped him get better.
He resolved to do something about it. Being a geek, he decided to measure and quantify the health factors (weight, body fat, activity, blood sugar) that contribute to diabetes. He’s lost 30 lbs since the new year, and has gotten pretty far into reversing his diabetes. He’s detailed his experience with various kinds of monitoring tools, and written a bit of a rant about what needs to be fixed in order to make this easy for anyone with a diabetes diagnosis to follow in his footsteps.
From Watson to Wikis and Virtual Patients April 9, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Video, Web 2.0, What's on the web?.1 comment so far
Here are a few articles and news I particularly found interesting this week:
Haifa, Israel has developed a new clinical decision support tool that correlates a patients’ unique disease profile against various clinical guidelines and a wide range of previously acquired clinical data from a multitude of patients. The tool, called Clinical Genomics (Cli-G), is designed to provide clinicians with actionable results that outline how to address individual patients’ conditions.
Symcat is a versatile and also very powerful tech solution that combines aggregated data from patient health records with user symptoms and demographics to inform diagnoses.
His research has found that a wiki – a website developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content – can be an innovative new tool for developing individual asthma action plans.
- A medBoardis an online advisory board for pharmaceutical companies to easily get expert advice. Advice that helps develop better medicines and shape commercial strategy.
Researchers at the Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Modelling (INSIGNEO) in Sheffield are developing digital models of different parts of the human body that will ultimately build into a complete digital replica of a patient.
ER Advisor was created by an epidemiologist (Mike Hartmann, BSc, MPH) and a web developer who wanted to help ease the burden on hospitals. Too many people go to the ER when the medical attention they need can be provided elsewhere. We consulted with nurses, doctors and other epidemiologists to come up with an idea: get people to enter their symptoms online and we can suggest whether it is an emergency or not.
Like this:
Should patients access data of medical devices or softwares? March 16, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, e-patient, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Technology, Ted Talks, Video, Web 2.0.3 comments
This is an absolutely timely topic and I’ve just recently come across pretty relevant news and articles focusing on whether patients should get access to source codes and data provided by their implantable devices. A few examples:
Hugo Campos has a small computer buried in his chest to help keep him alive. But he has no idea what it says about his faulty heart.
All the raw data it collects, especially any erratic rhythms it controls with shocks, goes directly to the manufacturer. And some of it later gets sent to his doctor.
Lawyer Karen Sandler’s heart condition means she needs a pacemaker-defibrillator to avoid sudden death, so she has one simple question: what software does it run?
Yet it turns out that it’s impossible for her to see and understand the technology that’s being installed into her own body and upon which her life depends. Regulatory authorities don’t see or review the software either.
My two cents here? They DO have access to any kind of data related to their health. But what do you think?
Hans Rosling Brings Humor to Global Health Statistics February 4, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Health, science, Video.add a comment
Hans Rosling public health guru and data enthusiast shines again:
Linked electronic medical records for genomic research February 4, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Genome, science.2 comments
I’ve just come across an interesting study on BMC Medical Genomics. Authors aim at linking electronic medical records and genomic data which is I believe a very promising approach. The Personal Genome Project did something similar but only with 10 participants.
The eMERGE (electronic MEdical Records and GEnomics) Network is an NHGRI-supported consortium of five institutions to explore the utility of DNA repositories coupled to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems for advancing discovery in genome science. eMERGE also includes a special emphasis on the ethical, legal and social issues related to these endeavors.
Current progress: The primary site-specific phenotypes for which samples have undergone genome-wide association study (GWAS) genotyping are cataract and HDL, dementia, electrocardiographic QRS duration, peripheral arterial disease, and type 2 diabetes. A GWAS is also being undertaken for resistant hypertension in 2,000 additional samples identified across the network sites, to be added to data available for samples already genotyped.
Results are being posted in dbGaP. Other key eMERGE activities include evaluation of the issues associated with cross-site deployment of common algorithms to identify cases and controls in EMRs, data privacy of genomic and clinically-derived data, developing approaches for large-scale meta-analysis of GWAS data across five sites, and a community consultation and consent initiative at each site. Future activities: Plans are underway to expand the network in diversity of populations and incorporation of GWAS findings into clinical care.
Newistic: Mining Social Media December 21, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Health 2.0, Innovation, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.2 comments
I’ve recently come across Newistic as I was about to meet the co-founder, Horatiu Mocian, but we couldn’t make it. The service sounds intereting and timely to me.
Newistic offers a customizable web dashboard used for monitoring and analyzing social media for the pharma and healthcare industries. It enables persons or companies interested in the healthcare vertical to get a social media overview for any drug, disease, pharma company, or any other keyword. The features that set Newistic apart from other social media monitoring systems are:
- Monitoring patient communities
- Discovering diseases and symptoms that are associated with any search
- The possibility of searching all or some of the brand names of a generic drug
To demonstrate its real power, here is a recent analysis they performed following a double blow that Roche’s Avastin cancer drug suffered, in the European and US markets, regarding its use for breast cancer. For example, here are the top symptoms and diseases related to Avastin in social media after news hit the media:
If you want to hear more details about the service, let me know and I will schedule an interview with the founders.
200 Healthcare Systems in 4 Minutes December 7, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Healthcare, Video, Visualization.1 comment so far
Hans Rosling, director of the Gapminder Foundation, just released another spectacular video featuring 200 years of 200 healthcare system with 12,000 numbers in 4 minutes. Enjoy:
Twitter Diet: The New York Times Story August 23, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, twitter, Web 2.0.add a comment
Here is a recent piece in the New York Times about a reporter who decided to lose weight by 1) getting support from fellow Twitterers, and 2) by tweeting everything he eats throughout the day.
I knew that I could not diet alone; I needed the help of a cheering section. But rather than write a blog, keep a diary or join Weight Watchers, I decided to use Twitter. I thought it would make me more accountable, because I could record everything I ate instantly. And because Twitter posts are automatically pushed to each person who subscribes to them, an audience — of friends or strangers — can follow along.
What is surprising is that Brian Stelter didn’t start using some kind of a data collecting application. I reported about one a few days ago.
On your.flowingdata.com, you can collect your life data through a few simple steps on Twitter. One data point per tweet!
- Step 1. Follow @yfd on Twitter
- Step 2. Sign in to your.flowingdata with Twitter
- Step 3. Start recording data (via direct messages) following a few simple guidelines
Without using data analytics softwares and sites, it’s still easy to collect your blood sugar or blood pressure levels. FlowingData lets you visualize and analyze data as well.
Do you collect data about yourself? August 6, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, twitter, Visualization, Web 2.0.5 comments
I’ve written about the Quantified Self project plenty of times (group of empowered patients trying to live a healthy life via data collection and analysis), and now over at FlowingData blog, there is a great discussion about collecting data about ourselves. Author, Nathan Yau shared how data collection can become fun and a vital part of our lives.
On your.flowingdata.com, you can collect your life data through a few simple steps on Twitter. One data point per tweet!
- Step 1. Follow @yfd on Twitter
- Step 2. Sign in to your.flowingdata with Twitter
- Step 3. Start recording data (via direct messages) following a few simple guidelines
Without using data analytics softwares and sites, it’s still easy to collect your blood sugar or blood pressure levels. FlowingData lets you visualize and analyze data as well.
