The odds of finding a habitable planet elsewhere in the universe just get better and better. A new study claims that one in five Sun-like stars has an Earth-size planet in the habitable zone. That adds up to about 20 billion Earth-size planets in the Milky Way alone.
Kale Stephens puts on a backcountry jump clinic in this edit of his latest and greatest. He covers all the essentials: switch backside booters, half-cabs down cliffs, classic front sevens, lots of step downs and all with a solid no-frills-attached style.
New strep throat risk score brings patient data and big data together to potentially reduce unnecess
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
4-Nov-2013
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Contact: Erin Tornatore erin.tornatore@childrens.ahrvard.edu 617-919-3110 Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Mass., November 4, 2013 A new risk measure called a "home score" could save a patient with symptoms of strep throat a trip to the doctor, according to a new paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine, conducted by Andrew Fine, MD, MPH, and Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH, of Boston Children's Hospital. The score combines patients' symptoms and demographic information with data on local strep throat activity to estimate their strep risk, empowering them to seek care appropriately.
The home score represents the first health care tool to bring patient-contributed data and public health "big data" together to assess an individual's risk for a communicable disease.
The score is calculated using a patient's symptoms (i.e., presence or absence of fever and/or cough) and age. It also incorporates a statistic developed by Mandl and Fine, of Boston Children's 's Division of Emergency Medicine and Informatics Program, which captures the recent strep incidence in the patient's geographic area. If a patient's home score is low, then his or her risk of having an active strep infection is also low and a doctor's visit may not be warranted.
If packaged as an app or online tool and fed data from available surveillance sources, the home score could allow someone with a sore throat to learn whether they should consider getting a strep test without leaving home.
"Using the home score could empower patients to make informed decisions about their medical care by contributing information about their symptoms," said Fine. "Integrating local epidemiologic context with the symptom information permits calculation of a personal, local risk of strep throat."
The home score was developed using aggregated patient visit data provided by MinuteClinic, CVS Caremark's retail health clinic business. Based on their models, Mandl and Fine suggest that broad use of the score could eliminate 230,000 unnecessary doctor visits for strep throat in the U.S. annually.
"The basic math here is that if group A strep is present in patients around you then you are more likely to have strep," explained Mandl. "The local epidemiology is so informative that when combined with just a few additional facts from an individual we can arrive at a reasonable initial diagnosis, without a health care visit.
"Because sore throat is so common, reducing these visits could alleviate strain on the health system, while saving significant opportunity costs for patients," added Fine.
The home score builds on ongoing efforts by Mandl and Fine to develop approaches for augmenting communicable disease risk assessment tools with surveillance data. By incorporating patient-reported data directly, it also highlights one way of using big data to help clinicians engage patients more closely in decisions about their health care.
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The project was supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grants K01HK000055 and P01HK00008) and the National Library of Medicine (grants 1G08LM009778 and R01LM007677).
Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 13 members of the Institute of Medicine and 14 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org.
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New strep throat risk score brings patient data and big data together to potentially reduce unnecess
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
4-Nov-2013
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Contact: Erin Tornatore erin.tornatore@childrens.ahrvard.edu 617-919-3110 Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Mass., November 4, 2013 A new risk measure called a "home score" could save a patient with symptoms of strep throat a trip to the doctor, according to a new paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine, conducted by Andrew Fine, MD, MPH, and Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH, of Boston Children's Hospital. The score combines patients' symptoms and demographic information with data on local strep throat activity to estimate their strep risk, empowering them to seek care appropriately.
The home score represents the first health care tool to bring patient-contributed data and public health "big data" together to assess an individual's risk for a communicable disease.
The score is calculated using a patient's symptoms (i.e., presence or absence of fever and/or cough) and age. It also incorporates a statistic developed by Mandl and Fine, of Boston Children's 's Division of Emergency Medicine and Informatics Program, which captures the recent strep incidence in the patient's geographic area. If a patient's home score is low, then his or her risk of having an active strep infection is also low and a doctor's visit may not be warranted.
If packaged as an app or online tool and fed data from available surveillance sources, the home score could allow someone with a sore throat to learn whether they should consider getting a strep test without leaving home.
"Using the home score could empower patients to make informed decisions about their medical care by contributing information about their symptoms," said Fine. "Integrating local epidemiologic context with the symptom information permits calculation of a personal, local risk of strep throat."
The home score was developed using aggregated patient visit data provided by MinuteClinic, CVS Caremark's retail health clinic business. Based on their models, Mandl and Fine suggest that broad use of the score could eliminate 230,000 unnecessary doctor visits for strep throat in the U.S. annually.
"The basic math here is that if group A strep is present in patients around you then you are more likely to have strep," explained Mandl. "The local epidemiology is so informative that when combined with just a few additional facts from an individual we can arrive at a reasonable initial diagnosis, without a health care visit.
"Because sore throat is so common, reducing these visits could alleviate strain on the health system, while saving significant opportunity costs for patients," added Fine.
The home score builds on ongoing efforts by Mandl and Fine to develop approaches for augmenting communicable disease risk assessment tools with surveillance data. By incorporating patient-reported data directly, it also highlights one way of using big data to help clinicians engage patients more closely in decisions about their health care.
###
The project was supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grants K01HK000055 and P01HK00008) and the National Library of Medicine (grants 1G08LM009778 and R01LM007677).
Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 13 members of the Institute of Medicine and 14 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi appeared in court Monday on the first day of his trial for incitement to murder, rejecting its legitimacy and demanding "coup" leaders be prosecuted.
In his first public appearance since the military toppled him in July, Morsi was indignant and outraged as he attended a make-shift courtroom at a police academy in east Cairo. The trial was adjourned to January 8.
"I am Dr. Mohamed Morsi, the president of the republic," a defiant Morsi told the court.
Monday's hearing lasted nearly three hours and the judge heard requests from the defendants' lawyers, who demanded to see all the case files and be allowed to meet their clients privately.
Morsi, who had been kept in secret detention since July, was then flown to Borg al-Arab prison outside Egypt's second city of Alexandria.
Morsi and 14 co-defendants are accused of inciting violence and the murder of protesters outside the presidential palace in December, charges that could lead to the death penalty or life in prison.
The Islamist leader branded as criminal his overthrow by the army on July 3 after mass protests against his single year of turbulent rule.
"This was a military coup. The leaders of the coup should be tried. A coup is treason and a crime."
"I cannot accept for the judiciary to become a cover for the military coup," he yelled. "I am here involuntarily, and through force."
Morsi, wearing a dark blue suit, was brought to court by helicopter that touched down nearby and then driven to the heavily fortified police academy.
State television aired footage showing Morsi smiling as he stepped out of a white van, buttoning his blue blazer and entering the dock to applause from fellow defendants dressed in white prison uniforms.
Muslim Brotherhood co-defendants Essam al-Erian and Mohammed al-Beltagui chanted "Down with military rule" at the hearing, as Morsi, his greying beard closely trimmed, smiled and waved at his supporters packing the benches of the courtroom.
Judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef banned cameras and recording equipment from the courtroom.
Morsi's supporters, battered by a bloody and sweeping police crackdown, accuse the army-installed government of fabricating the charges against him.
They held anti-military rallies across Cairo, including outside the police academy where dozens brandished posters of Morsi and signs bearing anti-military messages.
Thousands also protested in front of the constitutional court.
"Morsi's trial is a farce. The criminals are trying the legitimate president," supporter Ibrahim Abdel Samd said.
Security forces completely closed Nahda Square -- site of a bloody crackdown on Morsi supporters in August -- and Cairo University, while military vehicles guarded police stations.
The authorities deployed 20,000 policemen for the trial, and warned they were ready to deal with any violence.
'Defiance noteworthy'
'Free and fair trial'
Morsi's trial is seen as a test for Egypt's new authorities, who have come under fire for their heavy-handedness.
With more than 1,000 people killed since Morsi's overthrow and thousands of Islamists arrested, hopes for a political settlement are slim in Egypt.
"Morsi's insistence that he is still the legitimate president shows that he and most of the Muslim Brotherhood is not ready to give up their legitimacy claim," said Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center think-tank.
"Their stand is detached from the reality, but their defiance is noteworthy and could keep supporters energized."
Amnesty International said Morsi should be granted a fair trial, including the right to challenge evidence against him.
"Failing to do so would further call into question the motives behind his trial," said the watchdog's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
But Hamid believes the "political" nature of the trial will drive its outcome.
"There is zero chance of it being free and fair," he said.
On the eve of the hearing, foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said Morsi "will have rights to a free and fair trial".
Morsi was catapulted from the underground offices of the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood to become Egypt's first democratically elected president in June 2012.
His victory was made possible by the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocratic president Hosni Mubarak.
But Morsi's stint at the helm was marred by political turmoil, deadly clashes and a crippling economic crisis.
In November 2012, Morsi decreed himself sweeping powers, prompting opponents to accuse him of failing the ideals of the revolution.
It was a turning-point that launched the worst polarisation in Egypt's recent history.
A month later, deadly clashes erupted outside the presidential palace between his supporters and opponents in which at least seven people were killed.
Researchers warn of the 'myths' of global medical tourism
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
4-Nov-2013
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Contact: Caron Lett caron.lett@york.ac.uk 44-019-043-22029 University of York
A team of British researchers, led by the University of York, is warning governments and healthcare decision makers across the globe to be wary of the myths and hype surrounding medical tourism.
In an article, to be published in the journal Policy & Politics by Policy Press, the researchers challenge the idea that ever greater numbers of patients are prepared to travel across national borders to receive medical treatment.
'Medical tourism' is where people leave their own country to seek medical treatment abroad. They are typically treated as private patients and the costs are fully recouped. This is distinct from 'health tourism' where there is not always an intention to pay.
In the article, the authors, who include academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Royal Holloway University, and the University of Birmingham, looked beyond the NHS and the UK to address the wider international issues of medical tourism, examining how other countries are addressing this global phenomenon.
They describe 'three myths' of medical tourism: the rise and rise of medical tourism; enormous global market opportunities; and that national governments have a role to play in stimulating the medical tourism sector through high-tech investment.
The researchers say these three widely-held assumptions cannot be backed up with hard evidence but are encouraged by interested parties such as healthcare providers, and brokers and facilitators who act as intermediaries between providers and patients.
Lead author Dr Neil Lunt, from the University of York's Department of Social Policy and Social Work, said: "In the past decade or so, the global health policy literature and consultancy reports have been awash with speculations about patient mobility, with an emphasis on how ever greater numbers of patients are travelling across national jurisdictions to receive medical treatments.
"Yet authoritative data on numbers and flows of medical tourists between nations and continents is tremendously difficult to identify. What data does exist is generally provided by stakeholders with a vested interest rather than by independent research institutions. What is clear is that there exists no credible authoritative data at the global level, which is why we are urging caution to governments and other decision-makers who see medical tourism as a lucrative source of additional revenue.
"Our message is: be wary of being dazzled by the lure of global health markets, and of chasing markets that do not exist."
The paper was informed by a research project funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) Programme. It uses the findings from a two-year study into the impact of medical tourism on the UK's health system to make broader observations which the researchers believe apply to medical tourism globally.
The report authors argue that in terms of medical tourism, a level playing field does not necessarily exist and they challenge the view of open and global markets. Networks, history and relationships, they say, may explain a great deal about the success of particular destinations.
Dr Daniel Horsfall, from York's Department of Social Policy and Social Work, who carried out the statistical analysis for the study, said: "We found that historical flows between different countries and cultural relations account for a great deal of the trade. The destinations of medical tourists are typically based on geo-political factors, such as colonialism and existing trade patterns. For example, you find that medical tourists from the Middle East typically go to Germany and the UK due to existing ties, while Hungary attracts medical tourists from Western Europe owing to its proximity."
The team of researchers has already published an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on their findings, while Dr Lunt has delivered their message of caution to the World Health Organisation and the Portuguese and Ukraine Governments. On 6 November, Dr Lunt will be a speaker at a professional networking event organised by the magazine Scientific American which will address trends in medical tourism.
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Researchers warn of the 'myths' of global medical tourism
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
4-Nov-2013
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]
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Contact: Caron Lett caron.lett@york.ac.uk 44-019-043-22029 University of York
A team of British researchers, led by the University of York, is warning governments and healthcare decision makers across the globe to be wary of the myths and hype surrounding medical tourism.
In an article, to be published in the journal Policy & Politics by Policy Press, the researchers challenge the idea that ever greater numbers of patients are prepared to travel across national borders to receive medical treatment.
'Medical tourism' is where people leave their own country to seek medical treatment abroad. They are typically treated as private patients and the costs are fully recouped. This is distinct from 'health tourism' where there is not always an intention to pay.
In the article, the authors, who include academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Royal Holloway University, and the University of Birmingham, looked beyond the NHS and the UK to address the wider international issues of medical tourism, examining how other countries are addressing this global phenomenon.
They describe 'three myths' of medical tourism: the rise and rise of medical tourism; enormous global market opportunities; and that national governments have a role to play in stimulating the medical tourism sector through high-tech investment.
The researchers say these three widely-held assumptions cannot be backed up with hard evidence but are encouraged by interested parties such as healthcare providers, and brokers and facilitators who act as intermediaries between providers and patients.
Lead author Dr Neil Lunt, from the University of York's Department of Social Policy and Social Work, said: "In the past decade or so, the global health policy literature and consultancy reports have been awash with speculations about patient mobility, with an emphasis on how ever greater numbers of patients are travelling across national jurisdictions to receive medical treatments.
"Yet authoritative data on numbers and flows of medical tourists between nations and continents is tremendously difficult to identify. What data does exist is generally provided by stakeholders with a vested interest rather than by independent research institutions. What is clear is that there exists no credible authoritative data at the global level, which is why we are urging caution to governments and other decision-makers who see medical tourism as a lucrative source of additional revenue.
"Our message is: be wary of being dazzled by the lure of global health markets, and of chasing markets that do not exist."
The paper was informed by a research project funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) Programme. It uses the findings from a two-year study into the impact of medical tourism on the UK's health system to make broader observations which the researchers believe apply to medical tourism globally.
The report authors argue that in terms of medical tourism, a level playing field does not necessarily exist and they challenge the view of open and global markets. Networks, history and relationships, they say, may explain a great deal about the success of particular destinations.
Dr Daniel Horsfall, from York's Department of Social Policy and Social Work, who carried out the statistical analysis for the study, said: "We found that historical flows between different countries and cultural relations account for a great deal of the trade. The destinations of medical tourists are typically based on geo-political factors, such as colonialism and existing trade patterns. For example, you find that medical tourists from the Middle East typically go to Germany and the UK due to existing ties, while Hungary attracts medical tourists from Western Europe owing to its proximity."
The team of researchers has already published an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on their findings, while Dr Lunt has delivered their message of caution to the World Health Organisation and the Portuguese and Ukraine Governments. On 6 November, Dr Lunt will be a speaker at a professional networking event organised by the magazine Scientific American which will address trends in medical tourism.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal law enforcement official says Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay over $2.2 billion to resolve criminal and civil allegations of promoting three prescription drugs for off-label uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The official also says the allegations include paying kickbacks to physicians and pharmacies to recommend and prescribe Risperdal and Invega, both antipsychotic drugs, and Natrecor, which is used to treat heart failure.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior national security lawyers on Monday told an independent oversight board examining U.S. surveillance programs that the government needs to keep its trove of innocent Americans' telephone records despite growing efforts in Congress to shut down the program.
The lawyers also told the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board during a hearing that a secret overseas Internet data-gathering program exposed last week was not an attempt to evade scrutiny by a federal intelligence court that supervises such operations. Top officials of Google and Yahoo have criticized the program, in which the National Security Agency reportedly tapped into fiber optic cables that funnel the data overseas. The government did not dispute that it tapped the cables overseas for Internet traffic but said it wasn't doing so to avoid U.S. legal restrictions.
If Congress were to shut down the government's collection of Americans' phone records every day, which it has been secretly doing since 2006, "we wouldn't be able to see the patterns that the NSA's programs provide us," said Patrick Kelley, acting general counsel of the FBI. Kelley added that the FBI would not be able to weed out significant phone data if it did not have the NSA's massive data bank to tap into, and would lose valuable time if it had to instead seek the data from individual phone companies.
The NSA's general counsel, Rajesh De, declined to comment about published details describing the U.S. tapping into fiber optic cables to extract Internet data about customers of Google and Yahoo without the knowledge of the technology companies. But De insisted that the program was not an attempt to avoid the supervision of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court.
"That is simply inaccurate," De said. He said news accounts about the program contained inaccuracies but didn't say what they were.
Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman, told CNN he was shocked by the latest revelations. Schmidt described the operation as "perhaps a violation of law but certainly a violation of mission." He added that it was "clearly an overstep." Schmidt once famously told an interviewer, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
Surveillance efforts aimed at the leaders of Germany and other European governments as well as thousands of their citizens have also roiled relations between the U.S. and its allies.
The five members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board are appointed by President Barack Obama but report to Congress. The board has set no deadline but has been meeting for months with national security officials to scrutinize the surveillance programs and their impact on civil liberties.
In his comments, Re noted that former NSA contract employee Edward Snowden, who leaked information behind many recent disclosures, had no access to the surveillance agency's raw metadata collected both from Americans and foreign phone and Internet users. "We don't have any evidence that makes us believe Snowden had access to raw material," Re said.
He said such material is so tightly guarded that only 22 federal officials are authorized to allow NSA employees to query the metadata in counter-terrorism searches.
But recent FISA court documents released by the NSA and the court have shown that despite those safeguards, the surveillance agency repeatedly allowed unsanctioned access to that material until the court ordered tightened procedures.