The Decision Tree Blog

Thomas Goetz, deputy editor of Wired Magazine, writes about science, health and medicine. In the 2009 January issue, he contributes the cover story – The Truth about Cancer: Why Early Detection Is the Best Way to Beat Cancer.

He is also the proud parent of the Decision Tree blog and an upcoming book by the same title – The Decision Tree. The blog covers topics focused on preventative medicine and the future of healthcare. With a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley, he covers everything from global health to community health to Medicare to pharmaceuticals.

Tune in to his stream insights and information at:

http://thedecisiontree.com/blog/

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful!

The weather outside is frightful, but the information is so delightfully handy from the FEMA Website.

Read all about winter storms from the warmth of your computer, including:

Winter Storm Terms

Before the Winter Storm

During the Winter Storm

After the Winter Storm


http://www.fema.gov/hazard/winter/index.shtm

FDA Teams Up With WebMD

New Partnership to Inform and Educate Tens of Millions of Americans


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and WebMD today (Dec. 3, 2009) announced a collaboration that expands consumers' access to the agency's timely and reliable important health information. WebMD, which attracts nearly 50 million unique visitors each month, provides consumers with credible and timely health news and information


The partnership includes:

· A new online consumer health information resource on WebMD.com
www.webmd.com/fda

· Cross-linked joint resource FDA's Consumer Updates
www.fda.gov/consumer

· The FDA contributions to WebMD The Magazine: FDA Consumer Updates will also be featured at least three times a year in WebMD's bimonthly magazine, which reaches nearly nine million consumers. The magazine is distributed to physician office waiting rooms across the country.

Preventing Seasonal Flu

With the flu season just around the corner, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) prescribe a three-step approach to fight the flu.

1. Take time to get a flu shot.
2. Take preventive actions like washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes.
3. Take flu antiviral drugs, if prescribed by your doctor.

This page also provides links to posters/flyers, information alerts, PSAs and Q&A.

To read more, see details at:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/preventing.htm

For Spanish-language flyer, see:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/flugallery/2008-09/pdf/Take3_spanish.pdf

MedlinePlus Turns Ten

MedlinePlus, the popular, consumer-friendly health Web site produced by the National Library of Medicine, turns TEN this year. Launched October 22, 1998, the site has brought trusted health information to people across the country and around the world.

What a difference a decade makes. Since its debut in 1998:

• MedlinePlus has grown from 22 health topics to information on more than 770 health topics.
• Added a Spanish version, MedlinePlus en español, in 2002 in response to requests from the public and health care community. It is the most comprehensive Spanish language health site in the United States.
• Launched a multiple languages collection with information in more than 40 languages and English translations in 2008.

In addition to the health topics, MedlinePlus provides information on drugs and supplements, the latest news, a medical dictionary, an extensive encyclopedia, surgery videos, interactive educational material, and links to other helpful sites to locate clinical trials, understand genetic conditions, and find information specifically for older Americans.

The health information on MedlinePlus is professionally selected from reliable sources including the National Institutes of Health, government organizations, medical associations, and more than one thousand other health organizations such as the Mayo Clinic and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Located in Bethesda, Md., the National Library of Medicine is the world's largest library of the health sciences. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.nlm.nih.gov.

WI Lt Governor Lawton's Guide for Penny Pinchers

Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton has launched a new Guide for Penny Pinchers, http://www.GuideForPennyPinchers.com, designed
to connect Wisconsin consumers with information they need to help save money on gas and traveling, home energy, prescription drugs, health care, college tuition, back-to-school savings and more.

Here is a sample of what you'll find there:


Badger Care Plus. BadgerCare Plus is a program for children under 19 years of age and families in Wisconsin who need and want health insurance
Drug Savings Wisconsin State of Wisconsin Prescription Drug Resource Center.
Tips on Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
Prescription Drug Savings Options – State of Wisconsin


Readers are encouraged to submit their own entries for consideration and addition to the list.


See more at: http://www.GuideForPennyPinchers.com

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is of interest to many. If you have not already explored the various levels of NIH CAM pages you may want to do so now. Here you will find information on many related topics from acupuncture to yoga. There are additional links to research, clinical trials, training, news and more.

The October 2008 issue of "CAM at the NIH," the quarterly newsletter of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), is now posted at http://nccam.nih.gov/news/newsletter/2008_october

You can also browse the newsletter archives from the Newsletter Home at:
http://nccam.nih.gov/news/newsletter/

In addition to this newsletter, you can subscribe to the monthly "NCCAM Update" eBulletin. To learn more, visit http://nccam.nih.gov/news/ebulletin

Virtual Colonoscopies

Virtual Colonoscopies Rival Accuracy of Standard Ones

An advanced imaging technique called virtual colonoscopy can detect most of the large precancerous and cancerous polyps that can be found by the more invasive standard colonoscopy.

http://www.nih.gov/news/research_matters/september2008/09222008colonoscopy.htm

[posted on NIH Research Matters for September 22, 2008]

Health Care in America - Film on PBS

What happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people in America without health insurance? Critical Condition puts a human face on the nation's growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, and even their lives.

Tune in to the upcoming PBS film. Check viewing details and watch a trailer at:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2008/criticalcondition/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Travelers' Health

Planning a trip? You may want to stop by the CDC Travelers' Health site before taking off.

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/default.aspx

Decription from The Scout Report, June 27, 2008

Before any trip, it might not be a bad idea to consult this
fine sitecreated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is easy touse and visitors can get started by using their online
"Yellow Book"feature offered on their homepage. With this feature
visitors can look up travel health information for over 90 countries.
Further down the homepage visitors will note that the
"Specific Topics" area contains information on required
vaccinations yellow fever mosquito and tick prevention, avian
influenza outbreaks and other public health matters. Those persons
who might be traveling with special needs will want to take a look at
the "Special Needs Travelers" section as it includes
updates on travelers with HIV, disabilities, or those who might be breast-feeding. On the right-hand side of the site, visitors can look over the "Announcements" area and also take a look at their podcast series. [KMG]

Flooding in Wisconsin

Related Websites:

Flooding Health and Safety Tips (DHFS)


Disaster FoodShare Benefits for Flood Victims (DHFS)


Wisconsin Flood Information (DOT)


NASA Pictures


History of Flooding in Wisconsin (DNR)

NLM Drug Information Portal

From the National Library of Medicine:

Check out the NLM Drug Information Portal at:

http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/ .

For the public, healthcare professionals, and researchers, this is a gateway to current and accurate drug information on more than 15,000 drugs.

The search interface requires only a drug name; a spellchecker is provided. Search results include links to related drug information in MedlinePlus®, AIDSinfo®, Medline/PubMed®, LactMed, HSDB®, Dietary Supplements Labels Database, TOXLINE®, DailyMed®, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubChem, NIAID Anti-HIV/OI Database, ChemIDplus®, Drugs@FDA, DEA, and USA.gov .

Have a look. It's worth a visit.

SAVE THE DATE for the Summit

The 2008 Wisconsin Health Information Outreach Summit is coming up this August 6 at the Health Sciences Learning Center on the UW-Madison campus.

We hope you will be able to join us for another information-packed day of sharing health-related information, unique outreach programs, resources and services.

The Summit Planning Group is working to put together an exciting agenda which will bring you presentations and break-out sessions on a variety of outreach-related topics, including health literacy, personal health records, health in virtual worlds, consumer health outreach programs, patient information centers, online health information resource updates and more. We welcome your thoughts and ideas, your contributions and additions.

To refresh memories of the past Summit agendas from 2004 and 2006, have a look at archives on our Website: http://projects.hsl.wisc.edu/outreach/summit_2008/

And, while there, please take a few minutes to respond to the brief survey. Your input will be valuable in the planning process. Thanks much.

Outreach Toolkit for the film “The Truth About Cancer” available free to libraries

ALA News Release:

The American Library Association is pleased to announce that it is working with WGBH Boston on the upcoming national outreach campaign for the film “The Truth About Cancer,” which will air on PBS at 9 p.m. on April 16 (check local listings). The 90-minute documentary film, followed by a 30-minute expert panel hosted by news journalist and cancer survivor Linda Ellerbee will be the launching pad for events and projects across the country focused on creating community conversations around cancer survivorship.ALA and WGBH encourage libraries to reach out to their local PBS stations to collaborate with them on events surrounding this film. In addition, WGBH encourages libraries to reach out to its national outreach partners on this project, including the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS), Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, Lance Armstrong Foundation, YMCA of the USA and the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups. These collaborations will provide an excellent opportunity for libraries to develop new-or strengthen existing-community partnerships, while offering a valuable service to their communities.To assist in these outreach efforts, WGBH will offer extensive online resources, including downloadable handouts, which will be available on www.pbs.org/takeonestep starting in March 2008. In addition, a limited number of free Outreach Toolkits, including two event posters and a DVD Screener that will include 30 minutes of the film and the full expert panel, is available to libraries that request them. WGBH asks that libraries not hold public screenings using the DVD screener until one week prior to the premiere broadcast.To order the Outreach Toolkit, please go to: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/request.html Materials are limited and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.This collaborative project with WGBH is administered by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of ALA. Contact Barbara Macikas, RUSA, bmacikas@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4395.

Bringing Health Information to the Community (BHIC) Blog

If you are not familiar with this site, you might want to schedule a visit sooner rather than later.

The blog focuses on health information issues related to the community, especially underserved populations. It contains links to many types of information, including articles, conferences, minority health concerns, public health, grants and scholarships and much more. Updates are current and concisely formatted.

It is maintained by health sciences librarian Siobhan Champ-Blackwell, Community Outreach Liaison with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Mid-Continental Region Library and available through their website http://nnlm.gov/mcr/ which is, itself, worth an extended look.

Registration allows you to add comments to the blog postings. Receive blog postings through your email or subscribe to their RSS feed.

See more at: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/bhic/

NIH MedlinePlus Magazine

NIH MedlinePlus, the magazine, is a free, trusted consumer guide to a vast array of authoritative online health and medical information.

Published four times a year, the magazine showcases the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) latest medical research and healthcare information. Some health topics covered in past issues include: diabetes, cancer, stroke, asthma, Alzheimer’s, chronic pain, COPD, depression, high blood pressure and more.

Published by the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (FNLM, the magazine provides a gold standard of reliable up-to-date health information in a user-friendly format.
To view online issues, subscribe to your own electronic copy or to order print copies for your organization, see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine.html