MaxLibris

Swallow Don’t Spit

2008-09-12T11:30:02Z

Remember the film from 1966, “Fantastic Voyage?” Synopsis from imdb: “A medical team is shrunk in size to be injected into a scientist’s brain in order to save his life.” There is an interesting article in The Economist Technology Quarterly (4 September 2008, p. 26-27) called “Swallow the Surgeon,” which discusses some of the pioneering scientists working on developments in biomedicine. Not necessarily shrinking people and sending them off in a “spaceship” inside your body. What is the potential of using medical robots? Online version here.

Check out the video below of nanobots in a blood vessel. How would you feel if this were the wave of the future? I don’t think paranoid schizophrenics will be happy about this news.

Crime in My Hood

2008-09-03T18:19:13Z

My friend Dale (The Gay Librarian) and I were sharing crime statistics of our respective neighborhoods. His reaction on seeing my statistics “Wow. F**king wow.” See for yourself:

Crime in Buena Park

Check out the crime in YOUR hood: http://www.criminalsearches.com

What’s Happening in the Midwest?

2008-09-02T21:16:13Z

Well, why don’t I let this tell you:

http://midwestmla.org/midline/2008/08/whats_happening_in_the_midwest_1.html

Chrome Debuts

2008-09-02T20:55:20Z

Google Chrome is here - though I wasn’t sure it would be here at all. I tried getting to it this morning and had no luck. I ended up doing a search in Google for it but none of the results brought me to a functional page to download the application. I was able to finally download it however and here are a few first impressions:

I like the fact that it makes the most out of its real estate. There is no title bar, and it seems to make the viewing area substantially larger somehow.
Certain links I click on don’t seem to do anything or go anywhere.
You can move tabs around easily.
I like when you open a new tab, it has a similar built-in feel to the plug-in “Speed Dial” from Firefox. Plus it includes recently opened tabs and even recently closed tabs.

New Tab in Chrome

Overall, I like what Google has come up with but look forward to future Google Gears enhancements.

NN/LM GMR Page in Chrome

An iPhone Could Save My Life (Or Yours)

2008-08-26T20:35:25Z

This weekend I was wandering about in the Borders on Diversey/Clark/Broadway. I have been trying and trying to find the type of journal to write in that I like to use. It seems that either they are not being sold (by Borders anyway) or maybe they are just démodé. While I was perusing the shelves, I came across this Mac mag that I hadn’t seen before, called “MacLife.”

I read this story: “Apple RX: Get Me an iPhone, STAT!” and wondered about the implications…

I have played with ePocrates, which makes drug-interactions available on your iPhone. I’m not a doctor nor a pharmacist, but even I can see the potential it has for these markets. As long as the DATA is coming from a reputable and recognized agency, I’m comfortable with it. Has anyone used MIMvista’s MIM iPhone Application yet?

The potential boggles the mind.

: Can an iPhone save your life?

Health+Information+Community

2008-08-08T21:46:30Z

This week I attended the 3rd Wisconsin Health Information Outreach Summit. It was held at the Health Sciences Learning Center, - UW Madison. Due to traffic and some unfortunate detours, I was very late getting there. I missed the keynote that was delivered by Paul Smith, MD, about health literacy.

The first panel discussion in the morning was on personal health records. Catherine Arnott Smith spoke on barriers to sharing records. She summed them up as:

fragmented data
records tethered to many owners
incomplete data
not safeguarded against loss

She also talked about how there is very little research being done on the use of PHRs (Public Health Records.) Mostly this is because only 4% of the population uses them. However, what is interesting with PHRs is that the consumer can add data to their own record. So it’s not just that you can see your record, but you can ADD information to it.

Next she covered some popular PHRs. The ones she discussed:

DOSSIA
- Current HIPAA regulations are not addressed with DOSSIA
- It is endorsed by: AAP, CDC, AAFP
Kaiser Permanente
- Current HIPAA regulations are addressed with KP
- Includes interactions with doctors and education about conditions
WebMD
- Current HIPAA regulations are addressed with WebMD
- The health record portion of the site is under the control of the consumer
- There is a lot of advice given by the advisory team
Google (Susan Heffron expanded on Google during this session)
- Current HIPAA regulations are not addressed with Google
- Google wants the patient to be in control of their own record
- As Susan demonstrated, many conditions are not referenced
- They do not advertise on their site, but do provide “helpful links”
- The final consensus was that it is more of a health journal or a prescription manager, not a repository of your medical records
Microsoft Health Vault
- Current HIPAA regulations are not addressed with Health Vault
- They say they are not a PHR, but a shared platform for multiple applications that work with your various health information - and to consolidate in one place

Jill Everson spoke about My HealtheVet. This is an award-winning online PHR. It was launched nationwide in 2003. It is a gateway to tools (web-based) that will allow veterans to become better partners in their own health care. Here there is a three-tiered access system. Tier one is for visitors, tier 2 gives you more content but you have to register. The third tier is an enhanced PHR. You must have completed personal authentication in person prior to accessing tier 3.

Later that morning, a panel discussed consumer health/patient education centers. Robert Koehler of Meriter Hospital showed off his consumer health center (which unfortunately might be closing due to lack of funding.) Leslie Christensen of St. Mary’s Hospital showed photos of the result of the construction of a patient education center. Unfortunately (again), the contractors obviously did not listen to recommendations given by the staff. The book drop is under a shelf and is 2 ft. from the ground (WHAT???), there is really no place to showcase any promotional materials, and the bookshelves are barely usable.

During lunch, our host Rica demonstrated how some health workers are considering using Second Life. There was a live example of a doctor and a patient in consultation. They had microphones and it was broadcast to the room via projector. The amusing thing about it, (and the totally unexpected aspect about it to boot) was that my friend Bob was the playing the patient! What a small world.

All in all, it was an interesting summit, and it was a great opportunity for me to get to know some of the WI health workers and librarians as part of my duties at the NN/LM - GMR.

In the afternoon, I spoke on free resources available via NLM. I discussed what’s new with:

PubMed - Automatic Term Mapping and Citation Sensor
MedlinePlus
ClinicalTrials
ToxMap - addition of long/lat for locations as well as Google Maps
DailyMed
Household Products Database
(all of these are available via the NLM website.)

I also made sure everyone knew how to access the various RSS feeds that are available. Then it only took me 5.5 hours to get home from Madison (145 miles) due to heavy traffic. Another reason I am glad I sold my car.

National Wellness

2008-07-14T15:02:43Z

I am in Stevens Point, WI this week to exhibit for the NLM. Last night was the opening of the exhibits and it was quite busy! I was nervous since this was my first time doing this for my new job. The conference is for the National Wellness Institute. Luckily, I had a great co-exhibitor. My volunteer for last night is from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Sue Coenen. It was a pleasure to work with her and she was very helpful and taught me a lot. She is moving on from the Medical College to UW-Whitewater soon - so I wish her luck. Two big things that came out of my conversations with attendees yesterday:

a request for a database of resources for people who have no health insurance (more specific than GoLocal)
wanting to know copyright stipulations on full text articles culled from PubMed, MedlinePlus, etc.

I definitely am learning a lot so far - and have met some really interesting people during the opening session last night.

Big Brother is Watching You

2008-06-16T11:37:08Z

Ok maybe it’s just Google and not BB (is that an oxymoron?) - but I was pointed today to a particular (new) street map view of Atlanta which shows my friend and former co-worker Jessica probably driving to work.

Workin’ IT

2008-06-04T20:56:52Z

I am in my fourth official week here as the Technology Coordinator for the Greater Midwest Region of the NN/LM.
Here is what I’m enjoying so far about Chicago:

Lilacs - there are lilacs everywhere it seems and as I recall they don’t grow very well in the South so it’s bringing back memories of my glorious youth in WI
Mass Transit - I take the bus and/or train to work and to play every day and so far it’s been great, save for the few experiences like:
- the man who had to be taken off the train because he was pulling down his pants (can I say manscape?)
- the drunks
- the man who was trying to sell everyone pirated software
I take the Red Line L to the Pink Line to get to work but sometimes I take one of the express buses to the Pink Line.
Lake Michigan - being so close to the lake is awesome. I will say that I don’t go TO the lake very often as of yet, but my plan is to change that. When I take the bus to work in the morning, the bus goes along Lake Shore Drive. The lake looks different every day!
Chicago - well, the city herself. It’s a pretty outstanding place to be if I do say so myself. The architecture alone could keep you busy for ages. I just picked up “The Devil in the White City” - so I can learn a bit more about the history of this fantastic city.
Art - I have been to the Art Insitute a few times and revisited it when I first arrived in early May. This is the first museum in a city of which I live in that I will become a member of, with no reservations. There are so many other museums in town that I want/need to visit!!
Neighborhoods - so much diversity in so many different types of ‘hoods. I live in Uptown which unfortunately is NOT my favorite neighborhood, though I do like the Buena Park part of it - I’m sort of hoping to move to perhaps Andersonville or to Lakeview in the next six months.
Academic Life - I like being ON a university campus. There are lots of perks and benefits to it - however there are downsides. The bureaucracy can drive one up the wall - and the paperwork is mind-boggling. Other than that - I love it.

As far as my job, this is what I have been working on:

Inventory of technology in the office
Getting rid of old/redundant technologies
Learning about NLM and NN/LM
Preparing for my first trips (June 6 to Milwaukee is my first official trip)
Meetings with Library Systems to decentralize our server and make us more accessible to the rest of the University (something that has not happened in too long)
And probably many other things - but at the moment I’m too sleepy to remember

Getting Into the Swing of Things

2008-05-23T17:48:39Z

I’m settling into my new job responsibilities at NN/LM GMR (which is located at the University of Illinois at Chicago.) I even got a paycheck yesterday and I just started. They must REALLY like me. I moved to the fair city of Chicago in early May and so far am enjoying it quite a bit. However, during my first week I had some side-effects from a medication that made me a little ill and then second week (when I started my new job) - I got a nice nasty cold. The cold was very similar in nature to the one I had during Computers in Libraries in April so I’m thinking it was lying in wait to resurface. It was all I could do to go to work every day and then go right back home and jump into bed. My first week also included the start of MLA 2008. I have never attended the full conference of MLA before - though I have been a speaker at the Midwest Chapter Meeting and a joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter and the Southern Chapter a couple of years ago. I met some fantastic people at MLA this year and especially during the pre-conference stuff I had to attend as part of NN/LM.

MLA happened to run right up against another conference at the same hotel - International Mr. Leather. I was trying to come up with possible topics for plenary sessions and breakout sessions. I came up with some options but decided that they were a little risqué even for me. Ok probably not but I’ll keep this clean.

All is going well so far - just trying to understand my responsibilities. I was just given the responsibility of find a magnetic nut setter (11mm) this weekend. That should be interesting! I will eventually be migrating data from a 2000 Server to a 2003 Server and that is something I am looking forward to. What I am truly looking forward to though is being off for 3 days.