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Tagged: health, canada

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

A new map pinpoints well-defined areas of the Eastern United States where humans have the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease, one of the most rapidly emerging infectious diseases in North America, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. researchers found high infection risk confined mainly to the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Upper Midwest and low risk in the South. The results were published in the February issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

- press release

How do you figure out where to off teen health services in Gaston, North Carolina?

To decide where the satellite services were needed, officials used county GIS mapping data to see where teenage clients live. An emphasis was placed on pinpointing teens classified as being “at-risk” for not getting the services they need, [ the health department’s medical director, Velma] Taormina said.

“Gastonia had the most teens, but there were also hot spots around the county,” she said. “To address that, we chose to expand our clinical services for teens to those Bessemer City and Cherryville locations. Teens there may have transportation issues with getting to Gastonia.”

- Gaston Gazette

Billed as the first official British Columbia government mobile application, the BC Health Services Locator launched Monday on Apple's iTunes app store.

- Vancouver Sun

by Adena Schutzberg on 02/07 at 05:45 AM | Comments | Bookmark and Share

Monday, January 23, 2012

Here, we examine visually, through a series of maps, the association between obesity, diabetes, and sedentary transportation.

The maps are striking, but Anne Price and Ariel Godwin conclude:

... the relationship between sedentary travel and health outcomes can be misleading when additional contributing factors are not taken into account. While it is not our intent to claim a direct causal link between transportation modes and obesity rates, it is hard to deny the existence of some geographic patterns.

- Planetizen

Health Canada is drafting national guidelines for electricity-generating wind turbines that will establish a recommended minimum safe distance between the structures and homes. ...The Health Canada guidelines will deal with noise and shadow flicker, and will account for the power of the turbine, the size of the blade and local geography, [Dr. Moira] McKinnon [Saskatchewan's chief medical health office] said.

No doubt they'll need ot use GIS, once they figure out the details to manage noise and other impacts.

The Phoenix Star

The [second edition of the online] British Columbia Atlas of Wellness shows that northerners are more likely to smoke, eat unhealthy food and die sooner than their counterparts in Vancouver and Victoria.

- Times Colonist

Earlier this week, the Missouri Hospital Association launched www.MissouriHealthMatters.com. I recommend checking it out. The site contains quality of care and patient satisfaction data filtered through GIS technology with hospital specific information in a dashboard format. My thanks to David Dillon, MHA's VP of media relations, for giving me the heads-up on the website. I can attest to David's observation that the reports contain the same data as reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, "however the interface is much more user-friendly and locally-focused."

It uses ArcGIS Explorer Onilne, which took a while to load on my machine.

- Columbia Tribune

A RESEARCH OBSERVATORY based at NUI Maynooth [Kildare, Ireland] have unveiled a new online mapping tool that aims to show exactly how some parts of Ireland are covered by hospitals or schools.

The accessibility map, produced by the All-Island Research Observatory, highlights areas based on their proximity to facilities like hospitals, primary schools and secondary schools.

The map helps show diparities in services.

- The Journal.IE

by Adena Schutzberg on 01/23 at 05:45 AM | Comments | Bookmark and Share

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Phillippines

With the country in the grips of dengue fever, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the state weather bureau have launched a study that will enable health authorities to predict dengue outbreaks in the future.

The idea is to look back and see if there correlations between weather, rainfall and temperature and outbreaks of dengue and malaria.

- GMA News]

Australia

Researchers are attaching GPS tracking devices to flying foxes in south-east Queensland to learn more about hendra virus. The virus transmitted from bat to horse has killed a number of horses and researchers hope to learn more about the risk factors by tracking the bats.

- ABC News

Canada

In the fall, researchers at the University of Western Ontario will resume a study in which they plant global positioning systems on elementary school children in London, Ont., in an effort to understand how their environment influences their activity levels.

The study, which is in its first phases, is the largest of its kind in Canada and will explore factors at school and in the surrounding community. The goal is to help researchers understand how playsets can be intimidating, why some kids who live only a kilometre away get a ride to school every day and how to make changes that encourage a healthy lifestyle.

Research to date suggests that just having "play areas" or what we called "equipment" may not be enough to get kids moving. More subtle things might.

GPS data have helped researchers discover that some kids won’t use the jungle gym because the older kids are monopolizing it, and that tree-lined streets make a child more likely to walk to school because they feel more shielded from traffic.

- Globe and Mail

by Adena Schutzberg on 08/31 at 04:28 AM | Comments | Bookmark and Share

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Oregon and Rhode Island have joined AmericaView. What is AmericaView? 

a nationwide program that focuses on satellite remote sensing data and technologies in support of applied research, K-16 education, workforce development, and technology transfer.

- AmericaView Blog

OCUL [Ontario Council of University Libraries] is pleased to announce that the beta release of the Geospatial Portal will be available on August 25, 2011. This release will offer search, preview, and download functionality for a selection of datasets from DMTI Spatial Inc., the Ontario Geospatial Data Exchange (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources), and Statistics Canada. Data loaded to date covers such topics as land use, transportation networks, census boundaries, points of interest (such as schools, airports, and golf courses), and orthophotography for the GTA, Ottawa, and Southwestern Ontario. 
 
The Geospatial Portal beta will be available to students, staff and faculty at OCUL institutions. 
- OCUL
The University of Guam Cancer Research Center partnered with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Institute for Global Tobacco Control to train a group of youth and adult volunteers in community-based participatory research methods to test whether higher exposure to tobacco advertising is one of the reasons for higher tobacco use rates among Chamorro and other Micronesian youth. ...

Once the data is processed, the community research group will examine and analyze the data and determine how best to utilize and disseminate the information. We anticipate that the data will provide good local evidence to guide recommendations regarding tobacco point-of-sale advertising in Guam. The GIS mapping data will be presented at the Guam Community Tobacco Control Research Summit on August 27, 2011, and the Photovoice results will be displayed as a photo exhibit at this forum.
 
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/25 at 04:00 AM | Comments | Bookmark and Share

Monday, August 01, 2011

Researchers in the U.K. found that the amount of weight gained on vacation depends on where you go.

It turns out you gain the most weight if you visit (from worst to less bad): U.S. (avg: 8 pounds in 2 weeks), Caribbean, France, Italy, Greece. The study was done via a survey of 2000 Britons by the Obesimed weight-loss company.

- Daily Mail

Amazingly, more perscriptions for anti-depressants were given out in Wales, than there are people in the country!

As well as having a higher level of prescriptions relative to population, Wales has also experienced the biggest increase in prescriptions in the UK, up nearly 70% in eight years, compared to 61% in England and 43% in Scotland.

Why? Factors include more people having life challenges based on the economy and doctors who choose medication of therapy in part because the latter may require a wait of a year.

- Wales Online

Canada's Supreme Court has allowed a provincial lawsuit in BC against tobacco companies to go forward. That may pave the way for suits from other provinces to help cover medical issues that stem from tobacco use. There's even a map of each province's plans (and the success we've had in the U.S.)

- Global Saskatoon

by Adena Schutzberg on 08/01 at 04:00 AM | Comments | Bookmark and Share

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