If you also want to follow easily these selected resources in a personalized way, here is PeRSSonalized Microbiology, the simplest, free, customizable medical information aggregator.
Yesterday, I attended the session of George Church that focused on personalized genomics. He mentioned one of his new projects, Bioweathermap, an experiment in collaborative environmental surveillance and discovery.
The BioWeatherMap initiative is a global, grassroots, distributed environmental sensing effort aimed at answering some very basic questions about the geographic and temporal distribution patterns of microbial life. Utilizing the power of high-throughput, low cost DNA sequencing and harnessing the drive of an enlightened public we propose a new collaborative research approach aimed at generating a steady stream of environmental samples from many geographic locations to produce high quality data for ongoing discovery and surveillance. Our approach will provide a unique opportunity to engage the public in the scientific research process while we address fundamental questions such as “How diverse is the microbial life around us?” and “How do microbial communities in different habitats change over time?” and “How can advanced sequencing technologies best be utilized to address issues in biodiversity, public health, and biosurveillance?”
George Church will also be featured in the Silverstein Lecture Series: Personal Genomes and Web 2.0 Volunteerism (May 11th and 12th, 2009).
I just came back from Spain where there are more than 480 confirmed H1N1 cases, but no one seemed to be worried about it. I’ve already covered this important issue:
Last month I scrambled to write a story about the evolution of swine flu for the New York Times.
All of the scientists were completely open with me. They didn’t wave me off because they had to wait until their results were published in a big journal. In fact, they were open with the whole world, posting all their results in real-time on a wiki. So everyone who wanted to peruse their analysis could see how it developed as more data emerged and as they used different methods to analyze it.
It’s my pleasure to host the 3rd edition of the Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival. This is the first time I host a non medicine-related carnival, so I really hope you will like the posts I found.
I couldn’ resist the temptation to create such a section. But what else to expect from a medical blogger? Of course, biology has a lot to do with medicine.
And the last article I share with you is from Larry Moran, our favourite professor blogging at Sandwalk, who supposed the launch of this service was inevitable: How to Activate Your Junk DNA!
Many thanks to Steppen Wolf (the skeptical alchemist) for giving me the opportunity to host this carnival. Contact him if you would like to host an edition.
It’s a great pleasure for me to host Grand Rounds again after almost a year. The idea of Nick Genes shines more than ever so I hope I can show you plenty of useful and valuable submissions from the medical blogosphere. So this time, the topic is the future of medicine which means I’ll feature some blogposts about genetics and web 2.0 as medicine might be centered around these two terms in the future. Enjoy it!
Editor’s Choice (Genetics or Web 2.0):
Karina S. Descartin at The story of healing talked about Jay Parkinson, the web-savvy doctor and use of media in medicine.
Louise at Colorado Health Insurance Insider wrote: “A list of eight preventable medical errors that result in extra medical charges will no longer be reimbursed by Medicare”.
Laurie Edwards at AChronicDose hadarecent issue with her health insurance to explore preventative health and offer resources to think critically about the future of healthcare.
Michael C Hébert at Dr. Hébert’s Medical Gumbo pointed out the problem with Economics Stimulus Package is that, like taking antibiotics for a cold, it fails to properly address the problem.
Kenneth F Trofatter at Fruit of the Womb addresses a query from a reader who wonders if abnormal sperm morphology, in the absence of other maternal or paternal indicators, might be associated with recurrent early pregnancy loss.
David Bradley at ScienceBase is curious whether our doctor inhales or not. “A survey of medical students in Brazil found that more than 80% use alcohol, while cannabis use is limited to about one in four, a quarter use solvents and just over 25% use tobacco.”
That’s all for now. I always enjoy hosting Grand Rounds because I come across new blogs and make contact with great medical bloggers. Thank you, Nick Genes, for giving me the opportunity again. I hope to host a third one in 2009. The next edition will be hosted by ChronicBabe on the 4th of March.
An interesting and rare medical symptom was mentioned by Kevin, MD today. He links to an article about a Chinese man who began to perspire green sweat. Kevin asks for any ideas. I used my good friends, Google and Pubmed to find some possible explanations:
Chromhidrosis: a rare condition characterized by the secretion of colored sweat which is caused by the various oxidative states of lipofuscin pigment. The pigment is produced in the apocrine gland. Here is a case report about it. Or an other one in the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
A 56-year-old man, hospitalized for recurrent fever, latent jaundice, and epigastric pain, progressively developed macules on his hands and feet… an increased level of bilirubin may cause a rare transient green discoloration when it is excreted through eccrine sweat glands.
Pseudomonas infection
Bleeding diathesis (red sweat)
Copper exposure (blue sweat)
Contamination from corynebacteria, paint, chemicals or clothing dye
I have to admit that I’m a fan of Crooked Brains. Now, here are some special Petri dishes made by Eshel Ben-Jacob from the School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University. I know it has nothing to do with web 2.0 or personalized genetics but I think some fellow bloggers will like these even more than I do (AJ?)
They illustrate the coping strategies that bacteria have learned to employ, strategies that involve cooperation
through communication. These selfsame strategies are used by the bacteria in their struggle to defeat our best antibiotics.
Thus, if we understand the mechanisms behind the patterns, we can learn how to outsmart the bacteria – for example, by tampering with their communication – in our ongoing battle for our health.
The focus of this lab is on heritable diseases of the heart. You are cast here as a virtual intern to accompany a doctor examining three different patients. Each patient is examined using more than one diagnostic tool, and at each stage, the doctor will invite you to examine the patient yourself and ask for your opinion.
I find the quizzes extremely helpful. Check it out!
An other great example of web-based education. The American Society for Cell Biology has launched a unique project and they feature seminars through the web (so-called webinars). You can download iBioSeminars in QuickTime, mp4, iPodVideo or Powerpoint formats.
iBioSeminars is a freely available library of seminars from outstanding scientists. Our mission is to host lectures that describe on-going research in leading laboratories (they are not basic, survey-style lectures as might be found in undergraduate or graduate student biology courses). However, iBioSeminars features a more extensive introduction into the subject matter than a typical 50 min university seminar. Thus, these lectures are intended to be more accessible than many typical department seminars to advanced undergraduates/beginning graduate students and researchers outside of the specific field.
ScienceRoll 