HealthBase

September 2, 2009 at 2:40 pm (General)
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Here is a new health resources that offers a unique approach to sifting through the vast quantities of online medical/health websites and zeroing in on quality, authoritative, and reliable information.  HealthBase  is a (self described) research solution for healthcare powered by NetBase Solutions.  It relies on “content intelligence technology”**  to scour millions of documents to provide results in 4 areas – treatments for health conditions, causes of health conditions, complications of health conditions, and pros & cons of drugs, foods, chemicals and treatments.   Answers are retrived from authoritative health resources including:  PubMed, eMedicine, WebMD, Health Central, Mayo Clinic, Health Finder, and NetWellness. 

** NetBase’s Content Intelligence Technology reads every sentence inside documents, linguistically understands the content and powers breakthrough search experiences that deliver highly relevant answers and insights. It’s the world’s only technology that can:

  • Harness billions of documents
  • Linguistically understand sentences
  • Automatically find answers

NetBase is used by organizations that are recognized as global leaders in healthcare, consumer packaged goods, publishing, manufacturing, government and more. 

Disclaimer:  This Site Does Not Offer Medical Advice and Nothing in the Content Is Intended to Constitute Professional Advice for Medical Diagnosis or Treatment.  The Contents on this Site is presented in a summary fashion with links to external health-related Internet Sites, and is intended to be used for educational and entertainment purposes only.

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Disability.Gov

August 12, 2009 at 11:52 am (General)
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The U.S. Department of Labor has relaunched DisabilityInfo.gov as Disability.gov, available at http://www.disability.gov.  Disability.gov contains information from 22 federal agencies in 10 subject areas including civil rights, education, housing, and technology.  It offers RSS feeds, email notification of news, twitter, and email receipt of the quarterly newsletter Disability Connection.  Across the upper right hand side are adaptive tools to utilize when viewing the page that can increase text size and provide high contrast display. 

Disability.gov is designed to provide people with disabilities, their family members, employers, service providers, educators and others with quick and easy access to the information they need. The site offers a number of ways to find this information, including:

  • Search & Advanced Search
  • Information by Topic
  • Information by State
  • “I want to”

The Information by State option enables users to list resources and programs unique to their location.  I Want To allows you to locate information based on a particular action, for example “Find a job” or “Apply for scholarships.” There are ten “I Want To” actions on the home page that cover the most frequently asked about topics. If you click on “More Options” at the bottom right of the “I Want To” section, you will find additional choices.  The News & Events tab at the bottom of the page includes up-to-date information on topics of particular interest to disabled individuals.

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A to Zinc

April 11, 2009 at 11:55 am (General)
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Taking your daily multivitamins and supplements is taking on new meaning in today’s economy.  According to Information Resources, Inc., a market research firm in Chicago, sales of vitamins rose nearly 8% during the last 3 months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.  Some researchers speculate that as people lose their health insurance or deductibles increase, they are turning to more preventative or self-treatment options.  Part of many daily regimens already include vitamins, herbs, supplements, and minerals but they take on new significance when people see them as an affordable option to unaffordable traditional treatments.  For a healthy diet are fish oil capsules for example, more economical than buying fresh fish every day?  Will echinacea and zinc (long touted as treatment for colds) replace OTC drugs?  Need to tame heartburn?  Is Aloe Vera juice as effective a soother as regular antacids?  

A study prepared by Packaged Facts, A division of Market Research Group, LLC  using data sets from Information Resources, Inc.  examines the entire industry and finds it is “…poised for healthy growth, with sales forecast to climb 39% from 2007 to 2012 to reach $8.5 billion, following a major rebound in 2006-2007. “

But before you run out and stock up on everything from A to Z, you need to make sure you are informed about the pros and cons of nutritional supplements and how they can interact with prescribed medicines and other supplements.  Nutritional supplements can be gender, disease, or even age specific.  Sometimes referred to as “alternative therapies”, nutritional supplements and vitamins can be researched in authoritative resources in print and online.  Several titles are available through the Capital Area District Library  including: PDR* for nutritional supplements (*Physician’s Desk Reference), Desk reference to nature’s medicine, and Gale encyclopedia of alternative medicine.  Online is the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

Disclaimer: The above material is intended for informational purposes only.  It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical diagnosis and advice. 

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