Posts Tagged ‘Video’

Swine Flu

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Since we are still in midst of the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic - here is a quick summary and useful links:

“In this video, Dr. Joe Bresee with the CDC Influenza Division describes swine flu - its signs and symptoms, how it’s transmitted, medicines to treat it, steps people can take to protect themselves from it, and what people should do if they become ill.”


Map: Weekly Influenza Activity Estimates Reported by State and Territorial Epidemiologists


swine_flu_map.jpg


Swine Flu Cases per million population by country:

(Data taken from The Guardian - Data Blog)

Cases per Million Population by Country


Useful Links:
Center of Disease Control
Swine Flu update RSS feed from CDC
WHO - Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response
New England Journal of Medicine H1N1 Influenza Center
Lancet - H1N1 Flu Resource Center
Nature specials - Swine Flu

Surgery’s past, present and robotic future

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Another excellent talk at TED:

“Surgeon and inventor Catherine Mohr tours the history of surgery (and its pre-painkiller, pre-antiseptic past), then demos some of the newest tools for surgery through tiny incisions, performed using nimble robot hands. Fascinating — but not for the squeamish.”


The Story of Malaria

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Malaria is a mosquito borne illness caused by the female anopheles mosquito. Each year 350-500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide, and over one million people die, most of them young children in Africa south of the Sahara (CDC).

The British Medical Journal has uploaded a 10 minute YouTube video (Death by Mosquito) on the origins of malaria as we understand it now. Prior to the paper published in the BMJ in 1900, malaria was thought to be an airborne infection (mal = foul).

In 1900 Patrick Manson wrote a seminal paper in the BMJ Experimental Proof of the Mosquitomalaria Theory he worked closely with Ronald Ross, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on malaria.


Defibrillator in action

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Belgian soccer player, Anthony Van Loo suffers a fatal arrhythmia (and not a heart attack as outlined by the media) on the soccer field. The implanted defibrillator sends an electrical shock to the heart which in essence “reboots” the heart and allows the normal heart rhythm to resume.


Via Dr. Wes

Stem cell impregnated contact lens restores sight

Monday, June 8th, 2009

“In a world-first breakthrough, UNSW medical researchers have used stem cells cultured on a simple contact lens to restore sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease.”