Archive for the ‘Research Links’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Swine Flu meta-pages

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Between last year’s energy crisis, the bad economic news and the Tri-Delts walking into the library in their hippy-chick summer dresses, it’s like we’re back to the 70′s. And now, swine flu…

 

Dr. Joe Bresee, CDC Influenza Division

Several librarians have put together ‘meta’ pages of resources relating to the outbreak (not yet an official pandemic or even an epidemic), so I won’t try to re-invent the wheel.

Chris Childs, at the University of Iowa’s Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, has put together a Libguide page of Swine Flu information. (This is the type of guide we’ll be moving to for our subject research guides over the summer, so if you are a user of my ESM Research Guide, this is what you’ll see in the fall. Good stuff.)

The National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes for Health run Medline, a comprehensive public health database. The Swine Flu page here has a lot of CDC information, but also links to refereed (peer-reviewed) articles from the Pubmed database. They have also compiled a “Specialized Information Services” page on the environmental health and toxicology aspects of the flu.

 
View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

This report, from a commercial investment research analysis company, compares this outbreak to SARS and other influenza outbreaks, and focuses on the [possible] economic effects of this particular flu.

Finally, I’ve referenced this site before, so I’ll reference it again: the CDC has a great “Pandemic Influenza” site that links to many resources for planning for and dealing with an outbreak. 

Stay well out there. Let’s keep this in the category of “live drill” rather than “real thing”. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, stay home if you are sick…

Posted in Pandemic, Research Links, government information | No Comments »

Fargo Flood Homepage

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

We’ll stay with the flood theme for a bit, and look at the “Fargo Flood Homepage (Red River)“, a link page developed by North Dakota State University. In addition to a graphic representation of the flood’s current stage, there are links to information about the geology of the region, photos, and the aforementioned hydrographs. The site also links to satellite maps, forecasting tools, and lists of resources from the NDSU Libraries and Extension Service.

For me, the best link is an extensive bibliography of scholarly scientific resources relating to the flood, compiled by the NDSU Library. But perhaps the most sobering is an article entitled, “What Makes the Red River of the North so Vulnerable to Flooding?” It’s this kind of detailed study that is going to help avert catastrophic floods in the future, and it’s good to see someone doing the hard work these studies require.

Wishing everyone in Fargo a dry day, and fortitude as they clean up and rebuild.

Posted in Floods, Research Links, Weather Emergencies | No Comments »

PandemicFlu.gov

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Pandemic flu hasn’t made the news much this winter (although the stock market seems to have caught a bad case of something), but the CDC has collected everything you might ever be interested in on the topic, and put it together here.

Pandemic Influenza cases around the world, according to the WHO.

(Image courtesy of Fish & Wildlife Service)

Want to know how many human cases of Avian Flu have been reported this year? 12 cases, 4 deaths as of 11 Feb. Can you define Avian Flu, and describe how it differs from seasonal and pandemic flu? You’ll find the answer here. Need planning checklists? Check. In addition to tremendous amounts of scientific information (links to research activities are here), there is a huge amount of information on the epidemic influenza outbreak of 1918, including a “storybook“with personal narratives (including some video) and a link to the Department of Health and Human Services’ web history entitled The Great Pandemic: The United States in 1918-1919.

Posted in Pandemic, Research Links, Uncategorized, government information | No Comments »

Australia Wildfires

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Every hour yesterday, it seemed, the top of the hour news brought an increase in the number of deaths caused by these fires; right now the count is 181, and is expected to climb.

NASA Earth Observatory image of Australian bushfires.

The image above is courtesy of NASA’s Earth Observatory, which has an informative page on the Bushfires in Southeast Australia. Google News for this topic can be found here, and the local news services are hugely informative. That’s how I found this: The Centre for Risk and Community Safety, at RMIT University in Melbourne.

About Us

The Centre for Risk and Community Safety was established in January 2001 and is a collaborative project by Geospatial Science (RMIT University), Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) (Australian National University), and Emergency Management Australia.

The collaborative group combines internationally recognised research, research management and training expertise with the peak emergency management body in Australia. These partnerships help ensure that the Centre serves the sector’s strategic research needs.

Aims

  • To identify the strategic research needs of emergency management;
  • To publicise these needs, undertake research to satisfy them, and to encourage others to contribute to the research effort; and
  • To help develop the next generation of researchers in the field – through recruiting and training.

Their Research Agenda is intriguing and wide-ranging. Undoubtedly, this latest event (or series of events) will yield much fruit for study.

Posted in Research Links | No Comments »

Alaskan Volcano Watch

Monday, February 9th, 2009

I have a six-year old son who is more than interested in any type of weather event – we use the term “obsessed”, and we don’t use it lightly. Second only to tornadoes in his world are volcanoes, and he is begging us to take him to Hawaii so he can see real lava flow.

Cleveland Volcano, Alaska

As much as we would love to take him to Hawaii, that’s not a cheap trip, so in the meantime I’ve discovered the USGS “Alaska Volcano Observatory” website, with live webcams aimed at the major volcanoes in Alaska. In addition to the beautiful imagery (both still and video), the site is packed with research, information, and even hazards summaries. (Be sure to check the sunrise indicator on the webcam video – although it’s mid-morning here in Virginia, the sun won’t be up at the Redoubt volcano until 9:30 AKST. Which is just about the time our budding weatherman gets home from school…)

Posted in Earthquakes, Research Links, government information | No Comments »

Great American Shakeout Follow-up

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

I’d almost forgotten about the Great Southern California Shakeout (the earthquake drill that happened November 13, 2008) until the USGS very helpfully sent me a link to the “Corecast” for the “Lessons Learned” from the largest-ever earthquake scenario exercise.

(Download Secretary Kempthorne and Mark Myers Share Thoughts on ShakeOut.)

“Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and USGS Director Mark Myers reflect on the successes of The Great Southern California ShakeOut—the largest earthquake preparedness drill in U.S. history.”

Perhaps the best overview of the outcomes is available on this page, from Caltech.  Scenario results, research studies and follow-on research are described and linked here.”Shakemaps”like the one below and scenario video are available here.

Finally, the innovative (and unexpected) collaboration with the Art Center College of Design resulted in the production of this YouTube video. Highly effective, without dropping into the realm of fear-mongering. [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/opXZY1zZ8xk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Posted in Earthquakes, Emergency Communications, Research Links, government information | No Comments »

Galveston National Laboratory – new National Biocontainment Lab opens

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Having seen actual snow falling as I was on my way in to work this morning (yes, in November, and yes, I live in Richmond!), I’m tempted to just link to the VDEM’s “Get Ready Now for Winter Weather” news release. But instead, I’m going to highlight a new Galveston National Laboratory, the University of Texas Medical Branch.

The arrival of Hurricane Ike in mid-September, just after the facility was “substantially” completed, was an early test of the safety of the structure, but there was no damage, and November 11, 2008 saw the official opening ceremony. Coming on the heels of a GAO report on the lack of security in several of the other BSL-4 laboratories, this was an important, if unanticipated, test.

Within this state-of-the-art facility, an extraordinary group of scientists are engaged in efforts to translate research ideas into products aimed at controlling emerging infectious diseases and defending our society against bioterrorism. The GNL has been designed to serve as a national resource, and will complement and enhance UTMB’s decades of prominence in biomedical research – as well as provide a world renowned resource for training researchers in infectious diseases.

As one of two National Biocontainment Laboratories constructed with funding awarded in October 2003 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/NIH), the GNL provides much needed research space and specialized research capabilities to develop therapies, vaccines, and diagnostic tests for naturally occurring emerging diseases such as SARS, West Nile encephalitis and avian influenza – as well as for microbes that might be employed by terrorists. Products likely to emerge from research and investigations within the GNL include novel diagnostic assays, improved therapeutics and treatment models, and preventative measures such as vaccines.

Interesting content includes the Video Tour and Timeline (which proves that they are no newcomer to the field), as well as an assortment of links relating to bioterrorism, infectious disease, and other public health issues.

Posted in Bioterrorism, Pandemic, Research Links | No Comments »

Using Google for the Greater Good

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

Google has a number of applications, such as Google Docs, that are being put to creative and innovative uses.  In the field of public health, for instance, Google Flu Trends uses aggregated search data, combined with IP addresses, to track flu outbreaks.

Annual U.S. Flu Activity - Mid Atlantic

They claim that there is a strong correlation between searching and disease outbreak (although they do recognize that not everyone who searches for “flu symptoms” might be sick – you might, for example, just be writing a paper for your ESM class), and that their data can indicate an outbreak as soon as two weeks before the CDC or another indicator system. (The CDC relies largely on doctor reports that are aggregated by the CDC and state health departments.) Another benefit is the near-instant reporting of results, allowing researchers to see what is happening right now.

A Flash-based map of the U.S. allows you to view flu trends for this year, broken down by state. As a researcher, you can download their raw data  in a CSV-format. The FAQ for the Google Flu Trends answers questions about flu statistics in general and Google Trends in particular, including privacy questions related to this service.

Posted in Pandemic, Research Links | No Comments »

Trust for America’s Health

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

I discovered this organization thanks to a  pointer from the HSDL to their October 2008 report entitled, “Germs Go Global: Why Emerging Infectious Diseases Are a Threat to America.” Having just participated in a discussion group on the ethics and biology of childhood immunizations,* this caught my eye.

“From anthrax to asthma, from chemical terrorism to cancer, America is facing a crisis of epidemics.

As a nation, we are stuck in a “disease du jour” mentality, which means we lose sight of the bigger picture: building a public health defense that is strong enough to cover us from all points of attack – whether the threats are from a bioterrorist or Mother Nature.

By focusing on PREVENTION, PROTECTION, and COMMUNITIES, TFAH is leading the fight to make disease prevention a national priority, from Capitol Hill to Main Street. We know what works. Now we need to build the resolve to get it done.”

Turns out, the non-profit, non-partisan Trust for America’s Health publishes a lot of reports and statistics that would be of interest to those interested in public health and emergency preparedness. Their reports cover topics as diverse as the obesity crisis in America (“F as in Fat“) and the safety of America’s food supply (“Fixing Food Safety“). But the real strength of this site is the statistics. I found out that the Commonwealth of Virginia scored a perfect “10″ on the “Ready or Not 2007 Emergency Preparedness Indicators”, and the state data can be viewed either by state or by topic (Pandemic Flu, Infectious Diseases, Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness among others).

The Advocacy and Initiatives pages give a good view of who the Trust is, and what they are working on. Finally, the Resource Library brings together a collection of resources, both those published by the Trust and outside resources related to the different focus topics.

*Personal opinion warning – I came away from the discussion with the realization that certain populations in America are now at high-risk for some very scary diseases due to their stand on this issue and increased globalization, and we have the luxury of being ignorant of the ravages of diseases like polio because they have essentially been eradicated – end personal opinion.

Posted in Bioterrorism, Pandemic, Research Links, Resources, government information | No Comments »

Using data to effectively manage disasters

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Occasionally, I receive ‘slips’ for books published in the field of ESM. This ‘slip’ pointed to a book published by the World Bank, and freely available on their website.

Data Against Natural Disasters cover

Amin, Samia and Markus Goldenstein, ed. Data against Natural Disasters: Establishing Effective Systems for Relief, Recovery, and Reconstruction. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2008.

This volume, available online through the World Bank, has a two-fold purpose. In Part One, the case is made for the need to manage data before, during, and after a disaster. Part Two gives six Case Studies from around the world which illustrate cases in which data systems were used in an actual disaster.  (Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Mozambique, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are all highlighted; each instance occurred between 2004 and 2007.) With each study, the authors have highlighted some lessons learned, pointing the way forward in future disaster situations and supporting  the arguments made in Part One. Packed with figures and tables, the ‘on-the-ground’ nature of the case studies makes the case for data very powerfully.

Be forewarned: this is a large .pdf file (1.96MB) crammed with informative and interesting insights. Be ready to spend time reading this!

Posted in Research Links, Resources | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »