A new web site has been launched by Microsoft Corp. providing users with a H1N1 Self-Assessment tool developed by medical and public health experts at Emory University.
Called H1N1 Response Center, the web site is designed to help people decide what to do if they are worried that they or someone they love has symptoms of the flu, the site offers consumers a self-assessment tool licensed from Emory. The tool helps individuals determine whether the symptoms they have could be caused by the flu virus, whether their illness is severe enough to warrant immediate medical attention, and whether they are at increased risk for developing severe disease. The site also offers practical advice on what to do.
The clinical content of the web site is closely based on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) algorithm for health professionals designed for the 2009-2010 flu season, jointly developed with Emory School of Medicine.
With the current H1N1 flu pandemic underway, public health officials are concerned that critical health care resources could be stretched thin if everyone with the flu symptoms rushes to the nearest ER or doctor's office to determine what to do. Although the flu, including 2009 H1N1 flu, can cause serious illness and death in some people, the majority of people who get the flu will have a have a relatively mild form of illness that gets better on its own.
"Certain people are more vulnerable to the effects of the H1N1 flu virus than others," says Arthur Kellermann, MD, professor of emergency medicine and an associate dean at the Emory School of Medicine. "This website is carefully designed to encourage those who are severely ill, and those at increased risk for serious illness to contact their doctor, while reassuring large numbers of people with mild illness that it is safe to recover at home."
"Hopefully, providing easy to understand information to the public will reduce the number of people who are needlessly exposed to H1N1 influenza in crowded clinic and ER waiting rooms, and allow America's doctors and nurses to focus their attention on those who need us most," adds Kellermann.
Called the Strategy for Off-Site Rapid Triage (SORT) the concept was created and developed by an interdisciplinary team at Emory led by Alexander Isakov, MD, MPH and Kellermann. Microsoft's web site is designed communicates complex health information in simple terms that the public can understand. The content and images used in the site were developed and field- tested with more than 100 community volunteers by the Emory@Grady Health Literacy Team, which includes Ruth Parker, MD, and Lorenzo DiFrancesco, MD, of Emory's School of Medicine, and Kara Jacobson, MPH, of Emory's Rollins School of Public Health.
Emory's algorithm and the idea of using a web-based tool to help flu patients decide what to do is endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians, the nation's leading organization for the specialty of emergency medicine.
Visit www.h1n1responsecenter.com to find the H1N1 assessment tool.
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Showing posts with label emory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emory. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Study Finds Racial Segregation a Strong Factor in Learning Disparities
Racial segregation in the schools is fueling the learning disparity between young black and white children, while out-of-school factors are more important to the growth of social class gaps, according to a study by Emory University sociologist Dennis Condron.
His findings were published in the October issue of the American Sociological Review.
Condron was perplexed by prior research showing that schools narrow the achievement gap among students of varying social classes while widening the gap between black and white students. To tease out possible reasons for this difference, he analyzed data from the Kindergarten Cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.
He found that between the fall and spring of first grade, black students' reading and math skills fall almost two months behind those of white students. After controlling for other factors, the data suggested that segregation of schools was a primary driver of this early black-white learning disparity. In contrast, out-of-school factors explained the growth of social class gaps.
"This research adds an important piece to the puzzle of when and why social class and black-white inequalities in academic achievement emerge," says Condron, assistant professor of sociology. "And I hope it raises awareness that social class and black-white achievement gaps come from different sources to some extent. We tend to speak of ‘the' achievement gap, but in reality different gaps probably have different sources and require different solutions."
His research also indicated that regardless of social class, black students are less often taught by certified teachers than are white students, and black students are far more likely than white students to attend predominantly minority schools, high-poverty schools and schools located in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The findings are "a reminder of a persistent problem," Condron says, decades after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka struck down state laws establishing separate schools for black and white students.
"De facto segregation remains high these days, with important implications for education," he says. "When it comes to both housing and schools, race trumps class as the central axis upon which blacks and whites are segregated. Real solutions to the black-white achievement gap lie far beyond schools and require changes to society more broadly."
Condron's study is the lead article in the October issue of the American Sociological Review, which also features two other studies of educational inequality.
A specialist in educational disparities, Condron is currently analyzing data on more than 80 countries to research the impact of economic inequality on countries' average achievement levels.
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His findings were published in the October issue of the American Sociological Review.
Condron was perplexed by prior research showing that schools narrow the achievement gap among students of varying social classes while widening the gap between black and white students. To tease out possible reasons for this difference, he analyzed data from the Kindergarten Cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.
He found that between the fall and spring of first grade, black students' reading and math skills fall almost two months behind those of white students. After controlling for other factors, the data suggested that segregation of schools was a primary driver of this early black-white learning disparity. In contrast, out-of-school factors explained the growth of social class gaps.
"This research adds an important piece to the puzzle of when and why social class and black-white inequalities in academic achievement emerge," says Condron, assistant professor of sociology. "And I hope it raises awareness that social class and black-white achievement gaps come from different sources to some extent. We tend to speak of ‘the' achievement gap, but in reality different gaps probably have different sources and require different solutions."
His research also indicated that regardless of social class, black students are less often taught by certified teachers than are white students, and black students are far more likely than white students to attend predominantly minority schools, high-poverty schools and schools located in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The findings are "a reminder of a persistent problem," Condron says, decades after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka struck down state laws establishing separate schools for black and white students.
"De facto segregation remains high these days, with important implications for education," he says. "When it comes to both housing and schools, race trumps class as the central axis upon which blacks and whites are segregated. Real solutions to the black-white achievement gap lie far beyond schools and require changes to society more broadly."
Condron's study is the lead article in the October issue of the American Sociological Review, which also features two other studies of educational inequality.
A specialist in educational disparities, Condron is currently analyzing data on more than 80 countries to research the impact of economic inequality on countries' average achievement levels.
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Friday, October 2, 2009
Stopping Teen Dating Violence Before It Starts: Jane Fonda Launches Campaign
Jane Fonda, actor, writer and founder/chair of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (GCAPP), along with local teenagers and Atlanta community groups officially launched today the Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships Program aimed at stopping teen dating violence and abuse before it starts at Emory University.
The Jane Fonda Center at Emory was chosen as one of 11 community organizations nationwide to receive $1 million in funding through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national Start Strong initiative. This is the largest national public health initiative ever funded, targeting 11-to-14-year-olds, to stop teen dating violence.
"This initiative, both locally and nationally, promises to educate and empower teens and their surrounding communities that dating violence and abuse among teenagers must be stopped before it ever starts," says Fonda. "With teen dating abuse a significant public health issue in this country, we must focus on teaching our young people to develop healthier and more positive relationships at an early age."
As part of this four-year initiative, Start Strong Atlanta will rally the entire community, including teenagers, parents, caregivers, educators, coaches and community leaders to build environments that support healthy relationships and ensure violence and abuse are never tolerated.
"October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and this campaign's launch is the perfect tie-in, aimed at middle school youth, for reducing the nation's unacceptable level of intimate partner violence through early prevention," says Melissa Kottke, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine and director of the Jane Fonda Center. Kottke is also the principal investigator of the national initiative at Emory.
The Jane Fonda Center along with its partners, Atlanta Public Schools and Grady Memorial Hospital Teen Services Program, have together developed a comprehensive community plan for this initiative. This plan will focus on four core strategies involving education, policy change, community outreach and social marketing campaigns to empower local teens to develop healthier relationships.
"It's so sad that almost every teen you ask knows someone who has been a victim of dating abuse, if they themselves have not," says Marie Mitchell, Start Strong Atlanta project director at the Jane Fonda Center. "Indeed, the National Council on Criminal Delinquency Focus states that approximately one in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner. This can't continue. We must actively engage youth at an early age and provide them with the knowledge and skills to develop healthy teen relationships and prevent them from becoming victims of teen dating abuse."
Other Atlanta collaborators include: Metro Atlanta Violence Prevention Program, Department of Juvenile Justice, Fulton Family Care Network, Rock of Escape, Journey Girls, Young Adults Talk, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Girl Scouts and Georgia Campaign for Pregnancy Prevention, and the list continues to grow. Learn more about Start Strong Atlanta and other related events going on during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The Jane Fonda Center at Emory University was created in 2000 with a lead gift from Jane Fonda. The mission of the Jane Fonda Center is to advance scientific knowledge about adolescence with an emphasis on adolescent reproductive health. The center seeks to disseminate information and strategies for risk reduction and healthy transitions to adulthood. It fulfills its mission by research, program and curriculum development and evaluation.
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The Jane Fonda Center at Emory was chosen as one of 11 community organizations nationwide to receive $1 million in funding through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national Start Strong initiative. This is the largest national public health initiative ever funded, targeting 11-to-14-year-olds, to stop teen dating violence.
"This initiative, both locally and nationally, promises to educate and empower teens and their surrounding communities that dating violence and abuse among teenagers must be stopped before it ever starts," says Fonda. "With teen dating abuse a significant public health issue in this country, we must focus on teaching our young people to develop healthier and more positive relationships at an early age."
As part of this four-year initiative, Start Strong Atlanta will rally the entire community, including teenagers, parents, caregivers, educators, coaches and community leaders to build environments that support healthy relationships and ensure violence and abuse are never tolerated.
"October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and this campaign's launch is the perfect tie-in, aimed at middle school youth, for reducing the nation's unacceptable level of intimate partner violence through early prevention," says Melissa Kottke, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine and director of the Jane Fonda Center. Kottke is also the principal investigator of the national initiative at Emory.
The Jane Fonda Center along with its partners, Atlanta Public Schools and Grady Memorial Hospital Teen Services Program, have together developed a comprehensive community plan for this initiative. This plan will focus on four core strategies involving education, policy change, community outreach and social marketing campaigns to empower local teens to develop healthier relationships.
"It's so sad that almost every teen you ask knows someone who has been a victim of dating abuse, if they themselves have not," says Marie Mitchell, Start Strong Atlanta project director at the Jane Fonda Center. "Indeed, the National Council on Criminal Delinquency Focus states that approximately one in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner. This can't continue. We must actively engage youth at an early age and provide them with the knowledge and skills to develop healthy teen relationships and prevent them from becoming victims of teen dating abuse."
Other Atlanta collaborators include: Metro Atlanta Violence Prevention Program, Department of Juvenile Justice, Fulton Family Care Network, Rock of Escape, Journey Girls, Young Adults Talk, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Girl Scouts and Georgia Campaign for Pregnancy Prevention, and the list continues to grow. Learn more about Start Strong Atlanta and other related events going on during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The Jane Fonda Center at Emory University was created in 2000 with a lead gift from Jane Fonda. The mission of the Jane Fonda Center is to advance scientific knowledge about adolescence with an emphasis on adolescent reproductive health. The center seeks to disseminate information and strategies for risk reduction and healthy transitions to adulthood. It fulfills its mission by research, program and curriculum development and evaluation.
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Emory Joins Other Leading Research Universities to Launch Futurity.org
A group of leading research universities has launched Futurity (www.futurity.org), an online research channel covering the latest discoveries in science, engineering, the environment, health and more. Emory University is one of 35 partners supporting the project.
Futurity gives the public direct access to exciting research breakthroughs in a way that offers broad appeal, says Nancy Seideman, Emory’s executive director of media relations and associate vice president of communications.
“Futurity allows major research universities like Emory and its peers to build a bridge between the academic community and the public,” Seideman says. “It gives us a dynamic portal with clear writing and a lot of multimedia that communicates the cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research that is shaping our understanding of ourselves and our world.”
Futurity has featured a number of studies by Emory scientists in recent weeks, including a discovery by Emory paleontologist Anthony Martin of dinosaur burrows in Australia. His research was covered by numerous outlets including National Geographic.
Bill Murphy, one of Futurity’s cofounders and vice president for communications at the University of Rochester, says universities are affected by the challenges facing newspapers today. News holes are shrinking, he notes, and coverage of research-related stories has been hit particularly hard.
“In light of this shifting news landscape, universities are looking for ways to share important breakthroughs with the public. Futurity gives our partners an opportunity to communicate in a new and direct way—and to remind the public why research matters.”
Futurity cofounder Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke University, says the site serves another vital role. It allows the public to see how federal, state and private funding are being put to use by universities to address critical challenges.
“It’s not often you see high-powered universities working together in such a collaborative way,” says Schoenfeld. “That fact alone indicates the project’s significance. Universities are the world’s laboratories. They host the brightest minds working to answer some of today’s most urgent questions. The breadth and caliber—and the collective force—of the research featured on Futurity is truly extraordinary.”
All of the stories on Futurity are edited to stir the imagination, says Murphy. “We want the stories to engage readers, to raise questions, and to make readers want to learn more—and to come back for more.”
Since launching a beta version in March, Futurity has continued to add membership and readership.
Lisa Lapin, assistant vice president for communications at Stanford University, says Futurity is looking for new ways to extend the site’s reach. “We’re active on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. We’re also in partnership talks with major Internet news providers. Today’s online environment is perfectly suited for this type of direct communication. There’s something very authentic about universities working together to share knowledge.”
Lapin says the site is designed to encourage interaction. Stories include links to published reports and supplemental materials that allow readers to explore topics in more detail. The site is available in a mobile friendly version, and visitors can comment on stories and sign up for a daily e-mail update.
Emory, like all the current partner universities, is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a nonprofit organization of leading public and private research universities. Lapin says Futurity may revisit membership criteria down the road but needs to keep the numbers manageable while they fine-tune the approach.
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Futurity gives the public direct access to exciting research breakthroughs in a way that offers broad appeal, says Nancy Seideman, Emory’s executive director of media relations and associate vice president of communications.
“Futurity allows major research universities like Emory and its peers to build a bridge between the academic community and the public,” Seideman says. “It gives us a dynamic portal with clear writing and a lot of multimedia that communicates the cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research that is shaping our understanding of ourselves and our world.”
Futurity has featured a number of studies by Emory scientists in recent weeks, including a discovery by Emory paleontologist Anthony Martin of dinosaur burrows in Australia. His research was covered by numerous outlets including National Geographic.
Bill Murphy, one of Futurity’s cofounders and vice president for communications at the University of Rochester, says universities are affected by the challenges facing newspapers today. News holes are shrinking, he notes, and coverage of research-related stories has been hit particularly hard.
“In light of this shifting news landscape, universities are looking for ways to share important breakthroughs with the public. Futurity gives our partners an opportunity to communicate in a new and direct way—and to remind the public why research matters.”
Futurity cofounder Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke University, says the site serves another vital role. It allows the public to see how federal, state and private funding are being put to use by universities to address critical challenges.
“It’s not often you see high-powered universities working together in such a collaborative way,” says Schoenfeld. “That fact alone indicates the project’s significance. Universities are the world’s laboratories. They host the brightest minds working to answer some of today’s most urgent questions. The breadth and caliber—and the collective force—of the research featured on Futurity is truly extraordinary.”
All of the stories on Futurity are edited to stir the imagination, says Murphy. “We want the stories to engage readers, to raise questions, and to make readers want to learn more—and to come back for more.”
Since launching a beta version in March, Futurity has continued to add membership and readership.
Lisa Lapin, assistant vice president for communications at Stanford University, says Futurity is looking for new ways to extend the site’s reach. “We’re active on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. We’re also in partnership talks with major Internet news providers. Today’s online environment is perfectly suited for this type of direct communication. There’s something very authentic about universities working together to share knowledge.”
Lapin says the site is designed to encourage interaction. Stories include links to published reports and supplemental materials that allow readers to explore topics in more detail. The site is available in a mobile friendly version, and visitors can comment on stories and sign up for a daily e-mail update.
Emory, like all the current partner universities, is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a nonprofit organization of leading public and private research universities. Lapin says Futurity may revisit membership criteria down the road but needs to keep the numbers manageable while they fine-tune the approach.
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