Our model also correctly predicts higher infection rates among disadvantaged racial and socioeconomic groups2–8 solely from differences in mobility: we find that disadvantaged groups have not been able to reduce mobility as sharply, and that the POIs they visit are more crowded and therefore higher-risk.
— Read on www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2923-3
Neural network detects asymptomatic Covid-19 infections through cellphone-recorded cough
they found it was able to pick up patterns in the four biomarkers — vocal cord strength, sentiment, lung and respiratory performance, and muscular degradation — that are specific to Covid-19. The model identified 98.5 percent of coughs from people confirmed with Covid-19, and of those, it accurately detected all of the asymptomatic coughs.
“We think this shows that the way you produce sound, changes when you have Covid, even if you’re asymptomatic,” Subirana says.
— Read on news.mit.edu/2020/covid-19-cough-cellphone-detection-1029
Substack 1940s edition
Cockburn was among a crop of journalists during the mid-20th century who turned their back on traditional media and used the mimeograph to go directly to their readers. If that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve lately seen the rise of staff-journalists-turned-newsletter-writers, such as Emily Atkin (formerly of The New Republic, now Heated), Judd Legum (formerly of ThinkProgress, now Popular Information), and, most recently, Casey Newton (formerly of the Verge, now Platformer). These writers have leveraged paid subscriptions on personal platforms to report and write full-time for a private audience. Many publications are hailing our arrival at this moment of Peak Newsletter. But they’re forgetting Cockburn and his colleagues.
— Read on www.wired.com/story/peak-newsletter-that-was-80-years-ago/
The inside story of how Trump’s COVID-19 coordinator undermined the world’s top health agency
Birx seemed fixated on applying the lessons of HIV/AIDS in a small African nation to COVID-19 in the United States, says a CDC official who was present. “Birx was able to get data from every hospital on every case” in Malawi, the official says. “She couldn’t understand why that wasn’t happening in the United States” with COVID-19. Birx didn’t seem to see the difference between a slow-moving HIV outbreak and a raging respiratory pandemic. “[CDC Principal Deputy Director] Anne Schuchat had to say, ‘Debbi, this is not HIV.’ Birx got unhappy with that.”
— Read on www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/inside-story-how-trumps-covid-19-coordinator-undermined-cdc
Implementing the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) in clinical settings for patients with chronic conditions: a scoping review
Paper written with Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity colleagues:
The value of the PAM is about facilitating patient behaviour change and improving health outcomes. Success in achieving these aims also requires a shift in the culture, attitudes and perceptions of clinicians towards person-centred care and concepts such as patient activation and self-management.
Using measures of patient activation to tailor care for patients with chronic conditions
Colleagues at the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity and I undertook a scoping review of the use of the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) to tailor case for patients with chronic conditions. The PAM is a widely used scale that appraises whether people are ready and able to manage their own health and engage in self care.
The key points from the review are:
- PAM has been widely used to tailor care within a variety of patient interventions.
- Enablers for the use of the PAM to tailor care include leadership and support for focusing on activation, the extent to which PAM was seen as an extension of existing patient care, and the extent to which the activation, and self care in general, was seen as extraneous or not relevant.
- Further research on use of the PAM to tailor and differentiate care based on activation is needed.
The paper is open access, so you should be able to read and download it – take a look at the article in full.
Rethinking the way we do the PhD
Experts have argued that we tend to use our memories of the past to imagine the future, which is why so much future gazing is essentially a form of nostalgia.
Source: Where I call bullshit on the way we do the PhD – The Thesis Whisperer
Some good points from Inger about the need to reimagine the purpose and process of PhDs, and that we should stop preparing HDR students for a world that no longer exists.
Cochrane special collection on remote care through telehealth
The aim of this collection is to ensure immediate access to systematic reviews most directly relevant to remote health care through telehealth. The measures adopted internationally to curb the spread of COVID-19 have led to significant changes in how health care is accessed and provided. As face-to-face consultations between healthcare workers and patients pose a potential risk to both parties, remote care and telehealth offer alternatives.
Special Collection – Coronavirus (COVID-19): remote care through telehealth
Useful for people looking at telehealh interventions, or scaling up telehealth activity for specific conditions.
Why building housing infrastructure after the pandemic can benefit Australia – AHURI brief
Well before the impacts of the 2020 pandemic, large numbers of lower income Australian households were struggling to find affordable housing and there were long wait lists for social housing. AHURI research estimated that in 2016, there was a shortfall of around 431,000 social housing dwellings, and that this deficit would grow to 727,300 dwellings by 2036. The research concluded that 36,000 new social housing dwellings per year were required to meet this need.
With high unemployment and increased incidence of homelessness a likely outcome of the economic downturn, new social housing will be essential to ensure housing outcomes do not worsen. Industry and community organisations and peak bodies are calling for a social housing building program as part of the economic stimulus response. For example, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), in a recent report, proposes building 30,000 social housing dwellings as a way to reduce homelessness and to boost employment.
Source: AHURI – Why building housing infrastructure after the pandemic can benefit Australia
Mental health and COVID-19: Change the conversation
The mental health effects of COVID-19 on the general population might be profound and long-lasting, and deserve serious attention; but they cannot be the exclusive focus of conversation. Those who wish to build fairer societies and health systems after the pandemic ends must learn about and prioritise the needs of people living with severe mental illness as a matter of urgency.