Health Tracking Goes High-Tech
New "apps" and websites are making it easier than ever to help you and your health professional keep track of everything from chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, to prescriptions and your pregnancy.
CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton and contributor and CNET Senior Editor Natali Del Conte appeared on "The Early Show" with some of the latest and greatest in tech health tools.
Special Section: Dr. Jennifer Ashton
Are these advances in technology actually helpful?
Ashton said, "I think overall the answer is 'yes.' They are advantageous to the layperson, to the average patient, because what they do is they really help compile information, medical data, and track it."
She said for people with a long-term or chronic illness, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, the type of information collected by these tech tools is key.
Ashton observed, "(When these people go to the doctor), the doctor will want to know, 'What has happened since your last visit?' And if that last visit was three months ago or six months ago, or longer, it's very hard to know, well what was my blood pressure over that period of time. So these things - the sum total of them are very advantageous."
"Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez remarked that these tools are designed to complement, but not replace real medical care.
Ashton agreed, saying, "They're not meant to diagnose. ... They're never meant to substitute for the clinical judgment of a practicing health care professional and that interaction with the individual patient. They're not meant to use judgment, they're meant to track data."
Del Conte shared these tech tools for tracking your health:
AsthmaMD is a free application that not only helps you track your asthma, but you will also be helping doctors and researchers learn more about asthma, and other asthma sufferers about high asthma locations. And to protect privacy, you have an option to participate anonymously and securely should you so choose.
Del Conte said, "I like Asthma M.D. I am an asthma sufferer. And a lot of times the doctor says how many attacks have you had? I say maybe one or two in the last week or so. This one lets me track my symptoms, the medication I'm taking and what is actually triggering it so when you go to the doctor you have a clear picture of what's happening."
Islet is a mobile diabetes management application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that costs $2.99. Islet allows quick and easy recording of blood glucose readings, carbohydrate intake, insulin injections, and exercise
VaxTrack is a free application that was created by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. VaxTrak comes equipped with the Center for Disease Control schedule of recommended vaccinations. Simply enter each family member's information, including any vaccinations they've received to date, and it will keep track and let you know when vaccinations are due, and even nearby locations where you can receive them.
Ashton added that apps may also come in handy for other health conditions, such as high blood pressure, pregnancy, and gestational diabetes.
Ashton explained, "Anything where numbers are at stake and you're following that over a long period of time, these programs can be fantastic."
As for pregnancy, Del Conte shared that she's pregnant and is currently tracking her appointments, sonograms and other health information using WebMD. She said she's also using Baby Center.com to track her baby's growth and progress.
Del Conte explained, "You put in your due date and every week it tells you what's happening. I'm in week 25. I know it's the size of about two juice boxes."
However, Ashton reaffirmed that these sites and apps, while great, should not replace a real doctor.
She said, "When you are using it to track numbers or to prompt you with questions to then ask your doctor, overall, I think it's really good."
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton and contributor and CNET Senior Editor Natali Del Conte appeared on "The Early Show" with some of the latest and greatest in tech health tools.
Special Section: Dr. Jennifer Ashton
Are these advances in technology actually helpful?
Ashton said, "I think overall the answer is 'yes.' They are advantageous to the layperson, to the average patient, because what they do is they really help compile information, medical data, and track it."
She said for people with a long-term or chronic illness, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, the type of information collected by these tech tools is key.
Ashton observed, "(When these people go to the doctor), the doctor will want to know, 'What has happened since your last visit?' And if that last visit was three months ago or six months ago, or longer, it's very hard to know, well what was my blood pressure over that period of time. So these things - the sum total of them are very advantageous."
"Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez remarked that these tools are designed to complement, but not replace real medical care.
Ashton agreed, saying, "They're not meant to diagnose. ... They're never meant to substitute for the clinical judgment of a practicing health care professional and that interaction with the individual patient. They're not meant to use judgment, they're meant to track data."
Del Conte shared these tech tools for tracking your health:
AsthmaMD is a free application that not only helps you track your asthma, but you will also be helping doctors and researchers learn more about asthma, and other asthma sufferers about high asthma locations. And to protect privacy, you have an option to participate anonymously and securely should you so choose.
Del Conte said, "I like Asthma M.D. I am an asthma sufferer. And a lot of times the doctor says how many attacks have you had? I say maybe one or two in the last week or so. This one lets me track my symptoms, the medication I'm taking and what is actually triggering it so when you go to the doctor you have a clear picture of what's happening."
Islet is a mobile diabetes management application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that costs $2.99. Islet allows quick and easy recording of blood glucose readings, carbohydrate intake, insulin injections, and exercise
VaxTrack is a free application that was created by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. VaxTrak comes equipped with the Center for Disease Control schedule of recommended vaccinations. Simply enter each family member's information, including any vaccinations they've received to date, and it will keep track and let you know when vaccinations are due, and even nearby locations where you can receive them.
Ashton added that apps may also come in handy for other health conditions, such as high blood pressure, pregnancy, and gestational diabetes.
Ashton explained, "Anything where numbers are at stake and you're following that over a long period of time, these programs can be fantastic."
As for pregnancy, Del Conte shared that she's pregnant and is currently tracking her appointments, sonograms and other health information using WebMD. She said she's also using Baby Center.com to track her baby's growth and progress.
Del Conte explained, "You put in your due date and every week it tells you what's happening. I'm in week 25. I know it's the size of about two juice boxes."
However, Ashton reaffirmed that these sites and apps, while great, should not replace a real doctor.
She said, "When you are using it to track numbers or to prompt you with questions to then ask your doctor, overall, I think it's really good."
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How Google discriminates against women in search engines. ?The Landrith Google Study? finds:
Google searches is a one man game; and google discrimates against women in search engines based on algorithms. In mathematics, computer science, and related subjects, an algorithm is an effective method for solving a problem using a finite sequence of instructions. Google truncates the number of characters for first names in google searches, it is less space consuming. For example, if you were to google any last surname you are more likely to get the name Mike rather than Michelle. Google algorithms work very similar to slot machines regarding statistics. You are more likely to win on a slot machine if you are a woman, 30 % of the time you will win. However, when you google a surname a masculine first name is most likely to win over 80 percent of the time. The point now is how these machines work. PARS (Program and Reel Strips) sheets, which are blueprints of the machines determine winners on slots. Contrary to popular myth, the outcome of each round at the slot machine is determined by random numbers, and each play is completely independent. Just because you win this time does not symbolify you will lose the next time purposely by machine. Information of the reel stripping and probabilities of each win are sometimes printed on small cards and posted on the machines. The following information is from a ?Red, White and Blue? machine. The following is the pay table. For new gamblers, 3 bar is in blue, 2 bar is in white and 1 bar is in red. After the gambler slots in their bets, the spin button is pressed by him/her and the slot machine selects three random numbers, one for each reel. These are chosen from a random number generator that generates random numbers at a rate of thousands per second. The numbers are selected the moment the spin button is pressed. When the bet has been placed but the button has not been pressed, the generators are already generating thousands of the numbers. Once the button is pressed, the numbers are reached.
You can conduct your on scientific study on the discrimination of woman in search engines by googling surnames from a phone book. Go through the first 10 pages of google per surname and calculate the ratio of men to women. The results will show a mathmatical factor of discrimination.
?The Landrith Google Study? was conducted by Tina Landrith-Mills on over 1000 surnames and the findings are that Google clearly discriminates against women in google searches. Whether you want to call it search engine optimization or discrimination ? someone is behind the numbers hard coding.