Health Care Technology: Facebook Unveils Tool For “Preventative Health”

October 28, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a The Verge online article:

The tool is simply called Preventive Health, and is now available to Facebook users in the United States. It takes a user’s age and sex from their Facebook profile and provides them with a list of recommended screenings based on those two data points.

“Let’s say you’re 52 years old,” Freddy Abnousi, Facebook’s head of health care research, tells The Verge. “One of the things that will come to you — based on the American Cancer Society’s recommendations — is that you should have a colorectal cancer screening.” Abnousi says that the app will then give you more information about what kinds of tests are available, from a colonoscopy to a stool test or a CT scan. Abnousi hopes that users will then take what they’ve learned and talk to their primary care physician about what would be best for them. Users can also adjust the age and sex in the tool to get different screening recommendations without having it affect anything on their profile.

Arts & Literature, Reviews

Museum Exhibitions: “The Renaissance Of Etching” At The Metropolitan Museum Thru Jan. 20, 2020

October 28, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a MetMuseum.org online release:

This exhibition traces the first sixty years of the etched print (circa 1490 to circa 1560), from its emergence in the workshop of the German printmaker and armor decorator Daniel Hopfer to the years when a range of artists from Germany, Flanders, Italy, and France began experimenting with etching. Approximately 125 etchings, produced by both renowned and lesser-known artists, are displayed alongside a number of drawings, printing plates, illustrated books, and armor.

The history of printmaking has been punctuated by moments of great invention that have completely changed the course of the medium. The beginning of etching in Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries—when the technique moved out of the workshop of armor decorators and into those of printmakers and painters—represents one of those pivotal moments. Etching, essentially drawing on the surface of a metal plate, had an ease that opened the door for all kinds of artists to make prints. The pioneers of the medium included some of the greatest painters of the Renaissance, such as Albrecht Dürer, Parmigianino, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Health, News, Technology

Dementia Care: “MapHabit” Wins Top Technology Award From National Institute On Aging

October 28, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a National Institute on Aging online release:

First place prize awarded to MapHabit: This mobile software provides behavior prompts with customizable picture and keyword visual maps to assist memory-impaired people with accomplishing activities of daily living. The care management platform employs different interfaces depending on whether the user is a person with impaired memory, caregiver or long-term care community manager. Caregivers can monitor adherence to medication schedules or track other activities.

MapHabit, Inc., is the first place winner of the Improving Care for People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Using Technology (iCare-AD/ADRD) Challenge, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The Atlanta-based MapHabit team, led by Stuart Zola, Ph.D., will receive the $250,000 first prize for their mobile device application that helps people with dementia follow simple commands to perform daily tasks, such as taking pills and brushing teeth, and also provides feedback to caregivers. NIA is part of the National Institutes of Health.