Harvard Medical to power Orca's reference apps | mobihealthnews

Orca Health HeartDecideMedical reference app and iBook maker Orca Health announced a partnership with Harvard Medical School this week. Starting with Orca?s existing HeartDecide app, Harvard Medical will begin supplying the content for Orca?s interactive apps while Orca continues to focus on design and engineering.

Orca began as a hobby for CEO Matt Berry, whose father is a spine surgeon in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the company is built. Orca?s iOS apps are designed to help educate surgery patients about their bodies and their surgical options, to aid them in making medical decisions. They include 3D models, interactive animations, narrated videos, and a ?Find A Specialist? feature, in partnership with provider locator platform DocSpot. The company?s EyeDecide app was named medical app of the year by Apple for 2011.

?We?re no longer a text-based society,? said Berry. ?A surgeon shouldn?t give out pamphlets anymore, they ought to prescribe multisensory learning apps.?

The new HeartDecide app will have all new content, some of it from existing Harvard Medical materials and some created expressly for the app by Harvard Medical School physicians. In addition, it will have added features, updated graphics, and a faster download time. Orca?s health content was previously written by Orca?s team of board-certified physicians. Berry said they will stay involved as the company gradually replaces the content in each of the company?s 13 apps with content from Harvard.

Orca is also releasing a series of interactive iBooks on particular cardiovascular conditions like angina and atherosclerosis. These are aimed less for patient education and more as e-textbooks for K-20 education (kindergarten through medical school). They are also written by Harvard Medical doctors, modified from existing special reports.

Berry said Orca and Harvard Medical School were connected through a mutual friend at incubator Rock Health (although Orca didn?t go through that incubator). He said the team at Harvard Medical School shares his views about text becoming obsolete.

?Many things can be explained better with video, interactive animations and spoken voice?not just plain text,? Dr. Anthony Karmaroff, editor in chief of Harvard Medical publishing, said in a statement. ?Harvard Medical School believes its partnership with Orca Health will enable people to access, understand and retain high quality health information via state-of-the-art technology.?

In addition to plans for an Android launch in the near future, Berry said the company?s future direction is to create a more comprehensive, linear solution for patient education, moving from a single app, both for patients and for physicians to use as a teaching tool, to separate apps connected by ?an Orca cloud that meets in the middle.?

The company?s apps are currently available on iOS devices only, normally at $4.99. To celebrate the partnership with Harvard Medical School, the company is temporarily making all their apps free. The iBooks are $4.99 apiece.

Source: http://mobihealthnews.com/19877/harvard-medical-to-power-orcas-reference-apps/

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Full City Kitty: Washington DC Coffee Cat Needs A Loving Home ...

130114112206_coffeebean

This Full City kitty deserves a permanent home and family to snuggle with. Her name is Coffee Bean, and she?s the Washington Animal Rescue League?s pet of the week. If we had it our way, we?d give this coffee cat a 90+. More from WUSA9:

?Coffee Bean is a beautiful two-year-old tortie with a fun and entertaining personality.

Although she proudly demonstrates the typical ?tortitude? traits of being intelligent, strong-willed, independent and feisty, Coffee Bean is not your ordinary tortie.

This girl is one really smart cookie, who will high-five and purr for treats and has been developing her tail-chasing skills. And like most females, she enjoys being pampered by a good head and neck massage.?

If you wanna take this snuggle-pie home, contact WARL to arrange a meet-up with its foster family. Please send us photos after this happens, and thank you.

Source: http://sprudge.com/washington-dc-coffee-cat-needs-a-loving-home.html

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AP PHOTOS: A look back at Lance Armstrong's career

AAA??Jan. 15, 2013?2:31 AM ET
AP PHOTOS: A look back at Lance Armstrong's career
By The Associated Press?THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES?By The Associated Press

FILE - In this July 23, 2000, file photo, winner Lance Armstrong rides down the Champs Elysees after the final stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Paris. Armstrong also won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports in 2000. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)

FILE - In this July 23, 2000, file photo, winner Lance Armstrong rides down the Champs Elysees after the final stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Paris. Armstrong also won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports in 2000. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)

FILE - In this July 1, 1999, file photo, cyclists Jonathan Vaughters, left, and Lance Armstrong, both of the United States, joke around during medical checks for the Tour de France cycling race at Le Puy du Fou, western France. Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer in 1996. The tumors had spread to his abdomen, lungs, and lymph nodes. Vaughters later testified that he saw Armstrong inject himself in the stomach in 1998. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

FILE - In this July 15, 1999, file photo, the U.S. Postal Service team including, from left, Christian Vandevelde, Peter Meinert-Nielsen, of Denmark, Pascal Derame, of France, Kevin Livingstone, George Hincapie, Frankie Andreu, Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton, controls the pack during the 11th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Le Bourg D'Oisans and Saint-Etienne, central France. Armstrong won his first Tour de France title in 1999_but in 2012 Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)

FILE - In this July 25, 1999, file photo, winner Lance Armstrong holds up the trophy on the podium after the final stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Arpajon and Paris. Armstrong won his first Tour de France title in 1999_but in 2012 Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

FILE - In this April 9, 2001, file photo, Lance Armstrong, left, appears during a news conference regarding doping accusations in Paris, as his lawyer Georges Kiejman watches. After a decade of denial and being stripped of his titles, Armstrong has finally come clean_ During an interview with Oprah Winfrey taped Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, Armstrong said he used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France cycling race, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)

Lance Armstrong finally comes clean about using performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career. Here are some images chronicling his victories and the doping scandal that led to his downfall.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-15-Lance%20Armstrong-Photo%20Gallery/id-ff0b68a852014cb198534642d94111ac

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Drug overdose now the leading cause of death among homeless adults in Boston

Jan. 14, 2013 ? Drug overdose was the leading cause of death among homeless adults in Boston from 2003 to 2008 and accounted for one-third of deaths among those ages 25 to 44. A study by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) compared rates and causes of death among those served by BHCHP with data from a similar 1997 study and found that, while drug overdose had replaced HIV as the leading cause of death, overall mortality rates had not changed.

"Our findings are an unfortunate reminder of the high mortality rate of homeless people and a clarion call for the need to address the epidemic of drug overdose deaths in this vulnerable population," says Travis Baggett, MD, MPH, of the MGH Department of Medicine and BHCHP, who led the study. "Overall, young homeless people died at a nine times higher rate and middle-aged homeless people at a four-and-a-half times higher rate than comparably aged adults in Massachusetts." As a response to the study, BHCHP and the Boston Public Health Commission are leading a citywide effort to address the high number of overdose deaths from a medical and policy perspective.

The current study, which will appear in the Feb. 11 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine (formerly Archives of Internal Medicine) and is receiving early online release, updates the previous study that covered the years 1988 to 1993. That report found that HIV was the leading cause of death among BHCHP patients aged 25 to 44, while homicide was the principal cause among those 18 to 24. Heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of death in those 45 to 64. To update that data, the investigators analyzed available information for more than 28,000 adult patients who had received care from BHCHP from 2003 through 2008.

Drug overdoses accounted for almost 17 percent of all deaths among the homeless patients studied, and 81 percent of those overdoses involved opioid drugs. Cancer and heart disease -- again the primary causes of death among older homeless individuals -- each accounted for nearly 16 percent of deaths among the overall homeless population. Health issues associated with substance abuse -- such as alcoholism-associated heart disease, pneumonia and withdrawal -- accounted for 8 percent of deaths.

The significant drop in deaths from HIV infection was offset by the increase in deaths from overdoses and other substance-abuse-related issues, resulting in no change in the overall mortality rates from the earlier study. Overall mortality was higher in white individuals than in black or Hispanic homeless people, which -- the authors write -- may be due to a disproportionate burden of substance abuse and mental illness among white homeless individuals as compared to homeless minorities.

"Our results highlight the dire need to expand addiction and mental health services and to better integrate them into primary care systems serving homeless people," says Baggett, who is also an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "They also suggest that, while health care services like BHCHP can help improve the health of homeless people, they probably are not enough. Making a major impact on mortality for these patients will also require addressing the social factors that contribute to homelessness in the first place."

Nancy Rigotti, MD, of the MGH Department of Medicine is senior author of the JAMA Internal Medicine report. Additional co-authors are James O'Connell, MD, president of BHCHP and an MGH physician; Bianca Porneala, MS, and Daniel Singer, MD, MGH Medicine; Erin Stringfellow, MSW, BHCHP; Stephen Hwang, MD, University of Toronto; and John Orav, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Funding for the study includes National Institute on Drug Abuse grant K23DA034008 and American Cancer Society grant 122269-IRG-12-070-01-IRG.

Founded in 1985, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has evolved into the largest and most comprehensive health care for the homeless program in the country, delivering services to more than 11,000 homeless men, women and children a year in two major teaching hospitals and more than 80 shelters and other sites.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Cn3_STQQ3bk/130114161459.htm

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Honda offers glimpse of new small SUV

5 hrs.

What, you were expecting an Element redux?

Two years after ending production of the intentionally ugly-duckling boxy Element, Honda showed the Urban SUV Concept, a thinly disguised look at a new small crossover that will slot in below the CR-V in the Honda lineup at the Detroit auto show. Key competitors will be the quirky Nissan Juke and the Fiat 500L, a supersize version of the diminutive Fiat 500.

While the trucklet?s profile is similar to many other small crossovers ? including big brother CR-V ? a unique, upswept character line that suggest speed.?The as-yet unnamed production version will be built on Honda?s Global Compact Series platform, the same as the Honda Fit. Honda will also build the vehicle on the same Mexico assembly line as the Fit.

As the industry moves toward smaller vehicles with better fuel economy, small crossovers in the Urban?s class will probably proliferate. And Honda is counting on selling a lot of them. It expects the Urban to help it double worldwide production of vehicles on the Global Compact Series platform to more than 1.5 million units.?

No one has had greater success with small cars than Honda, and this Urban SUV Concept will create new value in the growing small-SUV segment,? said John Mendel, executive vice president of sales at American Honda. ?With the continued expansion of our North American manufacturing operations, we expect fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive ?small? cars to play a key role in meeting the needs of our customers in the U.S.?

The North American International Auto Show is expected to be dominated by subcompact and compact SUVs and crossovers. Click here to read about some of the other little utes that are expected to break cover at this year?s show.

The concept measures 169.3 inches long, nine inches shorter than the CR-V, which Honda says makes it ideal for ?navigating both crowded city streets and open mountain roads.?

Honda said the Urban will use its Earth Dreams Technology for increased fuel efficiency. Inside, it will feature a layout that is similar to the Fit, including its trick MagicSeat, which can be configured for a variety of passenger and cargo options. Honda did not show the vehicle?s interior, but said it will be modern and feature the latest telematics technology.

The Urban will be manufactured along with the Fit at Honda?s newest North American plant near Celaya, Mexico, expected to open in the spring of 2014. While the new SUV is targeted at the U.S. market, Honda will sell it in many other markets around the world.

More from The Detroit Bureau

Copyright ? 2009-2012, The Detroit Bureau

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/honda-offers-glimpse-new-small-suv-1B7972323

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Outlook for construction industry improves in 2013 - Virginia Business

January 14, 2013 4:46 PM
• McDonnell task force begins school safety review
• Outlook for construction industry improves in 2013
• NRI Management in Richmond and Apollo Global Management join forces
• $120 million Fort Lee lodge opens in Petersburg area
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More construction firms are planning to add staff than cut staff this year, and demand for some private sector construction projects should increase, according to survey results released Monday by the Associated General Contractors of America and Computer Guidance Corp.

The survey provides a generally optimistic outlook for the year even as firms worry about rising costs and declining public sector demand for construction.
?While the outlook for the construction industry appears to be heading in the right direction for 2013, many firms are still grappling with significant economic headwinds,? Stephen E. Sandherr, the association?s CEO, said in a statement. ?With luck and a lot of work, the hard-hit construction industry should be larger, healthier, more technologically savvy and more profitable by the end of 2013 than it is today.?

Sandherr noted that significantly more firms are planning to add staff this year, 31 percent of those surveyed; compared to the number of firms expecting to make layoffs, 9 percent.

In Virginia, 33 percent of surveyed companies said they play to add staff, while another 33 percent said ?don?t know.?? If they do add staff, the companies said it would be five or fewer employees.

Compared to 2012, contractors here expect the available dollar volume of projects to be higher in 2013 in the power and hospital and higher education industries and in K-12 school construction.
This response tracks with the survey?s national results. According to Sandherr, firms are most optimistic about the outlook for hospital and higher education construction. He noted that 36 percent of firms predict the amount of money spent on those projects will grow in 2013 while 39 percent of firms expect the market will remain stable compared to last year. Contractors also were optimistic about the markets for power construction, but had lower expectations for manufacturing, private office and retail, warehouse and lodging construction.

Meanwhile, contractors expect demand for many types of public construction to decline in 2013.
A significant ? but smaller than last year ? number of contractors also report that customers? projects have been delayed or cancelled because of tight credit conditions. Forty percent of responding firms report that tighter lending conditions have forced their customers to delay or cancel construction projects. Only 3 percent of firms reported having an easier time getting credit while 41 percent report no change in credit conditions.

?Unfortunately, there are almost as many causes for concern as there are signs of optimism,? said Ken Simonson, the association?s chief economist. ?Demand for public buildings is set to decline, manufacturing work appears to be slackening, materials prices and health care costs continue to rise and many firms are reluctant to make major investments in new equipment.?

The outlook, co-sponsored by the Arlington-based trade association, was based on survey results from more than 1,300 construction firms from 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

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Source: http://www.virginiabusiness.com/index.php/news/article/outlook-for-construction-industry-improves-in-2013/322374/

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Tesla Model X SUV hands-on (video)

Tesla Model X SUV handson video

We've seen the Model X in the flesh before, at its showy unveiling last February at which Tesla CEO Elon Musk turned up to show off the "Falcon Wing" rear doors and the rather... compact seating arrangement that makes room for three full rows of short-legged human beings. Here in Detroit at NAIAS the 2014 model year car is making another appearance, doors open and interior fully-functional. We couldn't resist hopping in there to check out the 17-inch multi-function touch panel. Largely the same as that in the Model S, the panel lets you manage climate control, navigation and, yes, do a little web surfing too. It's all demonstrated in the video after the break.

Continue reading Tesla Model X SUV hands-on (video)

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/14/tesla-model-x-suv-hands-on/

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