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Professor claims cure for CWD, but others aren’t sure
John McAdams Recreation & LeisureThe United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania (USP) turned a lot of heads in the hunting community during a press conference at the state capitol in Harrisburg in February when they announced that a cure to Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) may be close at hand. The group declared that Dr. Frank Bastian of the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center has made a breakthrough in his research of the disease. USP is partnering with Bastian to help support his continued research. However, many people are understandably skeptical of Dr. Bastian's conclusions.
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Schools need to do more to combat K-12 cybercrime in 2019
Bambi Majumdar EducationSurveys conducted in 2018 showed that, out of 17 vulnerable industries, education institutions had the weakest cybersecurity protections. Many K-12 schools now face serious scrutiny because of their failure to offer a robust security plan. This may prevent their students' data from being safe. The McAfee Labs 2019 Threat Predictions Report shows that the cyber underworld is evolving and consolidating, and we can expect growing cybercrime networks in 2019. The report helps highlight three top security concerns for schools in 2019.
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A blood test to measure pain
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareWhether acute or chronic, most of us have dealt with pain. In 2016, 20 percent of adults in the United States had chronic pain, and 8 percent had pain that limited at least one major life activity. The state of the art of pain measurement right now is a pain scale that was invented decades ago. However, a new University of Pittsburgh study shows that physicians may soon be able to quantify pain with a simple blood test. Researchers have developed a test that objectively measures pain biomarkers in the blood.
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Drug combo may make organ, tissue matching unnecessary
Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied HealthcareTissue-matching means organ recipients have a better chance of a successful transplant, but patients will still need to take anti-rejection medications, possibly for the remainder of their lives. While effective, these drugs can cause the body's immune system to be vulnerable to infection, and they often have unpleasant side effects. However, a new study offers evidence that an antibody-drug conjugate may serve the same purpose as traditional anti-rejection drugs. Led by a Stanford University physician, the research team found that the conjugate eliminates blood-producing stem cells in mice. To this point, only anti-rejection drugs have kept the production of stem cells at bay.
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Universal vaccine for the flu may be just around the corner
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareInfluenza vaccines save lives over the years and prevent millions of additional people from getting sick from the flu. The CDC reported on Feb. 15 that the overall estimated effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine was 47 percent, which means the vaccine cuts the risk of the flu by nearly half. One of the main problems with low effectiveness is that current vaccines do not cover all influenza strains, and strains mutate quickly, so people must undergo vaccinations each year to cover strains not included in previous vaccines. The results of a new study published in the journal Nature Immunology may change all that — researchers have identified an immune cell that can protect the body from all types of influenza.
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What do elder care, robots and Japan have in common?
Catherine Iste Medical & Allied HealthcareWhile there is no shortage of attempts to stop or reverse it, we are all still aging. This year, for the first time in our history, there will be more of us over 65 than under 5 years old. This demographic shift, combined with our increasing longevity, will continue to exacerbate the disparities between the elderly population and those available to care for them. Japan is at the forefront of this new world; providing lessons for us all to consider.
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Hospitality brands are set to leverage voice technology
Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementA report from last year stated that close to 70 percent of people now use voice search to help research and plan their trips. That number will only rise, and we can expect the trend to grow in 2019 and beyond. For hotels and related businesses, this presents an immense opportunity as voice can open up a whole new era of marketing. Savvy brands have already started investing in voice technology, and we can expect to see innovative customer experiences coming our way soon.
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New opportunities for telehealth, mHealth reimbursement that providers…
Christina Thielst Healthcare AdministrationThere has been pressure on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to address telehealth and mHealth reimbursement for years. The fruits of that labor by policymakers, healthcare providers, telehealth networks and information technology professionals are continuing to materialize with new reimbursement for remote patient monitoring and virtual visits. In a recent article, Eric Wicklund, a longtime reimbursement proponent and editor at mHealthIntelligence, presents survey data that finds providers aren’t paying attention. This includes that out of "280 health systems, two-thirds of those surveyed don’t know about CMS’ expanded telemedicine reimbursement opportunities."
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Stop abbreviating — and 7 other content no-no’s
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityEffective communication relies on the content more than the channels. But many churches want to talk about their social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) or the CMS system for their website (Wordpress, Joomla, Clover, etc.) rather than what their content should be. Let’s concentrate on the important things! Often, if the content is correct, an audience will endure a subpar channel to discover it. Sure, once you have the content honed for an audience, you should eliminate channel barriers and choose delivery tools that enhance the experience of receiving it. But only after the content is right. To get started on great content, here are eight things to STOP doing; and what you should START.
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5 tips to create blog posts that get shared on social
Emma Fitzpatrick MarketingIf you're already spending the time creating good content on your blog, you want to do everything you can to get more eyes on it. One of the best ways to do that is by creating blog posts that answer the questions you hear most from your customers and leads. Of course, you’ll want to sprinkle a bit of long-tail keyword research in there for good measure! It can be as simple as typing in the phrase you think you want to write about into an incognito browser and seeing what other search terms arise. From there, a few tweaks to how you format your content, write your title or determine your word count could be just what you need to increase the social shares for your blog posts.
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