Health Links
Links continued
Pacific Institute for Women's Health - A nonprofit dedicated to improving women's health and well-being locally and globally through applied research, advocacy, community involvement, consultation and training. Areas of concentration are: reproductive and sexual health, women's rights and empowerment, adolescent health and well being and health promotion, prevention and access to care.
Patient Advocacy Groups Home Page - A project of Johns Hopkins' Sidney Kimmel Center containing listings of more than 100 national disease-related organizations, organized by the disease.
Prevent Cancer - The coalition consists of independent experts in cancer prevention and public health, together with citizen activists and organized labor, public interest, environmental and women's health groups. The goal is to reduce cancer rates through a strategy of outreach, public education, advocacy and public policy initiatives, establishing prevention as the nation's foremost cancer policy. Dr. Samuel Epstein's has written a book, The Politics of Cancer Revisited, which takes up from his earlier book (1978) left off: The Politics of Cancer.
Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins - Numerous programs and departments at the university dealing with child and adolescent psychiatry, neuropsychiatry and memory, alcohol and chemical dependence services, depression and related affective disorders, psychiatric neuro-imaging, the genetics of schizophrenia and affective disorders.
Public Citizen: This site is one of the strongest consumer advocacy groups in the US with a enviable record for alerting the public to issues of concern.
PubMedCentral - The NIH is providing a service that includes such journals as Arthritis Research, BMC Journals, BMJ, Breast Cancer Research, Critical Care, Genome Biology, Molecular Biology of the Cell, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. They include full text, peer reviewed research papers in the life sciences.
PDRHeath - Information based on the Physicians Desk Reference guide informing about drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter.
Scientific American's Recreations
Siecus' Current Books on Sexuality - Even though the web is terribly convenient, searching for books on sexuality can be fraught with a list of sex sites brought up by search engines you'd rather avoid. The Sexuality Information Education Council of the U.S. is long respected for its prominence in this field. The list of books includes menopause, sex over sixty, male sexuality, women's sexual health, a guide to love, sex, and relationships for the disabled, the good marriage (see Mary McHugh's survey drawn from Senior Women Web viewers, research and manuals.
Stanford University Library's HighWire Press - This site began modestly enough with the online production of the weekly Journal of Biological Chemistry, a highly cited (and second largest) peer-reviewed journal. HighWire now produces 253 sites online, with many more planned. Though most of these journals are directed to the practicing professional (including its newest site for evidence-based nursing), they're of obvious value to the information-seeking consumer. There are financial, political and the pioneering science/medical sites. There are easy links to journals with free full-text articles, most recent issues online and sites for outside USA/Canada.
State Health Facts Online - Another service by the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation related to health-care information. By choosing a topic from the eleven categories of data comparisons can be made between the states. Notably, one of the categories is women's health. Information is displayed as tables, rankings, graphs, or color-coded maps on on demographics, health, and health policy, including health coverage, access, financing, and state legislation. It's possible to click on a state or state label to obtain information about the state and find out how it compares to the US overall.
Syndromes of Abnormal Sex Differentiation - The highly-regarded Johns Hopkins Institute's Children's Center has made this subject into a booklet.
Suicide Research Consortium - We quote from the site: "The NIMH Suicide Research Consortium is comprised primarily of NIMH scientists across the Institute who also administer research grants. The Consortium coordinates program development in suicide research across the Institute, identifies gaps in the scientific knowledge base on suicide across the life span, stimulates and monitors extramural research on suicide, keeps abreast of scientific developments in suicidology and public policy issues related to suicide surveillance, prevention and treatment, and disseminates science-based information on suicidology to the public, media, and policy makers. " There's a link to the site, National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, issues to consider in intervention research with persons at high risk for suicidality, and a review of suicide assessment measures for intervention research with adults and older adults which is 57 pages in length.
Guidelines for Identification, Assessment, and Treatment Planning for Suicidality - Developed by the Suicide Risk Advisory Committee of the Risk Management Foundation of Harvard Medical Institutions and therefore aimed towards the professional medical community.
Preparing for Surgery: Be Informed: Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before You Have Surgery:12 basic questions as well as addresses for free pamphlets on anesthesia and second opinions.
Johns Hokpins Center for Tuberculosis Research - This site is intended more for the physician and other professional health care worker and their disclaimer is serious in tone: "Consumers should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they have read on this web site." There is an area for asking questions, epidemiology and history of TB, occurrence in the U.S. and globally, characteristics, interactions and drugs.
The Children's Virtual Pediatric Hospital has pediatric-related sources as well as a section dealing with children's feelings about hospital stays, etc. There are sites for those near Australia and Taiwan, too.
WebMD: - This site contains medical news, a searchable medical library, tips, message boards, an opportunity to ask questions of experts in medical fields and links to other sites. One of the current featured topics is communicating with your physician. There is also a legal and insurance site relating to such concerns as, "when your claim is denied."
West Nile Virus Maps - A new resource on the Atlas' Geological Survey and a concern in the Northeast. The virus can cause encephalitis - an inflammation of the brain. WNV interferes with normal central nervous system functioning. It is closely related to St. Louis encephalitis virus found in the United States. The series of maps highlights the U.S. distribution of WNV cases found in humans, wild birds, chickens and mosquitoes. The CDC provides a Q&A about the disease. Check with your individual states' health alerts regarding spraying for the disease.
Wing of Madness: A Depression Guide - A well organized and inclusive guide to clinical depression by a lay person (our oldest daughter) not meant to replace a visit to a professional. Some special areas of concentration are children, teenagers and women with depression. A discussion and chat forum is available.
Women With Disabilities - A branch of the National Women's Health Information Center providing for disabled women and those who care for them. The site provides sources for information about abuse, parenting, and sexuality and critical health issues for a variety of disabilities, including physical, neurological, hearing, speech, and visual impairment. It will also provide information on psychiatric, learning, and developmental disabilities, federal laws and regulations that protect disabled citizens, services and support resources. News about medical research, statistical information on disabled women and information for healthcare professionals on improving healthcare access for women with physical limitations will be available.
Yale University Online Heart Book - Twenty nine chapters of the heart book including those covering Women and Heart Disease and Heart Disease and the Elderly, Adopting a Healthful Diet (written by two women doctors), including menus, substitutions.
YourCancerRisk - You may not want to know the answer to these questions and then again.... This site gauges risk and lays out preventive measures for ovarian and other types of cancers common to populations in the US and other western countries. Each question is related to a number that represents the strength of the association between the risk factor and the disease. The numbers are multiplied to equal your personal risk based on the risk factors that apply to you. and then compared to the average risk for a person your age and sex. Although the factors are general, it does give you a relative value for your risk.
Your Surgery.com - When told you need surgery, a description of the procedure is usually accompanied by stress on your part and whatever the surgeon or specialist says is difficult to retain. At this site, it's possible to view diagrams, animation and models to get a coherent idea of the procedure. Designed to be an additional and complementary source of information to a doctor’s care, text and images are clear and concise. Areas covered include diagnosis, pathology, anatomy, procedure, complications and recovery. Surgeons in their particular fields were the source of the information and aided in choosing the images.
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