Can you describe coefficient of variance in 140 characters?

"Can you describe coefficient of variance in 140 characters?", asked a medical librarian on Twitter:

laikas RT @shamsha: need help: can someone plz describe coefficient of variance in English? thnx! 34 minutes ago from TweetDeck

Some people obviously can:

@HCIR_GeneG: It's a measure of variability of a data sample, without paying attention to absolute values. Can be used to compare diff. distributions.

@flutesUD: CV = Std Dev / Mean. Tells u how variable the data are regardless of their units. Lets u compare across different types of studies.

My suggestion:

DrVes@laikas @shamsha Check the Wikipedia definition, click on the links in the description and you'll get there... :) http://bit.ly/18NnEH29 minutes ago from web in reply to laikas

In probability theory and statistics, the coefficient of variation (CV) is a normalized measure of dispersion of a probability distribution. It is defined as the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean .

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Health News of the Day

Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day:

Most babies born since 2000 in France, Germany, Italy, UK, USA, Canada, Japan, will celebrate their 100th birthdays http://bit.ly/3kJh4V -- More than half of babies born in rich nations today will live to be 100 years old if life expectancy trends continue http://bit.ly/NMn3f

Tiotropium reduces FEV1 decline in GOLD stage II COPD, treatment of COPD should begin at an early stage of disease http://bit.ly/AwwRi

For seniors: A daily dose of vitamin D cuts your risk of falling substantially http://bit.ly/7VMzb

New diabetes drug dapagliflozin achieved HA1c target in study - SGLT2 inhibitor blocks reabsorption of glucose http://bit.ly/9t3p1

Costimulatory Pathway PD-1/PD-L1 plays an important role in MS, could be target for future therapies http://bit.ly/dyO9D

Both Avastin and Lucentis treat macular degeneration but Lucentis costs $2,000 per injection while Avastin is $30-50 http://bit.ly/LZtTZ

Medical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

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Google Wave: Early Prototype Not So Useful

Google Wave is "a personal communication and collaboration tool" - a web-based service and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wiki, and social networking.

I got my Google Wave account yesterday (09/30/2009) - it looks like another Knol (a Google Wikipedia clone that few people use) - very much beta - it could be more useful after they activate more features.

If you have a Google Wave account and you send an invitation, they cannot be used immediately - it takes time for the other account to be "activated." Google Wave invites are only nominations and don't necessarily mean you'll be let in immediately http://bit.ly/7IN40

I would set my Google Wave expectations low if I were you - this is probably the best way to be pleasantly surprised when you get your account.



Image source: Wikipedia, Google.

Related:
Google Wave's Best Use Cases. Lifehacker.
How to Manage a Group Project in Google Wave. Lifehacker.

Updated: 11/18/2009

Health News of the Day

Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day:

Novo Nordisk's insulin Levemir was not associated with any increase in cancer in studies including 9,000 patients http://bit.ly/1pJY8U

JAMA: Plain surgical mask prevents influenza as well as N95 respirator http://bit.ly/cSr2y - Doubtful.

"Safety Gurus: Penalize Doctors Who Don’t Follow the Rules" - WSJ http://bit.ly/2ttXpP

Antismoking drug Chantix has been linked to suicide but a new study shows that such risk is nonexistent or small http://bit.ly/Pijaf

Americans turning their cars into wired offices claiming efficiency far outweigh the risk of a wreck. http://bit.ly/h7PdH - So wrong.

Do people really lie 3 times within 10 minutes of meeting someone new? http://bit.ly/jhDO5

Nephrolithiasis: Treatment, causes, and prevention - CCJM review http://bit.ly/2fg72J

Pillbox - NLM's pill identification and information system is now live http://bit.ly/JzmOZ

Recognizing and treating cutaneous signs of liver disease - CCJM review http://bit.ly/2AmFVK

Understanding the Anxious Mind http://bit.ly/48YW0

Kawasaki disease in NYT http://bit.ly/S0put

A professional look at the PubMed Redesign http://bit.ly/I3E3O -- Pubmed and OVID Medline search the same database but access that content in very different ways for different audiences.

Medical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

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Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

"9 Healthcare Bloggers Worth a Click" - Only 2 physicians among them... http://bit.ly/14szce

How to Post to Blogger.com with Google Sidewiki http://bit.ly/f3R4c

RT @AllergyZoneCEO: "Projected 20% growth in out-patient visits in next 10 years. 500M will be eVisits. Can Twitter play a role?"

What raises the most the blood pressure of a nephrology fellow on call? http://bit.ly/2wJXRN - You need to place another catheter.

Pick the Right Google Translation Widget for your Website http://bit.ly/2P2l08

ProBlogger launches a private paid forum - walled from general public, search engines, spammers for $1.95/mo http://bit.ly/YjBC2 - Will this model work in medicine?

Photos: Friends will be faithful to each other, no matter what! http://bit.ly/VRrM0

Slideshow: What the world eats http://bit.ly/12S1JT and http://bit.ly/14ewBi

"Parenting Line of the Day" http://bit.ly/16JQrK

Hybrid Books - “vooks” - intersperse videos throughout electronic text that can be read http://bit.ly/19z1nl

Rubik’s Cube Returns With a Touch Screen, No Moving Parts and a Higher Price Tag $150 - iPod Style http://bit.ly/2gyi2k

Tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Prostate cancer screening: What is new?

From the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine (CCJM):

PSA has low specificity. Most men with “elevated” PSA do not have prostate cancer.

There is no PSA level below which risk of cancer is zero. No PSA cutoff level is clinically useful.

PCPT risk calculator uses 7 variables to calculate the risk of having high-grade prostate cancer.

Men with a higher body mass index have lower PSA levels, statins also lower PSA levels.

Two large trials of PSA screening came to opposite conclusions in 2009: Europe vs. U.S. - benefit vs. no benefit.

New prostate cancer markers under study: Urinary PCA3, Serum EPCA-2, Gene fusions.

There is an ongoing debate whether 5-alpha reductase inhibitors should be used by all men at risk of prostate CA or only by those at high risk.

References:
What’s new in prostate cancer screening and prevention? CCJM, 2009.
Erectile dysfunction after prostate removal for prostate cancer
Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

Health News of the Day

Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day:

Check the new PubMed http://bit.ly/Po5QQ (a preview site)

H1N1 Influenza and Respiratory Protection for Health Care Workers: N95 respirators filter 95-99% of aerosol particles. No more than 30% of health workers tolerated N95 respirators consistently throughout an 8-hour workday http://bit.ly/g84Xs

Bad economy may be good for your health: Mortality dropped and life expectancy increased during the Great Depression http://bit.ly/bfrFg -- Economic growth has been linked to work-related stress, less sleep, on-the-job accidents, traffic fatalities, pollution http://bit.ly/bUDZn

Electronic medical records might help doctors identify men and women most likely to be victims of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is the most common cause of non-fatal injury to women in U.S. , implicated in 50% of murders of women http://bit.ly/8CLyk

Unilateral Rhinorrhea in Allergic Rhinitis Due to... Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak http://bit.ly/3WycEP

Treating an Ingrown Toenail: Things you can do at home -Tips by American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons http://bit.ly/1h75A

Medical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

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