Evaluating the Quality of Information Found in the Most Common Health Websites in Google Using DISCERN and CRAAP

Objectives: Google search results can have an outsized impact on the health information that consumers find and trust. The researchers analyzed the health-related websites that show up most frequently on the first page of Google search results. After determining the websites that appear most frequently, the authors would evaluate the quality of the health information on these websites using the DISCERN instrument and the CRAAP test. Methods: To replicate a common health information search, a list of search terms was gathered from the most frequently searched health-related topics on Google Trends. Each term would then be searched on Google and the authors compiled a list of the first 10 search results for each term. The authors cleared their search history and cookies from their browsers before searching. They also set their browsers to incognito/private mode and conducted the same search in three different regions of the country using a VPN to avoid any targeted results. The websites that appeared most frequently were then independently evaluated by two of the authors using the DISCERN tool and CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose) test to determine if these sites were providing quality information. Results: A total of 62 terms were identified from Google Trends and searched on Google. 174 unique websites were found through the search results from all the terms. The top six websites that appeared most frequently for all the Google searches were WebMD(61), Mayo Clinic (57), MedlinePlus (52), Medical News Today (48), Center for Disease Control (36), and MedicineNet (28). The only website to rate an excellent score in both evaluation tools was MedlinePlus (DISCERN 67.5; CRAAP 21). The lowest rated website was Medical News Today (DISCERN 44.5; CRAAP 14.5). Conclusions: Through our search of the most frequently searched health-related terms, it was evident that Google search results appear most often from six common websites. Evaluating the information from these six websites revealed that there was a wide range in terms of quality. Based on this assessment, MedlinePlus should be recommended by health information professionals and those in the healthcare field for general health information. The health information on the most popular websites is of at least average quality, regardless of which website is used. Health science librarians can use these scores to help educate their students and faculty about the differences between websites when searching for health information on Google

Quality Evaluation of Consumer Health Information Websites Found on Google Using DISCERN, CRAAP, and HONcode

Online health misinformation is a growing problem, and health information professionals and consumers would benefit from an evaluation of health websites for reliability and trustworthiness. Terms from the Google COVID-19 Search Trends dataset were searched on Google to determine the most frequently appearing consumer health information websites. The quality of the resulting top five websites was evaluated. The top five websites that appeared most frequently were WebMD, Mayo Clinic, Healthline, MedlinePlus, and Medical News Today, respectively. All websites, except Medline Plus, received HONcode certification. Based on DISCERN and CRAAP scores, MedlinePlus was found to be the most reliable health website

Cell wall proteomics reveals a strong association of acta to the peptidoglycan promoting listeria monocytogenes invasiveness

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Differentiation of a hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus sp. Strain Pikanate 5017, by arbitrarily primed PCR

Pyrococcus and Thermococcus are hyperthermophilic archaea in the order Thermococcales. Both genera are strictly anaerobes, gaining energy by fermentation of peptide and several carbohydrates at optimal temperature above 70 ° C. A Pyrococcus sp. strain Pikanate 5017 (PK 5017) was recently isolated from a hot spring in Northern Thailand. The strain PK 5017 is a valuable source of numerous genes encoding thermostable enzymes. Growth kinetics determined at various temperatures (75-105 ° C) indicates that strain PK5017 is a fast growing archaeon. An arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR) technique was successfully applied to differentiate the genome sequences of six members of Thermococcales. Two single primers, ARB-1f (5’ ATGAG GACT GAAA CCATT 3’) and ARB-2f (5’ GTAAA ACGA CGGC CAGT 3’), are effective in producing polymorphisms of the PCR products at 3-10 ng of DNAs. The unique AP-PCR fingerprints distinguish the strain PK5017 from P. furiosus, P. horikoshii, P. abyssi, T. litoralis, and T. celer. The results indicate a clear distinction of genome sequences among Pyrococcus and Thermococcus genera.This work was supported by a grant from the Scientific Promotion and Development Fund, Faculty of Science, Silpakorn University (Grant number RGI 2553-06). JMG and MCP acknowledge the support from a CSIC movility program, PA1001993 and PA1002058, and the Andalusian Government Bio288Peer Reviewe

Predicting bulk powder flow dynamics in a continuous mixer operating in transitory regimes

Over recent years there has been increasing interest in continuous powder mixing processes, due mainly to the development of on-line measurement techniques. However, our understanding of these processes remains limited, particularly with regard to their flow and mixing dynamics. In the present work, we study the behaviour of a pilot-scale continuous mixer during transitory regimes, in terms of hold-up weight and outflow changes. We present and discuss experimental results concerning the start-up dynamics of a Gericke GCM 500 mixer, for which a specific experimental protocol has been developed to determine the evolution of the hold-up in the mixer and the real outflow. Empirical relationships are derived so as to link hold-up weight variations with operating conditions. A simple stochastic approach, based on a non-homogeneous Markov chain, is developed to simulate the bulk particle flow and transport in the continuous mixer at a macroscopic level. Although this simple model is only based on the start-up behaviour, it provides a full description of the mixer dynamics in response to strong perturbations on the flow rate or on the rotational speed of the stirring device, such as negative or positive steps. This model is validated experimentally for a wide range of operating conditions, and constitutes a first approach to process control

Host-Microbiome Interaction and Cancer: Potential Application in Precision Medicine

It has been experimentally shown that host-microbial interaction plays a major role in shaping the wellness or disease of the human body. Microorganisms coexisting in human tissues provide a variety of benefits that contribute to proper functional activity in the host through the modulation of fundamental processes such as signal transduction, immunity and metabolism. The unbalance of this microbial profile, or dysbiosis, has been correlated with the genesis and evolution of complex diseases such as cancer. Although this latter disease has been thoroughly studied using different high-throughput technologies, its heterogeneous nature makes its understanding and proper treatment in patients a remaining challenge in clinical settings. Notably, given the outstanding role of host-microbiome interactions, the ecological interactions with microorganisms have become a new significant aspect in the systems that can contribute to the diagnosis and potential treatment of solid cancers. As a part of expanding precision medicine in the area of cancer research, efforts aimed at effective treatments for various kinds of cancer based on the knowledge of genetics, biology of the disease and host-microbiome interactions might improve the prediction of disease risk and implement potential microbiota-directed therapeutics. In this review, we present the state of the art of sequencing and metabolome technologies, computational methods and schemes in systems biology that have addressed recent breakthroughs of uncovering relationships or associations between microorganisms and cancer. Together, microbiome studies extend the horizon of new personalized treatments against cancer from the perspective of precision medicine through a synergistic strategy integrating clinical knowledge, high-throughput data, bioinformatics and systems biology

White light emitting silsesquioxane based materials: The importance of a ligand with rigid and directional arms

The synthesis of a novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane functionalized with eight rigid and directional terpyridine-based arms (Ter-POSS) was successfully achieved via a Sonogashira reaction. The POSS based ligand was extensively characterized using different techniques including 1H, 13C and 29Si NMR as well as UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. The assembly of these nano-caged units in the presence of different transition metal ions (Fe2+, Zn2+ and Cu2+) as well as of a cation from the lanthanides (Eu3+) was investigated using absorption and emission spectroscopies. The final materials display an evident emission in different regions of the visible spectrum as a function of the cation employed. Additional insights into the structural organization of Ter-POSS in the presence of metal cations were obtained via molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations. The polymeric material resulting from the complexation with europium displays a white light emission ascribed to the presence of combined contributions from the blue, green and red regions. The final self-assembled organizations display an increased quantum yield with the highest value (29.6%) obtained in the presence of Zn2+. Moreover, the white-light emitting europium-based nanostructure exhibits one of the highest quantum yields reported in the literature for similar solids