Eugene Shubnikov

Papyrus to PowerPoint (P 2 P): metamorphosis of scientific communication

Scientific communication is in the process of metamorphosis. Will it change into a dung beetle or into a beautiful butterfly? Here is one possibility that some might argue is as frightening as Kafkas story > “As Gregor Samsa awoke from unsettling dreams one morning, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous bug.” > > Kafka, Metamorphosis In 1995 we questioned the hallowed tenets of paper journals. We wrote a series of articles, beginning with “The death of biomedical journals,” suggesting the death knell for paper journals.1–3 Delamothe echoed our conclusions that “The burgeoning world wide web … makes it inevitable that new systems of disseminating research will replace or at least supplement journals.”4 ![][1] #### Summary points Traditional peer reviewed journals are becoming obsolete We are experiencing a dramatic metamorphosis of the tools of scientific communication The prima lingua of scientific communication is PowerPoint Our search for the optimal information exchange method in science leads to P2P The response was Kafkaesque, reminding us of the quote from Penal Colony “It is an exceptional apparatus” so do not question it. The “journal” apparatus shows that little of the fibre of journals has been scientifically evaluated. Are journals an efficient, scientific, “just in time” process? It is impossible to answer. For 300 years there has been no evidence based evaluation of the journal process. For example, there is virtually no research on the quality of learning from journals, whether IMRD (introduction, methods, results, discussion) optimises learning, or if traditional peer review is the best system. To quote Goldbeck-Wood, “But if peer review is so central to the process by which scientific knowledge become canonised, it is ironic that science has little to say as to whether it works.”5 This applies to all phases of the journal process. Is a metamorphosis in … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

Chinese Disasters and Just-in-Time Education

Just-in-time ( JIT) Educational Strategy has been applied successfully to share scientific knowledge about disasters in several countries. This strategy was introduced to China in 2008 with the hopes to quickly disseminate accurate scientific data to the population, and it was applied during the Sichuan Earthquake and Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak. Implementation of this strategy likely educated between 10,000 and 20,000,000 people. The efforts demonstrated that an effective JIT strategy impacted millions of people in China after a disaster occurs as a disaster mitigation education method. This paper describes the Chinese JIT approach, and discusses methodologies for implementing JIT lectures in the context of Chinas medical and public health system.

Maternal and Child Health Supercourse for the Former Soviet Union Countries

Maternal and child health (MCH) is a growing concern among the countries of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) where economic issues and changing infrastructures are seriously deteriorating the public health system. Moreover, in the past decade, lack of primary prevention programs coupled with a shortage of well-trained public health professionals are having an increasingly negative impact on MCH outcomes. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the current state of MCH, health care and public health education in the FSU. We suggest that indices could be improved by developing new inexpensive information exchange systems, and that system is Supercourse (accessible at www.pitt.edu/∼super1). Supercourse is an Internet-based library of public health lectures in PowerPoint format that are accessible, free of charge to anyone, anywhere, who has Internet access including scientists, doctors, and, specifically, educators. As of April 2007, Supercourse has more than 3,200 public health lectures, a network of more than 42,000 faculty members across 151 countries, with Nobel Prize winners and the former head of the CDC being among the lectures’ authors. Supercourse lectures are aimed at the educator with the goal of improving public health training through timely and customizable lectures. The distinguishing features of Supercourse are ease of access in low-bandwidth lecture, minimal cost, a distribution system for lectures in CD format, high-quality content, and the capacity to create and sustain a global network of public health professionals. Additionally, statistical process control procedures for industry developed by W. Edwards Deming are utilized to ensure the quality of Supercourse lectures. Papers on Supercourse already have been published in the British Medical Journal, Nature, and Lancet, and are having a wide impact in the field of public health. Currently, an increasing number of lectures in the Supercourse library are dedicated to the theme of MCH. Low cost, high impact projects such as Supercourse are needed to improve and deploy MCH education worldwide.

Using Google trends to assess interest in disasters

Introduction During a large-scale disaster caused by either natural or human-made hazards, people crave quality information about the event. Despite the cause, location, or severity of the disaster, citizens pause to learn about the disasters. Today, much of the information is gathered through Internet pathways, both for general public and healthcare providers.1 Google Trends is an Internet service that provides a unique opportunity to assess the level of disaster “interest”. If material can be provided when people are most interested in learning, this can have a profound effect on increasing the public’s knowledge about current and future events. Ignorance can be replaced with knowledge, and fear with understanding.

Global Networking of Cancer and NCD Professionals Using Internet Technologies: The Supercourse and mHealth Applications

Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world. Education is at the core of cancer prevention activities, especially programs targeting empowering existing public health workforce. In the past 10 years, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have been building the Global Health Network Supercourse project, a library of over 4500 online lectures and a network of nearly 50000 public health professionals in 174 countries. As of November, 2010, the overall number of Supercourse participants from Asia exceeds 7000 participants. The Supercourse network has been investigating methods for Internet based recruitment of cancer prevention professionals in order to network cancer experts locally and globally, including the use of mHealth technologies for cancer research education and for NCD registries. Supercourse is a tool that can offer a solution to the challenges of information sharing, especially in the field of NCDs and cancer. In this paper, we highlight the need for the development of Cancer Supercourse with Satellite in Asia and encourage faculty members from Asia to join the network.

Towards an internet civil defence against bioterrorism

Approaches towards the public-health prevention of bioterrorism are too little, and too late. New information-based approaches could yield better homeland protection. An internet civil defence is presented where millions of eyes could help to identify suspected cases of bioterrorism, with the internet used to report, confirm, and prevent outbreaks.

Chronic disease epidemiology, cancer and mobile global approaches to disease prevention

The focus of this symposium was worldwide prevention of chronic disease through the use of inexpensive Internet pathways, as demonstrated with the Supercourse project, and other initiatives, including promoting mobile phone technology (m-health). This symposium highlighted the need to use the Supercourse to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases. It also highlighted several components of the Supercourse library, including the former Soviet Union network, the Latin American network, and some other initiatives.

Just-in-time public health training and networking in Farsi-speaking countries: Influenza A (H1N1) experience.

1. Health in Emergencies & Disasters Department, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2. Office of the Minister, Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan 3. School of Sanitation and Hygiene Education, Dushanbe, Tajikistan 4. Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland USA 5. Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 6. School of Medicine, Univeristy of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 7. School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 6. Institute of Internal Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russia

Nurse Educators Establishing New Venues in Global Nursing Education

Nurses represent the largest number of health care workers worldwide, but they are currently underutilized for global health practices. This may be due to the fact that global health programs are not incorporated in nursing education in many countries. The World Health organization (WHO) recognized the importance of building capacity and having well-prepared nurses who are able to exchange knowledge and expertise worldwide, but did not offer practical solutions. A nursing Super course recognizes the gap between what WHO advocates for and what needs to be done in nursing education to achieve well prepared nurses. A solution suggested is to develop well-structured contents that are applicable and can be shared among nursing programs worldwide. A nursing Supercourse is proposed to provide lectures prepared by expert nursing educators and researchers in global health. The nursing Supercourse has emerged from the parent Supercourse that is a virtual library of lectures developed by world experts in public health and medicine. It represents a global library of over 4,300 public health and medical lectures and a network of over 56,000 public health professionals in 174 countries of the world. These lectures are written in different languages, prepared in easy format, and can be accessed through the internet. In other words does not require the usage of any advanced technology. The Supercourse educational technology has been used successfully in Epidemiology education focusing on multiple topics in public health such as non- communicable disease prevention (NCD), chronic diseases, disaster preparedness, environmental health, and others. Training of nursing students in global health while there are attending nursing programs needs to be a part of the national and international health efforts for disease prevention and health promotion.

Cancer and Chronic Diseases in Minority Populations: The Need for More Educational Materials in Spanish for Healthcare Providers

Abstract This short communication piece provides an overview of the Latin American Supercourse, a collection of public health lectures in Spanish targeting educators in Mexico, US, and Spanish speaking countries.