The Effects of Publicized Suicide Deaths on Subsequent Suicide Counts in Israel

This study investigated associations between indiscriminate media reporting of suicides and later inflated suicide counts among Israel's general population between the years 2008 and 2012. Self-inflicted deaths that received post-suicide media exposure (referred to as “publicized suicides”) were selected via Google news search-hit appraisals. Distributions of suicides were inspected and risk ratios (RRs) estimated by comparing population suicide rates 4 weeks before and 4 weeks after each publicized suicide (“reference” vs. “affected” periods, respectively). Poisson time series regression was employed to account also for secular trends and seasonality. A total of 2,119 people died by suicide, 13 of whom received noticeable media attention throughout the study. No meaningful impact following the 13 deaths on subsequent suicide counts during the observation window (affected vs. reference phase) was found. Poisson regression confirmed that suicide counts following publicized suicides were independent of media coverage. Given the pronounced search hits following the publicized suicides developing regulation practices that constrain indiscreet media reporting should officially be included as part of suicide prevention practices. Future research should focus on imitation suicide effects as a function of post-suicide media exposure, while including both risk and protective factors.     

Wikipedia,Google Trends and Diet: Assessment of Temporal Trends in the Internet Users’ Searches in Italy before and during COVID-19 Pandemic

We obtained data from Google Trends and Wikipedia in order to assess whether an analysis of Internet searches could provide information on the Internet users’ behaviour/interest in diets. Differences in seasonality, year and before/during COVID-19 pandemic were assessed. From Wikipedia, we extracted the number of times a page is viewed by users, aggregated on monthly and seasonal bases. We also used Google Trends to evaluate the frequency of the users’ web searches. The Mediterranean diet was the most frequently (33.9%), followed by the pescatarian diet (9.0%). Statistically, significant seasonal differences were found for the Mediterranean, vegetarian, Atkins, Scarsdale, and zone diets and pescetarianism. The most commonly searched diet and consequent diet-related queries on Google resulted to be: Dukan diet, Dukan and weight loss. Ketogenic, FODMAP and intermittent fasting diets were statistically more frequently searched during the pandemic compared with before. Our data show a different trend of searches based on the seasonality, year and the pandemic. These data could be useful for scientists, practitioners and policy makers because they can inform educational campaigns via the Internet, especially in periods when the population is more receptive.     

江苏省疟疾疫情预警系统的建立Ⅱ数字地球系统应用于疟疾疫情管理及监测

目的 目的 通过数字地球系统应用于疟疾疫情管理和监测, 探索消除疟疾的新模式。方法 方法 对2011年江苏省疟疾病例进行个案调查和疫点处置, 同时利用集思宝 UniStrong G330 GIS数据采集器采集患者居住地的经纬度, 再利用数字地球系统 （Google Earth）Free 6.2及其图片管理软件, 建立疟疾病例预警点地标库和图片管理系统。结果 结果 2011年江苏省共报告疟疾374例。其中本地感染间日疟13例, 国内外省输入性间日疟11例, 国外输入性间日疟20例, 国外输入性恶性疟309 例, 国外输入性三日疟7例, 国外输入性卵形疟14例。从Google Earth制图可以清晰地发现, 除输入性三日疟呈高度散发外, 其他疟疾病例都有一定的聚集性。本地感染间日疟病例主要集中在泗洪县, 国内外省输入性间日疟主要集中在苏州市和无锡市, 国外输入性间日疟主要集中在南京市, 国外输入恶性疟主要集中在苏中地区, 国外输入性卵形疟主要集中在溧阳市。结论 结论 Google Earth应用于疟疾疫情管理操作简便快捷, 图文直观清晰, 能为卫生主管部门合理配置疟防资源、 消除疟疾决策提供技术支撑参考。     

基于Google Earth的消除疟疾疫点示意图制作

目的 利用Google Earth制作疟疾疫点示意图,为判断疟疾疫点类型及开展疫点处置提供参考依据。 方法 在Google Earth平台上,以溧阳市2012—2016年疟疾疫情为例,通过搜索寻找疟疾病例所在位置并加以标注;利用多边形对溧阳市2017年8月份1例间日疟病例进行疫点示意图绘制;通过点击边界来完成疟疾疫点调查与处置措施的位点或范围,通过调整多边形边界线或面积的颜色和透明度来进行不同层次的渲染。 结果 在Google Earth地图标注每例疟疾病例所在地的经纬度,可产生1年或多年的全部病例或分虫种的疟疾疫情分布图。同时,在每个疫点的周围可以添加所开展的主动病例侦查、健康宣教、媒介监测的位置、杀虫剂喷洒的范围等疟疾疫点调查与处置措施的信息,还可通过标尺来完成不同病例居住地之间距离的测量。 结论 基于Google Earth制作的疟疾疫点示意图清晰直观、操作简单,适合在基层消除疟疾工作中推广使用。     

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy linked to increased internet search queries for side effects on fertility potential in the initial rollout phase following Emergency Use Authorization

The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the COVID-19 vaccine on December 11, 2020 has been met with hesitancy for uptake with some citing potential impacts on future fertility. We hypothesised that irrespective of sex, fertility-related queries would markedly increase during the 48 days following EUA of the coronavirus vaccine. We sought to objectively identify trends in internet search queries on public concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccine side effects on fertility that might impact vaccine uptake. We used Google Trends to investigate queries in Google's Search Engine relating to the coronavirus vaccine and fertility between 10/24/2020 and 1/27/2021. The five most queried terms were identified as: ‘COVID Vaccine Fertility’, ‘COVID Vaccine and Infertility’, ‘COVID Vaccine Infertility’, ‘COVID Vaccine Fertility CDC’, and ‘COVID 19 Vaccine Infertility’ with an increase of 710.47%, 207.56%, 264.35%, 2,943.7%, and 529.26%, respectively, all p < .001. This study indicates that there was an increase in online COVID-19 vaccine-related queries regarding fertility side effects coinciding with the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) on December 11, 2020. Our results objectively evidence the increased concern regarding the vaccine and likely demonstrate a major cause for hesitancy in vaccine uptake. Future studies and counselling with patients should be undertaken to help mitigate these concerns.     

Development and deployment of the Computer Assisted Neighborhood Visual Assessment System (CANVAS) to measure health-related neighborhood conditions

Public health research has shown that neighborhood conditions are associated with health behaviors and outcomes. Systematic neighborhood audits have helped researchers measure neighborhood conditions that they deem theoretically relevant but not available in existing administrative data. Systematic audits, however, are expensive to conduct and rarely comparable across geographic regions. We describe the development of an online application, the Computer Assisted Neighborhood Visual Assessment System (CANVAS), that uses Google Street View to conduct virtual audits of neighborhood environments. We use this system to assess the inter-rater reliability of 187 items related to walkability and physical disorder on a national sample of 150 street segments in the United States. We find that many items are reliably measured across auditors using CANVAS and that agreement between auditors appears to be uncorrelated with neighborhood demographic characteristics. Based on our results we conclude that Google Street View and CANVAS offer opportunities to develop greater comparability across neighborhood audit studies.     

Vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination in the time of COVID-19: A Google Trends analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced many calls for a vaccine. There is growing concern that vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination presence will dampen the uptake of a coronavirus vaccine. There are many cited reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Mercury content, autism association, and vaccine danger have been commonly found in anti-vaccination messages. It is also mused that the reduced disease burden from infectious diseases has paradoxically reduced the perceived requirement for vaccine uptake. Our analysis using Google Trends has shown that throughout the pandemic the search interest in a coronavirus vaccine has increased and remained high throughout. Peaks are found when public declarations are made, the case number increases significantly, or when vaccine breakthroughs are announced. Anti-vaccine searches, in the context of COVID-19, have had a continued and growing presence during the pandemic. Contrary to what some may believe, the burden of coronavirus has not been enough to dissuade anti-vaccine searches entirely.