Reserching online: the elderly and the internet

Some interesting statistics at ofcom.org.uk.

Scientific research at informaworld.com."With the rise in technology utilization, specifically the Internet, can the elderly utilize the Internet for health care purposes?"

Two articles by the BBC. Click here and here.

The Telegraph says that surfing online is the best pastime for the elderly.

A blog about internet addressed to the elderly at digitalunite.com.

From the British Geriatric Society to skiing holidays, a list of websites can be found here.

The Third Age Trust is the national representative body for the Universities of Third Age (U3As) in the UK.

Another blog for the elderly here.

Photo: news.bbc.co.uk

Bad science loves bad journalism

So, who are the ones to be blamed on this endless scientific speculation? Are the scientists who publish incomplete/irrelevant results? Or are the avid-for-news journalists who forget to separate the wheat from the chaff?

Ben Goldacre, who writes for The Guardian since 2003, has announced:

"If you're a journalist that misrepresents science for the sake of a headline, a politician more interested in spin than evidence, or an advertiser that loves pictures of molecules in little white coats, then beware: your days are numbered.”

I agree with Ben, and his blog Bad Science is quite interesting as well, apart from some generalisations on homeopathy. The scientific community is sometimes arrogant on alternative and holistic therapies, although the various successful cases based on these treatments. Talking about homeopathy, I abandoned my skepticism towards it, when I become one of these cases myself.

Well, you can read more about bad science here, but for now, let's leave science to the scientists. Journalists are better off writing things that really deserve to be written - and read.

Photo: scienceblogs.com

Attention: Health news can cause you mental damage – part II

It would be good if alarming and confusing health news were found only in The Daily Mail. But it is not, so be aware. According to a study, to take health news too seriously can increase by 60 per cent the risk of getting sick or ill- tempered.

From The Daily Telegraph:

17th November: “Sleep after exercising to reduce cancer risk”

“Taking regular exercise combined with a good night's sleep can reduce the chances of developing cancer by 20 per cent, a new study suggests.”
(The next think they are going to say is that stop smoking can do the same!!)

11th November: “A drink or two is advisable for women who are trying to conceive, says James Le Fanu.” (Doctor's diary)

(The effect here is related exclusively to the presumption that slightly drunk women can have sex easily. It sounds like a joke, doesn’t it?)

From The Times:

9th January: “2½ bottles of wine a week can save your life”

“People who drink up to almost 2½ bottles of wine a week have a lower risk of premature death than those who abstain from alcohol, research has suggested.”
(So... What are you waiting for??)

From The Independent:

5th June: “Regular drinking 'halves risk of arthritis’”

“Drinking alcohol is not only good for the heart – it is good for the joints too. A regular tipple cuts the risk of rheumatoid arthritis by up to 50 per cent – and the more you drink the greater the protective effect.”
(I beg your pardon???)

31st October: “Light drinking when pregnant may lead to calm babies, says study”

“Toddlers born to women who drank lightly during their pregnancy were found to have significantly fewer emotional problems.”

23rd January: “The more successful you are, the more you drink, research finds”

“Chief executives of big companies and public sector organisations are coping with their stressful positions by drinking the equivalent of almost three bottles of wine a week, new research shows.”
(Well, they are not doing so bad... They just need to reduce to 2½ bottles to lower the risks of a premature death, and they'll be fine - according to The Times)

From The Guardian:

9th January: “Help your heart with exercise - and booze”

“Moderate drinkers are at 30% lower risk of heart disease than teetotallers, according to a study of nearly 12,000 people. And those who combine a mild tipple with regular exercise are even less likely to die of the disease.”

04th February: “Doctors warn of alcohol risk to patients facing surgery”

“Patients due for surgery should control the amount of alcohol they drink beforehand, doctors have warned. A new study shows drinking even moderate amounts prior to surgery could slow down recovery and weaken the immune system.”
( If the surgery itself wasn't enought to worry the poor patients...)

Photo: teamsugar.com

Attention: Health news can cause you mental damage

Every day, scientists around the world publish the conclusion of their experiments. It normally happens in specialist publications, as it is aimed at the scientific community first of all. Thankfully, a journalist will get hold of the full scientific text, or a press release version, and will transform it into a more comprehensible text.

Unfortunately, what often happens is a literal process of transformation, which ends up misinforming the reader. Journalists should carefully filter serious results from speculation, when reporting scientific issues. They should also do it in a clear and honest way, because if there is bad science, there is also bad journalism. Who pays for it is always the reader.

The relation between diseases and consumption of alcohol is always present in health news nowadays, and it is not just because of alcoholism. It is important to know how to be healthier, although it is also important to know that we can trust the news. But, can we?

Some newspapers are quite prolific in creating alarming and confounding news. Let’s take The Daily Mail and the “consumption of wine”, as an example. It was printed on the 30th October:

“Some wines have been found to contain high levels of metals such as copper, zinc and nickel. Having just one glass of wine a day could expose the drinker to potentially dangerous levels of metals linked to cancer, heart attacks and Parkinson's disease, scientists warn.”

The mentioned research, carried out at Kingston University and published in Chemistry Central Journal, was based on previous metal analysis by other researches and does not involve wines from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA and Chile, all widely consumed in the UK. The Daily Mail report did mention the criticism towards the method used, but ignored what the researchers admitted in the original publication:

“(…) it is noteworthy that a large number of metal ions found (…) have not been well studied in terms of biological activity. This approach should be extended to the numerous dietary products that are consumed daily over a lifetime.”

After the first alarming paragraphs, it continued (and they must be joking!):

“However, the wine industry and Britain's food watchdog urged drinkers not to panic, saying that the levels of metals were within recognised safety levels.”

As wine consumption and its risks and benefits have been making news, there have been many more headlines from The Daily Mail this year:

19th October: “Just one of glass of wine a day increases women's risk of breast cancer”

“Drinking just one large glass of wine a day increases the chances of developing breast cancer by a fifth, say experts.”

07th October: “Red wine could lower men's lung cancer risk”

“Men who drink a couple of glasses or red wine per day have a lower risk of lung cancer, according to a new study.”

01st July: “How drinking red wine with your steak cancels out cancer causing effects of red meat”

“Scientists have shown that the drink cancels out some harmful substances produced by the meat in the stomach.”

05th June: “Five glasses of wine a week 'could cut risk of developing arthritis by half'”

“Wine drinkers were less likely to develop arthritis. If you need a reason to reach for the bottle, this might be it.”

04th June: “Scientists discover the secret behind red wine's anti-ageing properties”

“Scientists have discovered a link between red wine and healthy hearts. Red wine may be the next best thing to the fabled elixir of youth, new research suggests.”

12th May: “Two glasses of wine a day 'puts breast cancer risk up by 50pc'”

“Just two large glasses of wine a day can raise the risk of breast cancer by more than half, research shows. A study of almost 185,000 women found even moderate drinking significantly increases the risk of the disease.”

06th May: “Hooray! Wine CAN be good for you...so are you drinking the right stuff?”

“Research has found that red wine in particular can lower the risk of heart disease, provide protection against stroke, prevent pancreatic cancer and even stave off potentially-fatal food poisoning bugs such as e.coli, salmonella and listeria.”

22nd March: “ONE glass of wine a night can increase risk of breast cancer by 60 per cent”

“Middle-aged women who drink one glass of wine a night increase their risk of breast cancer by 60 per cent, an alarming new study shows.”

17th March: “Wine is worse for brain than beer, scientists reveal in blow for women drinkers”

“Drinking wine damages the brain more than beer or spirits, scientists claim.”

04th March: “Just two glasses of wine a day 'can double blood pressure'”

“A glass or two of wine a day could more than double the risk of high blood pressure, research shows.”

Review: guardian.co.uk

The way to present news online is different to the traditional mode for many reasons. Easy navigation, frequently updated information, immediacy and interacting with the reader are key factors for the success of an online publication.

This year, The Guardian won the British Press Awards for the best website, reaffirming its position as a positive example of online journalism. The newstories gain constant updates, are easy to access and allow the readers to add their own comments. Video and audio clips, extra photos and hyperlinks contribute to better quality information, transforming the online version into a multimedia one. Apart from this, the reader can also access the archives, take part in quizzes, polls and chat forums, find a new job and upload a CV, buy everything from books and insurance policies to daffodils and knives, find a soul mate and book a restaurant, rent a DVD, share favourite articles with friends, comment, criticise, agree, disagree, appraise and – yes! - read almost everything he would do in the print version.

In terms of layout, The Guardian online is very well constructed, offering to the busy online reader, easy access to its various sections. Tags with different colours, a very simple but useful tool, are used to identify the sections. It also caters for accessibility allowing a bigger font size, what makes reading on a computer screen easier.