marientina

USC has received a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to explore how interactive digital games could be designed to improve players’ health behaviors and outcomes.

http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/15326.html

and here:

http://www.rwjf.org/newsroom/newsreleasesdetail.jsp?productid=21898

and here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16212

Super super extra thanks to Diana Hughes and Tracy Fullerton and some earlier brainstormings with Mike Stein and Jen Stein.

Posted by marientina at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today, I was at the USC Health Sciences Campus and I saw notices of blood shortage posted everywhere. This is pretty serious stuff. If you are a healthy individual with no anemia, you should consider this gift of life -- it costs you very little. USC even has its own blood donation center.

If you want to go the extra mile, consider becoming a donor buddy to a child who has chronic transfusion needs. Consider this: a child with severe thalassemia requires 1 unit of blood ranging from once weekly to every six weeks depending on severity, for the entirety of their life. With transfusions and iron chelation treatment advances, some patients are living well past their forties, but their need for blood doesn't change much overtime. You can save someone's life for free. I wish I could, but I also have thalassemia - a milder, non-transfusion dependent form. Tell your healthy, juicy, athletic friends!

More in the news:
Serious Blood Shortage

Posted by marientina at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't get carpal tunnel now (especially if you wanna be a surgeon).

Surgeons who play video games more skilled - U.S. study

Playing video games appears to help surgeons with skills that truly count: how well they operate using a precise technique, a study said on Monday. There was a strong correlation between video game skills and a surgeon's capabilities performing laparoscopic surgery in the study published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery.

more here

Posted by marientina at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For once in my life, the server was down for an honorable reason: massive downloading of CLOUD cause a DoS service to take place and interactive.usc.edu was pulled off the network because the bandwidth hit the roof through the tiny 10Mps ISD connection. The cloud download was moved promptly and the server is now ok but congrats!

Hard work pays off!

Posted by marientina at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Front page od CNN (must be trying to cover up serious news today like the Miers nomination, the Baltimore tunnel closing, the flooding in MA and the new hurricane...)

Living in a wireless world: Too much of a good thing?

In today's wireless society, e-mails, phone calls and office documents are a keypad touch away. Cell phones, laptops, PDAs have become a part of everyday life for millions of people. While the ease and availability of information can lead to greater productivity, it can also intrude on our personal time. For many, it's a struggle to define the limits of work and play.

read more

and also Legislation can't keep pace with technology

There you go Andrew, the world is finally paying attention...

Posted by marientina at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)