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  • Streams, Google’s UK Clinician App, a Casualty of Its Defunct Health Division

    Streams, Google’s UK Clinician App, a Casualty of Its Defunct Health Division

    Google is shutting down Streams, a clinician support app used in the UK, the latest fallout of Google’s decision to end its Health Division.

    Google announced last week that it was shutting down its Health Division, the latest in a long string of products, platforms and services the company promises will change the world, only to unceremoniously kill them off later. App Maker, Chromebook Pixel, Game Builder, Google Hangouts, Google Jump, Google Play Music and Google+ are just a few of the examples — trust us, there’s many, many more.

    According to TechCrunch, Streams is in the process of being discontinued, despite at least one UK National Health Service (NHS) Trust still using it in its hospitals. When it was first released, a number of NHS Trusts adopted the app, although most have since stopped using it. It’s not clear whether their abandoning it caused Google to rethink its plans, or if a lack of serious effort and commitment on Google’s part prompted them to move away from it.

    Either way, the company has such a reputation for this behavior, that it recently had to reassure its cloud customers it wouldn’t do the same to them. As the third largest cloud provider, Google has built a major business providing cloud services to countless companies, companies that want to know a critical feature they rely on won’t suddenly be killed off on a whim. As a result, Google announced the release of Enterprise APIs in an effort to put any concern to rest.

    It’s a safe bet, even with Enterprise APIs, the shuttering of an entire division is going to make some of Google’s customers very nervous.

  • Two Million in UK Could Use Weight Loss Surgery

    It’s well-known that millions of Americans are overweight or obese. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has even classified obesity as an epidemic within the country and the American Medical Association now considers obesity a disease. Now it appears that obesity is becoming a larger problem in the UK as well.

    A new study recently published in JRSM Open has found that two million UK citizens are now eligible for bariatric weight loss surgery. The number has surprised the study’s authors, as it is much higher than previous estimates for eligibility. The new figure also puts current weight loss surgeries in perspective, showing that very few of those eligible for such procedures actually undergo them.

    “Despite clear guidelines outlining who can undergo such surgery with the NHS, and evidence that these procedures are cost-effective in the long run, less than one per cent of those eligible have weight loss surgery each year,” said Dr. Sonia Saxena, a co-author of the study and a researcher at Imperial College London. “This raises questions about why more procedures are not currently being carried out.”

    The study found that those who qualify for bariatric surgery are likely to be retired women with lower socioeconomic and education statuses. This could mean that those most in need of weight loss surgery are part of the same demographics that use medical services at a lower rate. Also, the study’s authors believe that cutbacks in required pre-surgery weight loss programs could be contributing to low surgery rates among those who qualify.

  • Diabetes Patients Have Extreme Heart Risks, Shows Audit

    The National Diabetes Audit by the U.K.’s National Health Service has just released some stark statistics on the effects of diabetes. One of the most dismal statistics shows that people with diabetes are 65% more likely to have heart failure than the general population in England and Wales. Also, people with type 1 diabetes have a death rate 135% higher than the national rate for the U.K.

    The audit is now in its eighth year and is the largest of its kind. It surveyed nearly two million people with diabetes from 2010 to 2011. The study is mamaged by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), Diabetes UK, and Diabetes Health Intelligence.

    “These results highlight the huge impact of diabetes on disability and premature death,” said Dr. Bob Young, a consultant diabetologist and clinical lead for the National Diabetes Information Service. “Much can be done to reduce these risks if all health care sectors work together with people who have diabetes. Some districts have appreciably lower diabetes related complications than others. Improving treatment for diabetes should be a top priority for all clinical services.”

    The audit shows that diabetics are 48% more likely to suffer a heart attack, 25% more likely to suffer a stroke, 144% more likely to need renal replacement therapy, 331% more likely to need a part of their foot amputated, and 210% more likely to need a major leg amputation. In addition, diabetics have an overall 40% higher risk of death and women with diabetes had a noticeably greater risk of death than men with the disease. The relative risk rate of death for women with type 1 diabetes was found to be 142%.