More on episode 1: The science of social networks
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Nicholas Christakis discusses the connection between social networks and health
HMS professor of medical sociology Nicholas Christakis studies the connection between social networks and health. This work takes seriously the contention that because people are inter-connected, their health is inter-connected.
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| Nicholas Christakis |
In July 2007, for example, he showed that obesity spreads through social networks. When an individual becomes obese, the chances that a friend of his will become obese increase by 57 percent. His siblings have a 40 percent increased risk of obesity, and his spouse a 37 percent increased risk. However, that person’s neighbor, if not a part of his social network, has no effect. The image to the left comes from the New England Journal of Medicine article on this research.
News release on the obesity study
Nicholas Christakis’s website
More research on obesity
RSS feed on obesity
Student discovers the power of social networking
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| Karimi Gituma |
When Kenya erupted into violence following a Dec. 27 presidential election, HMS student Karimi Gituma used social network sites such as Facebook to organize a benefit concert for the refugees. She rallied the Kenyan diaspora, bringing together people from different tribal backgrounds who share her goal of unity.
She hopes to continue the momentum through a website that connects individuals with nonprofit organizations that are assisting the Kenyan refugees.
Visit www.vumakenya.org for more information.
Featured musician Miriam Chemmoss’s MySpace page
Gene plays “Jekyll and Hyde” in brain cancer
Researchers have found that a particular gene is central to the brain cancer glioblastoma and will either fight the tumor or, conversely, help the tumor advance, depending on the tumor’s genetic makeup.
These findings are relevant for the emerging field of personalized medicine. Glioblastoma is a highly aggressive type of cancer for which treatments remain extremely limited. Researchers have long assumed that the gene in question, STAT3, only acts as a tumor inducer, and so have been developing therapeutics that inhibit STAT3. But if STAT3 actually fights tumors in a subset of these cancers, such therapies would do more harm than good. These results may change the way researchers approach not only glioblastoma but other types of cancers as well.
