Google has access to detailed health records on tens of millions of Americans

Google quietly partnered last year with Ascension—the country’s second-largest health system—and has since gained access to detailed medical records on tens of millions of Americans, according to a November 11 report by The Wall Street Journal. The endeavor, code-named “Project Nightingale,” has enabled at least 150 Google employees to see patient health information, which includes diagnoses, laboratory test results, hospitalization records, and other data, according to internal documents and the newspaper’s sources. In all, the data amounts to complete medical records, WSJ notes, and contains patient names and birth dates. The…

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Amid falling interest rates on FDs, these 4 investment options offer up to 8.6% interest rate

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India has cut the repo rate for the fifth time in a row to give a further boost to consumption and private investment in a bid to revive growth as inflation remained within the central bank’s comfort level. The RBI cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.15%. Following the suit, banks have cut interest rates on loans and fixed deposits (FDs). A fixed deposit is among the most preferred investment option among senior citizens and retirees. State Bank of India (SBI), the…

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Americans now spend twice as much on health care as they did in the 1980s

The average American household spent almost $5,000 per person on health care last year. That’s a 101% increase from the roughly $2,500 per person that Americans spent about 34 years ago in 1984, according to an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditures Survey by data company Clever. To make accurate comparisons, Clever adjusted all dollar amounts for inflation. It’s perhaps not surprising that health care expenses have risen over the past three decades. But the main driver of the increase is not drug costs or medical services. In…

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How a newspaper ad and Rs 5 lakh investment set this entrepreneur on Rs 50 Cr journey in chemicals manufacturing

In 2002, Bengaluru-based entrepreneur Srinivas M saw a newspaper ad about the MSME Ministry conducting a training session for chemical manufacturing. Srinivas was a chemical trader at the time, and thought it would be a good opportunity to start manufacturing chemical products himself. “I saw this a way into a manufacturing sector that could pay me dividends much more than a trading business ever could. I decided to seize this opportunity, and enrolled myself in the programme,” he says. Srinivas was about to enter the chemicals industry that has grown over the years, touching $163…

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Deepika Padukone launches Live Love Laugh lecture series on mental health: Long way to go

Deepika Padukone at the launch of Live Love Laugh lecture series Photo: Yogen Shah Mental health and promoting an empathetic discussion around it has been the centre of Deepika Padukone’s agenda ever since she came out with her story of dealing with depression. Deepika became one of the first celebrities in Bollywood to break the stigma and start an open dialogue around mental health. In fact, four years ago when she launched her project Live Love Laugh Foundation, aimed at doing the same, she received a lot of acclaim for…

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Two News Stories From Abroad Suggest American Education Is On The Wrong Track

News about schools in England and Finland challenge a prevailing assumption in American education–that it’s better for students to learn on their own than to be explicitly taught. GETTY It can be risky to look to other countries’ education systems for models. Nevertheless, two recent news stories from abroad raise doubts about prevailing American views on how students learn. Too often, American education reformers and policymakers have called for emulating other seemingly successful systems without taking into account the myriad differences between any two countries. An approach that has worked…

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