Don’t want to miss any of the articles, news and links published on Highlight HEALTH (Discover the Science of Health), Highlight HEALTH 2.0 (Following Web 2.0 in Health and Medicine) and the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory (An Online Reference Guide for Reliable Health and Medical Information)?

Maybe you’ve a recent visitor … maybe you’ve been reading much longer. Whichever the case, there’s a number of ways to access content on the Highlight HEALTH Network. From RSS feeds to e-mail alerts to social networks, there’s bound to be a resource that works best for you.

I’d also love to get your feedback in the comments below to help keep improving the Highlight HEALTH Network.

Here’s seven ways to connect with the Highlight HEALTH Network

RSS feed

Use an RSS feed reader? Subscribe to the full text Highlight HEALTH Network RSS feed using your favorite RSS feed reader.

E-mail alerts

Receive an e-mail with new articles and links on the Highlight HEALTH Network.

Facebook

Are you a member of Facebook? Check out the Highlight HEALTH Network Facebook page. Become a fan and join in the conversation!

Twitter

Are you a Twitter user? Follow Highlight HEALTH Network posts on Twitter.

Social Bookmarking

At the bottom of every article on Highlight HEALTH and Highlight HEALTH 2.0 there’s a “Bookmark and Share” link. By clicking on it, you can bookmark the post to one of many sites, including del.icio.us, Google Bookmarks, StumbleUpon and Newsvine. These sites make it easy to save or share an interesting article.

Apple Dashboard widget

Use a Mac? The Highlight HEALTH Network RSS Dashboard Widget provides one-click access to the latest posts on the Highlight HEALTH Network. The widget is designed for use on the Apple Dashboard. Version 2.0 of the Highlight HEALTH Network RSS Dashboard widget includes content from Highlight HEALTH 2.0.

Offline

Want to read content offline? Beneath the tags of every article on Highlight HEALTH and Highlight HEALTH 2.0, there is a “Print Post” link, which displays a printable version of the story, including all hyperlinks. Don’t have time to read online? Print it out and take it with you.

Additionally, the Highlight HEALTH Network now offers a new and completely free professional resource. Browse a free selection of biotechnology and pharmaceutical magazines, white papers, downloads and podcasts. Topics include genetics, bioinformatics and genomics. No credit cards, coupons or promo codes required!

Participate

You can participate in the Highlight HEALTH Network community by leaving your thoughts or questions in the comment section below every article on Highlight HEALTH and Highlight HEALTH 2.0. I try to reply to all comments. You can also e-mail me or use the contact form.

Interested in guest posting? I’m always looking for people with an interest in Web 2.0 and Health/Medicine to contribute articles for Highlight HEALTH 2.0 and the hundreds of daily readers. Please e-mail me if you’re interested.

Get connected

Don’t miss out on any of the great content on the Highlight HEALTH Network. Choose the resource(s) that work best for you and get connected today!

As 2007 comes to a close, I would like to thank you for your readership. Just over one year ago, I launched two websites, Highlight HEALTH and the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory. Here at Highlight HEALTH, my goal was to write about biomedical research I found interesting and to make it easier for people to understand research findings, empowering them to have more productive discussions with their physicians and to make informed decisions about healthcare. The Highlight HEALTH Web Directory is my endeavor to catalog and make available health-related websites I find to be informative and useful. More recently, I’ve also started writing about Web 2.0 in Health, Fitness and Medicine, and plan to publish a series of review articles on a number of health-focused social networks.

This past month, I started the Highlight HEALTH Network, an aggregation of content from both sites to allow readers to keep up with the latest articles on Highlight HEALTH and the newest additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory, all from a single source.

Here are the most popular articles for 2007 (top 20 based on the number of page views/number of days posted):

1. The Highlight HEALTH Network RSS Dashboard Widget
2. Smoking Cessation Timeline: What Happens When You Quit
3. Dichloroacetate Not Ready for Therapeutic Use
4. The Highlight HEALTH Network
5. New Common Cold Virus Variant Deadly
6. Common Therapy for Prostate Cancer May Promote Metastasis
7. Overweight Kids and TV: An Advertising Epidemic
8. Saline Nasal Irrigation More Effective than Spray for Chronic Sinus Symptoms
9. Pediatric Grand Rounds 2.8
10. The Genetics of Panic Disorder
11. Smoking Duration vs. Intensity and the Impact on Lung Cancer Risk
12. Social Networks and Health - The Research and the Reviews
13. Quercetin
14. American Obesity Rate Levels Off
15. Biodegradable Polymers for Drug and Gene Delivery
16. Individual Genetics, Coffee Consumption, BRCA1 and Breast Cancer
17. The Flu, Your Health and the Importance of Vaccination
18. SCHIP Funding and Fiscal Irresponsibility
19. DNA Amplification by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
20. Sinus Congestion

Thank you and Best of Health in the coming year!

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Highlight HEALTH, I’m pleased to announce the release of the Highlight HEALTH Network RSS Dashboard Widget, which provides one-click access to the latest posts on the Highlight HEALTH Network. The widget is designed for use on the Apple Dashboard.

Highlight HEALTH Network RSS widget screenshots

The front of the widget, showing the latest articles on Highlight HEALTH and the newest additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory:

The search bar at the top of the widget allows you to search the Highlight HEALTH Network. Search results open in your browser. The scalebar at the bottom of the widget allows you to show the full feed, a reduced amount of content or titles only.

The back of the widget, showing additional information on the feeds currently aggregated on the Highlight HEALTH Network:

Widget installation

To install the Highlight HEALTH Network RSS widget, download the zip file. If you’re using the Safari browser, it should automatically unzip it and start the installation. A small window will open, asking “Do you want to install the widget ‘HighlightHEALTH’ and open it in the Dashboard?”. Simply click install and you’re done.

If you’ve downloaded the zip file and nothing’s happened, double-click the file “HighlightHEALTH.zip” to unzip, then double-click the widget to install.

The Highlight HEALTH Network uses a full-text feed, formatted in RSS 2.0. While developing the widget, I was surprised to find that Apple Dashboard widgets displaying RSS 2.0-formated feeds don’t allow you to drag the scrollbar or scalebar. You have to click on the scrollbar or scalebar in order to scroll or scale the content. In my tests, scrolling also worked using the scroll ball of an Apple Mighty Mouse or the trackpad of a MacBook Pro laptop (tested on Mac OS X 10.4.11 “Tiger” and 10.5 “Leopard”).

UPDATE: April 20th, 2008

Version 2.0 of the widget now aggregates content from Highlight HEALTH 2.0. The download links above have been updated. Enjoy!

UPDATE: April 16th, 2009

Version 2.1 of the widget is now available. The download links above have been updated.