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  • Flu over the summer

    Decipher my data wasn’t collecting absence levels over the summer as schools were on holiday and there typically isn’t much flu around during this time. However, research and public health work preparing for the flu season goes on, so what have you missed? Two important stories emerged during the break: the first around vaccinating school…

  • Why season two is important

    Hi! I’m Dr Rob, and I’m helping to run the flu project again this year. Just like last year, we can’t be sure what we will find, but we do think that it is important. Why flu is important In the majority of people influenza (or flu as most of us call it) causes a…

  • Detecting the unpredictable: the start of a flu season

    A variety of factors trigger a flu season, making it difficult to predict. We don’t fully understand these factors yet, let alone how they are linked. It’s because we can’t forecast the start of the season that we carry out projects like Decipher my data! Flu! We can at least detect flu and so far…

  • Got something to say about the data? Write a LabLog!

    There is now a new data analysis tool on the site; XY scatter graphs. These graphs will help you examine whether school absence due to flu is linked to variables, including percentage of pupils on free school meals and average age of school buildings. We haven’t seen a peak in national flu, yet. This means school…

  • The school holidays: a break in the data

    The school holidays over Christmas might have given schools a welcomed break but they also stopped us from collecting data for couple of weeks. This is one of the main scientific limitations of this project, as it means we can’t monitor what’s going on during this period using school absence levels. Despite the break in…

  • How to make an epidemiologist happy

    After months of planning and hard work we’ve got some data! There’s now a graph on the welcome page for you to look at, this is being updated with data as it comes in. Because it’s live data don’t be surprised if the numbers jump around a bit, and like us, you’ll need to be…

  • The known unknowns

    In 2002 Donald Rumsfeld (the former United States Secretary of Defense) made a famous speech describing categories for what US intelligence services did and didn’t know about Iraq and it’s supply of weapons of mass destruction. One of Mr Rumsfeld’s categories was called the known unknowns. To clarify what he meant Mr Rumsfeld explained “we know…

  • Icebergs, outbreaks and Flu

    The Flu! project is all about trying to create a new and exciting method of Flu surveillance. When epidemiologists talk about surveillance, they mean the continuous collection, analysis and interpretation of data that be used to prevent and control diseases.  This tells us how much Flu there is in the community and where it is…

  • The green light at end of the tunnel!

    UCL’s ethics committee have now given Decipher My Data the green light for inviting schools to take part in the project. This is the result of 12 months of planning and preparation, including coming up with the project idea, finding funding, specifying the research protocol, and submitting it to the UCL ethics committee for approval.…