A smartphone application that works with Google Glass might help kids with autism build their social skills, a small clinical trial suggests. Researchers found that over six weeks, kids who used the app at home with their families made greater gains in certain social abilities, compared to those who stuck with their usual therapy alone.…
A fully self-guided treatment using virtual reality (VR) is effective in reducing fear of heights. A team of researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Current VR technology most commonly uses virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environments, sometimes in combination with physical environments or props, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence…
Researchers of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the University of Zaragoza have developed an augmented reality app to assess spatial memory. Among its uses, it could be utilised for people with Alzheimer’s disease, as a tool for the analysis and training of skills linked to said memory. if the patient is not in…
Journalists recently revealed that Australia’s most popular medical appointment booking app, Health Engine, routinely shared 100s of users private medical information to personal injury law firms as part of a referral partnership contract. Although the company claim this was only doing with users’ consent; hence these practices are not include in the privacy policy but…
Computers, like those that power self-driving cars, can be tricked into mistaking random scribbles for trains, fences and even school busses. People aren’t supposed to be able to see how those images trip up computers but in a new study, Johns Hopkins University researchers show most people can. The findings suggest modern computers may not…
Wearable devices provide a means of tracking hand position in relation to the head, but have mostly relied on wrist-worn inertial measurement unit sensors and proximity sensors, which are inadequate for identifying specific locations. This limits their utility for accurate and precise monitoring of behaviour’s or providing feedback to guide behaviours. A potential clinical application…
As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, diagnosing disease faster and potentially with greater accuracy than physicians, some have suggested that technology may soon replace tasks that physicians currently perform. But a new study from the Google AI research group shows that physicians and algorithms working together are more effective than either alone. It’s one of…
To get a good night’s sleep, turn off your smartphone at least 30 minutes before going to bed, says Loyola Medicine sleep specialist Sunita Kumar, MD, in recognition of Sleep Awareness Week, March 11 – 17. “Many Americans are chronically sleep-deprived,” said Dr. Kumar, director of Loyola Medicine’s sleep program. “Be it social obligations, work…
As technologies that capture, store, and analyse personal health data have proliferated in everyday life researcher see a growing interest from various stakeholders in accessing and leveraging the data. Personal health technology data could be valuable for many stakeholders, including self-trackers who want to learn insights about themselves. Researchers who want to incorporate personal health data…
The first study of the impact of digital mobile devices on different aspects of family time in the UK has found that children are spending more time at home with their parents rather than less – but not in shared activities such as watching tv and eating. The increase is in what is called ‘alone-together‘…
Dr. Douglas Kwazneski was helping a Pittsburgh surgeon remove an appendix when something jarring happened. The surgical stapler meant to cut and seal the tissue around the appendix locked up. Kwazneski later turned to the Food and Drug Administration’s public database that tracks medical device failures and “there was nothing,” he said. Yet when he surveyed…
Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for cardiac screening in a new study of Eko’s cardiac monitoring platform. The study aims to demonstrate that Eko’s digital stethoscopes and AI algorithms can interpret heart sounds accurately; to help screen for pathologic heart murmurs and valvular heart disease. “If proven…