Recent quotes:

Therapy delivered electronically more effective than face to face: No difference in the level of satisfaction or function between the two methods of delivery -- ScienceDaily

Samaan said the findings of the meta-analysis debunk widely-held perceptions about psychotherapy. "The common understanding was that face to face psychotherapy has the advantage of the connection with the therapist and this connection is in part what makes the difference in treatment," she said. "However, it is not surprising that electronic interventions are helpful in that they offer flexibility, privacy and no travel time, time off work, transport or parking costs. It makes sense that people access care, especially mental health care, when they need it from their own comfort space."
#CBT #theranostics #robots - sciencedaily.com

Facebook posts better at predicting diabetes, mental health than demographic info -- ScienceDaily

Using an automated data collection technique, the researchers analyzed the entire Facebook post history of nearly 1,000 patients who agreed to have their electronic medical record data linked to their profiles. The researchers then built three models to analyze their predictive power for the patients: one model only analyzing the Facebook post language, another that used demographics such as age and sex, and the last that combined the two datasets. Looking into 21 different conditions, researchers found that all 21were predictable from Facebook alone. In fact, 10 of the conditions were better predicted through the use Facebook data instead of demographic information.
#prediction #facebook #theranostics #diagnostics - sciencedaily.com

A deep neural network learning algorithm outperforms a conventional algorithm for emergency department electrocardiogram interpretation - ScienceDirect

Cardiologs® vs. Veritas® accuracy for finding a major abnormality was 92.2% vs. 87.2% (p < 0.0001), with comparable sensitivity (88.7% vs. 92.0%, p = 0.086), improved specificity (94.0% vs. 84.7%, p < 0.0001) and improved positive predictive value (PPV 88.2% vs. 75.4%, p < 0.0001). Cardiologs® had accurate ECG interpretation for 72.0% (95% CI: 69.6–74.2) of ECGs vs. 59.8% (57.3–62.3) for Veritas® (P < 0.0001). Sensitivity for any abnormal group for Cardiologs® and Veritas®, respectively, was 69.6% (95CI 66.7–72.3) vs. 68.3% (95CI 65.3–71.1) (NS). Positive Predictive Value was 74.0% (71.1–76.7) for Cardiologs® vs. 56.5% (53.7–59.3) for Veritas® (P < 0.0001).
#digiceuticals #disruption #theranostics #EKG - sciencedirect.com

Pear Therapeutics, Novartis announce commercial launch of reSET | MobiHealthNews

reSET — a substance use disorder treatment that was the first software-only therapeutic cleared by the FDA — is now commercially available for clinicians to prescribe to their patients, according to a release from Pear Therapeutics and Sandoz, a division of Novartis with which Pear partnered back in April. But while physical prescription drugs are usually handled through a pharmacy, the process is a bit different for the digital therapeutic, Dr. Yuri Maricich, Pear’s chief medical officer and head of clinical development, told MobiHealthNews. Prescribing physicians will write a script that is sent to Pear’s reSET Connect Patient Service Center, which staffs specialists who guide the patient through downloading and using the app. Outside of that wrinkle, though, Maricich said that disseminating the treatment to care centers has been “very similar” to how a pharmaceutical company might put a novel treatment into the wild. “We have a team of salespeople who are going out and educating clinicians about the product, its data, how to use it; and we also have a set of services that support dispensing, but they aren’t selling to the clinicians,” he said. “Also, that dispensing and fulfillment process allows the physician to access the dashboard and the therapeutic for their patient as well. And in the background we [Pear and Sandoz] work with payers around coverage and contracts. So, really, what we’re focusing on now is getting the therapeutic in the hands of patients who need it and helping clinicians understand how to use it, who’s the right patient for it, how do I prescribe it and interact with it as part of standard care.” Still, Pear and Sandoz seem to be playing it safe with the new treatment modality — beyond general distribution and sales, the Patient Service Center is also equipped talk patients and providers through any questions or troubles they might be having. “How a patient gets access to [reSET] and how it’s prescribed is new, so we really wanted to try to provide bespoke services to the clinician and the patient,” Maricich explained. “The Patient Service Center is available to help with troubleshooting, they have clinical staff available if there’s clinical questions, and then they also are available if there are complaints or adverse events. So they are, basically, the central node for all of those activities to help clinicians and patients get access to therapeutic and to use it.” reSET is a 12-week digital cognitive behavioral therapy program accessed through an app and designed to accompany outpatient care delivered by a physician. According to Maricich, it is the only treatment authorized by the FDA for patients aged 18 years and older experiencing addiction to and dependency on stimulants, cannabis and cocaine (as well as alcohol).
#medicalindustrialcomplex #disruption #CBT #theranostics - mobihealthnews.com

Ping An Good Doctor blazes trail in developing unstaffed, AI-assisted clinics in China | South China Morning Post

Each clinic, which is about the size of a traditional telephone booth, enables users to consult a virtual “AI doctor” that collects health-related data through text and voice interactions. After the AI consultation, the information gathered is reviewed by a human doctor who then provides the relevant diagnosis and prescription online. Customers can buy their medicine from the smart drug-vending machine inside the clinic.
#AI #digiceuticals #doctors #disruption #innovators-dilema #theranostics - scmp.com

Ready Patient One: Video Games as Therapy

"Basically, what we're saying is, 'Wouldn't it be therapeutic if you could be a character in a Pixar movie," he explained. "We want people to exist in a space that takes them away from an awareness of their disability and allows them to explore movement in a childlike way. Otherwise, they might not try because it's yoked to what they think is plausible in the joint space of a regular limb.
#games #vr #theranostics - medscape.com

Everything big data claims to know about you could be wrong: To understand human health and behavior, researchers would do better to study individuals, not groups -- ScienceDaily

"If you want to know what individuals feel or how they become sick, you have to conduct research on individuals, not on groups," said study lead author Aaron Fisher, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. "Diseases, mental disorders, emotions, and behaviors are expressed within individual people, over time. A snapshot of many people at one moment in time can't capture these phenomena." Moreover, the consequences of continuing to rely on group data in the medical, social and behavioral sciences include misdiagnoses, prescribing the wrong treatments and generally perpetuating scientific theory and experimentation that is not properly calibrated to the differences between individuals, Fisher said.
#medicine #big-data #complexity #theranostics - sciencedaily.com

Joyable for Anxiety

This San Francisco startup, which bills itself as the leading online solution for overcoming social anxiety, wants to help those who are time-strapped. The Joyable app offers brief, five-to-ten minute activities for users, ranging from checking in with your feelings at any given moment and examining 'personal values.' Individual plans cost $99 per month, and typically involve eight-to-twelve weeks of guided therapy, including check-ins with a regular coach. The activities are modeled after a psychotherapy method called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, a heavily researched and widely-respected field. Joyable, which launched in 2013, has raised more than $15 million in funding and claims to have reached more than 500,000 users.
#anxiety #apps #theranostics #SXSW - inc.com

Risk of Burnout Can Be Estimated by Analyzing Saliva Samples - Neuroscience News

According to the researchers, compared with the previously used early-morning samples – taken three times after waking at fifteen-minute intervals – the midday and evening saliva samples also provided a much better and more reliable result: “Our current data indicate that people at risk of burnout can be identified from a single saliva sample with almost 100% accuracy, whereas the multiple early-morning sampling involved more laborious methods and produced a much larger range of variation.” Reliable analysis is now possible just four hours after providing the sample and this method even produced better results than analysing stress-related blood parameters. “We will use these results to further reinforce our efforts to prevent stress-related illnesses in collaboration with the stress clinic of the KFA Health and Prevention Center.
#circadian #theranostics #cortisol - neurosciencenews.com

Virtual Reality Shows Promise in Treating Eating Disorders | Healthcare Analytics News

“The virtual environment makes it possible to control the unexpected and to be exposed in a safe environment to certain fears that may be difficult to reproduce in real situations,” Peran said in an email. In the future, Peran said, it could be helpful to integrate other senses into treatment, like smell and taste. But right now, the main limitation is that many therapists and physicians simply aren’t trained in using VR. The equipment itself often isn’t cheap, as well. (The cheapest major headset on the market, Google’s Daydream kit, retails for about $99). Patients also may have to deal with “simulation sickness.”   Still, the paper noted that direct studies of VR on eating disorders are few and far between. The paper used data from several clinical trials with a single patient, along with others that examined just a handful. It seems that VR-therapy is still in its infancy—just isolated physicians with the means and expertise giving it a shot on willing patients. Still, the paper notes those isolated trials show signs of progress. The paper found that most researchers focused on exposing users to food stimuli or their own body image, in a controlled format. The authors present VR as a compliment to CBT, the traditional method of therapy that treats anorexia nervosa and bulimia, allowing therapists to work on patients’ response to stimuli (like looking in the mirror or being exposed to food) in a virtual environment, and then apply CBT techniques to help break down their negative body images and anxieties.
#food #vr #theranostics - hcanews.com

Towards an unconscious neural reinforcement intervention for common fears -- ScienceDaily

That is, these researchers can tell if a participant's brain is 'unconsciously' thinking of a snake (which happens every now and then without our awareness), based on images acquired using conventional fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging, a measurement available in many hospitals). By giving the participant a small amount of monetary reward whenever this happens, the snake is thus associated with a positive feeling, thereby eventually becomes less frightening and unpleasant.
#fMRI #emotion #theranostics - sciencedaily.com

Analysis shows wearable data could help identify mental health conditions in diabetic populations | MobiHealthNews

Kumar said that individuals with mental health illnesses (MHI) are also at a higher risk for developing diabetes than those without. This is because MHI is associated with unhealthy eating habits, less physical activity and a potential increase in weight.  The analysis, which was complied by using data from general Achievement use, found that diabetes patients that self-reported symptoms of MHI walk on average 1,469 steps less per day than those without MHI symptoms. The mean daily steps taken by diabetes patients with no MHI symptoms was 7,032, compared to patients with MHI symptoms who walked 5,663 steps a day.  Participants with MHI symptoms had a lower frequency of days with high activity levels and more frequent days with lower activity levels than their counterparts without MHI symptoms. There was little difference in sleep between the two groups; patients with MHI symptoms slept an average of 6.48 hours and those with MHI symptoms slept an average of 6.72 hours.  The analysis looked at survey results from 1,330 participants with diabetes. Three hundred and thirty-six or 25.3 percent reported having some MHI in the last year. Of that 77 percent reported having anxiety symptoms and 23.7 percent reported having some form of depression.
#depression #diabetes #wearables #mood #theranostics - mobihealthnews.com

Is soda bad for your brain? (And is diet soda worse?): Both sugary, diet drinks correlated with accelerated brain aging -- ScienceDaily

Now, new research suggests that excess sugar -- especially the fructose in sugary drinks -- might damage your brain. Researchers using data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) found that people who drink sugary beverages frequently are more likely to have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and a significantly smaller hippocampus -- an area of the brain important for learning and memory. But before you chuck your sweet tea and reach for a diet soda, there's more: a follow-up study found that people who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not.
#brain #paleotherapy #big-data #theranostics # #framingham - sciencedaily.com

FitBit's new sleep tracker is pretty darn cool

imagine what we’ll learn as warehouses worth of enhanced sleep data like get integrated into drug trials, therapy, physical exams, coaching, research and even education.
#sleep #racery #AI #theranostics - racery.com

Bipolar disorder: New method predicts who will respond to lithium therapy -- ScienceDaily

Wondering whether the differences could be predictive, the team trained a computer program to recognize the variations between the profiles of responders and nonresponders using the firing patterns of 450 total neurons over six independent training rounds. In each round, they started fresh with the neurons of five of the patients to train the system. They then tested the system with the neurons of the sixth patient, whose lithium status was known to the team but not to the program. They repeated the process five more times, which allowed them to build essentially six independent models. Each model was trained on the data from five out of the six patients, leaving a different patient out of the training data each time, and then letting the model classify this remaining patient as a responder or nonresponder. Using the firing patterns of just five of any patient's neurons, the system identified the person as a responder or nonresponder with 92 percent accuracy.
#neurons #paleopsychiatry #theranostics #lithium - sciencedaily.com

A Test That Finds the Perfect Drug? - The Atlantic

Brain Resource, meanwhile, gives depression patients an online test that gauges memory, self-regulation, and emotion. Their responses are then compared against a database that contains the results of 1,000 individuals who took the same test. The thinking is that patients who score similarly will be helped by similar drugs. Currently, Brain Resource evaluates a patient’s likely response to three common depression drugs, which are sold under the brand names Lexapro, Zoloft, and Effexor. The online test takes 40 minutes, and according to Brain Resource’s founders, the results are available within two minutes. (The test is currently awaiting FDA approval.)
#depression #wearables #theranostics - theatlantic.com

Computational Neuroscience Approach to Biomarkers and Treatments for Mental Disorders. - PubMed - NCBI

For many disorders, the reported accuracies have reached 90% or more. However, we note that rigorous tests on independent cohorts are critically required to translate this research into clinical applications. Finally, we discuss the utility of the disorder-specific features found by the data-driven approach to psychiatric therapies, including neurofeedback. Such developments will allow simultaneous diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders using neuroimaging, thereby establishing "theranostics" for the first time in clinical psychiatry.
#psychology #fMRI #theranostics - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov