AATP Interactive

Amazon Search

Amazom.com has just instituted a powerful new feature. You can now do a text search for any word within any of their over 120,000 books. Impressive. Here is the announcement from their CEO.

Wired Story

Beyond Therapy - Biotechnology

This month the President's Council on Bioethics released "Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness a 300 page report containing topics such as:

Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
Better Children
Superior Performance
Ageless Bodies
Happy Souls
"Beyond Therapy": General Reflections

In an editorial in the Washington Post by Leon R. Kass, chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, he writes, " By all accounts, we are entering the golden age of biotechnology. Advances in genetics, drug discovery and regenerative medicine promise cures for dreaded diseases and relief for terrible suffering. Advances in neuroscience and psychopharmacology promise better treatments for the mentally ill. Techniques of assisted reproduction have already allowed more than a million infertile couples to have their own children. Without such advances -- past, present and future -- many of us would lead diminished lives or not be here at all."

There is also an interesting NY Times OP-Ed by William Safire about the report.
This has many more implications and ramifications for Technology and Psychiatry than we realize and needs to be an agenda item for all those involved in this area.

(Thanks to Zack at Brain Waves for bringing this to our attention)

Online Health Record in Canada

Electronic health records have been recommended as key to modernizing health systems by federal and provincial health panels including the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada. In Alberta the government unveiled an on-line database of patients' medical information yesterday in a move that it hopes will improve treatment and save lives. Using this online Electronic Health Record will allow physicians, pharmacists and hospitals to view and update medical information including patient's drug prescriptions and lab tests online,

"Health care providers now have access to important patient information when and where they need it," according to Alberta Health Minister Gary Mar. Under the plan, patients cannot refuse to have their medical records included on the computer system. While they can ask a doctor to "mask" some sensitive information, the doctor can refuse the patient's request. The plan is to have 5,200 health providers on the system by the spring and all hospitals and most doctors will be logging on by 2005.

Security on Alberta's computer record system will require users to punch in a unique identification number along with an electronic tag with constantly changing digital numbers. Once online, a user will be limited to certain streams of information. For example, a pharmacist would only be able to access a patient's drug prescriptions.

News Story from CTV

Better Brains

In case you missed the September 2003 special edition of Scientific American, it was called Better Brains.

Here is the table of contents for this special section

INTRODUCTION
Ultimate Self-Improvement
By Gary Stix
The brain is still an enigma. But that won't stop us from trying to enhance mental functioning

NEUROCHEMISTRY
Taming Stress
By Robert Sapolsky
An emerging understanding of the brain's stress pathways points toward treatments for anxiety and depression beyond Valium and Prozac

NEUROGENESIS
Brain, Repair Yourself
By Fred H. Gage
How do you fix a broken brain? The answers may literally lie within our heads. The same approaches might also boost the power of an already healthy brain

NEUROETHICS
Is Better Best?
By Arthur L. Caplan
A noted ethicist argues in favor of brain enhancement

IMAGING
Mind Readers
By Philip Ross
Brain-scanning machines may soon be capable of discerning rudimentary thoughts and separating fact from fiction

TREATMENT
Stimulating the Brain
By Mark S. George
Activating the brain's circuitry with pulsed magnetic fields may help ease depression, enhance cognition, even fight fatigue

PSYCHIATRY
Diagnosing Disorders
By Steven E. Hyman
Psychiatric illnesses are often hard to recognize, but genetic testing and neuroimaging could someday be used to improve detection

PLASTICITY
The Mutable Brain
By Marguerite Holloway
Score one for believers in the adage "use it or lose it." Targeted mental and physical exercises seem to improve the brain in unexpected ways

ENHANCEMENT
The Quest for a Smart Pill
By Stephen S. Hall
New drugs to improve memory and cognitive performance in impaired individuals are under intensive study. Their possible use in healthy people already triggers debate

The Robert Sapolsky article on Taming Stress is available free full text online. The others are available but for a fee.

A very interesting edition.