August 21, 2008
Maybe It Is Time To Change Your Password
In a recent online survey, 42 percent of Internet users admitted to logging into other people's email and social networking accounts without their knowledge. A poll by Internet Evolution of 300 readers asked "Have you ever logged into someone's email or social networking account without his or her knowledge?" The (slim) majority replied that they have not but an amazing 42% responded positively.
The poll didn't ask if passwords were given, found, or stolen which would make for further interesting results. The article describes the respondents as part of an "educated tech-readership" and questions the ethics of logging onto someone else's account, and whether those differ depending on the person and relationship."
Some interesting data and fuel for some ethical debates about online behavior.
Survey article from Internet Evolution
Tips and Suggestions for a good password
Sample password strength checker
August 17, 2008
Robot With A Biological Brain
A research team at the University of Reading has developed a robot which is controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. This cutting edge research is the first step to examine how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data. The key aim is that eventually this will lead to a better understanding of development and of diseases and disorders which affect the brain such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, stoke and brain injury.
The robot’s biological brain is made up of cultured neurons which are placed onto a multi electrode array (MEA). The MEA is a dish with approximately 60 electrodes which pick up the electrical signals generated by the cells. This is then used to drive the movement of the robot. Every time the robot nears an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain by means of the electrodes. In response, the brain's output is used to drive the wheels of the robot, left and right, so that it moves around in an attempt to avoid hitting objects. The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer, its sole means of control is from its own brain.
Other research teams have tried to control robots with ‘brains,’ but there was always a computer in the loop. This new project is the first one to examine ‘how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data.’ As life expectancy is increasing in most countries, this new research could provide insights into how the brain works and help aging people.
According to the project description, the neural cultures will be cultured locally in the University of Readings’ new Electrophysiological research laboratory allowing real-time access to the recording and stimulation hardware via an intranet link-up. In order to test the abilities of such cultured neural networks we propose using them to control some of our existing mobile robots. This is to be achieved by applying a number of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques in order to correctly translate robot sensor inputs into suitable patterns of stimulation and interpret the resulting patterns of neural activity as motor actions. In order to measure the amount of computation the cultured “brain” is performing we will use a surrogate (an artificial neural network that redistributes the input signal to the output) in place of the the cultured “brain”. Both the cultured “brain” and the surrogate will be applied to various behavioural tasks (such as obstacle avoidance and wall following) the difference in performance between the cultured “brain” and the surrogate will give us some measure of the processing capabilities of cultured neural networks when used in this way.”
Source: University of Reading Press Release
Video from University of Reading Faculty
This work was presented at European Robotics Symposium 2008
Additional reading on this topic
Connecting Neurons to a Mobile Robot: An In Vitro Bidirectional Neural Interface
August 13, 2008
Clinical Decision Support Tools Can Change The Practice Of Medicine
Clinical decision support(CDS) tools, technologies that provide information to aid the diagnosis and treatment of patients, are set to make dramatic changes to the practice of medicine, according to a new report by Datamonitor.
Early adopters of EHRs have begun adding more advanced functionalities, including CDS tools, to their EHRs. According to the report, EHRs without CDS, are not much more than a compilation of paper records in an electronic format. Since electronic formats can ofer so much more to the clinician, there is an increasing interest in CDS.
The types of CDS technologies "range from online reference materials and guidelines, through alerts built into electronic prescribing (eRx) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE), to data mining and artificial intelligence." Currently, CDS tools are geared toward providers such as hospitals, physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists and physical therapists. It is predicted that payers, such as governments and patients will use CDS to a greater extent in the future.
The report points out that medical culture will be the major obstacle to overcome in CDS adoption. and that "the 'art of medicine' is still highly regarded among providers. Critics of CDS maintain a computer cannot understand the nuances of medicine even when the technologies have been shown to improve efficiencies and outcomes. While a fundamental shift in culture is not impossible, it will take time as well as an increase in provider education and pressure from patients, payers and hospital executives.
As the healthcare system becomes more patient-centric, CDS will as well. This focus on individual patients will be evident in a number of ways. For example, alerts and reminders will be personalized to each patient and genetic information will be included in patient records. Patients will even use CDS tools themselves to help aid in their own diagnosis and treatment.
Implementing most CDS tools is difficult today particularly if the technology is not user friendly. CPOE with CDS, for example, is already widely accepted, but rarely used appropriately. The main complaint that physicians have regarding CPOE with CDS is that too many inappropriate alerts pop up on the computer screen. Providers begin to ignore the alerts, even the correct ones, negating the reason why the alerts were set up in the first place. Alerts and reminders need to be accurate, relevant to the patient, unobtrusive to the provider's workflow and quick to use. Tracking how alerts are used and which are over-ridden may be the most valuable information for early adopters to share with their peers.
The amount of clinical data available for research will grow exponentially with the greater adoption of EHRs, but the full value of the information collected will not be reached unless healthcare practitioners have the tools to analyze it. With the technology and information available today, providers should not be complacent with the current misdiagnosis rate. "If social networking tools like Facebook are able to predict who an individual might be friends with based on who he or she is already friends with, there is no reason that CDS should not be able to determine what diagnosis patients may have based on their health information. Despite the need to improve in this area, the use of CDS tools for diagnosis and computer-assisted diagnosis (CAD) technologies will be slow until a fundamental change in medical culture occurs."
Resources:
Evaluation of Decision Support Systems (2007)
August 04, 2008
Study Shows Playing Video Games Can Change Behavior, Biology
Video games are among the most popular entertainment media in the world. New, groundbreaking research published in this month's Pediatrics Journal shows that a specially designed video game can promote positive behaviors in young cancer patients that enhance the effectiveness of medical treatment. This research provides scientific evidence for a growing field of product development that taps into the positive potential of video games and other popular technology to improve human health.
The study evaluated the impact of playing Re-Mission(TM), a video game developed by HopeLab specifically for teens and young adults with cancer, on key behavioral and psychological factors associated with successful cancer treatment. In Re-Mission, players pilot a microscopic robot named Roxxi as she travels through the bodies of fictional cancer patients, blasting away cancer cells and battling the side-effects of cancer and cancer treatments. This study on Re-Mission is the largest randomized, controlled study of a video game intervention ever conducted, following 375 teens and young adults with cancer at 34 medical centers in the United States, Canada and Australia during three months of cancer treatment.
Analyses of study data suggest that patients' increased sense of control over cancer (self-efficacy) was a major driver of the game's effect on treatment utilization. To better understand how game play delivers the outcomes highlighted in the Pediatrics article, HopeLab conducted a study that utilizes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to analyze the brain regions that are activated when people play Re-Mission. Data from this research will be presented in Tokyo at the 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine August 27 - 30, 2008.
Link to Pediatrics article
Link to Re-mission
Link to Congress of Behavioral Medicine
Link to previous AATP weblog story on Re-mission
Source: PRNewswire