Research

First Entirely Digital Clinical Trial Encourages Physical Activity

As little as a daily ping on your phone can boost physical activity, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine and their collaborators report in a new study. The finding comes by way of the first-ever entirely digital, randomized clinical trial, which sought to answer two overarching questions: Is it feasible to successfully run an entirely digital, randomized clinical trial?

AI could Offer Warnings about Serious Side Effects of Drug-Drug Interactions

The more medications a patient takes, the greater the likelihood that interactions between those drugs could trigger negative side effects, including long-term organ damage and even death. Now, researchers at Penn State have developed a machine learning system that may be able to warn doctors and patients about possible negative side effects that might occur when drugs are mixed.

Combination of AI & Radiologists more Accurately Identified Breast Cancer

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool - trained on roughly a million screening mammography images - identified breast cancer with approximately 90 percent accuracy when combined with analysis by radiologists, a new study finds. Led by researchers from NYU School of Medicine and the NYU Center for Data Science, the study examined the ability of a type of AI, a machine learning computer program, to add value to

Patients Say Ask before Using Medical Records for Research

With electronic medical records creating an ideal source of data to inform quality care and new discovery, a key question emerges: How much say should patients have in how their data is used? A new study led by Michigan Medicine researchers finds that even when patients understand the overall benefit to society, they still want to be able to give consent at least once before their de-identified data is used for research.

Secret-Shopper-Style Study Shows Online Birth Control Prescription Overall Safe, Efficient

Web-based and digital-app services that offer oral contraception appear to be overall safe and efficient, according to the findings of a secret-shopper-style study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School and UC Davis that analyzed the birth control prescription services of nine U.S. vendors.

Up-Close and Personal with Neuronal Networks

How our brain cells, or neurons, use electrical signals to communicate and coordinate for higher brain function is one of the biggest questions in all of science. For decades, researchers have used electrodes to listen in on and record these signals. The patch clamp electrode, an electrode in a thin glass tube, revolutionized neurobiology in the 1970's with its ability to

Brain-Computer Interfaces without the Mess

It sounds like science fiction: controlling electronic devices with brain waves. But researchers have developed a new type of electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode that can do just that, without the sticky gel required for conventional electrodes. Even better, the devices work through a full head of hair.