Research

Who Uses Phone Apps to Track Sleep Habits?

The profile of most Americans who use popular mobile phone apps that track sleep habits is that they are relatively affluent, claim to eat well, and say they are in good health, even if some of them tend to smoke. These are some of the surprise findings, say the study authors, of the first national survey of sleep-specific mobile health app use among men and women in the United States.

Researchers Develop a Remote-Controlled Cancer Immunotherapy System

A team of researchers has developed an ultrasound-based system that can non-invasively and remotely control genetic processes in live immune T cells so that they recognize and kill cancer cells. There is a critical need to non-invasively and remotely manipulate cells at a distance, particularly for translational applications in animals and humans, researchers said.

Smartphone Health Apps Miss Some Daily Activity of Users

If you use your smartphone to monitor your physical activity, you're probably more active than it suggests. A new UBC study finds that the iPhone's built-in pedometer missed about 1,340 steps during a user's typical day when compared to a purpose-built accelerometer worn on the waist.

Scientists Design Bacteria to Reflect 'Sonar' Signals for Ultrasound Imaging

In the 1966 science fiction film Fantastic Voyage, a submarine is shrunken down and injected into a scientist's body to repair a blood clot in his brain. While the movie may be still be fiction, researchers at Caltech are making strides in this direction: they have, for the first time, created bacterial cells with the ability to reflect sound waves, reminiscent of how submarines reflect sonar to reveal their locations.

Ophthalmologists Increasingly Dissatisfied with Electronic Health Records

Ophthalmologists' use of electronic health records (EHR) systems for storing and accessing patients' medical histories more than doubled between 2006 and 2016, while their perceptions of financial and clinical productivity following EHR implementation declined, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology shows.

The Importance of the Robot iCub as a Standard Robotic Research Platform for Embodied AI

Robotic research benefited in the last ten years of a standardized common open-source platform for research on embodied artificial intelligence (AI): the humanoid robot iCub. Born in Italy, today it is available in 36 copies in laboratories across Europe, USA, South Korea, Singapore and Japan and more than hundred researchers worldwide contribute to develop its skills.

Robotic Device Improves Balance and Gait in Parkinson's Disease Patients

Some 50,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) every year. The American Institute of Neurology estimates there are one million people affected with this neurodegenerative disorder, with 60 years as average age of onset. Falls and fall-related injuries are a major issue for people with Parkinson's - up to 70 percent of advanced PD patients fall at least once a year and two-thirds suffer recurring falls.

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