Google Glass App Helps Autistic Children with Social Interactions
A prototype software application, to be used with the optical head-mounted display Google Glass, has been designed as a social-skills coach for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A new study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI finds that the wearable technology can recognize conversational prompts and provide the user with suitable responses in return. Moreover, children find it easy to operate and enjoy using it.
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New Tool Helps Physicians Assess Usefulness of Clinical Guidelines for Patient Outcomes
A team of researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and colleagues have developed a new tool, G-TRUST (the Guideline Trustworthiness, Relevance, and Utility Scoring Tool) to help clinicians assess the usefulness of clinical guidelines in the treatment of their patients. The related study is published in Annals of Family Medicine.
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Brain Composer: 'Thinking' Melodies onto a Musical Score
Brain-computer interfaces, known as BCI, can replace bodily functions to a certain degree. Thanks to BCI, physically impaired persons can control special prostheses through the power of their minds, surf in internet and write emails. Under the title of "Brain Composer", a group led by BCI expert Gernot Müller-Putz from TU Graz's Institute of Neural Engineering shows that experiences of quite a different tone can be sounded from the keys of brain-computer interfaces.
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New Diagnostic Tool Spots First Signs of Parkinson's Disease
Researchers have developed the first tool that can diagnose Parkinson's disease when there are no physical symptoms, offering hope for more effective treatment of the condition. There are currently no laboratory tests for Parkinson's and by the time people present to a neurologist with symptoms, nerve cells in their brains have already suffered irreversible damage.
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PupilScreen Aims to Allow Parents, Coaches, Medics to Detect Concussion, TBIs with a Phone
University of Washington researchers are developing the first smartphone app that is capable of objectively detecting concussion and other traumatic brain injuries in the field: on the sidelines of a sports game, on a battlefield or in the home of an elderly person prone to falls. PupilScreen can detect changes in a pupil's response to light using a smartphone's video camera and deep learning tools
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Stroke Patient Improvement with a Brain-Computer Interface
University of Adelaide researchers have shown that it is possible for stroke patients to improve motor function using special training involving connecting brain signals with a computer. In a "proof-of-principle" study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the researchers described how this brain-computer interface (BCI) produced a 36% improvement in motor function of a stroke-damaged hand.
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New App Uses Smartphone Selfies to Screen for Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer has one of the worst prognoses - with a five-year survival rate of 9 percent - in part because there are no telltale symptoms or non-invasive screening tools to catch a tumor before it spreads. Now, University of Washington researchers have developed an app that could allow people to easily screen for pancreatic cancer and other diseases - by snapping a smartphone selfie.
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