Mobile App for Autism Screening Yields Useful Data
A Duke study of an iPhone app to screen young children for signs of autism has found that the app is easy to use, welcomed by caregivers and good at producing reliable scientific data. The study, described June 1 in an open access journal npj Digital Medicine, points the way to broader, easier access to screening for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
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mHealth as Effective as Clinic-Based Intervention for People with Serious Mental Illness
A mobile health (mHealth) intervention was found to be as effective as a clinic-based group intervention for people with serious mental illness in a new study published online in Psychiatric Services. In a randomized controlled trial, researchers compared an mHealth approach (FOCUS), using mobile phones to deliver intervention, to a more traditional clinic-based group intervention, the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP).
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New Computational Tool could Help Optimize Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease
Scientists have developed a novel computational approach that incorporates individual patients' brain activity to calculate optimal, personalized brain stimulation treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Lazaro Sanchez-Rodriguez of the University of Calgary, Canada, and colleagues present their new framework in PLOS Computational Biology.
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Ingestible 'Bacteria on a Chip' could Help Diagnose Disease
MIT researchers have built an ingestible sensor equipped with genetically engineered bacteria that can diagnose bleeding in the stomach or other gastrointestinal problems. This "bacteria-on-a-chip" approach combines sensors made from living cells with ultra-low-power electronics that convert the bacterial response into a wireless signal that can be read by a smartphone.
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New Study Reveals How Electronic Health Records can Benefit Clinical Trials
The study entitled "Long term extension of a randomised controlled trial of probiotics using electronic health records" led by researchers in the Swansea University Medical School and the College of Human and Health Sciences, was published in Scientific Reports. The findings demonstrate the potential of using anonymised routinely collected electronic health records, such as those linked in SAIL, for more complete trial results.
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Producing living tissue or organs based on human cells is one of the main research fields in regenerative medicine. Tissue engineering, which involves growing replacement parts in the laboratory, forms a key part of this research. The parts can be used to replace defective cells and tissues in the body and restore their normal functioning.
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A New Way to Watch Brain Activity in Action
It's a neuroscientist's dream: being able to track the millions of interactions among brain cells in animals that move about freely, behaving as they would under natural circumstances. New technology developed at The Rockefeller University represents a big step toward realizing that goal.
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