Positive Technology Journal

Virtual reality, telemedicine, web and data processing innovations in medical and psychiatric education and clinical care.

Acad Psychiatry. 2006;30(6):528-33

Authors: Hilty DM, Alverson DC, Alpert JE, Tong L, Sagduyu K, Boland RJ, Mostaghimi A, Leamon ML, Fidler D, Yellowlees PM

OBJECTIVE: This article highlights technology innovations in psychiatric and medical education, including applications from other fields. METHOD: The authors review the literature and poll educators and informatics faculty for novel programs relevant to psychiatric education. RESULTS: The introduction of new technologies requires skill at implementation and evaluation to assess the pros and cons. There is a significant body of literature regarding virtual reality and simulation, including assessment of outcomes, but other innovations are not well studied. CONCLUSIONS: Innovations, like other uses of technology, require collaboration between parties and integration within the educational framework of an institution.

Education about hallucinations using an internet virtual reality system: a qualitative survey.

Acad Psychiatry. 2006;30(6):534-9

Authors: Yellowlees PM, Cook JN

OBJECTIVE: The authors evaluate an Internet virtual reality technology as an education tool about the hallucinations of psychosis. METHOD: This is a pilot project using Second Life, an Internet-based virtual reality system, in which a virtual reality environment was constructed to simulate the auditory and visual hallucinations of two patients with schizophrenia. Eight hundred sixty-three self-referred users took a self-guided tour. RESULTS: Five hundred seventy-nine (69%) of the users who toured the environment completed a survey. Of the survey responders, 440 (76%) thought the environment improved their understanding of auditory hallucinations, 69% thought it improved their understanding of visual hallucinations, and 82% said they would recommend the environment to a friend. CONCLUSIONS: Computer simulations of the perceptual phenomena of psychiatric illness are feasible with existing personal computer technology. Integration of the evaluation survey into the environment itself was possible. The use of Internet-connected graphics environments holds promise for public education about mental illness.

Via 3D Point 

A browser called 3B that allows you take existing 2D Web content and make an avatarized 3D space out of it that others can visit. From the site:

“3B allows you take any web sites or photos and place them in a personalized 3D space, your 3B village. You can use MySpace, Hi5 or Bebo pages or photos you’ve loaded onto Flickr, Photobucket or any other web service.”

From the project's website (via 3D point):

The Ogoglio project is exploring shared online worlds in the context of web enabled work. If World of Warcraft is "the new golf", then we're exploring "the new business district".

We are creating spaces where people will meet with remote coworkers, collaborate using new tools, integrate existing business applications, and enjoy the benefits of being in the same office with people in different time zones.

Project summary:

Many people now start their careers with a deep understanding of cooperative 3D communities like World of Warcraft, but when they enter the workplace they are handed email and a shared calendar and are expected to teach themselves how to be productive. Instead of forcing people to limit their communication to these thin channels, The Ogoglio project will provide community workspaces with the planning and coordination tools which have proven to be effective in multiplayer online games.

Link to the Ogoglio blog

From Smart Mobs

Rhythms of social interaction: messaging within a massive online network (PDF) by Scott Golder, Dennis Wilkinson, and Bernardo Huberman:

"We have analyzed the fully-anonymized headers of 362 million messages exchanged by 4.2 million users of Facebook, an online social network of college students, during a 26 month interval. The data reveal a number of strong daily and weekly regularities which provide insights into the time use of college students and their social lives, including seasonal variations. We also examined how factors such as school affiliation and informal online “friend” lists affect the observed behavior and temporal patterns. Finally, we show that Facebook users appear to be clustered by school with respect to their temporal messaging patterns.

Re-blogged from TechCrunch 

Instant messaging programs connect people across the Internet. Newer programs like RadiusIM and Meetro, connect people by their real-world location. RadiusIM is an AJAX application, while Meetro is a downloadable client. Both allow you to fill out your location and profile as a way to meet new people in your area, or even another country. Unlike the other developments in chat, location based IM hasn’t seen heavy adoption on other platforms, which continue to connect people based on a user generated buddy list.

National LambdaRail (NLR) announced today that it is developing a plan to implement a Telepresence testbed based on the Cisco Telepresence Meeting solution by mid-2007. With its nationwide optical backbone connected to nearly 20 regional optical networks, it will be simple for researchers to participate in the testbed from key research and education facilities throughout the nation. A call for participation will be issued early next year.

Read the full news release

Controlling posture using a plantar pressure-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback system.

Exp Brain Res. 2006 Nov 30;

Authors: Vuillerme N, Chenu O, Demongeot J, Payan Y

The present paper introduces an original biofeedback system for improving human balance control, whose underlying principle consists in providing additional sensory information related to foot sole pressure distribution to the user through a tongue-placed tactile output device. To assess the effect of this biofeedback system on postural control during quiet standing, ten young healthy adults were asked to stand as immobile as possible with their eyes closed in two conditions of No-biofeedback and Biofeedback. Centre of foot pressure (CoP) displacements were recorded using a force platform. Results showed reduced CoP displacements in the Biofeedback relative to the No-biofeedback condition. The present findings evidenced the ability of the central nervous system to efficiently integrate an artificial plantar-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback for controlling control posture during quiet standing.

Analgesic effects of posthypnotic suggestions and virtual reality distraction on thermal pain.

J Abnorm Psychol. 2006 Nov;115(4):834-41

Authors: Patterson DR, Hoffman HG, Palacios AG, Jensen MJ

The individual and combined effects of posthypnotic suggestion (PHS) and virtual reality distraction (VRD) on experimentally induced thermal pain were examined using a 2 x 2, between-groups design. After receiving baseline thermal pain, each participant received hypnosis or no hypnosis, followed by VRD or no VRD during another pain stimulus. Consistent with the hypothesis that hypnosis and VRD work via different mechanisms, results show that posthypnotic analgesia was moderated by hypnotizability but VRD analgesia was not. The impact of PHSs for analgesia was specific to high hypnotizables, whereas VRD was effective independent of hypnotizability. Results also show a nonsignificant but predicted pattern for high hypnotizables: Audio hypnosis combined with VRD reduced worst pain 22% more and pain unpleasantness 25% more than did VRD alone. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Rehabilitation after Stroke using Virtual Reality, Haptics (force feedback) and Telemedicine.

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2006;124:51-56

Authors: Broeren J, Dixon M, Stibrant Sunnerhagen K, Rydmark M

We have constructed a haptic immersive workbench to be placed in the patients' home for daily adjusted rehabilitation. We also propose a system for Internet based connection and communication between patients and between patients and a clinical rehabilitation center and clinical assessment/evaluation centers. The benefits of a system for rehabilitation after stroke, based on VR, Haptics and Telemedicine should be: increased quality of life, lesser isolation, feeling more secure, fewer tiring transportations, more frequent exercising, better compliance to training, lower cost for transportation. The long term recovery for a larger group of patients with motor impairments is presently under evaluation.

Virtual reality applications for the remapping of space in neglect patients.

Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2006;24(4-6):431-41

Authors: Ansuini C, Pierno AC, Lusher D, Castiello U

Purpose: The aims of the present article were the following: (i) to provide some evidence of the potential of virtual reality (VR) for the assessment, training and recovery of hemispatial neglect; (ii) to present data from our laboratory which seem to confirm that the clinical manifestation of neglect can be improved by using VR techniques; and (iii) to ascertain the neural bases of this improvement. Methods: We used a VR device (DataGlove) interfaced with a specially designed computer program which allowed neglect patients to reach and grasp a real object while simultaneously observing the grasping of a virtual object located within a virtual environment by a virtual hand. The virtual hand was commanded in real time by their real hand. Results: After a period of training, hemispatial neglect patients coded the visual stimuli within the neglected space in an identical fashion as those presented within the preserved portions of space. However it was also found that only patients with lesions that spared the inferior parietal/superior temporal regions were able to benefit from the virtual reality training. Conclusions: It was concluded that using VR it is possible to re-create links between the affected and the nonaffected space in neglect patients. Furthermore, that specific regions may play a crucial role in the recovery of space that underlies the improvement of neglect patients when trained with virtual reality. The implications of these results for determining the neural bases of a higher order attentional and/or spatial representation, and for the treatment of patients with unilateral neglect are discussed.

From the Journal of Personal Cyberconsciousness, 1(3) 2006 (via IEET) 

In this article, Martine Rothblatt, a "geoethical samurai", introduces Macro-Bushido, a set of ethical guidelines for the modern Info-Cultural Age. Macro-Bushido is based on Bushido, the unwritten code of ethics that guided Japan's samurai until about one hundred years ago. The seven principles of Bushido are: Rectitude, Courage, Benevolence, Politeness, Veracity, Honor and Loyalty. Rothblatt dissects each principle and explains how it could be applied to the modern world and in particular, to emerging cyberconsciousness. Rothblatt argues that upholding Macro-Bushido in today's world will result in many benefits, among them that humans may be saved from the consequences of shortsightedness by refocusing their attention on loyalty to a higher goal. In addition, a class of modern samurai may emerge to help keep humanity loyal to the objectives of diversity, unity and immortality. These ideals are invaluable as we arrive at personal cyberconsciousness within humanity's quest for survival.

Link to the article

Relaxation strategies and enhancement of hypnotic susceptibility: EEG neurofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation and self-hypnosis.

Brain Res Bull. 2006 Dec 11;71(1-3):83-90

Authors: Batty MJ, Bonnington S, Tang BK, Hawken MB, Gruzelier JH

Hypnosis has been shown to be efficacious in a range of clinical conditions, including the management of chronic pain. However, not all individuals are able to enter a hypnotic state, thereby limiting the clinical utility of this technique. We sought to determine whether hypnotic susceptibility could be increased using three methods thought to facilitate relaxation, with particular interest in an EEG neurofeedback protocol which elevated the theta to alpha ratio. This was compared with progressive muscle relaxation and self-hypnosis. Ten subjects with moderate levels of susceptibility (2-7/12) were randomly assigned to each condition and assessed for hypnotic susceptibility prior to and upon completion of 10 sessions of training. Hypnotic susceptibility increased post-training in all groups, providing further evidence that operant control over the theta/alpha ratio is possible, but contrary to our predictions, elevation of the theta/alpha ratio proved no more successful than the other interventions. Nonetheless, all three techniques successfully enhanced hypnotic susceptibility in over half of the participants (17/30), a similar incidence to that reported using other methods. As previously reported, the majority who were not susceptible to modification were at the lower levels of susceptibility, and the greater increases tended to occur in the more susceptible subjects. However, here enhancement was disclosed in some at low levels, and capability was found of reaching high levels, both features not typically reported. Further research is warranted.

Brain-computer interface technology as a tool to augment plasticity and outcomes for neurological rehabilitation.

J Physiol. 2006 Nov 16;

Authors: Dobkin BH

Brain-computer interfaces are a rehabilitation tool for tetraplegic patients that aim to improve quality of life by augmenting communication, control of the environment, and self-care. The neurobiology of both rehabilitation and BCI control depends upon learning to modify the efficacy of spared neural ensembles that represent movement, sensation, and cognition through progressive practice with feedback and reward. To serve patients, BCI systems must become safe, reliable, cosmetically acceptable, quickly mastered with minimal ongoing technical support, and highly accurate even in the face of mental distractions and the uncontrolled environment beyond a laboratory. BCI technologies may raise ethical concerns if their availability affects the decisions of patients who become locked-in with brain stem stroke or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to be sustained with ventilator support. If BCI technology becomes flexible and affordable, volitional control of cortical signals could be employed for the rehabilitation of motor and cognitive impairments in hemiplegic or paraplegic patients by offering on-line feedback about cortical activity associated with mental practice, motor intention, and other neural recruitment strategies during progressive task-oriented practice. Clinical trials with measures of quality of life will be necessary to demonstrate the value of near-term and future BCI applications.

Re-blogged from Pink Tentacle

Hitachi has successfully tested a brain-machine interface that allows users to turn power switches on and off with their mind. Relying on optical topography, a neuroimaging technique that uses near-infrared light to map blood concentration in the brain, the system can recognize the changes in brain blood flow associated with mental activity and translate those changes into voltage signals for controlling external devices. In the experiments, test subjects were able to activate the power switch of a model train by performing mental arithmetic and reciting items from memory.

Link to Pink Tentacle post

Via Infoaesthetic

Moodjam is an online visualization of people's moods visualized as beautiful color strips. Users can keep a record of their moods every hour, day, and weeks and share them with friends, family or co-workers.

Via Medgadget

Researchers from Brunel University in the UK have developed a PDA-based pain recording and monitoring system:

Brunel University today unveils the World's first computer based, three-dimensional (3D) solution for pain visualisation. The tool will help patients record their own pain, as well as providing practitioners with a way to collect information on patient experience of pain and allows greater insight into the way pain travels around the body...

The innovative pain visualisation tool is displayed via a web browser as a 3D body. Users can log pain data on an easy-to-use PDA monitor at regular intervals. Pain can be classified as: burning, aching, stabbing, pins and needles and numbness with each pain type allocated a colour, which is represented on the 3D rotating tool.

The data is collected and the pain entries can be stored and replayed over an extended period as a rotating multimedia image, providing physicians with more detailed understanding of surface pain journeys.

Brunel University today unveils the World's first computer based, three-dimensional (3D) solution for pain visualisation. The tool will help patients record their own pain, as well as providing practitioners with a way to collect information on patient experience of pain and allows greater insight into the way pain travels around the body...

The innovative pain visualisation tool is displayed via a web browser as a 3D body. Users can log pain data on an easy-to-use PDA monitor at regular intervals. Pain can be classified as: burning, aching, stabbing, pins and needles and numbness with each pain type allocated a colour, which is represented on the 3D rotating tool.

The data is collected and the pain entries can be stored and replayed over an extended period as a rotating multimedia image, providing physicians with more detailed understanding of surface pain journeys.

 

Link

From Medgadget 

Researchers Fishbach and Mussa-Ivaldi at Northwestern University's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation have developed a high-tech fabric which promises to help wheelchair bound patients.  

From the article at MIT Tech Review:

Adaptive, sensor-laden garments could provide a new way for quadriplegics to control their wheelchairs. The system, which is still in an early stage of development, identifies the ideal set of movements that can be employed as control commands for each individual user. "We think this will benefit the most difficult patients, such as those who can move only their head or shoulders," says Alon Fishbach, a scientist at Northwestern who is among those developing the device.

People with high-level spinal-cord injuries often lose control of their hands, but they may still be able to move their shoulders or chests. More and more such patients survive their injuries, thanks to respiratory devices that help them breathe. But these people have limited options when selecting devices to control their wheelchairs or computers. They might use a sip/puff switch, which converts the user's sip or puff of air into a specific command, or a headswitch, which records head movements via a switch on the back of the wheelchair. "But the disadvantage of these devices is that patients must fit the capacities of the machine, rather than the other way around," says Ferdinando Mussa-Ivaldi, another Northwestern scientist working on the device. "If a patient can move their right side more than their left, an intelligent interface could pick up on this."

To overcome this design flaw, the researchers are developing an adaptive device using sensor-laden fabric. The garment is printed with 52 flexible, piezoresistive sensors developed at the University of Pisa. These sensors are made of electroactive polymers that change voltage depending on the angle at which they are stretched. The sensors can detect fine scale movements of the upper body and arms.

The researchers are currently focusing on a system to control wheelchairs, but they say the device could be used to control a wide range of machines.

Re-blogged from Mauro Cherubini's moleskine

bliin YourLIVE! is a social networking service where users can spot, trace and share experiences — pictures, videos, audio and text — with one another in real-time on a Google Map.

Users create ‘bliins’ to navigate and monitor their interests in a location or area. bliins can be saved and shared amongst users. bliin is powered by GeoTracing and built on KeyWorx.

Motor imagery of complex everyday movements. An fMRI study.

Neuroimage. 2006 Nov 15;

Authors: Szameitat AJ, Shen S, Sterr A

The present study aimed to investigate the functional neuroanatomical correlates of motor imagery (MI) of complex everyday movements (also called everyday tasks or functional tasks). 15 participants imagined two different types of everyday movements, movements confined to the upper extremities (UE; e.g., eating a meal) and movements involving the whole body (WB; e.g., swimming), during fMRI scanning. Results showed that both movement types activated the lateral and medial premotor cortices bilaterally, the left parietal cortex, and the right basal ganglia. Direct comparison of WB and UE movements further revealed a homuncular organization in the primary sensorimotor cortices (SMC), with UE movements represented in inferior parts of the SMC and WB movements in superior and medial parts. These results demonstrate that MI of everyday movements drives a cortical network comparable to the one described for more simple movements such as finger opposition. The findings further are in accordance with the suggestion that motor imagery-based mental practice is effective because it activates a comparable cortical network as overt training. Since most people are familiar with everyday movements and therefore a practice of the movement prior to scanning is not necessarily required, the current paradigm seems particularly appealing for clinical research and application focusing on patients with low or no residual motor abilities.