Virtual Reality Cognitive Training Game for Remote Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment
Greek researchers demonstrated the potential of a self-administered virtual supermarket cognitive training game for remotely detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI), without the need for an examiner, among a sample of older adults. MCI patients suffer from cognitive problems and often encounter difficulties in performing complex activities such as financial planning.
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Limitations of Physician-Rating Websites
Patients are increasingly seeking information about physicians online. Nearly 60 percent report that online reviews are important when choosing a physician. Because publicly reported quality data are not reported at the physician level, patients must consult physician-rating websites to find such reviews.
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Artificial Synapse for Neural Networks
For all the improvements in computer technology over the years, we still struggle to recreate the low-energy, elegant processing of the human brain. Now, researchers at Stanford University and Sandia National Laboratories have made an advance that could help computers mimic one piece of the brain's efficient design - an artificial version of the space over which neurons communicate, called a synapse.
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Online Pharmacies Could Fuel Antibiotic Resistance
The researchers from Imperial College London analysed 20 pharmacies that were available for UK citizens to access online. This is one of the few studies to have examined the online availability of antibiotics and to have explored the potential effects on public health. The research is published in Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
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How many calories in that tweet?
It's easy to find out how many calories are in a Twinkie. But how about in a tweet? A team of scientists have invented a new instrument for measuring just that: the caloric content of social media posts - like tweets.
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Teach a Computer to Recognize AML
Researchers have developed the first computer machine-learning model to accurately predict which patients diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, or AML, will go into remission following treatment for their disease and which will relapse. The computer was trained using bone marrow data and medical histories of AML patients, as well as blood data from healthy individuals.
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One Step Closer to Personalized Antibiotic Treatment
Taking antibiotics to fight an infection won't necessarily solve your problems. Often, natural occurring bacteria in the gut harbor several resistance genes. This means that the gut bacteria may exchange genes with the infectious bacteria, resulting in antibiotic resistance. Therefore, knowing the resistome - i.e. the pool of resistance genes present in the gut microbiota - can improve treatment immensely.
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