Reality Archives

Combining Mixed Reality Tech With Brain Signals Could Improve Rehabilitative Medicine

November 28, 2020 [email protected]_84 Brain, combining, Improve, medicine, Mixed, Reality, Rehabilitative, signals, tech

A new headset and software platform allows researchers and developers of mixed reality programs the opportunity to incorporate signals from the brain and body into their technology, something that has wide potential for use in rehabilitative medicine.

Virtual and augmented reality has already been used to treat patients with a range of psychiatric disorders including ADHD, PTSD and anxiety, but this tech could help improve how effective it is.

“You can use virtual reality to put people into those environments and throttle how intense the experience is, but if you could know how intense the reaction is that someone is having, you can decide whether to dial it up a little bit, or dial it down a little bit just to make sure that they’re not overwhelmed by the immersion,” says Conor Russomanno, CEO of OpenBCI, a Brooklyn-based startup that developed the Galea headset.

Another application of the technology, is to give people with spinal injuries or other forms of paralysis more freedom and to allow those who have lost limbs the ability to better control prosthetics.

There are different types of brain-computer interfaces and many involve actually implanting electrodes into the brain or spinal cord to either give people the ability to control a computer, or an artificial limb. However, the OpenBCI technology relies on external, non-invasive electroencephalogram readings to monitor brain activity (taken from sensors on a cap).

“The amount of control and the fidelity you have, obviously increases with the signal quality, and the best signal quality you’re going to get is by putting electrodes down into the brain,” says Russomanno.

“But, a lot of the magic happens in the classification and the machine learning on a case on a person by person basis. And so, this is where I think that BCI technology is going to be used for personalizing control.”

There are of course big attractions to the non-invasive nature of this technology. If the artificial intelligence and machine learning side of the software can make up for the reduced signal then it has great potential to help people in need of this technology.

Russomanno set up OpenBCI with one of his professors after leaving grad school 6 years ago. The company is unusual in that it has been developing inexpensive, non-invasive, open source brain-computer interface technology for the last 6 years.

Side angle of the Galea headset, produced by OpenBCI, showing positioning of various sensors.

OpenBCI

It’s unusual as most tech companies keep the technology behind their products under high levels of secrecy. “I think it’s super important that that innovation takes place in the public domain, in a way where people have a variety of backgrounds and disciplines can contribute,” emphasizes Russomanno.

“It doesn’t take place behind closed doors where the incentives of what’s being put into the world, and what’s being used by the users, can be misaligned with the best interest of the users themselves.”

Since the company started, many tech companies and researchers have used the OpenBCI tech to develop

dentist

Reality bites: Lack of cash stops many Bathurst people seeing dentist | Western Advocate

November 1, 2020 [email protected]_84 advocate, Bathurst, bites, Cash, dentist, Lack, people, Reality, stops, Western

news, local-news, news

A NEW study released this month has found up to 25 per cent of people aged 15 and over in Bathurst have delayed seeing a dental professional in the last 12 months due to concerns over the cost. The study, released by the NSW Council of Social Service, maps economic disadvantage across NSW. Australian Dental Association NSW president Dr Kathleen Matthew said delaying dental health treatments put people’s overall health at risk. Dr Matthew said it was “clearly concerning” one in four people are delaying dental treatment because they can’t afford it. “I think that’s a very important conversation to have with the population.” She said the flow on effects from not getting treatment include pain and dental stress which only gets worse, costs more money and requires higher intervention in the end. Dr Matthew also said the lower end of social economic scale are more vulnerable to dental disease with dental disease the most chronic disease there is in the community, worldwide. ALSO MAKING NEWS: “It’s (dental) the missing part of the health system … if you visit the GP it’s subsidised by the government if you get a script filled subsidised by the PBS.” Complicating the matter are the extensive wait lists for public dental services. “The waiting list for the public system is a two door system…. if you have dental pain or infection there is a triage system in place but that’s just to sort out that issue,” she explained. “If you have multiple issues, you’re on the waiting list which has a bench mark of six months, in Bathurst there are 7000 people waiting,” she said. Dr Matthews said the time had come to discuss the health system and ask does it actually work. “The mouth is part of the body but there is form of subsidy under Medicare (for dental treatment). “If you’ve got a diseased wisdom tooth and the competing priory is getting good on the table for your family, then that’s going to be the higher priority,” she said. “Dentists get criticised about their costs, but the reality is we are running a health business without government support,” she said. “The Government needs to sit down come up with a plan to treat those vulnerable to dental disease more effectively and efficiently.” Dr Matthews said there is child dental benefit scheme for low income families, who receive $1000 in dental treatment per child, but said more needs to be done. She said the government needs to look at the staged implementation of a universal scheme for basic dental care.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/XnvAZ6uRSAiEC6kxxV6TdP/e195113f-d60a-4bad-b13d-95d035a1d554.jpg/r21_624_8237_5266_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

HAVE YOUR SAY

November 1 2020 – 4:30PM

medicine

A UPS exec reveals how the pressures of the pandemic can make drone deliveries a reality as it starts flying medical supplies, PPE, and medicine

October 22, 2020 [email protected]_84 deliveries, drone, exec, flying, medical, medicine, pandemic, PPE, pressures, Reality, reveals, Starts, supplies, UPS

a man riding on the back of a red building: UPS has launched two health care-related drone delivery trials during the pandemic. Courtesy of UPS

UPS, along with other delivery and logistics companies, is in a race to launch regular, commercial drone delivery systems.
In the past few months, UPS has begun pilot programs with CVS and a major hospital system, using drones to make deliveries and transport critical supplies.
In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, UPS’ VP of Advanced Technologies explained how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the use cases for drones.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The logistics industry has been buzzing about drone delivery for years, but aside from a few high-profile pilot programs and conceptual tests, the tech has failed to materialize as a real-world solution for moving goods.

Load Error

But drones are steadily coming closer to serving a practical use, according to Bala Ganesh, head of the Advanced Technologies Group at UPS.

“What we are right now in the process of, as we work through the integration pilot program with the FAA, is turn[ing] the corner to get to a more sustainable operation,” Ganesh told Business Insider during an exclusive interview at the IGNITION: Transportation summit this week. “What we’ve been in so far has been a test and learn journey.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened the urgency of drone delivery — and highlighted its potential.

“The initial step for drones would be in this critical health care slash other industries that really require something urgently,” Ganesh said. “As the technology becomes more mature and costs go down,” he said, drones could be integrated into more routine purposes and deliveries.

UPS has launched two health care-related trials during the pandemic. One, at the Villages retirement community in Florida, delivers prescription medication to residents from a nearby CVS. The other, at the Wake Forest Baptist health system in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, offers fast shipping of time-sensitive medical supplies and PPE between the health system’s central campus and its other locations.

A key challenge to taking drone deliveries mainstream is the complex approvals needed from the FAA, as well as methods to avoid nearby air traffic. That, coupled with the difficulties of navigating around tall and dense development, makes it likely that drone deliveries will start out in rural and suburban areas, Ganesh said.

One of the most interesting use cases the company has explored, Ganesh said, is a “driver assist” system, in which each time the driver makes a delivery stop in a rural location, they launch the drone from the top of their truck and have it make the next delivery on the route. It would effectively double the number of deliveries a driver can make in a given time.

While drone delivery in cities is still something UPS plans to develop, that will likely come later, Ganesh said.

“There’s a lot of ideas” to solve the challenge of urban drone delivery, Ganesh said. “I’m sure that time will come,” he added, “but it may not

health

Ultimate Medical Academy Teaches Empathy, Sensitivity Through Virtual Reality at ‘Spark Summit’ Conference for Healthcare Employers

October 16, 2020 [email protected]_84 academy, Conference, Empathy, Employers, healthcare, medical, Reality, Sensitivity, Spark, Summit, Teaches, Ultimate, Virtual

The nonprofit higher education institution hosted more than 40 industry partner attendees at the 5th annual Spark Summit.

Spark Summit guests kicked off the conference from a virtual amphitheater which allowed them to enjoy some of the beautiful sites downtown Tampa has to offer.

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA), a nonprofit higher education institution with the mission of equipping and empowering students to excel in healthcare careers, hosted more than 40 industry partner attendees at the 5th annual Spark Summit. Each year, the Summit brings together healthcare leaders from across the nation who partner with UMA to match graduates to much-needed healthcare roles within their organizations. Summit participants get to connect, share achievements, and gain new insights about trends in healthcare education, recruitment and professional development. This year’s Summit looked different than usual due to social distancing measures and travel restrictions, and due to a new and unique conference element – virtual reality (VR).

“VR has been a buzz-term for decades but in the last five years, it has really begun to emerge in practice, and education is a key area of opportunity,” said Geordie Hyland, UMA’s Executive Vice President. “Over the next decade, emerging technologies are expected to play a significant role in the transformation of education. The Spark Summit is giving UMA the chance to showcase some of our new VR learning experiences which are available now and were designed to help Healthcare employers upskill their workforces.”

During the 2020 Spark Summit, attendees donned VR goggles first to ‘meet and greet’ each other during an opening session hosted in a virtual downtown Tampa amphitheater and then to participate in empathy training vignettes.

Empathy and sensitivity are critical skills in healthcare – driving patient satisfaction, compliance and trust, which are good for patient health outcomes as well as a company’s success.

“UMA has more than a decade of experience in online learning, and the circumstances of this year presented an opportunity to share our expertise with partners in a new way,” said April Neumann, UMA’s Senior Vice President of Career Services. “Empathy is a vital skill for all industries that interact with customers and patients, especially healthcare. We wanted to provide a unique and meaningful VR experience that was educational while also being impactful.”

The training vignettes were created to be as realistic as possible, drawing on real-world experiences that patient-facing healthcare workers encounter working in a retail environment as a pharmacy technician, or even in a work-from-home environment supporting open enrollment for healthcare insurance organizations. The environments themselves were also crafted to be as realistic as possible, from the items present on the pharmacy counter to the number of screens an employee would have in a typical work-from-home position. Summit participants got to play the role of a healthcare worker in the VR