Tag: Virtual Reality

VR offers hope to nerve injury patients experiencing chronic pain

We all feel physical pain in different ways, but people with nerve injuries often have a dysfunctional pain suppression system, making them particularly prone to discomfort. Now researchers have uncovered that virtual reality (VR) can reduce types of pain typically seen in patients with nerve injuries – and that VR can boost the dysfunctional pain

Could machines using artificial intelligence make doctors obsolete?

Artificial intelligence systems simulate human intelligence by learning, reasoning, and self correction. This technology has the potential to be more accurate than doctors at making diagnoses and performing surgical interventions, says Jörg Goldhahn, MD, MAS, deputy head of the Institute for Translational Medicine at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. It has a “near unlimited capacity” for data

Virtual reality motion sickness may be predicted and counteracted

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have made progress towards predicting who is likely to feel sick from virtual reality technology. In a recent study, the researchers found they could predict whether an individual will experience cybersickness (motion sickness caused by virtual reality) by how much they sway in response to a moving visual field.

Negative vs. positive social media experiences and depressive symptoms

Negative experiences on social media carry more weight than positive interactions when it comes to the likelihood of young adults reporting depressive symptoms, according to a new University of Pittsburgh analysis. The finding, reported today in the journal Depression and Anxiety, may be useful for designing interventions and clinical recommendations to reduce the risk of

Virtual reality technology opens new doors of (spatial) perception: Using immersive technology in the lab has enabled researchers to study sound perception in realistic settings

We rely on our ears to tell us where sounds — from the chirp of a bird to the call of your name in a crowd — are coming from. Locating and discriminating sound sources is extremely complex because the brain has to process spatial information from many, sometimes conflicting, cues. Using virtual reality and

Smart phone as a faster infection detector: Portable reader is nearly perfect in finding 12 common viral and bacterial diseases

Washington State University researchers have developed a low-cost, portable laboratory on a phone that works nearly as well as clinical laboratories to detect common viral and bacterial infections. The work could lead to faster and lower-cost lab results for fast-moving viral and bacterial epidemics, especially in rural or lower-resource regions where laboratory equipment and medical

Smartphone app performs better than traditional exam in cardiac assessment: Randomized clinical trial

A smartphone application using the phone’s camera function performed better than traditional physical examination to assess blood flow in a wrist artery for patients undergoing coronary angiography, according to a randomized trial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). These findings highlight the potential of smartphone applications to help physicians make decisions at the bedside.