AI ’ s Unforeseen Medical Discoveries: The Curious Case Of Unusual Associations
Artificial intelligence can do a plethora of astonishing things, which has been discussed thoroughly in the past year. We train models to assist medical work, from administration to image analysis, from triage to mental health support. And every now and then AI has curious medical discoveries, detecting things that – to the best of our human knowledge – should not be detectable from the input data. Like knowing the race of the patient from chest X-rays alone. These unusual associations present brand-new challenges to medical professionals. In these cases, the medical detective work has a new aim: to understa...
Source: The Medical Futurist - November 28, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Pranavsingh Dhunnoo Tags: TMF Artificial Intelligence in Medicine digital health Healthcare technology AI Source Type: blogs

Prozac And Zoloft Worsen Anxiety: SSRI Side-Effect
SSRI antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft can increase anxiety in the first few weeks. (Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog)
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - February 23, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: Antidepressants Source Type: blogs

How much should you trust BetterHelp, Talkspace, Cerebral and other mental health start-ups touted by celebrities?
When Pat Paulson’s son told her he was feeling anxious and depressed at college, Paulson went through her Blue Cross Blue Shield provider directory and started calling mental health therapists. No providers in the Wisconsin city where her son’s university is located had openings. So she bought a monthly subscription to BetterHelp, a Mountain View, California, company that links people to therapists online. Her son felt uncomfortable with his first BetterHelp therapist. After waiting several weeks, he saw a second therapist, whom he liked. But she wasn’t available the following week. Despite the switch and the wait, P...
Source: SharpBrains - July 11, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Kaiser Health News Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation 8 billion minds American-Psychological-Association BetterHelp cerebral medication mental health start-ups mental healthcare talk-therapy Talkspace teletherapy Source Type: blogs

April 2021: An Eye on the Problem
​A 3-year-old boy presented to the emergency department with lethargy. He was bradycardic and somnolent, responding only to physical stimuli. His vital signs were a temperature of 37°C, a heart rate of 50 bpm, a respiratory rate of 26 breaths per minute, a blood pressure of 92/41 mm Hg, and a pulse oximetry of 100% on room air.When awoken, the child answered questions appropriately but then fell back asleep quickly. His pupils were pinpoint. There were no signs of trauma. A cardiac examination demonstrated bradycardia, and the remainder of the examination was unremarkable.The child was given an IV fluid bolus and placed...
Source: The Tox Cave - April 1, 2021 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

The Art of Prescribing (Or Not)
By HANS DUVEFELT I have learned a few things about prescribing medications during my 42 years as a physician. Some are old lessons, and some are more recent. I thought I’d share some random examples. First: I don’t like to have to use medications, but when they seem necessary, I choose, present and prescribe them with great care. CHOOSING MEDICATIONS Medications are like people. They have personalities. With so many choices for any given diagnosis or symptom, I consider their mechanism of action, possible beneficial additional effects and their risk of unwanted side effects when selecting which one to presc...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 1, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Patients Physicians Primary Care Hans Duvefelt Source Type: blogs

What should you do during a psychiatric medication shortage?
You have finally found a medication to treat your depression that your body tolerates well. It has taken your psychiatrist months to find the optimal dose (after two failed medication trials). The COVID-19 pandemic hit, but in spite of your new daily stressors, you seem to be doing relatively well. That is, until you hear that your antidepressant medication is now in short supply. What can you do? Mental health treatment during COVID-19 With the increased stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, prescriptions for medications to treat mental illnesses have increased more than 20% between February and March 2020. Sertraline, or Zolo...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - July 2, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Stephanie Collier, MD, MPH Tags: Behavioral Health Mental Health Source Type: blogs

Artificial Intelligence Discovers Unusual Associations in Medicine
Artificial intelligence does wonders in healthcare. The technology helped issue the first COVID-19 warning before the WHO and CDC did so. It can slash the phenomenon of alarm fatigue. IBM’s Watson Health leverages the power of A.I. to bring drugs to the market faster. And it does so while cutting costs by over 50%. Speaking of IBM Watson, while the algorithm got its name from the company’s founder Thomas J. Watson, there’s another pop culture figure attached to that name. It’s elementary; we’re talking about none other than Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick, Dr. Watson. It seems like real-world A. I. is taking after...
Source: The Medical Futurist - March 26, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: Artificial Intelligence AI digital health Healthcare Medicine technology Source Type: blogs

Machine-learning study finds EEG brain signatures that predict response to antidepressant treatments
This study takes previous research showing that we can predict who benefits from an antidepressant and actually brings it to the point of practical utility,” said Amit Etkin, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford. “I will be surprised if this isn’t used by clinicians within the next five years.” Instead of functional magnetic resonance imaging, an expensive technology often used in studies to image brain activity, the scientists turned to electroencephalography, or EEG, a much less costly technology… The paper is one of several based on data from a federally funded depression study ...
Source: SharpBrains - February 18, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness Technology algorithm Amit Etkin antidepressant antidepressants brain brain-activity brain-wave signature depression depression-treatment EEG electrical activity electroencephalography Source Type: blogs

Early Birds And Bearded Dragons: The Week ’s Best Psychology Links
Our weekly round-up of the best psychology coverage from elsewhere on the web A study on bearded dragons has honed in on the brain structure responsible for generating slow wave sleep patterns, writes Elizabeth Pennisi at Science. An area of the brain called the claustrum — not previously known to even exist in reptiles — was key: when the structure was damaged, the lizards could still sleep but showed no slow wave patterns. It’s been an interesting few months for bearded dragon research: as we wrote in December, the lizards apparently also succumb to optical illusions. A mismatch between a student’s “chron...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - February 14, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Weekly links Source Type: blogs

Top 25 Psychiatric Medications for 2018
Psychiatric medications are an important part of treatment for many people with mental disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, anxiety, and others. They play an important role in helping to alleviate the most serious symptoms, allowing people to better focus on their lives and on other treatment types, such as psychotherapy. Psychiatric medications are an important part of many people’s treatment plans for obtaining the most effective treatment for a mental health concern or mental illness. It’s good to know what drugs are being prescribed most often for mental disorders in the U.S...
Source: World of Psychology - December 15, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: General Medications Psychiatry psychiatric meds psychiatric prescriptions Source Type: blogs

Gene Testing for Antidepressants & Psychotropics: Not There Yet
An increasingly common question I get asked is, “Will gene testing help my doctor know which antidepressant to prescribe?” Popular tests such as GeneSight suggests that they can “shorten your road to recovery” and how you, as an individual, will respond to specific antidepressant medications. Does drug-gene testing, also referred to as pharmacogenomics or pharmacogenetics, work? And if so, does it only work for certain types of medications? Let’s find out. The Promise of Gene Testing The idea of gene-drug testing is pretty simple. By testing your DNA, companies hope to be able to predict your...
Source: World of Psychology - December 11, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: Depression Disorders General Medications Treatment drug-gene testing gene-drug gene-drug test pharmacogenetics pharmacogenomics Source Type: blogs

10 Simple Concentration Exercises You Should Try
You're reading 10 Simple Concentration Exercises You Should Try, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles. Nowadays it is tough to keep our minds still even for one single minute. And there are always halves of ideas and unfinished projects around every one of us. If you came here wondering how to escape today’s numerous distractions, then you’re in the right place. Here are 10 simple exercises to strengthen your attention. 1. Count Backward Counting is a great way to increase your focus. Start by fin...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - June 17, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: maryjames Tags: featured health and fitness self improvement concentration focus Source Type: blogs

Discontinuation syndrome and antidepressants
Discontinuation and change are part of life. We all start and stop various activities. Jobs change, relationships change. So, too, may medical treatments, such as antidepressants that help many people navigate depression and anxiety. Planning changes in advance tends to make things easier and smoother. You may start a medication for treatment and discover that it’s not helping your particular medical issue. Or perhaps you’re having side effects. Or maybe your condition has improved, and you no longer need the drug. If so, working with your doctor to change or stop taking an antidepressant slowly may help you avoid unc...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 4, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christopher Bullock, MD Tags: Anxiety and Depression Mental Health Source Type: blogs

Is Zoloft a good medication for depressive bipolar symptoms?
Is Zoloft a good medication for bipolar disorder?Zoloft can help manage the symptoms of depression for people with bipolar disorder. However, a mood stabilizing drug should be considered the basic treatment with Zoloft added to treat the depressive symptoms during a depressive episode.Zoloft is one of the drugs in the SSRI category of which there are several. These SSRI drugs can be used to treat symptoms of depression other than the depressed episode of bipolar disorder.The diagnosis of bipolar disorder has entered the popular culture and most of the people I see who are suffering from depression do not have bipolar disor...
Source: Markham's Behavioral Health - March 13, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: David G. Markham Source Type: blogs