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Our increasing reliance on the Internet and the ease of access to the vast resource available online is affecting our thought processes for problem solving, recall and learning. In a new article published in the journal Memory, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign have found that ‘cognitive offloading’, or the tendency to rely on things like the Internet as an aide-mémoire, increases after each use. We might think that memory is something that happens in the head but increasingly it is becoming something that happens with the help of agents outside the head.
Benjamin Storm, Sean Stone & Aaron Benjamin conducted experiments to determine our likelihood to reach for a computer or smartphone to answer questions. Participants were first divided into two groups to answer some challenging trivia questions - one group used just their memory, the other used Google. Participants were then given the option of answering subsequent easier questions by the method of their choice.
Read more: Cognitive offloading: How the Internet is increasingly taking over human memory
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New research suggests that an electroencephalogram (EEG) could be a strong indicator of the level of awareness of patients in a vegetative state after a severe brain injury.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has repeatedly shown that a significant minority of patients diagnosed as in the vegetative state are actually aware, but unable to show it reliably with their behaviour.
The new research findings, published in Annals of Neurology, suggest a correspondence between a patient's ability to generate an EEG marker of attention to tactile stimulation, and their ability to produce the critical clinical marker of awareness by following verbal commands.
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This consultation document provides guidance on the data integrity expectations that should be considered by organisations involved in any aspect of the pharmaceutical lifecycle or GLP studies regulated by MHRA.
The guidance is intended to be a useful resource on the core elements of a compliant data governance system across all GxP sectors (good laboratory practice, good clinical practice, good manufacturing practice, good distribution practice and good pharmacovigilance practice).
It addresses fundamental failures identified by MHRA and international regulatory partners during GLP, GCP, GMP and GDP inspections; many of which have resulted in regulatory action.
Read more: MHRA GxP Data Integrity Definitions and Guidance for Industry
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Google's DeepMind has moved on from playing Go to more serious matters - attempting to solve some of the world's biggest health problems.
Projects include a tie-up with London Moorfields eye hospital, which will see it using one million eye scans to train its artificial intelligence system to diagnose potential sight issues, and development of an app to help doctors spot kidney disease.
Google's entry on to the healthcare scene has been welcomed by some, notably doctors who are desperate to apply some cutting-edge technology to antiquated NHS systems.
But less so by privacy groups and some patients, who have been surprised and concerned that their data - in some cases not anonymised - can be shared with the tech giant's AI division.
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New research suggests that if a medical device hits the market in Europe before it is approved by U.S. regulators, it may undergo less rigorous screening before it is allowed to be used on Americans, and may be more likely to turn out to carry dangerous risks.
In a study published in the medical journal The BMJ, researchers from Harvard and King’s College London found that medical devices were twice as likely to be the subject of a recall if they were approved in the European Union before being approved in the United States.
Researchers looked at the difference between how high profile medical devices first approved in the EU performed in the U.S., comparing the devices to those that were approved in the U.S. first.
Read more: Medical Devices Approved in EU First, More Likely To Be Recalled In U.S.
