 
by Martin Young, MBChB, FCS(SA)
As a young medical student I remember the arrival of the first video arcade games very clearly: Asteroids, Space Invaders and Pacman.
I spent whatever spare cash I had on them, never playing long enough to be any good, or rich enough to get any better. When I bought my first computer in my late-twenties, I relived my excitement with the newest computer games, spending a disproportionate amount of time long into many a night. I was hooked.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was doing myself a major favor. Now, twenty five years later, I spend several hours a week still staring at a video screen, manipulating instruments, but this time with a living, feeling, bleeding human being under my hands, with stakes far higher than virtual self destruction.
Research shows that surgeons of the modern era derive much benefit from video games in enhancing hand-eye coordination and spatial orientation. How much more difficult learning my speciality as an ENT surgeon would have been if not for those early days spent gaming! My work involves video camera telescopic surgery in complicated, three dimensional (3D) regions – the sinuses – represented on two dimensional (2D) screens.
Read More …Â http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/07/tomorrows-surgeons-todays-video-gamers.html
 
Article Date: 05 Jul 2010 – 3:00 PDT
The ANF welcomes initiatives to improve mental health services in Australia but warns that workforce issues must be addressed as part of a broader health reform agenda with a focus on primary health care.
ANF federal secretary Lee Thomas said Coalition plans to expand frontline services in mental health must not undermine measures outlined in the May budget which provide a boost of $7.3 billion to the nation’s health care system.”
“Nurses work on the frontline in providing care to people with mental illness and part of the current government’s pledge in the May budget was to provide more nurses, more doctors and more beds for our communities. These initiatives will benefit people in all areas of health care need,” Ms Thomas said.
The ANF supports calls to expand and improve mental health services within a national health reform framework that identifies the vital issues of workforce and national consistency.
“We can’t afford to make this issue a political football. It is far too important and requires a nationally consistent and considered approach that is part of the whole reform process,” Ms Thomas said. “It is not just about announcing new sites where people can access services but boosting the numbers of health professionals available to offer care to people with mental health issues.”
Ms Thomas said health reform must focus on expanding primary health care services such as GP clinics, community health services and mental health services to provide early intervention care and reduce the burden on the public hospital system.
“Unfortunately it seems the Coalition blueprint to increase mental health services is not framed within this broader need for reform of our entire health system with a focus on prevention and health promotion. This is the key to making sure people with mental health issues have access to the services they require.”
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Article Date: 05 Jul 2010 – 3:00 PDT
The ANF welcomes initiatives to improve mental health services in Australia but warns that workforce issues must be addressed as part of a broader health reform agenda with a focus on primary health care.
ANF federal secretary Lee Thomas said Coalition plans to expand frontline services in mental health must not undermine measures outlined in the May budget which provide a boost of $7.3 billion to the nation’s health care system.”
“Nurses work on the frontline in providing care to people with mental illness and part of the current government’s pledge in the May budget was to provide more nurses, more doctors and more beds for our communities. These initiatives will benefit people in all areas of health care need,” Ms Thomas said.
The ANF supports calls to expand and improve mental health services within a national health reform framework that identifies the vital issues of workforce and national consistency.
“We can’t afford to make this issue a political football. It is far too important and requires a nationally consistent and considered approach that is part of the whole reform process,” Ms Thomas said. “It is not just about announcing new sites where people can access services but boosting the numbers of health professionals available to offer care to people with mental health issues.”
Ms Thomas said health reform must focus on expanding primary health care services such as GP clinics, community health services and mental health services to provide early intervention care and reduce the burden on the public hospital system.
“Unfortunately it seems the Coalition blueprint to increase mental health services is not framed within this broader need for reform of our entire health system with a focus on prevention and health promotion. This is the key to making sure people with mental health issues have access to the services they require.”
 
We love a usability study as much as the next person. But we love well-designed, elegant studies that rightfully point out their own limitations and are printed in peer-reviewed journals most of all. We have less love for studies that act as propaganda, or researchers who draw conclusions not supported by their own data.
Bad research can be found anywhere — even by consultants who make their living from doing research on usability. Well-meaning folks like Jakob Nielsen for one. Recently he released a study on his website on the usability of the Kindle, the iPad, a PC and a book for reading a piece of short fiction.
After noting there was no statistical difference between reading on the Kindle or iPad, and then noting that the data did not reach statistical significance for the iPad versus a book, the authors of this report still declare that “Books Faster Than Tablets.â€
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/07/06/bad-research-a-comparison-of-ipad-kindle-and-book-reading-speeds/
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We love a usability study as much as the next person. But we love well-designed, elegant studies that rightfully point out their own limitations and are printed in peer-reviewed journals most of all. We have less love for studies that act as propaganda, or researchers who draw conclusions not supported by their own data.
Bad research can be found anywhere — even by consultants who make their living from doing research on usability. Well-meaning folks like Jakob Nielsen for one. Recently he released a study on his website on the usability of the Kindle, the iPad, a PC and a book for reading a piece of short fiction.
After noting there was no statistical difference between reading on the Kindle or iPad, and then noting that the data did not reach statistical significance for the iPad versus a book, the authors of this report still declare that “Books Faster Than Tablets.â€
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/07/06/bad-research-a-comparison-of-ipad-kindle-and-book-reading-speeds/
 
Article Date: 06 Jul 2010 – 5:00 PDT
Brain abnormalities rather than peer pressure could be the key underlying factor behind severe antisocial and aggressive behaviour in teenagers according to research by scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the University of Cambridge.
Conduct Disorder (CD) is a psychiatric condition associated with heightened antisocial and aggressive behaviour that affects five teenagers out of every 100 in the UK. It can develop either in childhood or in adolescence. While the childhood-onset form has been linked to abnormal brain function, the root of the adolescence-onset condition was previously thought to be the imitation of antisocial peers.
In a study jointly funded by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust, scientists used an advanced brain scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure and analyse the brain activity of teenage boys with either childhood-onset or adolescence-onset CD while they were shown images of angry, sad and neutral faces.
In both forms of the condition, the scan showed very similar patterns of brain abnormality compared with teenagers without the disorder. In both types of CD, the scans showed sufferers had less activity in the areas of the brain responsible for processing emotions. This may explain why teenagers with CD are insensitive to the distress of others and to social signals of aggression. The scientists also found that the more severe the aggression and antisocial behaviour in the teenagers, the greater the level of brain abnormality.
Dr Andy Calder from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, who led the research said:
“We know it costs the Government ten times as much to support a child with Conduct Disorder into adulthood, compared to a normal child. We also know that kids with these disorders are at far greater risk of developing a range of mental and physical health problems in later life. There are few effective Conduct Disorder treatments, so collaborative research like this, which really sheds light on the brain processes behind why and how these disorders emerge, is really important if we’re to help sufferers and their families.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193896.php
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Article Date: 06 Jul 2010 – 5:00 PDT
Brain abnormalities rather than peer pressure could be the key underlying factor behind severe antisocial and aggressive behaviour in teenagers according to research by scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the University of Cambridge.
Conduct Disorder (CD) is a psychiatric condition associated with heightened antisocial and aggressive behaviour that affects five teenagers out of every 100 in the UK. It can develop either in childhood or in adolescence. While the childhood-onset form has been linked to abnormal brain function, the root of the adolescence-onset condition was previously thought to be the imitation of antisocial peers.
In a study jointly funded by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust, scientists used an advanced brain scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure and analyse the brain activity of teenage boys with either childhood-onset or adolescence-onset CD while they were shown images of angry, sad and neutral faces.
In both forms of the condition, the scan showed very similar patterns of brain abnormality compared with teenagers without the disorder. In both types of CD, the scans showed sufferers had less activity in the areas of the brain responsible for processing emotions. This may explain why teenagers with CD are insensitive to the distress of others and to social signals of aggression. The scientists also found that the more severe the aggression and antisocial behaviour in the teenagers, the greater the level of brain abnormality.
Dr Andy Calder from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, who led the research said:
“We know it costs the Government ten times as much to support a child with Conduct Disorder into adulthood, compared to a normal child. We also know that kids with these disorders are at far greater risk of developing a range of mental and physical health problems in later life. There are few effective Conduct Disorder treatments, so collaborative research like this, which really sheds light on the brain processes behind why and how these disorders emerge, is really important if we’re to help sufferers and their families.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193896.php
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on July 6, 2010
A new study discovers individuals with eating disorders have similar emotional responses when presented with virtual food as they do with real food.
In the investigation, scientists compared the responses of people with anorexia and bulimia, and a control group, to virtual and real-life snacks.
The finding that virtually presented food causes an emotional response may open new avenues for evaluation and therapy of eating disorders.
Alessandra Gorini from the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy, worked with an international team of researchers to compare the effects of the exposure to real food, virtual food and photographs of food in a sample of patients affected by eating disorders.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/07/06/virtual-food-triggers-eating-disorder-stress/15336.html
