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Dennis OConnor

JMIR mHealth and uHealth - Wearing the Future-Wearables to Empower Users to Take Greate... - 0 views

  • Considerable literature findings suggest that wearables can empower individuals by assisting with diagnosis, behavior change, and self-monitoring.
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    "Abstract Background: Wearables refer to devices that are worn by individuals. In the health care field, wearables may assist with individual monitoring and diagnosis. In fact, the potential for wearable technology to assist with health care has received recognition from health systems around the world, including a place in the strategic Long Term Plan shared by the National Health Service in England. However, wearables are not limited to specialist medical devices used by patients. Leading technology companies, including Apple, have been exploring the capabilities of wearable health technology for health-conscious consumers. Despite advancements in wearable health technology, research is yet to be conducted on wearables and empowerment. Objective: This study aimed to identify, summarize, and synthesize knowledge on how wearable health technology can empower individuals to take greater responsibility for their health and care. Methods: This study was a scoping review with thematic analysis and narrative synthesis. Relevant guidance, such as the Arksey and O'Malley framework, was followed. In addition to searching gray literature, we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, HMIC, and Cochrane Library. Studies were included based on the following selection criteria: publication in English, publication in Europe or the United States, focus on wearables, relevance to the research, and the availability of the full text. Results: After identifying 1585 unique records and excluding papers based on the selection criteria, 20 studies were included in the review. On analysis of these 20 studies, 3 main themes emerged: the potential barriers to using wearables, the role of providers and the benefits to providers from promoting the use of wearables, and how wearables can drive behavior change. Conclusions: Considerable literature findings suggest that wearables can empower individuals by assisting with diagnosis, behavior change, and self-monitoring. However, greater adoption
Dennis OConnor

Love 2.0 - Online Tools - 1 views

  • Given your ever-shifting emotional landscape, any single measure of your positivity ratio can only capture so much.
  • view your score for any given day with some skepticism
  • more trustworthy
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    "Kabir Recommends: The Positivity Self Test is a brief, 20-item survey that asks you to report on your experiences of several emotions over the past 24 hours. Each item on the test includes a trio of words that are related, but not quite the same, for example, "hopeful, optimistic, or encouraged" and "sad, downhearted, or unhappy." With this strategy, each item captures a set of emotions that share a key resemblance and this short test becomes that much more accurate. Keep in mind that the Positivity Self Test merely provides a snapshot of your emotions. Everybody's emotions change by the day, hour, and minute. Some scientists would say that they change by the millisecond. Given your ever-shifting emotional landscape, any single measure of your positivity ratio can only capture so much. One way to overcome such measurement hurdles is to measure repeatedly. Even if you complete the Positivity Self Test as honestly as possible, you should view your score for any given day with some skepticism. Was this particular day representative? Probably not. Days vary. So the more days you can average together to create your estimate, the more trustworthy that estimate becomes. You can get a clear picture of your typical positivity ratio by completing the Positivity Self Test every evening for two weeks. Take the Positivity Self Test In the scientific literature, the Positivity Self Test is also know as the modified Differential Emotions Scale, or mDES, created by Dr. Fredrickson based on an earlier scale developed by pioneering emotion scientist, Carroll Izard. The scholarly references are: Fredrickson, B. L. (in press). Positive emotions broaden and build. In E. Ashby Plant & P. G. Devine (Eds.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Elsevier. Fredrickson, B. L., Tugade, M. M., Waugh, C. E., & Larkin, G. (2003). What good are positive emotions in crises? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11
Dennis OConnor

The Quantification of Placebo Effects Within a General Model of Health Care Outcomes - 1 views

  • It is proposed that the integration of a scientific model of placebo effects within a general model of health care outcomes could finally end the placebo debate and help to integrate these powerful effects into the health care system.
  • Positive expectancy is recognized as a central component of placebo phenomena by all placebo theorists
  • The proposed model emphasizes that the search for a placebo personality factor must be combined with the measurement of situational expectancy.
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  • an individual who has negative expectations regarding treatment effectiveness would likely produce a stronger than average “nocebo” effec
  • placebo-prone personality
  • Absorption
  • receptivity to sensory experiences and a propensity for sustained, focused attention.
  • Absorption has a genetic basis and is higher in women compared to men
  • Absorption can go in either a positive or negative direction, depending on the situation,
  • Subjects were randomly
  • outcome measures
  • based on three scales
  • includes scales measuring fatigue, pain, and spasticity
  • Judgment that the placebo was the active device resulted in a positive score with a magnitude of the confidence rating.
  • if judgment was that the placebo was the placebo device, the confidence rating of the placebo was a negative score, with the magnitude of the rating.
  • scored in the upper quintile on improved quality of life, as measured by the 3 QLI (an average of three symptom scales measuring pain, fatigue, and spasticity) after receiving treatment with a sham device.
  • placebo responders
  • Placebo responders scored higher on Absorptio
  • Placebo responders gave higher confidence ratings that the placebo was the active device
  • This study provides support for a two-factor model of placebo responding.
  • importance of positive expectancy
  • both cognitive and emotional factors mediate these effects
  • Positive beliefs or confidence in the treatment coupled with a desire to feel better activate processes that result in positive outcomes.
  • positive expectancy is an essential factor
  • disease-specific pathways that are activated by positive expectancies have helped to transform this “soft” psychologic factor into a “hard” physiologic factor with physically measurable effects.
  • While the shift from negative to positive affect may be the hallmark of placebo responding, negative affect alone is not sufficient and can play a role in people who worsen as well (nocebo effects).
  • Numerous research studies have reliably shown that Absorption is modestly (yet very consistently) correlated with hypnotizability.
  • Hypnotizability is often associated with “suggestibility,” with perhaps the sense of a weak-willed character or unbridled fantasy-proneness, the “unreality factor” that has plagued placebo theory for decades.
  • enlightening to view these individual differences as a natural endowment in self-regulation skills: a potential innate strength rather than a simple weakness with a natural ability for self-directed healing in response to health challenges.
  • Decades of research have reliably demonstrated that individuals scoring high in Absorption can skillfully modulate an impressive array of physiologic processes in laboratory settings.
  • The literature suggests that the mind–body control of high Absorption scorers is similar to the self-regulation skills that many are seeking to develop with meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and qigong.
  • The regular practice of mind–body control and the cultivation of positive attitudes may enhance regulation at higher levels, improving the regularity of circadian and other rhythms,
  • points to the role of both expectation and conditioning, with conditioning playing a greater role in certain pathways such as immune modulation.
  • somatic vulnerability of high Absorption individuals who suffer from negative biases in perception.
  • nocebo phenomena described by these researchers are important for our model as they directly illustrate the power of a negative interaction of the two factors.
  • Many physicians admit to prescribing placebos to contribute to patient wellness, even though this “dark secret” is not condoned and is considered to be ethically questionable.
  • High Absorption individuals may benefit from encouragement to utilize their innate self-regulation skills toward maximum therapeutic effect.
  • ersons with average Absorption scores can be encouraged to become more skilled at self-regulation through mind–body therapies
  • The model does not specifically address the many factors that contribute to confidence in the treatment, such as cost, pill color, pill size, or confidence-enhancing paraphernalia.
  • The role of provider and patient interaction are also not specifically addressed.
  • he model also does not directly address the role of stress reduction
  • The strength of placebo responding in domains such as pain and depression clearly indicate the importance of the shift from a negative to a positive state.
  • the unresolved issue of why some people respond to placebos whereas others do not
  • asic two-factor model can be further tested with the basic measurement tools of expectancy and Absorption,
  • Conclusions
  • the recognition that positive expectancy and expert self-regulation skills significantly contribute to health outcomes can help to integrate these powerful effects into the health care system
  • The “positive psychology” movement is shifting attention to the power of positive expectation
  • undermining nature of negative expectancy and pessimistic language, especially in vulnerable populations such as those with pain and depression
  • Practitioners of the art of health care have always recognized the importance of motivated and empowered patients and the power of a kind word and a ray of hope.
  • This is the time to quantify these factors, integrating art and science, and finally solving (and forgiving Descartes for) the mind–body problem.
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    "The topic of placebo effects is distinguished by decades of keen scientific interest1-4 coupled with a general skepticism regarding the ultimate significance of these phenomena. The importance of psychologic factors in mediating these effects may contribute to the attitude that placebo effects are not as substantial as a therapeutic effect produced by a drug. Complementary and alternative therapies have sometimes been dismissed as "mere placebos." However, recent studies have provided compelling evidence that placebo effects are physiologically measurable with condition-specific pathways.5"
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    Dr. Jake Fleming recently suggested these potent keywords: quantifiable placebo The keywords led to this article. I find it affirming and empowering.
Dennis OConnor

Get Started - Quantified Self - 0 views

  • If your project requires a lot of work every day, you’re more likely to drop it before you learn anything useful.
  • Try a one number baseline: A baseline measurement can be as simple as a single number representing a single measurement.
  • collect and organize some of the most useful advice about self-tracking
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • How do you get started with a self-tracking project?
  • The activities are: Questioning, Observing, Reasoning, and Consolidating Insight.
  • questions about a tool you’re currently using, try posting in the QS Forum.
  • Retrospective Annotation
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    "So: How do you get started with a self-tracking project? You can picture your project as involving four distinct activities. Although these activities blend into each other, they do each have their own particular flavor, and by outlining them separately we think we can give you a coherent and functional recipe. The activities are: Questioning, Observing, Reasoning, and Consolidating Insight."
Dennis OConnor

Design and Implementation of Participant-Led Research - Quantified Self - 0 views

  • THE QUANTIFIED SELF is about making personally relevant discoveries using our own self-collected data. We call this practice everyday science, a name that emphasizes its nonprofessional character. Lately we’ve begun organizing small group projects that show how collaboration can make individual projects easier. Sometimes, joining forces with others who share our question can make it possible to create both personal and generalizable health knowledge. Following the scholar Effy Vayena, we use the term “participant-led research” (PLR) to describe this approach.
  • PLR
    • Dennis OConnor
       
      Apollo / Chi gong? Is this our PLR.? Mainly n=1. No collaboration on a mutual research project.
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    THE QUANTIFIED SELF is about making personally relevant discoveries using our own self-collected data. We call this practice everyday science, a name that emphasizes its nonprofessional character. Lately we've begun organizing small group projects that show how collaboration can make individual projects easier. Sometimes, joining forces with others who share our question can make it possible to create both personal and generalizable health knowledge. Following the scholar Effy Vayena, we use the term "participant-led research" (PLR) to describe this approach.
Dennis OConnor

The Rogue Experimenters | The New Yorker - 0 views

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    Recommended by Megan Sweeney I listened to the article. It gave me a sense of context for self-study. I also found a strong path of hope that this kind of science will grow during the disruption caused by Covid-19
Dennis OConnor

omkara-life-coaching - 0 views

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    I met Tahir Bhatti during my Ornish Lifestyle Medicine transformation at Jacobs Medical Center UCSD. Tahir would sub into our support group whenever Ozzie Gontang was traveling. He is a great teacher. "Holistic Healers, Wellness Coaches, and Life-partners, Tahir Bhatti & Ayesha Suneja  have spent the last 20 years researching, teaching and guiding others towards mind-body-spirit healing, transpersonal wellness and spiritual growth.   Originally from India and Pakistan, both Ayesha and Tahir were raised in cultures that naturally cultivated spirituality, meditation and holistic healing practices.   Their passion for integrating spirituality into their clinical work led them to further their studies in Eastern philosophy, meditation, soul consciousness and self-realization.   Due to their exposure to ancient Eastern philosophies at a young age and their extensive training in Western Medicine & Psychology, their eclectic studies are balanced in the Sciences and the Ancient Truths.     By integrating both philosophies Tahir and Ayesha have created a blend of Eastern and Western Coaching Practices that is truly unique."
Dennis OConnor

Frontiers | Digital Twins and the Emerging Science of Self: Implications for Digital He... - 0 views

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    "Digital Twins and the Emerging Science of Self: Implications for Digital Health Experience Design and "Small" Data"
Dennis OConnor

Show & Tell Projects Archive - Quantified Self - 0 views

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    "Get inspiration and ideas from hundreds of self-tracking projects documented in our community archive, searchable by tools and topics."
Dennis OConnor

Heart rate variability: A new way to track well-being - Harvard Health Blog - 0 views

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    Oura ring's Moments feature measures HRV. This is how we measure wellbeing. Test and measurement of wellbeing opens the door for so many interesting self studies. This should be one of the experimental choices in our new online class.
Dennis OConnor

Creating a new tool for pain: The CHOIR body map puts pain on the map | Pain News - 0 views

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    "A new electronic self-report body map is an innovative tool for precision health." The CHOIR body map is validated in almost 600 people with chronic pain. Our results demonstrated excellent performance of the map in all of these validation studies. Furthermore, we used the interviews with participants and their suggestions to further optimize the body map. Clinicians and researchers have used the CHOIR body map in over 100,000 assessments across the CHOIR network worldwide.
Dennis OConnor

Oura / TemPredict initial results: Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wea... - 0 views

  • we present early results from the first 50 subjects with enough data to meet analysis inclusion criteria
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    "Abstract Elevated core temperature constitutes an important biomarker for COVID-19 infection; however, no standards currently exist to monitor fever using wearable peripheral temperature sensors. Evidence that sensors could be used to develop fever monitoring capabilities would enable large-scale health-monitoring research and provide high-temporal resolution data on fever responses across heterogeneous populations. We launched the TemPredict study in March of 2020 to capture continuous physiological data, including peripheral temperature, from a commercially available wearable device during the novel coronavirus pandemic. We coupled these data with symptom reports and COVID-19 diagnosis data. Here we report findings from the first 50 subjects who reported COVID-19 infections. These cases provide the first evidence that illness-associated elevations in peripheral temperature are observable using wearable devices and correlate with self-reported fever. Our analyses support the hypothesis that wearable sensors can detect illnesses in the absence of symptom recognition. Finally, these data support the hypothesis that prediction of illness onset is possible using continuously generated physiological data collected by wearable sensors. Our findings should encourage further research into the role of wearable sensors in public health efforts aimed at illness detection, and underscore the importance of integrating temperature sensors into commercially available wearables."
Dennis OConnor

Frontiers | Using Self-Study and Peer-to-Peer Support to Change "Sick" Care to "Health"... - 1 views

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    "Camille Nebeker, Bethany Weisberg, Eric Hekler, and Michael Kurisu Frontiers in Digital Health - This paper is also posted on our PHE Website
Dennis OConnor

randomized clinical trial of plasticity-based cognitive training in mild traumatic brai... - 1 views

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    "The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a self-administered computerized plasticity-based cognitive training programmes in primarily military/veteran participants with a history of mTBI and cognitive impairment. "
Dennis OConnor

Patient Journey App: improve healthcare & patient engagement | Patient Journey App - 0 views

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    "Thesis: "Patient Empowerment through Timely Information" On Friday, 1 October 2021, Thomas Timmers (CEO) successfully defended his doctoral PhD "Patient Empowerment through Timely Information" at Radboudumc.   He examines the impact of the provision of timely information using an app to increase patients' self-management throughout their treatment. The thesis includes a systematic review and the results of 2 large multi-center RCT's. Furthermore, a qualitative study was performed to determine what kind of timely education patients need."
Dennis OConnor

Chasing My Cure: Dr. David Fajgenbaum Lessons from his Rare Disease and On Finding Cure... - 0 views

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    "David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) and one of the youngest individuals to be appointed to the faculty at Penn Medicine, where he is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in Translational Medicine & Human Genetics, Founding Director of the Center for Study & Treatment of Castleman & inflammatory Lymphadenopathies (CSTL). An NIH-funded physician-scientist, he has dedicated his life to discovering new treatments and cures for deadly disorders like idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD), which he was diagnosed with during medical school. As common as ALS and more deadly than lymphoma, iMCD involves the immune system attacking and shutting down the body's vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, bone marrow, and heart. After spending months hospitalized in critical condition, having his last rites read, and having four deadly relapses, he is now in his longest remission ever thanks to a treatment that he identified in the lab."
Dennis OConnor

N1: wellness by experiment - Down App to experiment - 0 views

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    N1: wellness by experiment 17+ Back your wellness with data INGH Available on iOS only You can use this app to join a clinical trial on cognition. Comparing 2 treatments using caffeine (50-400 mg) and caffeine (50-400 mg) in combination with L-theanine (250 mg) : L-theanine is a naturally occurring amino acid most commonly found in green tea. I've downloaded the app will join the study. Interesting screen by screen informed consent process. Will report what I discover at an upcoming Apollo Meeting.
Dennis OConnor

Covid-19 "long haulers" are organizing online to study themselves | MIT Technology Review - 0 views

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    "Slack groups and social media are connecting people who've never fully recovered from coronavirus to collect data on their condition."
Dennis OConnor

At the Cusp of Solving Cognitive Aging? - Mike Merzenich - Medium - 0 views

  • Bookmark story
  • the ACTIVE Study.
  • hree different theories
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • memory
  • reasoning
  • speed of processing
  • ACTIVE tracked people for 10 years
  • 74 to 84
  • who would have expected faster cognitive processing speed 10 years later
  • The big question was do those gains transfer to real-world activities.And, the answer is: they do.
  • At the end of 10 years
  • about three years more protection against decline
  • speed training
  • ● 38% less risk of onset of depressive symptoms● 30% less risk of deepening of depressive symptoms● 68% stronger feeling of confidence and control● 48% less risk of at-fault car crashes
  • I (Mike Merzenich) have spent decades studying brain plasticity — the brain’s ability to change (at any age), chemically, structurally and functionally.
  • What changes in the brain as it gets older?
  • basic science question
  • every single thing we measured in the aging brain changed (and none for the better).
  • The top row
  • we built a brain-training program designed to make a rat’s brain faster and more accurate.
  • to improve auditory precision and speed.
  • It turns out that this kind of brain training — continuously and progressively challenging the speed and accuracy of brain processing — improves every aspect of brain health we could measure.
  • we could build, test, refine and validate a training program to improve all the major systems of the brain.
  • plasticity-based training
  • cognition (eg, speed, attention, memory, executive function)
  • quality of life (eg, mood, confidence, self-rated health)
  • dementia?
Dennis OConnor

Approaches to governance of participant-led research: a qualitative case study | BMJ Open - 0 views

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    "Prospective consent and governance principles for participant-led research Nine themes emerged from discussions and interviews relating to informed consent in and governance of PLR. As this PLR was driven by people with different backgrounds asking personal questions, we found that ethical reflection needed to be ongoing and tailored to the individual. For this reason, prospective governance principles were drafted rather than codified rules. Many of the themes were expressed over the course of our PLR as an ongoing informed consent. The process, fostered via frequent communication, helped to reinforce trust among participants and organisers.43 44 Transparency: All relevant information about the project should be actively shared among participants and participant-organisers, including the source of research funding, equipment selection, data management protocols, risks and benefits and conflicts of interest. Access to Expertise: Participant-led research (PLR) requires access to experts (eg, in experimental design, data analysis, research ethics) so that participants can rigorously carry out single-subject experiments.45 Data Access & Control: The participant has the right and ability to manage their own data, and has the final say in what they collect about themselves. Right to Withdraw: Participants have a right to reduce or withdraw their participation at any time. Relevance: PLR addresses questions of relevance to the participants. Beneficence: The participant actively reflects on the balance of benefits and risks of participation and freely choose whether to participate. Responsibility: PLR requires that the participant actively consider the potential benefits and harms of the project to both themselves and others. The responsibility to stay informed is an ongoing process, not a one-time decision. Flexibility: Ethical reflection in PLR should be tailored to individual needs and to the specific context, rather than be handled with 'one size fits all
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