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DEEP THOUGHTS
Mary G. Barry, MD
Louisville Medicine Editor
[email protected]
I
was reading about a conference held in
Britain recently, called “RE-WORK’s Deep
Learning in Healthcare Summit 2016.”
Brendan Frey, CEO of Deep Genomics,
quoted Eric Lander from 2004:
arterial flow in those with peripheral vascular disease, in the critical care setting, and in
research labs. We also use them in the world
of spies and interrogation and forensics. The
lie detector machine has come a long way.
“Genome.
Bought the book.
Hard to read.”
Those who do psychological research and
those who market new consumer goods can
use entire integrated photoplethysmography (PPG) systems to measure physiologic arousal, fear, excitement - or boredom.
iMotions, a company with origins in Copenhagen, describes itself as a “high tech
software development company specialised
in eye tracking and biometric solutions.”
Their software is currently used in at least
12 different big city shopping centers where
consumer focus groups meet. It integrates
PPG, galvanic skin response, EEG, EMG,
ECG, and facial expression analysis of participants’ reactions to the survey question,
or video, or food, or a myriad of other
products. This is fast, so that the client can
get real-time feedback on the success or
failure of its efforts “in a matter of hours
not weeks,” the website proclaims. They say
their “human behavior research tools” are
used by Harvard, Yale and Stanford, among
many others, in academic research. They
say they are state of the art, entirely “plug
n play,” and – my favorite – there are “No
more Frankenstein solutions” in trying to
integrate several different kinds of software.
Theirs is “all in a box.”
His company’s efforts revolve around
trying to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to
speed up our human ability to understand,
and therefore use, knowledge of our genome
for the design of therapies for many and
varied diseases. If we better understand the
genome, we can create “fewer but better”
molecules for anti-cancer and immune system drugs. Just as Google taught its invention to beat a pro player of the game GO for
the first time, Mr. Frey believes we can yet
maximize our translation of gene data into
solutions for human illnesses.
Others at the conference espoused using
AI to teach biofeedback. Davide Morelli,
the Chief Tech Officer of Biobeats, demonstrated an app called “Hear and Now.” It uses
heart rate variance in an attempt to measure
diaphragmatic excursion, to ensure that the
stressed person actually Took Deep Breaths
(the mantra of yogis and anesthesiologists
everywhere) in the effort to relieve anxiety. The robot person in the app talks you
through it.
Already in hospitals, we use photoplethysmography devices – little bitty finger cuffs
– to measure pulse volume and blood flow,
as in measuring the pressure and viability of
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
Any viewer of the series Homeland can
also think of numerous national security
scenarios in which such information might
be useful. Mental health specialists have
used this technology in their research. The
psychiatric treatment tool for PTSD and
depression called EMDR (Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing), as invented, simply uses rapid finger movements
from the therapist in front of the patient’s
gaze. The therapist asks the patient to recall
an episode that caused emotional trauma,
and interacts with the patient while continuing the rapid movement. (The idea is that
rapid glancing side to side both reveals and
informs the thought content and process,
and the therapist can gradually teach the
person to replace the disturbing thoughts
with more positive ones by using these eye
movements.) How it works is a topic of debate in psychological circles. I would think
this iMotions sort of technological measurement could improve that therapy, which has
been recommended by the Dept. of Defense
to help veterans with combat-related PTSD.
Depending on your worldview, you might
be horrified that others could monitor your
emotions that closely, or glad to be of service
in selecting the Next Great Cereal.
What is glaringly obvious from reading
about this sort of super duper cool stuff is
the absolute abyss separating the computing
capabilities of programs designed to exploit
certain elite markets and the public not-forprofit sector. Federal data banks have weaker
firewalls; recall the hack that succeeded in
accessing the identifying data of millions
of current and former military personnel.
The Plug n Play superiority touted in the