Human Behavior

Is Red Wine Good for the Body? – News-Medical.net

There is a plethora of research and guidance which discuss the health consequences of consuming alcohol. In the United Kingdom, it is recommended that both men and women do not frequently consume more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

Image Credit: jazz3311 / Shutterstock.com

This is roughly equivalent to drinking ten small glasses of wine or six pints of beer. However, it is also suggested that there is no safe amount of alcohol that can be drunk without potentially causing health issues such as liver cirrhosis, coronary heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

Despite these recommendations, a recent study has questioned whether red wine consumed in moderation may still provide some health benefits.

Recent research published in the journal Gastroenterology suggests that a daily glass of red wine may provide health benefits for the human gut microbiome. The microbiome is a term used to describe the group of genomes of micro-organisms that reside in the human gut. The microbes of the gut are considered to play a vital role in metabolic and immune systems as well as in systems that regulate human behavior.

Researchers from the Department of Twin Research Genetic Epidemiology at Kings College London and the VIB Centre for Microbiology KU Leuven Laboratory of Molecular Bacteriology at the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium worked in collaboration on the project.

The research involved the collection of dietary, food, and drink habits from a large population sample across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Belgium in three ongoing studies. Specifically, twin study data was collected from the UK, and subsequent data from the US and Belgium was derived from the American Gut Project and Flemish Gut Project, respectively.

The researchers found that drinking red wine, even in instances where other types of alcohol were consumed, is linked to a healthy pattern of gut microbe. Furthermore, by analyzing twin study data, they found that in individuals that consumed a higher quantity of red wine compared to their twin had a healthy gut. This reduces the probability that, in this instance, health gut microbes were caused by familial genetic traits.

The researchers also compared the effects of drinking other types of alcohol on gut health. It was found that those who consumed beers, spirits, or white wine did not demonstrate the same healthy gut microbiome.

Other findings relate to the broader health effects of drinking red wine. Twin study data found that individuals that drank a higher quantity of red wine compared to their twin had a reduced risk of developing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and obesity. It is believed that this is caused by polyphenols present in red wine.

The researchers of the study argued that the health wider health benefits of drinking red wine might be down to polyphenols present in the alcohol. This notion aligns well with previous research that suggests that moderate and regular consumption of red wine may play a role in preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Polyphenols are present in a range of food products, including seeds and nuts, and some fruit and vegetables such as grapes. Grapes, in particular, are considered to have a large number of polyphenols in their skin. In wine, specifically, they are typically greater amounts found in red wine compared to white wine.

Researchers suggest that polyphenols are also present in grape-based non-alcoholic drinks, but in lower content. Furthermore, red wine is considered to host resveratrol - an antioxidant that has been found to improve the composition of the guts microbiome which has also been found to reduce the likelihood of developing cancer and heart disease.

This study is considered to be the largest of its kind to investigate and conclude that moderate consumption of red wine provides gut microbiome health benefits as well as having protective effects against serious health conditions. From this, insight has been gained into the health benefits of polyphenols.

However, there are limitations to the study. As a purely observational study, causality cannot be established. Therefore, to determine that the effects were indeed caused solely by red wine, more controlled research is needed.

Furthermore, the study presents potential conflict against longstanding advice regarding the health implications of consuming alcohol in any quantity. However, researchers from this study suggest that if individuals wish to drink any alcohol, then based on this research, a small glass of red might may be the best option due to the proposed health benefits.

NHS (2019). Alcohol support: The risks of drinking too much. http://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/the-risks-of-drinking-too-much/

Dinan, T. G., Stilling, R. M., Stanton, C., & Cryan, J. F. (2015). Collective unconscious: How gut microbes shape human behavior. Journal of Psychiatric Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.02.021

Valdes, A. M., Walter, J., Segal, E., & Spector, T. D. (2018). Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health. Science and Politics of Nutrition. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k2179

Cordova, A. C. & Sumpio, B. E. (2009). Polyphenols are medicine: Is it time to prescribe red wine for our patients? International Journal of Angiology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2903024/

Le Roy, C. I., Wells, P. M., SI, J., Raes, J., Bell, J. T., & Spector, T. D. (2019). Red Wine Consumption Associated with Increased Gut Microbiota -diversity in 3 Independent Cohorts. Gastroenterology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2019.08.024

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Human Behavior

How to Set Good Habits and Actually Keep Them This Year – Fatherly

A new exercise regime. A hardcore diet. A vow to never, ever smoke another cigarette. A draconian organizational system for ones home. These are common New Years resolutions made and, inevitably, given up on within a few weeks, if not months, into the New Year. At least thats what Dr. BJ Fogg, a social science research associate at Stanford and author found in his own work studying how people can create real, sustainable, and healthy, and good habits, and shed bad habits in the past.

When Dr. Fogg received his doctorate in experimental psychology, he was largely focused on how people can use tech to better their lives. But at some point he felt he had contributed all he could to tech and that human behavior good, bad, healthy, or unhealthy would be his next mountain to tackle. During his research, he came across a surprising discovery: the smallest, tiniest habits are the ones that can radically change a persons life. It was only when people set extremely lofty goals like running a marathon at the end of the year or completely changing how they parent their children that they failed and dug themselves deeper into a de-motivation hole that made it even harder to enact positive changes in their own lives.

So, to help Dr. Fogg started a program called Tiny Habits and has coached some 60,000 people through changing their habits through smart, small change. His new book, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything distills his finding and methodology into genuinely useful guide for those who want to change.

Fatherly spoke to Dr. Fogg about how to really, actually set a new habit that will stick beyond the fading resolve of the New Years Resolution as well as the most common habits he sees parents wanting and needing to change.

How cooperative is your child in getting ready in the morning?

They pretty much do what I ask them

Sometimes they listen, sometimes it's like pulling teeth

They are a wild animal bent upon my destruction

Thanks for the feedback!

So what does it take to really hone a new habit?

There are three components that comprise every behavior: motivation, ability, and prompt. When those things come together, something amazing happens, and if youre missing one, it doesnt. And its really that simple.

With that model, then, at least the graphical version in the book with the curved lines, you can see theres a relationship between motivation and ability. So if something is really hard to do, you have to have high motivation for it to happen, and when motivation drops, you wont. On the flip side, if its really easy to do, your motivation will be low. That intrigued me. I looked at the drawing of my own model and realized that means that if I want to create a new habit and I make it really, really simple, then my swings in motivation wont derail [my habit formation.]

Okay.

I started doing it in my own life. I decided Id floss one tooth, not all my teeth. I said Id pour a glass of water, not drink a glass of water. By going radically tiny, it was like, great. I can be busy or stressed out or not wanting to do it very much and I can still floss one tooth. I can still pour one glass of water. I can still do two push ups.

So just say I want to read more books in 2020. What do I do?

Take whatever habit you want and make it radically tiny. Scale it back: set the intention to read a paragraph, not a chapter. If its not flossing all my teeth, its one tooth. Its not pay all my bills, its get my bills out and put them on the table. And so, in tiny habits, you just scale it back to make it so easy. So then its not at all a willpower or motivation issue.

Then you ask, whats going to remind me to do this? What routine do you already do that you can anchor the new habit to? For reading, it can come after I sit down on the bus. Thats when I open my book and read a paragraph. Neither one of those things is about motivation.

And then the feeling of success. Its really those three things together the anchor; making the behavior tiny; and the celebration. All of those are hacks, unconventionally. When I figured out over time was that if you bring those three hacks together, you can create habits really fast. It just feels different than if you have the right pieces put together.

Is the idea that by telling myself Im just going to read one paragraph, or floss one tooth, that it will be really easy for me to go above and beyond that set goal?

It can go either way. You can do more if you want. Extra-credit would be flossing all my teeth. But, even years later, you dont raise the bar on yourself. The habit is still just one tooth. I actually floss all my teeth twice a day. I used to not floss, Id go to the dentist, Id get chewed out. But even now, if Im in a massive hurry, I will still grab the floss, floss one tooth and say, Yeah. I got it done. And run out to the car.

So what you dont do is continue to raise the bar, like, I did two push ups. Now I have to do 5. You can do more, but its not a requirement. The habit is always tiny. You keep it at a level where you can always succeed. And when you do more, and you will do more, naturally, you think of that as extra credit. Youre the kind of person who goes above and beyond. That has really good effects on you.

And then if you dont, you did what you said you were going to do.

Really. Let me build on that. When you say, Man, I did what I said I was going to do and I overachieved, then you start seeing yourself as the person who does what they said they were going to do. That ripples out to other aspects of your life. Theres an identity shift that happens from succeeding on tiny things and that identity shift has a massive impact.

So what do you think about the word goals? I havent heard you say it yet in this interview. Like, My goal is to be neater.

Goal setting scares people and it makes them feel unsuccessful. So instead of using the word goal, I talk about aspirations and outcomes.

The word goal, I think, is tainted, but you could have people set a goal without using that word. Sitting down with your spouse and agreeing on an outcome that you want is essentially setting a goal. But its not bringing it all the baggage that people have around it.

Im a bigger fan of just aspirations: I want to eat better. What are the behaviors I can do that will help me eat better? So its not really a specific goal its just a general dream, wish, or hope, and then you come up with behaviors like, Ill pack a lunch every day. Ill eat blueberries for breakfast.

So, getting clear on what you want is really important. But I dont think that you have to call it a goal, or fall into the trap of setting this really high goal for yourself and then failing. Thats what I want people to avoid.

Right. And I feel like this approach to new habits is actually workable for parents who cant really meaningfully overhaul their whole life, or set a hard goal that would get totally derailed by the complications of life.

Its complicated.

Right. Clean-eating for 30 days is unworkable. But having one more serving of vegetables a day seems pretty doable.

I did a bunch of interviews with nurses and stressed out hospital workers and the big takeaway for me was that they were so stressed, and so tapped out, that tiny habits was the only way they could change. They could not do big things. The crazier your life, the more tapped out you are, the more tiny habits are appropriate for you. So, for parents, this tracks really closely. They cant do the big overhauls like you see on TV. They watch it, but they cant do it. And thats bad because it just sets them up to feel terrible. The other stuff, you may see good commercials and tv shows and emails about the other stuff but its not going to happen for you, realistically.

You have done a lot of work, including long-term workshops, with people who would love to commit to new habits and potentially change their lives. What are a few things that you commonly see parents dealing with, that they want to change?

I assumed it was all going to be about weight loss, but what did emerge for parents is that the number one concern in one of the studies was about financial security. In another one, parents responded I want to prepare my child for the real world.

I dont even know how we came up with that phrase! but we tested it against other things like, I want to reduce stress, or advance my career. For parents, that aspiration of preparing their kid for the real world that was number one.

Were there other things that concerned parents?

Tidiness around the home is a big issue. There are these tiny habits for tininess they can do, like, after I start the coffee maker I will put away one thing in the kitchen. Just one thing. And if you want to do more, great. But you dont have to. And guess what? Often, they do more.

There are habits around putting away technology and really engaging with your child. So, after I arrive home from work, I will charge my phone out of sight in the mud room or the entryway and Ill leave it there. So, you just leave it and dont charge it.

There are also mantras. After my child frustrates me, I will say to myself, My son is doing the best he can. Nobody tries to screw up. So just the internal mantra, to have some empathy. Theres a host of those. In the appendix of tiny habits, I pulled together, with input from some experts, some tiny habits for dads who work from home.

Okay. So theres a big difference between maintaining a neat home or leaving a phone by the front door and, you know, financial stability. How, in your view, can financial stability be achieved through tiny habits?

First and foremost, families need an emergency fund between 300 and 500 dollars. You need a rainy day fund for emergencies that you do not touch unless its truly an emergency.

There are a bunch of different ways to get there.

It could be that: every day when we come home from work, well put our change in this jar. Every time a friend wants to go get a coffee, for three months, well say, Im not doing Starbucks right now, but thanks for the invitation. And then we take that money and we put it in an emergency fund.

Right. You cant latte your way to being able to afford a house. But you can have a better cushion if an emergency happens.

Right. But you can do that to achieve a near-term outcome; of 300 to 500 dollars, for sure.

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How to Set Good Habits and Actually Keep Them This Year - Fatherly

Human Behavior

Small Steps Are Key to Making Resolutions Stick – AAFP News

Editor's note: Most New Year's resolutions fail before February. We asked our new physician bloggers how they help patients make lifestyle changes that last. Here's what they had to say.

I was born on New Year's Eve, so I am all too familiar with the flurry of well-intended resolutions and the sense of positive potential that accompany each new year. I am also keenly aware of the reluctant acceptance that gradually comes during the following months as we negotiate with ourselves and settle on lesser goals or give up on them entirely, at least until next year.

The age-old challenge that most of us face has to do with self-discipline, whether it pertains to diet, exercise or a perceived vice such as smoking, drinking, excessive screen time or a chocolate obsession, just to name a familiar few. It doesn't help that the major holidays that lead up to the new year are often accompanied by indulgence in the things that eventually leave us looking disapprovingly in the mirror at a flabbier, weaker version of ourselves. This is followed by a newfound resolve to make a change for the better that will finally stick. We are determined to regain our 21-year-old body, imbue it with the soul of a monk, and attach to its chiseled torso the head of someone who possesses an iron will and better decision-making abilities.

Therein lies the problem. We expect radical change from ourselves, when what we really need is the foresight and ability to play the long game of gradual evolution. Based on my own experience, I encourage my patients to integrate small changes into their lifestyles that fit well with their personalities and routines. For instance, I discovered I had lactose intolerance about 15 years ago, but it wasn't until just a few years ago that I seriously committed to a 30-day elimination diet and discovered just how positively life-changing strict elimination of lactose from my diet could be. Within a few days of eating nonprocessed, dairy-free foods, my gastrointestinal issues greatly improved. Next was the elimination of wheat products, which brought about an even bigger surprise as my heartburn went away, along with fatigue, brain fog, body aches, headaches and skin issues. I also reached my goal weight after only six weeks of strict dieting. Five years later, I continue to eat a modified version of this diet because it made a difference, and I feel better.

Finally, I have found that when it comes to working out, the key is to keep exercise equipment in places where it is easily accessible and convenient to use. For instance, I keep my free weights and exercise bands upstairs where I have quick access to them before settling down for the night, but my exercise bike and total gym are downstairs in our TV room where I can use them while watching a show. I have also started bringing exercise bands with me when I travel.

There are smaller but more consistently beneficial changes one can make, like increasing time spent walking the dog or jogging instead of walking. Engaging in outdoor work or recreation instead of staying cooped up in the house is always a win and could easily jumpstart a new lifestyle change. The key is to employ many small and achievable changes that you can shuffle to avoid getting bored or overwhelmed. In doing so, you just may wake up some New Year's Day and look in the mirror with an approving grin on your face.

Kurt Bravata, M.D., Buffalo, Mo.

The best and most difficult medicine is changing your life. I wish we could bottle a healthy diet or turn exercise into a pill, but there is no substitute for changing your life if your goal is to, well, change your life. This starts with considering a few questions.

First, what changes are we talking about, exactly? Here's a list.

Second, why should we care enough about these suggestions to make big changes related to them? Well, there is enough data behind them to merit a separate blog post, but I can sum it up in one sentence: If you want to be in your own home instead of a nursing home when you're 80, you should do these things now as a favor to your future self.

Third, how do we make these changes stick? This is the hard part. Taking pill takes a commitment of 10 seconds each day. It's easy to remember and easy to stop thinking about after you've done it. Changing your life requires attention all day long, every day. We all hate the side effects of medications. This is the side effect of lifestyle change -- you have to pay attention, and it's not easy. You won't get a rash and you won't get diarrhea. You will, in fact, feel better every day that you do it, but give yourself credit for doing something hard.

A primary care doctor can help patients with things such as smoking cessation, insomnia, poor nutrition and alcohol misuse, but we cannot follow patients home and cook for them, so the challenge for patients is one of endurance.

If changing a life is a marathon, not a sprint, let's treat it like one. Start slow.

If you want to eat healthier, start with lunches. Or snacks. Or no meat with breakfast. If you want to exercise five days a week, start with one. Start with a 10-minute exercise video at home. Start with chair yoga.

Slowly progress. You don't need to change everything in one day, but you should stick with the changes you make.

Make something habitual. Start meatless Mondays. Start Tuesday walk clubs. Put it in your schedule not just for this week, but for every week, same time, same place.

If you fail, try again. If you are successful 10% of the time, your 80-year-old self will be that much better off, so it's worth trying again and again and again.

Stewart Decker, M.D., Klamath Falls, Ore.

New Year's comes with a hope for change and a renewed effort to make better choices. Better known as New Year's resolutions, people often commit themselves to making these big, bold and sweeping lifestyle changes.

However, on average, people stick with said resolutions for less than two weeks.(nypost.com) As a family physician who is a strong proponent of using lifestyle medicine to promote and maintain health, one of my largest tasks is helping people make changes that last.

Unfortunately, evidence shows us that big and bold is not the way to make lasting lifestyle changes. I have seen many patients try to run marathons without much previous physical activity. They start training too hard with too much intensity, end up injured and then give up altogether. Whether it's quitting smoking, drinking less caffeine, becoming more physically active or implementing a plant-based diet, research has shown us that small, consistent and incremental changes(www.apa.org) are much more likely to result in sustained transformation.

I recommend my patients make a plan; set small, attainable and realistic goals; and only make one change at a time. For example, drink one less soda each day for two weeks and then increase the goal to two fewer sodas daily for two more weeks. When that goal is reached, start walking five minutes after dinner twice a week and continue to make one small change at a time.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, ask for support and involve a friend or family member. If you are trying to eat more veggies and no one else in your household is trying to do the same, it can be a lot harder. I have found this is also true for patients trying to stop smoking alone compared with those who try it with support. Similarly, if you are meeting a friend for a walk at lunchtime, you are much less likely to skip it. Letting others know about your goals and having them check in on you can help make you more accountable for your actions.

Alex Mroszczyk-McDonald, M.D., Fontana, Calif.

Human behavior is hard to change. Yet we're realizing that many of our behaviors are unhealthy, and research has shown that true lifestyle modifications can positively impact both disease prevention and progression. Guidelines recommend(www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org) we discuss these modifications with our patients, but we have all likely struggled to find ways to prescribe them during our limited visit time in a way that will realistically help our patients make lasting, healthy changes.

I have spent the past year trying to fine-tune how I speak with patients about establishing habits that stick. I tell them to think of "small but sustainable" changes, to create SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-focused) goals, and to associate new habits with simple rituals that they're already doing every day. For example, I tell them to pick a small goal that they know they can meet. If they want to walk more or eat more vegetables, I suggest a specific goal like walking for five minutes three times a week or adding five baby carrots to their snack twice a week. No goal is too small, but make sure it is measurable.

If your neighborhood doesn't feel safe to walk in or you're not the one doing the grocery shopping, pick a different goal. Make it relevant to your overall health goals. And commit to this goal for a set period of time. (I often recommend four weeks, and we schedule a follow-up visit.)

Finally, I offer tips to help patients associate their goals with something they're already doing. Want to drink more water? Put a big glass by your bed and when your feet touch the floor in the morning, drink it. Want to work out to that online exercise video? Put some workout gear right where you place your keys when you get home and immediately put it on.

In addition to the growing body of evidence that these methods work, I have found them to be true for me, which gives them credibility and enables me to speak from experience. Thus, going into another year, I encourage patients and my colleagues to make small New Year's resolutions that can be reasonably accomplished.

With time, you can add to these successes. And hopefully, by this time next year, you'll find that you've made some big changes and are feeling like the healthier you you've envisioned. Happy New Year!

Margaux Lazarin, D.O., M.P.H., Redwood City, Calif.

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Small Steps Are Key to Making Resolutions Stick - AAFP News

Human Behavior

Here are the 8 tech trends you’ll see this year (and decade) – KSL.com

LAS VEGAS Weve witnessed a technological revolution over the last few decades.

The smartphone has fundamentally changed the way we live and the way our brains function. What will this next decade bring? Self-driving cars? Incredibly fast internet? One streaming service to rule them all?

Were talking about technologys influence on human behavior, Consumer Technology Association vice president of research, Steve Koenig, said during a presentation on coming tech trends at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Sunday.

Here are the eight tech trends youll see this year, and likely throughout the upcoming decade.

The last decade was all about IoT, or the internet of things essentially, everyday devices that connect to the internet. This decade, however, will be focused on the intelligence of things as our devices continue becoming smarter via artificial intelligence.

And we wont even have to use a different acronym.

This trend will usher in enhanced machine learning as AI learns to take larger data sets and analyze them in real time. Well also see AI appear in our smart home devices and televisions as they learn to anticipate our habits, recognize objects and respond to them much like your streaming service of choice knows your favorite shows and suggests similar ones.

Well also see AI advance speech and facial recognition technology, including biometrics, that will likely play a significant (and possibly controversial) role in security. Even McDonald's is jumping into the space: A new research and development lab in Silicon Valley is working to bring voice assistants to the drive-through.

In 2019, mobile networks across the globe deployed 5G the fifth generation of wireless technology, purported to bring superfast speeds that will change the world. But 5G hasnt changed things quite as quickly as promised. In fact, the most widespread versions of 5G arent much better than 4G.

But that probably wont last for too long. Industry analysts predict that 133 million 5G handset units will be shipped out by 2023 (compared to 2020s 20.2 million), and innovators at CES are scrambling to show how their tech will exhibit 5Gs potential.

As 5G develops, it could make tasks like remote manufacturing, training, health care and even surgery possible. It could also enhance traffic safety and control, smart grid automation and industrial application.

Perhaps one of the most surprising industries 5G is set to disrupt, however, is agriculture. The technology could make possible automated farming equipment and allow squadrons of drones to fly over fields while using sensors to look for things like plant disease or areas that need more water.

Companies like Disney and Apple launched their own media streaming services last year, and well see even more in 2020, like NBCUniversals Peacock or Quibi (a mobile subscription service for short-form video). In fact, our streaming subscriptions might end up being as hefty as our cable bills were, and well be back where we started.

But at least well enjoy what were paying for in cinematic style, because our TVs are likely to get larger as time goes on. Well also see an advancement in 4K and 8K TVs and content.

Augmented, virtual and mixed reality (or XR) will advance as industries find uses for them. Theyre already popular in workplace and healthcare training, as well as industries like architecture, which benefits from being able to virtually show building plans.

The norm for VR is something called six degrees of freedom, meaning users can have a 360 glimpse into the virtual world rather than a simple look up, down and to the side. AR is being implemented into a variety of different products and content, and AR glasses are becoming much sleeker and more user-friendly.

Esports garnered $1 billion in revenue in 2019, and thats only likely to continue in 2020 and the decade to come. Manufacturers have also started creating more immersive gaming, such as better graphics cards and special gaming microphones and headsets that give users an immersive audio experience.

Were also seeing a rise in cloud-based gaming, with companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft launching their own cloud-based gaming platforms.

Were finally at that inflection point where electrification (of vehicles) makes a lot of sense, Koenig said. In fact, I think this is the electric decade for vehicles.

The automotive industry has been going in that direction for a while, but innovation in battery systems, faster charging, longer charges, electric motor innovation and better (and more) charging systems are finally making electric vehicles truly feasible and sensible for consumers.

Well also see more commercial deployments of self-driving vehicles, Koenig believes. Technological innovation in the space has made driverless cars not just a dream of the future, but an achievable reality.

Transportation is also likely to change with C-V2X technology, which stands for cellular vehicle to everything. C-V2X takes anonymous data from connected car fleets so cities and towns can have a better understanding of where infrastructure repairs are needed or which areas become most congested. In fact, well be seeing, and have already partially seen, something similar in Utah.

Finally, well see more innovations in other mobility devices like scooters. So, dont expect those to go away anytime soon.

Health, wellness, fitness and sleep tech is not new, but it is changing. Sleep technology, for example, will no longer just track sleep but is working to enhance it via biometrics by tracking and analyzing how your body acts during the night.

Baby tech is also huge, and well see a lot of smart cribs that claim to help babies sleep through the night by sensing their stirring and rocking them back to sleep.

Telemedicine is also likely to advance rapidly thanks to technologies that allow doctors to diagnose their patients, and even perform surgery, remotely.

There are robots for nearly every task from making bread to folding your laundry. Social and educational robots are also becoming increasingly popular as they act as companions, caretakers and teachers for their owners. Some robots are teaching children coding or foreign languages, tailored to their individual learning style and pace.

Well likely see robots continue to advance as we find more real-world uses for them.

I must have this #CES2019#foldimatepic.twitter.com/7488hDKyMv

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Human Behavior

Researchers Into ‘Deepfakes’ Highlight Failings of New California Legislation – East Bay Express

When a video depicting real people doing or saying things they never did or said goes viral, the consequences can be disastrous. Such malign scenes can destroy reputations, place elections in peril, put national or international security at risk, and threaten the very concept of truth.

Deceptive visual and audio media manipulated with artificial intelligence have long proliferated in online pornography, and are increasingly seen in political commentary or advertising. The Amsterdam cybersecurity company Deeptrace found that, during seven months in 2019, such so-called "deepfakes" increased 84 percent. Reddit holds the dubious honor of being the first known site for deepfakes, but YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are not far behind.

Even "cheapfakes" that don't use artificial intelligence can be harmful. Consider the May 2019 video that slowed the speech of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The simple, low-tech distortion made Pelosi appear inebriated or otherwise impaired. Despite rapid detection of the doctored video, the damage was done.

As November's U.S. presidential election approaches, making social media platforms more accountable for how their online content can be used to mislead the public has become a critical issue. In California, last year Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 730, known as the "Anti-Deepfake Bill." Aimed at stemming the tide of deepfakes featuring politicians, the new law is viewed as admirable but imperfect by people concerned about the issue.

The law, which is only in effect until the end of 2022, prohibits the distribution with actual malice of "materially deceptive audio or video media" involving a candidate for public office in the 60 days prior to an election. The law permits candidates to go to court to suppress such media and sue for damages, and exempts content that "constitutes satire or parody," as well as news organizations that broadcast such materials if they acknowledge questions about the material's authenticity.

Observers say the law's flaws include its expiration date, the 60-day window of applicability, the provision allowing deepfakes to remain active until malice is proven, and inadequate enforcement procedures to correct debunked video or audio content and to alert the public regarding deepfakes already posted or gone viral. Most notably, it exempts online platforms from responsibility due to Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which prevents such platforms from being sued for allowing users to post content. This final limitation could only be corrected by Congress.

Fortunately, the situation has attracted the attention of smart people dedicated to promoting the ethical use of new technologies. Among those leading the charge are Brandie Nonnecke and Camille Crittenden of UC Berkeley's CITRIS and Banatao Institute. CITRIS and the Banatao Institute merged under one name in 2016 and have for 20 years enabled leading researchers at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced, and UC Santa Cruz to address information technology development and applications for the public good.

"My concern is that people may be hesitant to believe anything they see," said Nonnecke, CITRIS Policy Lab co-founder; a fellow at the World Economic Forum; and an expert in communication technology, Internet governance, and civic participation. "That's good because they're careful, but bad because they may lose the perception that something is true by jumping too quickly to thinking everything is a lie." Furthermore, she added, hesitancy and disbelief can be exacerbated by actors yelling "deepfake" about any video ... and then there's no drive-back-the-lie vehicle for detecting and broadcasting truth.

"Who would you then trust?" she said. "Who can determine if it's true or not? The platforms aren't positioned to do that. Most often now it's a lawsuit or a third party verifying a video. But can we trust them? The biggest danger is a video that's actually true, showing a politician doing something illegal, and now no one thinks it's true. The truth won't come out."

Crittenden, the executive director of CITRIS, a co-founder of the Policy Lab, and former executive director of the Human Rights Center at Berkeley Law, said that by casting doubt on authentic media content, deepfakes threaten democracy. Quick to acknowledge that social media platforms have placed restrictions around sex trafficking and actively support developing tools to detect manipulated media, she nonetheless said it's not enough.

"With Facebook, they've said they're not taking political ads down," she said. "Twitter has said they will not accept political advertising. But if they won't curb or flag blatantly false information, perhaps they shouldn't be in the business of political advertising at all."

Just Monday, after Crittenden was interviewed, Facebook announced that it is banning deepfakes from its platform. But its ban fell short of including clips edited to change the order of a speaker's words, or parody or satire, two categories of content protected by the First Amendment. The policy also appeared not to cover content such as the Pelosi video. A spokesman for Pelosi released a statement to The Washington Post that the company "wants you to think the problem is video-editing technology, but the real problem is Facebook's refusal to stop the spread of disinformation."

Content such as the Pelosi video, and another infamous one in which CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta's actions were made to seem abrupt and violent by speeding it up, is especially pernicious. "The content isn't as sophisticated and doesn't take a programmer or AI software for facial swapping," Crittenden said. "It's easier to accomplish and to proliferate, perhaps even harder to detect, which means there could be more of it. It could spread quickly and easily." Depending on how often a video is copied or shared, even taking down the original post leaves iterations to spread. "The creator isn't going to pull it back and the platforms aren't liable so there's no obligation to even alert users there's a false video. Unless there's violence, of course."

Nonnecke said social media platforms are providing CITRIS with data and actual deepfakes that will allow researchers to identify model features. Errors in videos already offer clues. The speaker in a deepfake will appear strange: for example, mouth patterns and timing may not match words. Another simple detection approach is algorithms designed to flag videos that suddenly go viral. "Why did that happen?" Nonnecke asked. "Shocking content? Look at those first and decide if it's true or not."

She called California's new law admirable, but only "a baby step." As detection technology improves, it chases a moving target. Voice- and face-matching technology are developing rapidly. "If I get a call or Skype sounding or looking like my mother asking for my Social Security number, I might give it to her and then find out it wasn't my mother," Nonnecke said. People with limited resources are especially vulnerable. "People who don't have the means to have a software plugin to put on a device to detect deepfakes; yes, they might not be able to afford protection."

Crittenden believes that CITRIS can have the greatest impact by asking researchers and stakeholders to focus on ethical practices, offering control and detection recommendations to social media companies and the public, disseminating materials to politicians and legislative entities, and teaching digital literacy to students and consumers. Healthy skepticism and critical-thinking skills when reading online are low-tech techniques anyone can apply immediately.

Nonnecke believes citizens must weigh in on the debate by discussing artificial intelligence with state and federal legislators and supporting digital ethics training for future programmers and engineers. People opposed to control of deepfakes out of concern for free speech a legitimate concern must better understand the difference between hateful or deceptive content and satire or parody, she believes. "Overall, there should be more tech ethics training, because all fields require a foundation of ethical practice in technology, not just STEM."

Tightening up loopholes in AB 730 timing, misplaced responsibility, and inadequate remedies are legislative next steps, she said.

But until government adequately responds to the crisis, she said, it helps to understand and anticipate deeply biological, human behavior. "We're poised to believe things we can see, like videos," she said. "If you see something shocking, you have a propensity to pay attention to it. Biologically, we're primed to pay attention to scary things that might harm us. And there's heuristics: the more frequently we see something, the more you think it's true.

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Researchers Into 'Deepfakes' Highlight Failings of New California Legislation - East Bay Express

Human Behavior

How to be wrong – The Outline

A noncomprehensive list of unimportant things Ive been profoundly wrong about, and why: the movie Prometheus (thought the trailer looked amazing); the Super Bowl chances of the 2016-17 New England Patriots (assumed the Atlanta Falcons could hold onto a 28-3 lead); the likelihood Brock Lesnar would defeat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 30 (the Undertaker was undefeated at Wrestlemania up until that point, Lesnars momentum seemed lackluster); the merit of the Porches album Pool (I dont know); the box office potential of Justice League despite the bad reviews (comic book fans love slop); the capacity of my slow cooker to fit a hunk of pork shoulder I wanted to make for a 2018 barbecue (I eyeballed it, it seemed fine); the quality of the chicken parmesan at one of my local Italian restaurants (how hard is chicken parm?); the potency of a marijuana vaporizer pull I took before my Thanksgiving flight back to New York City (I am just an idiot). These are just a few that come to mind, as sadly Ive been wrong about many things in the past, though the corresponding low stakes provided a bulwark against true humiliation because its not really such a big deal if one eats a bad chicken parmesan.

Only a few times have I been profoundly wrong about important things, of which the most consequential is easily the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Despite all my understanding of Donald Trump as a uniquely malicious candidate, and Hillary Clinton as a uniquely flawed one (in the context of American politics, and her particular opponent), I was nonetheless confident beyond any possible doubt that the electorate would do the right thing, and choose relative normalcy (by historical standards, at least) over certain depravity. Im sure I expressed this multiple times over the course of the campaigning, but specifically remember one such affirmation a few days before the election, when my cousin asked me if I thought Trump had any shot, to which I replied: No, absolutely not, theres no chance, with the assuredness of a man who thinks hes about to eat a decent chicken parmesan.

In the wake of the final results, what I remember just as acutely as the shock (over the result) and the despair (over what the results would likely lead to), was an overwhelming sense of wrongness. I had casually invested all my powers of computation and logic in predicting a result that was laughably incorrect; it was as if, without looking, Id said the sky is blue, no shit, its a sunny and gorgeous day, youd have to be the dumbest person alive to think it isnt and immediately tilted my head upwards to find it was neon yellow. My wrongness was so comprehensive that I felt my understanding of American politics was permanently unmoored, that I could probably not ever predict anything confidently in that realm for the rest of my life without triple and quadruple-checking it, and even then qualifying it with a well, maybe.

Naively, I assumed that everyone in the country whod also gotten it wrong at least the Hillary voters in my orbit would experience a similar moment of humility, and capitulate to the possibility that their future certainties would be just as fundamentally flawed, which would make everyone more thoughtful and generous as a result. This has not happened, another wrong prediction on my end. One reason is that some of the people whod gotten it wrong hadnt been as wrong; theyd consciously or subconsciously allotted some possibility that Trump could win, and prepared themselves for the body blow, which made them feel relatively informed when compared with guileless rubes like me. Another, more universal reason, is the human tendency toward adopting confidence despite the opposing evidence. Think about all of the people in your life, and how quickly even the intelligent ones assume theyre right pretty much all of the time now remember how the dumbasses behave. Plus the fact that there arent many tangible, enforceable penalties for being wrong, which is an invitation to keep doing it.

But still, wouldnt this spirit of humility somewhat inform the 2020 election, given the stakes? Ha ha, absolutely not. Everywhere I look, the same people are repeating the same assumptions to deleterious effect. We can pick up such tendencies in any circle, but lets look at Bernie Sanders. Because I support Sanders, I find myself particularly attuned to opinions about him, especially since I think my reasons for supporting him are fairly logical. Thus I cant help but notice that in every direction, someone is wrong about him. The centrist media underestimates his electoral viability; some of his supporters underestimate their need to build bridges between like-minded voters instead of shouting like assholes at Elizabeth Warren fans; some of his detractors stupidly assume his ultimate goal is the destruction of the Democratic party and thus pledge their support to fucking Pete Buttigieg, or just outright condescend to his political goals; maddeningly, Hillary Clinton seems to partially blame him for losing the 2016 election. You can keep going, and the totality of this wrongness is overwhelming at times.

Still, I continue to support Sanders because I believe his electoral history, ideological directives, and rhetorical approach comprise the best shot at taking down Trump, and also pushing back the forces of corporate greed and naked class warfare responsible for Americas current condition. However, as a matter of practice I just have to consider the possibility Im wrong about this that perhaps all of the possible information really does indicate Biden has the best and realest shot at beating Trump, that perhaps Sanders will be just as ineffectual as his predecessors, that worse, hed just get demolished in a general election. But because we live in the real world, where we must make real decisions with real consequences on a real timeline, the effect of considering this wrongness is not to spiral off into the ether, and tease out every single possibility and their corresponding likelihood of reality, an activity with literally no end in sight. The practical effect of contemplating my wrongness is to consider what Id actually do if I was wrong; how my wrongness would inform my future behavior.

I would hope that, should Sanders lose the nomination, Id avoid the emotional lethargy that followed his defeat in 2016, when I assumed Clinton was a foregone conclusion and thus didnt need my focused support. (Somehow working up enthusiasm for Joe Biden would, I think, be the most magnificent personal development of my lifetime but then again, whats the alternative in that situation?) I would hope that, should Sanders become president and fail to enact any of his ideas, I wouldnt take this as evidence that his leftist ideology was completely inapplicable to American society. I would hope that, should Sanders win the nomination and lose against Trump, that I wouldnt swing back to the actually, we need to get more racist of electoral pragmatists. Id hope to put aside my own saltiness about feeling like a giant dumbass, and continue support and search for the politics that would lead to the best outcome for everyone, not just the one that would satisfy my own ego.

In short, Id hope that my beliefs would not be centered in any need to be right, which is probably the worst motivation for believing in anything. Of course, this desire is the animating factor behind a lot of human behavior, political or otherwise, which is partly what makes following election coverage such a nightmare. Across all the websites and all the cable channels, in the pages of newspaper op-eds and glossy magazines, on social media platforms and obscure blogs, we find hundreds and hundreds of incurious, selfish jerkoffs extolling their wrongness as if it is a virtue, confident in the conclusions theyve arrived at through assumption and ignorance.

This is not only because of that human tendency toward adopting confidence despite the opposing evidence, but a more pernicious truth: that the financial and professional incentives for doggedly pursuing this wrongness are, in fact, quite immense. You can build an entire career on wrongness, staggering from one idiotic position to the next with no consistency or morality, and just keep doing it. Nothing is going to stop you. Think of someone like former Obama adviser Jim Messina, to pick one of a thousand wrong idiots in the public sphere, who went to work for former U.K. prime minister Theresa May ahead of her disastrous 2017 election, and nonetheless still pops up to be more wrong about things like Bernie Sanders despite the evidence that maybe he doesnt know what hes talking about. The gall of this arrogance, to keep barreling ahead in light of such wrongness, is fairly astonishing to me, but its not wholly surprising. Cultivating self-reflection and humility, qualities that make one a worthwhile human being, would also force Messina to admit his expertise is built on a foundation of shit. As he currently functions, at least he can stay employed.

Given such incentives to just keep at it, what can be done about the wrongness of others? At scale, probably nothing. A hoary cliche is that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice well, thats what the people resisting it also believe. But while I have been wrong about many things, Ive never been wrong about the need to forge more meaningful connections between people, personal and political and otherwise, and that truth fuels me even when everything else seems confusing. In general, I think we and here I speak for everyone could stand to be a little more comfortable with exploring the potential of our own wrongness, not just because life is so vast and unknowable (though, yes), but because acknowledging our wrongness allows us to tunnel through into the new reality where, hopefully, we can be a little bit more right, about ourselves and each other. If not this time, then maybe the next, because one can only be wrong for so long.

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How to be wrong - The Outline

Human Behavior

Eye Tracking Market Worth $1,786 Million by 2025 – Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets – PR Newswire UK

CHICAGO, Jan. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Eye Tracking Market by Offering (Hardware, Software, and Services), Tracking Type (Remote and Mobile), Application (Assistive Communication, Human Behavior & Market Research,), Vertical, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Eye Tracking Market is expected to grow from USD 560 million in 2020 to USD 1,786 million by 2025; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.1% from 2020 to 2025. The high demand for eye trackers in the healthcare vertical, especially for the assistive communication application is one of the key driving factors for the eye tracking market. The increasing penetration of eye tracking technology in the consumer electronics vertical, and high demand for eye trackers for personalized advertisements and consumer research purposes are a few other key factors having a positive impact on the growth of the eye tracking market.

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Remote eye tracking segment to hold largest share of eye tracking market, by tracking type, in 2020

The remote eye tracking segment will lead the eye tracking market, by tracking type, in terms of size, by 2020. The leading position of this segment can be attributed to the high demand for remote eye trackers for assistive communication and human behavior & market research applications, especially in healthcare, research, and retail verticals.

Market for automotive & transportation vertical to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period

The eye tracking market for the automotive & transportation vertical is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. Rise in the adoption of eye tracking technology in the automotive & transportation vertical for integration in driver monitoring systems is the major reason for the high growth of this vertical in the eye tracking market. Eye tracking technology is considered as an effective technology to detect drowsy or distracted drivers due to which this technology is increasingly being integrated into driver monitoring systems. The healthcare & research labs vertical is expected to dominate the eye tracking market, in terms of size, during the forecast period.

North America to hold largest share of eye tracking market by 2020

North America is expected to hold the largest share of the eye tracking market by 2020. The US and Canada are the key countries contributing to the growth of the eye tracking market in North America. Europe is expected to account for the second-largest share of the eye tracking market during the forecast period. The UK and Germany are significant demand-generating countries for eye tracking technology-based products and services in this region.

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A few key players operating in the eye tracking market are Tobii (Sweden), EyeTracking (US), SR Research (Canada), Seeing Machines (Australia), PRS IN VIVO (France), Smart Eye (Sweden), EyeTech Digital Systems (US), LC Technologies (US), Ergoneers (Germany), ISCAN (US), iMotions (Denmark), and Lumen Research (UK).

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Gesture Recognition and Touchless Sensing Marketby Technology (Touch-based and Touchless), Product (Sanitary Equipment, Touchless Biometric), Industry, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022

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Eye Tracking Market Worth $1,786 Million by 2025 - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets - PR Newswire UK

Human Behavior

Cal Thomas: 2020 is incredibly different from 1920s, but THIS remains unchanged – Fox News

It can be useful and instructive to observe the turning of a decade by looking back on what life was like in America a mere 100 years ago.

On Jan. 2, 1920, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 108.76. Today it is over 28,000 points.

In 1920, the U.S. had become an economic power, which is remarkable considering the bloody "war to end all wars" that ended just two years earlier. Republican presidents shifted their attention from foreign entanglements to economic growth (sound familiar?).

GARY SHAPIRO: CES 2020 -- WHY OUR LEADERS NEED TO LOOK TO LAS VEGAS

The beginning of the Roaring 20s featured new rights for women, including the right to vote, daring flapper outfits and cigarette smoking. It also included Prohibition, which led to the rise of Al Capone and the Mafia. People should have been convinced that attempts to regulate human behavior by government fiat only works if the public is willing to obey the law, which in the case of liquor it clearly was not.

The one thing that hasn't changed in the last 100 years -- and for that matter since the first humans walked the Earth -- is human nature. One can change styles of clothing and hair, change modes of transportation, even change politicians, but human nature never changes. Greed, lust and the quest for power are embedded in each of us in every generation.

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The impact of the Industrial Revolution found more people living in big cities than on farms for the first time beginning in 1920. That year also launched what we today call the "consumer society." America's total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929.

As the website history.com notes: People from coast to coast bought the same goods (thanks to nationwide advertising and the spread of chain stores), listened to the same music, did the same dances and even used the same slang. Many Americans were uncomfortable with this urban, sometimes racy mass culture, and for many people in the U.S., the 1920s brought more conflict than celebration.

Isn't it the same today? Have we learned nothing? The tension between people with opposing political and social views and religious beliefs has increased these last 100 years because of contemporary social media and the 24/7 news cycle in which revolution sells better than resolution.

Cars, washing machines, new forms of birth control and other creations gave especially women new freedoms. Radio united the nation and phonograph records, which sold 100 million in 1927 alone, created a common culture, even if some older people didn't like the "modern" music.

As with Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley in the 1940s and '50s, some older folks in the 1920s rejected the dance hall lifestyle and what they saw as the vulgarity and depravity of jazz music and the moral erosion they claimed it caused. But for the younger generation, it was a new world in which the future looked bright.

What will America be like in 2120? In 1920 no one could have foreseen a Great Depression, or a second World War, much less the prosperity and cultural changes that would come, or the threat of nuclear annihilation.

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The saying that "the more things change, the more they remain the same" has never seemed more accurate and providential.

Happy new decade!

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Cal Thomas: 2020 is incredibly different from 1920s, but THIS remains unchanged - Fox News

Human Behavior

Start-up of the Day: Is Pandora Intelligence the new Dutch unicorn? – Innovation Origins

An American soldier who was released after a period of captivity by a terrorist organization is planning an attack on his own turf. This is the beginning of the first season of the TV series Homeland. But could a series like this help you prevent these kinds of attacks in the real world? Well, yes, according to Peter de Kock from Pandora Intelligence. The company combines historical information about such attacks with books, series and other stories in order to do this. Started in 2017 with an investment of one and a half million euros, the security company is now about to take the next leap. De Kock hopes to bring new investors on board at the CES trade fair being held in Las Vegas this week. Its buzzing with rumors: is Pandora Intelligence going to be the next Dutch unicorn?

That was set in motion when we were selected by Dutch MP for Mona Keijzer (Dutch State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, ed.) and Prince Constantijn to go to the CES trade fair, where well be attending with the most disruptive companies from The Netherlands. Since that was announced, we have been approached by VCs (Venture Capitalists) from all quarters. Were now interesting for the major financiers. Its all happened so fast, we feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland. Talks are going on with six interested investors, one of whom is in Las Vegas. We would like to capitalize on that during CES.

At first we were faced with the choice of whether to grow gradually like a bike shop or to take advantage of this offer and expand very quickly internationally. We opted for the latter. Now a lot of parties are coming to us and we are constantly being phoned and asked if were the new Dutch unicorns.

I started doing this to make the world a better place. This is much slower when working with the government than with commercial parties, with good reason though. However, that sometimes causes frustration because you want to get something done. This led to Pandora Intelligence. Look at the subversion that is causing a lot of damage in society and makes people feel unsafe. We aim to make the world a safer place. When it comes to subversion and sabotage, there are so many more different approaches to counteract that. Technology isnt causing the bottleneck.

Many other companies look at where, for example, a virus comes from. What software has been used? Are there any other exploits? We approach it in a holistic way. Take the ransomware at Maastricht University; this method says something about the motivation of the hackers. We endeavor to merge all the various information into potential scenarios. To this end, we use data from our customers, open data and information from all the stories known to us. We follow news feeds, films and forums. Anything we can use to uncover stories, we sweep the entire internet.

Everything in a film scenario is related to everything else. The kind of murder weapon thats used says something about a perpetrators motivation. The location of an assassination also has significance. By piecing all those values together, you can completely unravel an event and figure out what you can do to counteract it.

What makes us unique is this narrative approach. Google, for example, classifies the world on the basis of commercial values. You can pay for extra clicks. But the world changes, values change. We want to classify the world in another way by considering symbolism and ontology.

I guess thats how you could put it. The government is a large and (for good reason) slowly operating institution. You cant just decide on something and carry it out. Its bound by all sorts of rules. Whereas making a film can go pretty fast. I can think of something now and start filming that tomorrow. A start-up is definitely somewhere in between, youre much freer than you are when working for the government and you can make decisions much faster. But I also see similarities. Because in both the police and the film world you have to create a team where you can bring out the best in each other. This also applies to a start-up. Especially in the initial phase when stress levels can be high and you cant afford to make so many mistakes.

Oil companies occasionally ask us to predict where and when a pipeline will rupture. But we cant do that, as it has has nothing to do with human behavior. We cannot anticipate natural processes. Im sure you could calculate what rust does, but well leave that up to other companies. We could look at the likelihood of someone sabotaging a pipeline in a troubled area. We can say something about that because it concerns human behavior.

Weve also been approached by parties asking if its possible to destabilize a country politically. That is possible in theory. Just look at Brexit and Cambridge Analytica. But thats not what we want to be involved with. We always have to ask ourselves who were doing something for and what the consequences are.

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Start-up of the Day: Is Pandora Intelligence the new Dutch unicorn? - Innovation Origins

Human Behavior

URI, BayCare in Florida and Butler Hospital team up to test retinal scanning for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease – URI Today

KINGSTON, R.I. Jan. 6, 2020 The University of Rhode Island, in collaboration with BayCare Health System in Florida and The Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital, an affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, is launching a clinical trial of retinal screening processes that could help clinicians detect Alzheimers disease possibly two or more decades before patients develop life-altering clinical symptoms.

The five-year, $5 million Atlas of Retinal Imaging in Alzheimers Study (ARIAS) is sponsored by BayCare Health Systems Morton Plant Hospital and St. Anthonys Hospital and funded largely by Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation and St. Anthonys Hospital Foundation in Pinellas County, Florida.

Principal investigators for the study are Peter Snyder, Ph.D., URI vice president for research and economic development and professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, and Stuart Sinoff, M.D., who specializes in neuro-ophthalmology and is a medical director of Neurosciences for BayCare Health Systems West Region in Pinellas County. According to the two researchers, the objective is to create a gold standard reference database of structural, anatomic and functional imaging of the retina to enable the identification and development of sensitive and reliable markers of early Alzheimers disease and/or risk progression.

The problem now is that one of the central diagnostic tools for Alzheimers disease, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning devices, which can detect amyloid protein plaques (a toxic protein that interferes with normal brain function), are expensive. While they can detect brain pathology related to Alzheimers disease well before symptoms develop, the costs for such machines run into the millions and one test currently costs as much as $4,500. So, PET scans are often done after patients become symptomatic and when drug therapies may no longer be effective in slowing the disease in its earliest stages. Snyder also notes that a large portion of the worlds population does not have access to PET scans.

When our study is completed, we want to make the technology available so that optometrists and ophthalmologists could screen for the retinal biomarkers we believe are associated with Alzheimers disease and watch them over time, Snyder said. If clinicians see changes, they could refer their patients to specialists early on. We believe this could significantly lower the cost of testing. We may then identify more people in the very earliest stage of the disease, and our drug therapies are likely to be more effective at that point and before decades of slow disease progression.

Snyder and Sinoff are working with Stephen Salloway, M.D., director of Neurology and the Memory and Aging Program, Butler Hospital and Martin M. Zucker professor of psychiatry and human behavior, professor of neurology, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, who is a world-leading clinical trials expert in Alzheimers disease, and Jessica Alber, Ph.D., Ryan assistant professor of research and cognitive neuroscientist at URI, who completed her post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University with Salloway and Snyder. There are 14 other collaborators, including neuropsychologists, social workers, optometrists, nursing staff and students.

We are very grateful to be working with some of the leading researchers in the field from BayCare, Butler Hospital and Brown University on this important study, Snyder said. Drs. Sinoff, Salloway, Alber and I have already been publishing together in this area. I am honored that Dr. Salloway is leading our clinical site at Butler Hospital, and our work there will be tightly coordinated with the efforts on this study at BayCares two flagship hospitals in Florida.

Modern health care is perhaps a victim of its own success, Sinoff said. With an ever increasing human lifespan, we find ourselves faced with a rapidly expanding group of people in cognitive decline. And theres also the unanticipated ballooning of the price tag for dementia care. ARIAS is structured to address both.

Speaking for the Florida sites, Morton Plant Hospital and St. Anthonys Hospital, and with special homage to the generous support from the Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation who have made ARIAS possible, I am truly honored to work with Drs. Snyder, Alber and Salloway, partnering to establish a cost-effective biomarker panel that will identify people in the earliest stages of Alzheimers disease possible.

We are excited to be participating with the ARIAS team from URI and BayCare on this landmark study, Salloway said. The ARIAS study closely aligns with the mission of Butler Hospital and Brown University to develop new approaches to detect Alzheimers risk early and keep the brain healthy so memory loss never occurs.

The ARIAS study is unique in its focus on preclinical stage disease, and its emphasis on viewing the retina as a complex biological system, requiring that researchers view the retina in many different ways at the same time. For example, pictures of the retinas of participants will be taken with very special blue, green and infrared lasers that are completely safe, but will allow for a microscopic look at its anatomy, changes in pigment chemicals as well as the movement of red blood cells in the retina.

The cells in the neuronal layers of the retina are the same types as cells in the brain that are attacked by the disease, so cell changes in the retina might reflect the same changes that are happening in the brain, Snyder said. We can look more easily in the retina to see the effects of disease on the way blood is carried to brain and retinal cells. We are also using a very new laser imaging technique that makes the chemical pigments in the retina fluoresce, and we think atypical changes in the amount of these chemicals might signal high risk for Alzheimers disease.

The ARIAS study will enroll 330 individuals between the ages of 55 and 80 years old, ranging from very healthy and low-risk adults, to persons with concerns about their memory, as well as patients with mild Alzheimers disease. Each participant will be examined at four different points over a three-year period, and each study visit includes an eye exam, a medical history discussion, some tests of how people think and how well they remember new information, the retinal imaging that is very much like the kind done at the eye doctors office, and measures of mood, walking and balancing, sleep habits and other types of medical information.

If you are interested in donating your time to participate in this important study, and if you live near Providence, Rhode Island, please contact the Butler Alzheimers Prevention Registry butler.org/alzregistry or call 401-455-6402.

If you live near Tampa, Clearwater or St. Petersburg in Florida, and you are interested in finding out more about the study, please call Catrina Montgomery at 727-298-6077.

About the University of Rhode Island

The University of Rhode Island is a competitive and highly regarded public institution in New England and beyond. Founded in 1892, the University is the principal public flagship research and graduate institution in Rhode Island, enrolling about 14,650 undergraduate students and more than 2,240 graduate students. The University is known regionally and worldwide for its big ideas and pioneering research in air, water, and ground pollution; biotechnology and life sciences; engineering, marine sciences, forensic sciences, neuroscience, pharmaceuticals, the behavioral sciences and public health promotion.URI is home toThe George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, which brings together a pioneering team of scientists noted for their contributions to under-explored factors in brain healthincluding the roles of inflammation, the immune system, and blood vessels in the development of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers.

About BayCare Health System

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 15 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information, visit http://www.BayCare.org.

About Butler Hospital

Butler Hospital, a member of Care New England, is the only private, nonprofit psychiatric and substance abuse hospital serving adults, seniors and adolescents in Rhode Island and southeastern New England. Founded in 1844, it was the first hospital in Rhode Island and has earned a reputation as the leading provider of innovative psychiatric treatments in the region. The Major Affiliated Teaching Hospital for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Butler is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in conducting cutting-edge research. For more information, visit butler.org.

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URI, BayCare in Florida and Butler Hospital team up to test retinal scanning for early detection of Alzheimer's disease - URI Today