Remember the “mood ring” craze of the 1970s? A high-tech wristband is being developed along the same lines, potentially helping patients who struggle with mood disorders. The smart wristband would use a person’s skin to track their emotional intensity. During a mood swing, either high or low, the wristband would change color, heat up, squeeze or vibrate to inform the wearer he might be in the throes of depression or anxiety, the researchers said. “As the feedback is provided in real time, our devices encourage people to become more aware of their emotions, name them, potentially reflect on what causes them, and even learn how to control their emotional responses in order to change the visual or tactile feedback provided by the device,” said researcher Corina Sas. She is a professor of human-computer interaction and digital health at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. About 10% of U.S. adults struggle with a mood disorder, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or seasonal affective disorder, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. Part of the treatment for a mood disorder involves becoming more aware of emotions, and then learning to regulate emotional response, the study authors said in background notes in their report. Co-author Muhammad Umair, a Lancaster research associate, explained, “We wanted to create low-cost, simple prototypes to support understanding and engagement with…  read on >

Social media is helping spur the e-cigarette epidemic among America’s teens, a new study suggests. Nearly 15,000 Instagram posts related to Juul, the most popular e-cigarette brand, were released between March and May 2018, researchers found. More than half the posts focused on youth culture or lifestyle-related content that would appeal to teens, according to results published July 2 in the journal Tobacco Control. One-third of the posts contained overt promotional content that highlighted ways to obtain Juul-related products at a reduced cost, including discounts and giveaways, the researchers added. These promotional posts “had links to commercial websites,” said senior researcher Elizabeth Hair, senior vice president of the Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative, in Washington, D.C. “Not all of them were from Juul corporate; some of them were from companies selling the Juul product.” This sort of social media promotion is fueling the use of e-cigarettes among teens, Hair said. “Over 20% of our youth are using e-cigarettes,” Hair said. “We’ve been doing such a great job of changing the nation’s direction on cigarette usage, and now we have a new epidemic we’re facing.” But Juul Labs spokesperson Lindsay Andrews noted that during those three months, the company itself issued only eight Instagram posts. Most posts from third-party users, Juul says “Six of these were testimonials from former adult smokers, one was a letter from our…  read on >

He sings, he plays games — and Huggable the ‘social robot’ teddy bear could be good medicine for kids in the hospital. In a study of 50 children, aged 3 to 10 years, the plush bear boosted spirits, eased anxiety and even lowered perceived pain levels, say Boston Children’s Hospital researchers. “It’s exciting knowing what types of support we can provide kids who may feel isolated or scared about what they’re going through,” said study first author Deirdre Logan, a pediatric psychologist at the hospital. Logan noted that hospital staffers provide a lot of support to help kids feel comfortable, but they can’t be with every kid all the time. “Social robots create a more consistent presence throughout the day,” Logan said. “There may also be kids who don’t always want to talk to people, and respond better to having a robotic stuffed animal with them.” The robot is not designed to replace health care specialists, only to assist them, the study authors noted. Study co-author Cynthia Breazeal, founding director of the Personal Robots Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said, “Our group designs technologies with the mindset that they’re teammates … We want technology to support everyone who’s invested in the quality care of a child.” For the study, the researchers split the young patients into three groups: One used the robotic teddy; another…  read on >

Being an Instagram influencer isn’t always a good thing. New research found that vulnerable young people who see online posts of self-harm — like cutting — may copy those destructive behaviors. Almost one-third of teens and young adults who reported seeing self-harm posts on Instagram said they had performed the same or similar self-harming behavior afterwards. Seeing these images online “normalizes” the behavior, according study senior author Dan Romer. He’s research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “Vulnerable kids think, ‘Well, maybe that’s something I should consider doing,’” he said. Romer noted that this problem goes beyond just Instagram. “Kids who don’t have mental health problems wouldn’t repeatedly self-harm. It’s vulnerable kids trying to relieve their distress,” he explained. But he added that this study indicates that these types of social media posts can be harmful to teens and young adults. The researchers initially became concerned about the potential effects of self-harm posts after a British father said his 14-year-old daughter had looked at explicit self-harming images on Instagram before killing herself. The social media site has since said that graphic depictions of self-harm aren’t allowed in posts. Self-harm typically refers to cutting, but can include other behaviors such as burning, hitting or head-banging. Self-harm isn’t usually suicidal, but people who engage in self-harm are at increased risk for…  read on >