Category Archives: Technology

Artificial Intelligence in Gastroenterology

“We’re now in an era that some consider an AI renaissance, with enormous amounts of computing power — unimaginable only a few decades ago — now available to institutions and even individual researchers. Machine learning algorithms and AI are performing feats once considered to be exclusive domains for humans.” –Sushovan Guha, MD, PhD

In recent years, the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other breakthrough computer technologies has seen significant growth in medicine. Utilized by radiologists, neurologists, pathologists, and many other specialists, artificial intelligence has greatly expanded human capabilities and proved incredibly useful in parsing and aggregating enormous amounts of medical data. The ability to use this data to learn by itself and improve on its capabilities via machine learning has made AI a constantly self-evolving resource. Deep learning (DL) – a subset of ML – has shown exceptional performance in image analysis through its use of the convolutional neural network (CNN), adding to the growing list of AI applications in healthcare and gastroenterology specifically.

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Weighted Blankets for Insomnia and Anxiety

In an era of continuous over-stimulation and high stress, a good night’s sleep is becoming increasingly hard to come by. More and more individuals are developing sleep apnea, chronic insomnia, and other sleep disorders, creating a “sleep market” — worth $28.6 billion in 2017 — focused on curing sleepless Americans. Over-the-counter and non-prescription drugs are on the rise, while sedatives such as Ambien and Lunesta remain as the most commonly prescribed drugs for insomnia.

As the side effects of sleep medications can be debilitating, insomniacs are increasingly turning to more natural solutions. A new, drug-free approach to targeting insomnia and other anxiety-related sleep disorders has been growing in popularity over the past two years.  Weighted blankets, or gravity blankets, are being marketed as the latest solution for insomnia, nighttime anxietyand stress. Filled with plastic beads or pellets, these blankets tend to range in weight from 3 to 20 pounds and are meant to mimic a comforting hug, lulling users to sleep naturally.

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