http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Just as a global positioning system (GPS) helps find your location, the brain has an internal system for helping determine the body's location as it moves through its surroundings. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-brain-gps.html Neuroscience Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:10:01 EST news281866364 An international consortium led by researchers at the Laboratory of Biomechanical Engineering of the MIRA research institute of the University of Twente is developing a system that allows surgeons to plan complex musculo-skeletal operations. In essence, the system is a patient-specific navigation tool for the human body, in which all relevant X-ray and MRI images of a patient are linked together. The surgeon can thus plan the operation much more effectively, simulate the effects of an intervention and even practice in advance in a virtual environment. The consortium has completed the first prototype of the system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-prototype-human-body-surgeons-virtual.html Surgery Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:50:02 EST news281262245 Having virtual super-powers in a game may incite people to better behavior in the real world, according to research published January 30 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Robin Rosenberg and colleagues from Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-virtual-superheroes-real-world.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:12:16 EST news278788324 A study conducted by researchers at the University of Granada Group of Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychoneuroimmunology has demonstrated that cortisol levels in saliva are associated with a person's ability to make good decisions in stressful situations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-saliva-analysis-reveal-decision-making-skills.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:10:56 EST news274356643 (Medical Xpress)—The majority of health care takes place not in hospitals and clinics overseen by medical professionals, but in the home. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-virtually-healthy-cave-patients-behavior.html Health Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:30:03 EST news273917893 New research has shown that surgical residents who received structured training in a simulated environment perform significantly better when they start operating on patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-surgical-residents-simulated-environment.html Surgery Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:05:10 EST news260701504 Researchers have developed a new technique which allows them to measure brain activity in large populations of nerve cells at the resolution of individual cells. The technique, reported today in the journal Nature, has been developed in zebrafish to represent a simplified model of how brain regions work together to flexibly control behaviour. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-virtual-reality-brain-behavior-unprecedented.html Neuroscience Wed, 09 May 2012 13:00:34 EST news255780478 A small study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers found that online virtual communities may be an effective way to train patients in meditation and other mind/body techniques. The ability to learn and practice approaches that elicit the relaxation response – a state of deep rest that has been shown to alleviate stress-related symptoms – in a virtual environment could help surmount several barriers that can restrict participation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-virtual-environment-mindbody-techniques.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:03:35 EST news252353005 The benefits of virtual worlds can be used to help autistic children develop social skills beyond their anticipated levels, suggest early findings from new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Researchers on the Echoes Project have developed an interactive environment which uses multi-touch screen technology where virtual characters on the screener act to children's actions in real time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-digital-worlds-autistic-children-social.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:07:36 EST news238410445 Young people with autism may find it difficult to multitask because they stick rigidly to tasks in the order they are given to them, according to research led by an academic at the University of Strathclyde. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-inflexibility-pupils-autism-problems-multitasking.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:11:45 EST news232632692 A new position paper by researchers at the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health (ECEHH - part of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry) and the University of Birmingham has compared the benefits of interaction with actual and virtual natural environments and concluded that the development of accurate simulations are likely to be beneficial to those who cannot interact with nature because of infirmity or other limitations: but virtual worlds are not a substitute for the real thing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-virtual-natural-environments-benefits-health.html Health Mon, 30 May 2011 03:37:18 EST news225945415