(Press-News.org) Hoboken, N.J., September 30, 2024 – It has been estimated that nearly 300 million people, or about 4% of the global population, are afflicted by some form of depression. But detecting it can be difficult, particularly when those affected don’t (or won't) report negative feelings to friends, family or clinicians.
Now Stevens professor Sang Won Bae is working on several AI-powered smartphone applications and systems that could non-invasively warn us, and others, that we may be becoming depressed.
“Depression is a major challenge,” says Bae. “We want to help.”
"And since most people in the world today use smartphones daily, this could be a useful detection tool that’s already built and ready to be used.”
Snapshot images of the eyes, revealing mood
One system Bae is developing with Stevens doctoral candidate Rahul Islam, called PupilSense, works by constantly taking snapshots and measurements of a smartphone user’s pupils.
“Previous research over the past three decades has repeatedly demonstrated how pupillary reflexes and responses can be correlated to depressive episodes,” she explains.
The system accurately calculate pupils’ diameters, as comparing to the surrounding irises of the eyes, from 10-second “burst” photo streams captured while users are opening their phones or accessing certain social media and other apps.
In one early test of the system with 25 volunteers over a four-week period, the system — embedded on those volunteers’ smartphones — analyzed approximately 16,000 interactions with phones once pupil-image data were collected. After teaching an AI to differentiate between “normal” responses and abnormal ones, Bae and Islam processed the photo data and compared it with the volunteers' self-reported moods.
The best iteration of PupilSense — one known as TSF, which uses only selected, high-quality data points — proved 76% accurate at flagging times when people did indeed feel depressed. That’s better than the best smartphone-based system currently being developed and tested for detection depression, a platform known as AWARE.
“We will continue to develop this technology now that the concept has been proven,” adds Bae, who previously developed smartphone-based systems to predict binge drinking and cannabis use.
The system was first unveiled at the International Conference on Activity and Behavior Computing in Japan in late spring, and the system is now available open-source on the GitHub platform.
Facial expressions also tip depression's hand
Bae and Islam are also developing a second system known as FacePsy that powerfully parses facial expressions for insight into our moods.
"A growing body of psychological studies suggest that depression is characterized by nonverbal signals such as facial muscle movements and head gestures," Bae points out.
FacePsy runs in the background of a phone, taking facial snapshots whenever a phone is opened or commonly used applications are opened. (Importantly, it deletes the facial images themselves almost immediately after analysis, protecting users' privacy.)
"We didn't know exactly which facial gestures or eye movements would correspond with self-reported depression when we started out," Bae explains. "Some of them were expected, and some of them were surprising."
Increased smiling, for instance, appeared in the pilot study to correlate not with happiness but with potential signs of a depressed mood and affect.
"This could be a coping mechanism, for instance people putting on a 'brave face' for themselves and for others when they are actually feeling down," says Bae. "Or it could be an artifact of the study. More research is needed."
Other apparent signals of depression revealed in the early data included fewer facial movements during the morning hours and certain very specific eye- and head-movement patterns. (Yawing, or side-to-side, movements of the head during the morning seemed to be strongly linked to increased depressive symptoms, for instance.)
Interestingly, a higher detection of the eyes being more open during the morning and evening was associated with potential depression, too — suggesting outward expressions of alertness or happiness can sometimes mask depressive feelings beneath.
"Other systems using AI to detect depression require the wearing of a device, or even multiple devices," Bae concludes. "We think this FacePsy pilot study is a great first step toward a compact, inexpensive, easy-to-use diagnostic tool."
The FacePsy pilot study’s findings will be presented at the ACM International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction (MobileHCI) in Australia in early October.
END
When detecting depression, the eyes have it
Stevens researcher develops two new AI-powered smartphone apps to spot warnings in our pupils, unconscious facial expressions and head movements
2024-09-30
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
NRG Oncology trial implies the addition of atezolizumab concurrently to standard of care does not improve survival in limited-stage small cell lung cancer
2024-09-30
The addition of the cancer immunotherapy drug atezolizumab to the standard of care concurrent chemoradiation (cCRT) did not improve overall survival for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) in the second planned interim analysis of the NRG Oncology/Alliance NRG-LU005 clinical trial. These results were recently reported during the Plenary Session of the American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
“While atezolizumab given concurrently with chemoradiation did not improve survival, we have still learned quite a bit from these findings. With the success of the ADRIATIC trial ...
NRG Oncology trial supports radiotherapy and cisplatin should remain the standard of care for p16+ oropharyngeal cancer
2024-09-30
The NRG Oncology NRG-HN005 phase II/III clinical trial did not meet the non-inferiority criteria to proceed to the phase III portion of the study. The phase II portion of the NRG-HN005 evaluated two experimental treatment arms against a control arm for patients with p16-positive (p16+, accepted as a surrogate for HPV+ status), locoregionally advanced oropharyngeal cancer. The interim futility results were recently reported during the Plenary Session of the American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
“This ...
Progression of subclinical atherosclerosis predicts all-cause mortality risk
2024-09-30
A study carried out at Mount Sinaí Fuster Heart Hospital in New York in collaboration with the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) in Madrid provides important new information about atherosclerosis, a disease in which lipids (cholesterol) and other substances accumulate in plaques on the arterial wall, causing the vessels to harden and narrow, and increasing the risk of severe cardiovascular conditions.
The study, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), was led by Dr. Valentín Fuster, Director of the Cardiovascular ...
Presence of subclinical atherosclerosis is marker of mortality and its progression increases risk of death
2024-09-30
The progression of atherosclerosis in people who have no symptoms of it is independently associated with the risk of dying from any cause, according to a new study led by researchers from Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, published September 30 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
This research is also the first to show that advanced imaging can detect atherosclerotic disease of the large vessels long before the appearance of symptoms—an approach that could be used worldwide to prevent cardiovascular disease and risk of death. Together, the findings ...
Wang unlocking complex heterogeneity in large spatial-temporal data with scalable quantile learning
2024-09-30
Lily Wang, Professor, Statistics, College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), received funding for the project: “Collaborative Research: Unlocking Complex Heterogeneity in Large Spatial-Temporal Data with Scalable Quantile Learning.”
Wang and her collaborator, Huixia Judy Wang, Department Chair and Professor of Statistics at The George Washington University, are developing scalable and efficient quantile learning techniques and theories to address challenges in analyzing large-scale heterogeneous spatial and temporal data. These new analytical techniques will have wide-ranging applications, revolutionizing scientists’ understanding of spatial and temporal ...
Heart transplant patients from socioeconomically deprived areas face higher risk for postoperative complications, earlier death than others
2024-09-30
Heart transplant patients who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas are more likely to experience post-surgical complications and die within five years than patients who live in more advantaged areas, even when those patients were transplanted at topnotch high-volume hospitals, new UCLA research suggests.
The findings, to be published September 30 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, the official publication of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, suggest that a lack of access ...
Research alert: skin barrier protein also protects against inflammation
2024-09-30
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a new mechanism underlying inflammatory skin diseases, such as psoriasis and seborrheic dermatitis. They found that a protein essential in forming the skin’s protective barrier (ZNF750) also plays a role in controlling inflammation in skin cells, shedding light on why some people are more susceptible to inflammatory skin diseases than others. The study paves the way for more effective and personalized therapies for these debilitating diseases and also offers broader ...
Saint Luke’s and UMKC to lead nationwide study on pregnant people with heart disease in effort to help combat maternal morbidity, mortality
2024-09-30
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (September 30, 2024) – The University of Missouri-Kansas City Healthcare Institute for Innovations in Quality and Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute today announced a nationwide, four-year observational study of U.S. pregnant people with cardiovascular disease to better understand and combat maternal mortality and morbidity.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health awarded more than $7.9 million to the UMKC Healthcare Institute for Innovations in Quality to fund the study, Heart Outcomes in Pregnancy Expectations (HOPE) ...
Spiritual themes, distrust may factor into Black patients’ reluctance to participate in cancer clinical trials
2024-09-30
WASHINGTON, September 30, 2024 — Spiritual beliefs and a historically-based distrust of clinical research may factor into Black patients’ decisions about whether to participate in cancer trials, according to surveys of patients treated at two Baltimore medical centers. Findings will be presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.
This cross-sectional, descriptive study found lingering distrust in clinical research among Black patients, despite their self-reported trust in their cancer medical teams. The surveys sought to shed light on what might be contributing to the growing underrepresentation of Black people in cancer trials ...
Brigham study finds older adults who experience a fall are at increased risk of dementia
2024-09-30
In a retrospective study of Medicare claims data, researchers found dementia was more frequently diagnosed within one year of a fall compared to other types of injuries.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
In a retrospective cohort study involving more than 2 million older adults who sustained an injury, 10.6% of patients who experienced a fall were subsequently diagnosed with dementia.
Compared to other types of injuries, falls were associated with a 21% increased risk for future dementia diagnosis.
Findings support implementing cognitive screenings for older adults who have experienced a fall resulting in an emergency room visit or hospital admission.
Researchers ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Firms that read more perform better
Tightly tied waist cord of saree underskirt may pose cancer risk, warn doctors
10% of children in high-burden tuberculosis settings may develop the disease by age 10
Health experts push for the elimination of a ‘remarkably harmful toxin’
University of Tennessee, Lockheed Martin expand Master Research Agreement
Testing thousands of RNA enzymes helps find first ‘twister ribozyme’ in mammals
Groundbreaking study provides new evidence of when Earth was slushy
International survey of more than 1600 biomedical researchers on the perceived causes of irreproducibility of research results
Integrating data from different experimental approaches into one model is challenging – this study presents a community-based, full-scale in silico model of the rat hippocampal CA1 region that integra
SwRI awarded grant to characterize Las Moras Springs watershed
Water overuse in MATOPIBA could mean failure to meet up to 40% of local demand for crop irrigation
An extra year of education does not protect against brain aging
Researchers from Uppsala and Magdeburg obtain an ERC Synergy Grant to advance cancer immunotherapy
Deaf male mosquitoes don’t mate
Recognizing traumatic brain injury as a chronic condition fosters better care over the survivor’s lifetime
SwRI’s Dr. James Walker receives Distinguished Scientist Award from Hypervelocity Impact Society
A mother’s health problems pose a risk to her children
Ensuring a bright future for diamond electronics and sensors
The American Pediatric Society selects Dr. Maria Trent as the Recipient of the 2025 David G. Nichols Health Equity Award
The first 3D view of the formation and evolution of globular clusters
Towards a hydrogen-powered future: highly sensitive hydrogen detection system
Scanning synaptic receptors: A game-changer for understanding psychiatric disorders
High-quality nanomechanical resonators with built-in piezoelectricity
ERC Synergy Grants for 57 teams tackling major scientific challenges
Nordic research team receives €13 million to explore medieval book culture
The origin of writing in Mesopotamia is tied to designs engraved on ancient cylinder seals
Explaining science through dance
Pioneering neuroendocrinologist's century of discovery launches major scientific tribute series
Gendered bilingualism in post-colonial Korea
Structural safety monitoring of buildings with color variations
[Press-News.org] When detecting depression, the eyes have itStevens researcher develops two new AI-powered smartphone apps to spot warnings in our pupils, unconscious facial expressions and head movements