News for today's 2018

Brush Piles, Birds on a Wire, and Blinds

12:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the third article in a series on WILD School Sites, or outdoor classrooms. WILD School Sites are locations that can be used by students, teachers, and the school community as places to learn about wildlife and the environment. The first thing to do when developing a site is to formulate a plan. You can contact your district </span></em><a href="http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/ContactUsStandIn/tabid/18270/Default.aspx" target="_blank"><em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wildlife Communication Specialist</span></em></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>, who can walk you through the process to help ensure success.</em> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what type of project should you do?</span></h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember, no two sites are the same, so each site will consist of different projects. Available resources, such as time, money, space, and labor, will also play a role in what projects are chosen. Last month’s article focused on bird feeders as an inexpensive and quick way to get your site up and running. This month we will look at a few more projects which can be completed at any time of the year and at very little expense. </span><br /><h3><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brush Piles or an Unkempt Mess?</span></h3><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Constructing brush piles is another low cost way of adding habitat to almost any site. Properly constructed brush piles are a great source of cover and protection for a myriad of wildlife species, including rabbits and songbirds. However, the line between a habitat project and a pile of yard waste is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. A little neighborly courtesy can go a long way toward preventing complaints. Before constructing brush piles, have the students write cards or letters to the neighbors explaining what you are doing, and how it will benefit local wildlife. </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBgPny9YfOn4DCIX7HmUkwY-hyJrHb4GBIApDFXrvndOnLqmYs5NlrYbbwgrB33qjPxnohttQ0Q8S7_uoj_uPi1i7se7sCy0anykuReHD7i4hZKmAElCSHC4BMA8upLQCqX2bLeURxPRzX/s1600/Leggett+Street+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBgPny9YfOn4DCIX7HmUkwY-hyJrHb4GBIApDFXrvndOnLqmYs5NlrYbbwgrB33qjPxnohttQ0Q8S7_uoj_uPi1i7se7sCy0anykuReHD7i4hZKmAElCSHC4BMA8upLQCqX2bLeURxPRzX/s320/Leggett+Street+10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Legget Street Elementary, Wauseon, OH</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When constructing a brush pile, begin by building a foundation by crisscrossing logs in a log cabin fashion. This frame will support limbs and branches which will provide protection from predators, and still maintain useful cavities for wildlife to hide in. If no logs are available, an artificial base can be constructed using cement blocks. Continue to add branches and limbs until the pile is 5-10 feet high. Brush piles will usually last 3 to 5 years, before they will need to be rebuilt. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Birds on a Wire</span></h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perching wires are a great low cost project for your WILD School Site. They are cheap to construct, can be done at any time of the year, and provide a lot of learning opportunities for kids. Have you ever discovered an errant plant growing in an unexpected spot? Ever wonder how all those trees get started along fencerows? The answer: birds. Many species of plants have adapted a unique way to spread their seeds. They provide birds with a tasty fruit which contains seeds. Those seeds, however, cannot be digested by the bird. When the seeds pass through the birds, they get deposited in new locations, fertilizer included.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvW21WYpI5CQGht9aN63fx4SORtv7Em1hM6xsXaTt0r3bwV-2xygGHJhxsEpvNB2k-cNHaTmpijUWy5u3ugczJcK1gxbntKqaXbob0jifUjX8LXbETBgicjCEhvzkXNKV5-dOsw1LCFqS/s1600/perching+wire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvW21WYpI5CQGht9aN63fx4SORtv7Em1hM6xsXaTt0r3bwV-2xygGHJhxsEpvNB2k-cNHaTmpijUWy5u3ugczJcK1gxbntKqaXbob0jifUjX8LXbETBgicjCEhvzkXNKV5-dOsw1LCFqS/s320/perching+wire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To construct a perching wire, simply stretch a cable or wire between posts that are around 10 feet apart. Sometimes old cable or wire can be found lying around and reused. Care should be taken to ensure that the cable is in an area where kids won’t unknowingly run into it. Another option is to place the wire high enough off the ground so kids can’t become entangled. Next, simply clear a strip of vegetation three feet wide underneath the length of the wire. A rototiller works great, but isn’t necessary. Have the students keep records on what species of birds they see on the wire. Then have them record what types of plants begin growing underneath the wire to learn what foods those birds prefer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Observation Blinds</span></h3><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vQUJU9Nq_vdeYa2vXp1hpd7wy4Zrxwv7LEUg5_tTM9HeYIveg4u68nqNubXGN6yudxVgGerFl-Ze7Y1Yaj3GreJPJzRfe8bi9kwfaUUUWkJNAlrL70jZA-fQ2Bm8D8VbcHPD_AkEWOHM/s1600/henn%2520wildlife%2520blind%25201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vQUJU9Nq_vdeYa2vXp1hpd7wy4Zrxwv7LEUg5_tTM9HeYIveg4u68nqNubXGN6yudxVgGerFl-Ze7Y1Yaj3GreJPJzRfe8bi9kwfaUUUWkJNAlrL70jZA-fQ2Bm8D8VbcHPD_AkEWOHM/s320/henn%2520wildlife%2520blind%25201.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cloverleaflocal.org/protected/ArticleView.aspx?iid=6GG22AB&dasi=330Y" target="_blank">Cloverleaf Elem. School, Lodi, Ohio</a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Observation blinds, or bird blinds, are a way for kids to become “invisible” to the wildlife using your site. Blinds can be more costly than the other projects we have discussed so far, but can easily be constructed at any time of the year and during any phase of the plan. Observation blinds are more crucial for sites that are located in wide open areas far from classrooms. Also, let’s face it, sometimes kids can have a little trouble keeping still for longer periods of time. Blinds offer a solution for kids to observe and record wildlife. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blinds can be located anywhere wildlife frequent: bird feeders, brush piles, around ponds, and gardens. Observation blinds can be temporary or permanent, large or small, cheap or expensive. For a blind that younger kids can help construct, first erect a wooden frame and cover it with chicken wire. Have the kids help attach leaves, sticks, and grasses to the wire. More elaborate blinds can be constructed using lumber for the side. Whatever type of blind you choose to construct be sure to leave a small open area for observation. A small bench or chairs add a nice finishing touch. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Final Thought</span></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrHxOziw3LtvcYgnmqXUgCHdSgL1piihAzyvspIz2wWWv1od4bPovZ64Og8i1ob3Ia_kviqYAYzc2ISTOzGetTDciaRKX9QlRk2joWZwojwCK5EsdR0MRF2PTZIOGW09HUYiIRPlHyrTS6/s1600/WSS+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrHxOziw3LtvcYgnmqXUgCHdSgL1piihAzyvspIz2wWWv1od4bPovZ64Og8i1ob3Ia_kviqYAYzc2ISTOzGetTDciaRKX9QlRk2joWZwojwCK5EsdR0MRF2PTZIOGW09HUYiIRPlHyrTS6/s320/WSS+sign.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although most WILD School Sites contain multiple projects that can take years to develop from start to finish, brush piles, perching wires, and observation blinds offer an opportunity to start educating youth about Ohio’s wildlife at any time of the year. They are relatively inexpensive, easily constructed, and can be used at virtually any site. For more information about these projects or other WILD School Site projects, contact your district’s <a href="http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/ContactUsStandIn/tabid/18270/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Wildlife Communications Specialist. </a></span>

Brush Piles, Birds on a Wire, and Blinds

This is the third article in a series on WILD School Sites, or outdoor classrooms. WILD School Sites are locations that can be used by stude...

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 03/08/2013

11:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.nanoogo.com">Nanoogo - Home of the Most Creative Kids on the Planet</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">A very interesting platform that teachers of younger students are using for them to create and share what they are doing. It seems to be more visually based rather than text based. It is free and right now has two versions, one for the classroom and another for home. It is in beta and if you sign up now it is free. Would love to hear what some of you think.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/elemchat">elemchat</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/blogging">blogging</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/web 2.0">web 2.0</a></p>                                <ul class="diigo-comments">                  </ul>                      </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://www.myhistro.com">Create Free Interactive Timelines – Stories Displayed on Maps | myHistro</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Very interesting app if you're using Edmodo and have ipads. Here's what it will do as per the company who contacted me:  "It's a versatile mapping tool for creating timelines, and an assessment platform for Edmodo users.       myHistro Extended in a nutshell.      - What makes it better than other apps out there? Its comprehensive digital archive with stories created by historians. An unique way of generating tests. Hassle free and easy grading system and evaluation of students’ answers."  MAny teachers are using Edmodo and Timelines are important prewriting and graphic organizing tools. I'm very fascinated to see how this works and will see if there is someone out there using it so we can link to it from my blog.      - Who's it for? Teachers. First and foremost History, Social Studies and Geography teachers. And for everyone else, who are looking for innovative ways teaching their subjects through dynamic storytelling.       - What is the coolest feature? Generating tests with a few clicks. Removing the location, time, description or/and the title from all the public stories, and forming it into tests.  </p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edmodo">edmodo</a>            <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/assessment">assessment</a></p>                                        </li>  </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 03/08/2013

Nanoogo - Home of the Most Creative Kids on the Planet A very interesting platform that teachers of ...

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 11

10:58 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br />             <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">There was unrest in Jerusalem today. </span>http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/us-palestinians-israel-violence-idUSBRE9270GQ20130308 <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;">There may have been several things going on. I have heard different versions. But the main thing was a funeral at the Al Aqsa Mosque for a Palestinian inmate killed in prison recently. The funeral was accompanied with a major protest. That led to a confrontation involving the use of rocks and firebombs by the Palestinians and tear gas and water canons by the Israelis. We saw a lot of police on the streets, some on horseback, and there were still water canons around. The police were following Muslims in traditional dress pretty closely, checking them out. Tonight there is a big demonstration happening in Manger Square. In a way it all seems fitting for the visits we made today. But I’m glad we visited the Temple Mount yesterday instead of today!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">We began this morning at the Franciscan church at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. The Church is in the general vicinity where the village likely stood and where Jesus would have begun his Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem. The present church is 19<sup>th</sup> Century but is built over the ruins of a Crusader chapel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">We then went a-ways down the hill to the Church of Dominus Flavit (the tear of the Lord) where Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem because she would not follow his way of peace. It was a moving view of the City. Of course we don’t’ know exactly where this happened, but it was on the Mount of Olives. From the Mount of Olives you look across the Kidron Valley (deep but not wide) to Jerusalem, specifically to the Temple Mount. Jesus would have been looking across at the Temple when he spoke.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Next we visited Gethsemane. This has been high on my list, first and foremost because Gethsemane is not a replica. It is the very garden where Jesus prayed. But it proved even better than I expected. Not only was it the same plot of earth, some of the olive trees were the same trees! Who knew they lived so long? In fact some of these trees had been around a long time when Jesus was there. The prayer in Gethsemane was the most compelling moment in the life of Jesus that led me back to the Church so long ago now. I realized I could meditate a long time to grind away at my ego; but he did it right there by surrendering to God’s will. There is, of course, a church at Gethsemane, its art and architecture well suited to the mood of agony in the garden. “Agony,” in this story does not mean intense suffering. It means struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Then we visited the Benedictine Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. I’ve already expressed my skepticism about linking that story to Jerusalem. JMHH Part 10. But this Church is beautiful and has some of the most compelling Marian art I’ve ever seen. It was very special to be there. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">This afternoon, we went to a Church that commemorates the Last Supper. There is a room constructed to be the sort of place such a meal might happen and where the disciples might await the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is set above a Memorial to King David. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Then we went to the Church of St. Peter in Galicantu (cock’s crow) located on the Eastern slope of Mt. Zion just outside where the wall of Jerusalem would have stood in Jesus’ day. This Church is associated with the Trial of Jesus before Caiaphas. The story is that this is the house of Caiaphas, that Jesus was tried here, that Peter denied him three times here before the crowing of the cock, that Jesus was beaten by the Temple guards here, and that he was kept in the pit until he was delivered to Pilate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Authenticity check: this is not a house. It is a Church but it does have a real dungeon underneath. This Church was built in 1931, but it replaces a medieval Crusader church, which in turn was built over the ruins of a Byzantine Church built in 457 C.E. The Church has commemorated the trial and sufferings of Jesus here since the mid 5<sup>th</sup> Century. The choice of this location was not arbitrary. It is believed that Caiaphas’ house was in this vicinity. And this place has a real dungeon underneath where imprisonments and scourgings happened in the 1<sup>st</sup> Century. So it does have a decent claim to being the place of Jesus’ trial. The dungeon part may or may not have figured into Jesus’ story. Christians read Psalm 88 about being in the pit. But it’s a bit of a stretch to find that happening in the Gospel accounts. If you do imagine Jesus in the pit, or anyone else for that matter, it is really grim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Part 11

There was unrest in Jerusalem today. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/us-palestinians-israel-violence-idUSBRE9270GQ20...

Could This App Treat Depression? | Popular Science

10:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; " class=""><div style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">A new company with a Harvard psychiatrist as inventor-in-residence says it's got the research to back up its claims.</div><div style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class=""><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="readableBigImage"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhErDTvWviart1NjN0szrZOSfuqGUBBBblaYHXGzz2i6UbLNzFcUYHXyjCidTk5VP0p5qRGL6ahkuy4AQMzXSUDIIPlw-xBd0-7aHlpzlIBkEhr7ulHqomS-LtUqXBjCuwJQ97P_3qyjk/s1600/braintracerproto2-731786.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5853041554517929346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhErDTvWviart1NjN0szrZOSfuqGUBBBblaYHXGzz2i6UbLNzFcUYHXyjCidTk5VP0p5qRGL6ahkuy4AQMzXSUDIIPlw-xBd0-7aHlpzlIBkEhr7ulHqomS-LtUqXBjCuwJQ97P_3qyjk/s320/braintracerproto2-731786.jpg" /></a></div><div style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="">BrainTracer Game Prototype BrainTracer</div></div><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class="">Diego Pizzagalli spent a good chunk of 10 years at Harvard doing what most professors at elite institutions do: research. Specifically, research on depression. He's fMRI'd and EEG'd a lot of gray matter, but most of his work got stuck in the lab and never evolved into any real-world application. Then he developed something that was too good to let collect dust in the hallowed halls of academia: software that he says could help treat depression.</span><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">Now with the help of the Baltimore-based startup incubator Canterbury Road Partners, Pizzagalli is set to turn his lab invention into an app. MoodTune will be a series of simple games that when played regularly, can help treat depression, Pizzagalli and his colleagues say. Turn on the app for 15 minutes a day, play through some games, and maybe it could help. Maybe, they say, in some cases, it'd be all a depressed person would need. Could something that simple actually work?</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class=""><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">Pizzagalli started working on depression in 1999 and released some of his most important papers in 2001. The papers focused on "biomarkers," signals of response in the brain to antidepressants and psychotherapy. Take a peek inside the brain, and you can see areas light up--or fail to light up--in response to treatments. Whether an area lights up or not predicts, with considerable accuracy, whether a treatment works, he says.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">So, the thinking goes, what we if we illuminate those regions another way? The brain could readjust appropriately without the need for a pill. The anterior cingulate cortex is associated with depression and also works when snap decisions need to be made, Pizzagalli says, so perhaps having someone make snap decisions would help treat depression. He developed desktop software in his lab to test it out and was happy enough with the results to delve deeper into the technology.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">Software like that could make for a "bottom-up" approach to depression treatment. It could "strengthen the circuitry" of the ruminative brain. It could break the cycle of dwelling seen in so many depressives. It could be the first treatment of its kind to go on the market. But to turn the research into anything tangible took some extracurricular assistance.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class=""><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">Universities are well-equipped to do research: they have large staffs, top-shelf gear, and the greatest minds in their fields in a condensed area. And after the research is done? Well, they still have large staffs, but that stops being an asset. Sean Pool, a general partner at Canterbury, put it like this: "By and large, universities are these massive, inertial bureaucracies." So why not take the inventors out of the Ivory Tower, team them up with entrepreneurs, have them form lean, Silicon Valleyish startups, and get their products to market faster?</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">There are plenty of 'health' apps out there that don't function much better than a placebo, if that--but Pizzagalli insist there's the science to back up BrainTracer.With Pizzagalli, Canterbury Road is doing precisely that. Pizzagalli originally approached Harvard about marketing the technology behind his research, but the process stalled until he moved to the university's McLean Hospital, where administration suggested he partner with Canterbury. Canterbury set up a venture company for his research (Venture Launch Team No. 1), offered the CEO position to Andre Konig, an "entrepreneur in residence" who's spent a decade working in consulting and more recently in private equity, and soon they had a name for the business (BrainTracer) and the prototype app (MoodTune). As for what Canterbury gets out of it? It holds a small stake in the venture.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class="">Immediately, Konig and Pizzagalli got to work developing a business model, shopping around for investors, and designing a prototype. BrainTracer, if all goes according to plan, will launch its flagship app, MoodTune, by the end of spring. The idea is for Pizzagalli and other psychologists' research to create an app that can help combat depression. On its face, that doesn't sound like the most medically credible idea--there are plenty of "health" apps out there that don't function much better than a placebo, if that--but Pizzagalli insists there's science to back it up. BrainTracer officially launched Monday, but before the app is released, Pizzagalli and Konig will also send it through a medical trial to test for its effectiveness. The pair is hoping to snag an National Institute of Health grant for "cognitive training" software.</span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class=""><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">When MoodTune is out, this is how it'll work: You'll open the app and be directed to a simple game (there are "six or seven" games so far Konig says.) The images you see here are from the prototype, but the final version will probably be similar. Here's the example Pizzagalli gave of a game that could be used for a "workout." A face appears onscreen. The user--or patient, depending on your thoughts about the app--looks at the face as words flash above it: "Happy." "Happy." "Sad." "Happy." The user gets slammed with some serious cognitive dissonance as they try to reconcile the faces and words. After the user is done, he gets a review of his score for the game, as well as his overall progress in treatment.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><div style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class=""><div style="margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="readableBigImage"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnUbC2fGd_uweX1EmkPzWnaoN6u_yQwAHiRYiCmf_izRk5jJ-NJLiUBNmi_I775BMXeTLK-xDW-JdDU5W3z5BixweSLCSegrWdCMrRPoWvyRuGR8EC-RRe9nzIylijeRDvxvvWeBF3VE/s1600/braintracerproto1-733521.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5853041558062840770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnUbC2fGd_uweX1EmkPzWnaoN6u_yQwAHiRYiCmf_izRk5jJ-NJLiUBNmi_I775BMXeTLK-xDW-JdDU5W3z5BixweSLCSegrWdCMrRPoWvyRuGR8EC-RRe9nzIylijeRDvxvvWeBF3VE/s320/braintracerproto1-733521.jpg" /></a></div><div style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="">BrainTracer Interface Prototype: BrainTracer</div></div><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">An exercise like that can cause certain parts of the brain to work overtime, Pizzagalli says. It's enough, he says, to give certain parts of the brain a "tune-up" and enough, apparently, when done for 15 minutes every day, to counteract some of the symptoms of depression.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">Pizzagalli and Konig aren't the only ones looking into similar "cognitive training" approaches in mental health. A 2003 study into cognitive training techniques in schizophrenia noted that the approach showed "effective components that hold promise for improving cognitive performance." Multiple studies in the <a target="_blank" href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=204643" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: inherit; cursor: pointer; " class="">Journal of the American Medical Association</a> have found modest increases in brain function apparently spurred by cognitive training.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">Still, the idea that brains can be successfully "trained" is more than a little controversial. Lumosity, a series of "brain training" software products, has been maligned for selling digital snake oil. The software is pitched as a set of simple games that can improve everything from memory to concentration (and that its games are backed up by neuroscience, too). When the consumer group<i class="">Which?</i> asked a panel of scientists to explain the effectiveness of neuro-gadgets, including Lumosity, the scientists concluded there was <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/feb/26/brain-training-games-which" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: inherit; cursor: pointer; " class="">no evidence</a> to back up the claims. At best, they said, the training would help about as much as a crossword puzzle or round of <i class="">Space Invaders</i>--nothing especially brain-empowering about it.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class=""><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; text-align: inherit; " class="">* * *</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">So what's different? Precision, for one, Pizzagalli says. Instead of trying to play the full court, they take a position: the app, unlike Lumosity, only focuses on depression. That focus gives it an edge. Pizzagalli is also shooting for openness. MoodTune will have a dashboard feature that can give the users more information about the app and updates on their progress. Users will also be able to respond to BrainTracer about the app, letting the team know how well it's working.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">A 2003 study into cognitive training techniques in schizophrenia noted that the approach showed 'effective components that hold promise for improving cognitive performance.'Either way, expectations are at least a little tempered. The app, they say, could only work on its own for people on the margins of clinical depression, not meeting all the criteria to make it official but still exhibiting some of the symptoms. Modest gains are what the team is hoping for, but they're optimistic enough to have laid out a business model for the app. And if the technology isn't the same as Lumosity's, the tiered pricing model is at least similar. Pay for access for a few months with x dollars, or upgrade to a few more months for y dollars. For BrainTracer, that might mean tiers from $30 to $50 monthly.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">That could make it cheaper than the cost of depression medication (and possibly more fun to take).</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">That's in the pro column. In the minus column, the question might eventually be: How do we sell this app? There are similar-sounding apps out there based on shaky science at best. On Google Play, for instance, you can <a target="_blank" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ihunda.android.binauralbeat&hl=en" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: inherit; cursor: pointer; " class="">download</a> so-called "binaural beats," apps designed to alter one's state of mind. Need some creativity? Tap. How about just some relaxation? Tap-tap.</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); " class="">Apps like that don't have the science to back them up, and certainly didn't go through a trial process in line for an NIH grant, so there'll be some pressure for MoodTune to distinguish itself from them. The dashboard system in MoodTune could help out, Konig says. After each game, the users can have the science behind the game explained to them. That's something a lot of other apps can't offer--or at least can't offer as easily. They'll also be mostly marketing the app to institutional clients like government organizations, rather than just individuals, meaning the standard of proof for the app is higher but it'll reach more people once the bar is reached. (Along with investors, they're looking to the<a target="_blank" href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/345876?show_todos=true" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: inherit; cursor: pointer; " class="">crowdfunding site Indiegogo</a> to help pay for it.)</p><span style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">On the other hand, if there's a market for enhancing creativity, there's <i class="">definitely</i> a market for fighting depression. Tens of billions in productivity costs are lost every year to the illness, and fighting it is a multi-billion dollar industry itself. Plenty of people out there are willing to try out new treatments, whatever they look like.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, 'Book Antigua', Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(40, 40, 40); text-align: left; font-variant: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); position: static; z-index: auto; " class=""><br class=""></p></div><a href="http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-02/depression-app" class="">http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-02/depression-app</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; " class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Could This App Treat Depression? | Popular Science

A new company with a Harvard psychiatrist as inventor-in-residence says it's got the research to back up its claims. BrainTracer Game Pr...

‎www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112799360/cash-incentives-help-obese-lose-weight-030813/?print=true

10:08 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It is commonly suggested that money can't buy happiness. However, it may buy willpower. While some employers and insurance agencies have had limited success in the past trying to get people to quit smoking or eat healthier by offering up the gift of money, a new study has taken a different approach. And the results are encouraging.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Researchers from the <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Mayo Clinic</a> in Rochester, Minnesota have demonstrated that a yearlong program to instill willpower has been largely successful, thanks in part to the way they conducted the study. The program included 100 overweight or <a href="http://www.redorbit.com/topics/obesity/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">obese</a> Mayo employees and instead of just offering a monetary reward to get them to change their ways, they turned it into a game. And who doesn't like a fun game, especially when prizes are involved?</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">To be sure, the Mayo offered the participants a $20 cash reward if they could lose four pounds in a month during the 12-month study. However, they would risk losing $20 if they did not meet monthly goals. But where other similar studies failed, this one succeeded because it not only offered simple rewards for simple goals, it also offered dieters multiple ways to achieve their goals and even gave participants a chance to recoup their penalties when they failed in a particular month.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The study, which is set to be presented at the annual meeting of the <a href="http://www.cardiosource.org/acc" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">American College of Cardiology</a> beginning this weekend in San Francisco, was able to help 62 percent of those who joined the program meet or exceed their goals. Only 26 percent of participants in a control group who were not offered incentives or penalties met their goals.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; ">INCENTIVES NOT TRAINING WHEELS</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Dr. Steven Driver, resident physician of internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic, said that incentives are "not like training wheels where people learn healthy habits and then will continue them on their own" – you have to keep them going or people will falter.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And for those who wish to set up a similar system in their workplace, Driver said the key is to make it self-sustaining, such as offering both rewards and penalties. And it's a good idea to have people pay up in advance when beginning such a study. People don't like the fact that they have to pay penalties after receiving bad news. He said during the Mayo study, one woman panicked after stepping onto the scale only to find out she had to pay for her weight gain.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"She headed for the door" but later came back and paid, Driver said. "People in Minnesota are pretty honest."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Driver, who owns stock in <a href="http://www.gym-pact.com/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">GymPact</a>, a firm that offers financial incentives for exercising, said the weight-loss industry is "way ahead" of the science of incentive-based dieting. "We needed to do some research to see what works," he said.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Financial incentives and disincentives can help people lose weight, and keep it off for one year," Driver said. "It's not about getting rich, it's about being held accountable."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Of the 100 obese employees who took part in the 12-month program, 50 were offered weight-loss counseling, monthly weigh-ins and a three-month gym membership. The other half of the group was offered all these plus financial incentives and penalties.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; ">GOALS</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The aim of the study was to have each employee lose four pounds per month up to a goal that was determined for their starting weight. Those who met the monthly goal got a voucher to collect a cash reward when the study ended. But if they failed, they had to pay a penalty to the naughty jar. The penalty money was used to help pay the rewards. The rest was put into a lottery that anyone could win, regardless if they met their weight-loss goals or not.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Driver said that the participants "saw that if they stuck with it, they had a chance at winning more than they had lost" by the end of the study period.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Participants in the financial incentives group also earned $10 per month and a ticket for the lottery for coming to the monthly weigh-ins and also texting their weights to study leaders each week, according to Dr. Don Hensrud, chief of preventive medicine at the Mayo. He said that in the end, people could have lost as much as $240 or won as much as $360, plus a shot at winning the lottery fund.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">At the conclusion of the study, 27 of the 50 incentive participants came out ahead moneywise. Overall, the average weight lost in the incentive group was nine pounds; in the non-incentive group, the average weight lost was 2.3 pounds.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Dr. Kevin Volpp, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (<a href="http://chibe.upenn.edu/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">CHIBE</a>), said the results of the study are promising. However, he cautioned, people need to lose a lot more than nine pounds to make a big difference in their health.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"There's been an explosion of interest in this" and most large companies now provide incentive-based programs similar to this one, Volpp told the <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCYObWN1pgzzxKD2wxrrHFsSC5qA?docId=ce11f757bf7a435796fd5a675fd5c4d0" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Associated Press</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Volpp has also seen success in a similar study he published in 2009 in the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">New England Journal of Medicine</em>(<a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa0806819" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">NEJM</em></a>). In that study, it was shown that people were three times more likely to <a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1638157/cash_incentives_help_people_stop_smoking/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">stop smoking</a> for six months if they were offered up to $750.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">He said the program worked because of the way it was designed. Poorly designed studies with inadequate funding have proven ineffective. "If you do a low-budget incentive program, it may have little effect," he said shortly after his 2009 study.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; ">CHALLENGES</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">With significant resources, come significant results. However, Driver acknowledged that more research is needed to see how long changes like the one in his study last. "The real challenge is to extend this research, and see if we can develop a sustainable financial incentive model that lasts for longer than one year," he said.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"The challenge is how to help people lose weight in a way that is sustainable. This is more data that financial incentives and disincentives do play a role in what our behaviors are, but things like this are not likely to make a long-term impact on the obesity epidemic by themselves," noted Dr. Scott Kahan, director of the <a href="http://centerforweightandwellness.com/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">National Center for Weight and Wellness</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"We need to be thinking about a comprehensive approach that addresses much more than increasing initial motivation," he explained to Denise Mann of <a href="http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/03/07/cash-incentives-penalties-may-spur-people-to-shed-more-pounds" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">US News</a>. "We need to maintain this motivation over time."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">For Audrey Traun, 29, a lab specialist at the Mayo, the cash incentive was a big motivator for her. She lost 40 pounds during the yearlong program.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I was impressed. I didn't think I was quite capable of that," said Traun. She said, however, that as the study went on, the cash became less important to her and she found "it was actually more motivating to see my progress — pounds lost and how my clothes were fitting," she said.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Traun said she used the $400 she earned for a family vacation.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">The Mayo program follows a similar 2008 study published in <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=183047" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(19, 83, 154); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">JAMA</em></a> where 57 overweight and obese individuals were randomly assigned to monthly weigh-ins or two weight-loss incentive programs. One included a lottery and one a contract that required a deposit. In that study, the incentive group lost an average of 13 to 14 pounds, while the control group lost only four pounds.</p></div><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112799360/cash-incentives-help-obese-lose-weight-030813/?print=true">http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112799360/cash-incentives-help-obese-lose-weight-030813/?print=true</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

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