Traditionally, health professionals across the world have used ultrasound as a means of monitoring the development of unborn babies and assessing the health of patients’ internal organs. Over the decades, its uses have expanded to evaluate blood flow and check for blockages in arteries and veins, assess joint inflammation and metabolic bone disease, help diagnose abnormal growths, blood clots, gallstones, kidney or bladder stones, and more.

As a tool for interventional therapies, ultrasounds can guide needles for biopsies or tumor treatments, and can image the location of a catheter as it’s inserted into a blood vessel.  Ultrasound scans are generally non-invasive and painless, and can take about 30 minutes. There are some limitations however, such as the fact that ultrasound waves can be disrupted by air or gas, and that ultrasound cannot penetrate bone. 

A new article in the journal PLOS Biology, by researchers from Stanford University, the University of Plymouth, and Attune Neurosciences describe that it has now been demonstrated to offer a non-invasive and precise way of targeting specific areas of the human brain.

Using a technique known as transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) offers the potential to help people with conditions ranging from pain, alcoholism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Parkinson’s disease, all without the use of drugs or surgery.

Beyond the treatment, the researchers discuss in the new article how the technology can also be used to temporarily test areas before treating them, serving as a sort of “search and rescue tool for the brain”.

This enables them to find the sources of brain-related issues and disorders prior to treating them, which may be an added resource towards personalized treatments.

Challenges

However, the researchers acknowledge there are still a number of complex challenges that need to be addressed before TUS can be rolled out in healthcare settings – and maybe even homes – on a global scale. And while significant advances have been made to the technology, reaching a point where it can still be effective – but also sustainable from a cost perspective – is still some years away.

Currently, the researchers have developed and are testing a TUS device small and simple enough for people to use them at home following a series of clinical assessments, rather than having to continually go into hospitals or other healthcare settings. According to Dr Keith Murphy, co-founder of Attune Neurosciences and researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine, “There are countless reasons people can’t get to a clinic, whether it’s financial strain or simply not having the time. In the past few years, we’ve made substantial progress towards a device that leverages MRI precision guidance but may still be used safely at home. We’ve always believed that portability was a critical step towards making advanced brain therapies accessible to everyone and we’ve made great strides in demonstrating that it works.”

The researchers further discuss how focused ultrasound can also be integrated with other emerging technologies, for example improving the accuracy and effectiveness of interfaces that enable direct communication between the brain and external devices.

Source: Murphy K, Foragnan L. The future of transcranial ultrasound as a precision brain interface. PLoS Biol 22(10): e3002884. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002884

A recent ‘Letter to the Editor’ to MDEdge from a Maine Pediatrician reminds us that our use of technology that consumes so much of our attention is indeed taking a toll on our human interactions. Dr Willkoff describes two scenarios that troubled him but, as he points out, may also be so ubiquitous that perhaps too many of us accept these as the norm. In one scenario, a family is dining at a restaurant but the two teens were immersed texting with their smartphones and little else. The other vignette described a 3-year old playing with his toys in the sand and his father nearby was solidly ‘glued’ to his laptop and hadn’t said a word to his child.

These vignettes describe what is called “technoference,” a word coined by a doctoral student in human development and family studies at Penn State a decade ago “to describe the everyday intrusions and interruptions in couple interactions that take place due to technology devices and their always-on, ever-present nature.” Although, the original research that triggered the coinage was studying couples, clearly this phenomenon occurs whenever people of any age are together in social situations.

Recent Studies in Early Childhood and Adolescence

Early Childhood Studies

Dr W points out that “technoference in recent studies has been associated with decreased parent-child interaction during early childhood” including a reduced ability to notice and attend to children’s needs, less frequent and lower-quality joint play and conversational interactions, including more negative responses to children’s behavior, and higher risk of child injuries.

Adolescent Studies

In adolescence, adolescent-perceived parental technoference is associated with higher levels of parent-child conflict and lower levels of parental emotional support and warmth. When children’s emotional and physical needs are consistently ignored or inappropriately responded to, they are at risk of developing mental health difficulties, underscoring the need to investigate parental technoference as a potential precipitant of the development of mental health difficulties, such as depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, and inattention.

New JAMA Study

A recent study in JAMA Open Network Pediatrics (A Deneault, et al.) highlights the limitations of these previous studies of technoference in both children and adolescents in that this body of research has been primarily cross-sectional, which hinders the ability to understand the directionality of associations (ie, which comes first, parental technoference or child mental health difficulties?)

A. Deneault and colleagues studied over 1300 emerging adolescents aged 9 to 11 years across 3 assessments (anxiety, attention difficulties and hyperactivity) revealing that higher levels of anxiety symptoms were associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference later in development. Higher levels of perceived parental technoference were associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in development.

Meaning of Results:  Parent digital technology use that interrupts routine parent-adolescent interactions may be instigated by the emerging adolescents’ levels of anxiety, and parent technoference may also have consequences for emerging adolescents’ inattention and hyperactivity.

Conclusions and Relevance  

Higher levels of emerging adolescent anxiety symptoms were associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference (but not vice versa). Higher levels of perceived parental technoference were associated with higher levels of emerging adolescent inattention and hyperactivity symptoms (but not vice versa). Substantial gender differences were not identified. It is possible that, despite experiencing different levels and onset of mental health difficulties, boys and girls similarly experience the effects of parental technoference.

This study highlights the complex relations between parental technoference and emerging adolescents’ mental health and highlights the need to address parental technology use when considering emerging adolescents’ well-being. The findings speak to the need to discuss digital technology use and mental health with parents and emerging adolescents as a part of routine care.

Citations

Deneault A, Plamondon A, Neville RD, et al. Perceived Parental Distraction by Technology and Mental Health Among Emerging Adolescents. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(8):e2428261. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.28261
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2822421

Wilkoff WG. Technoference. MDEdge. Pediatric News. Sept 2024.Available at :https://www.mdedge.com/pediatrics/article/270630/mental-health/technoference