The era of digital medicines (DTx) begins...
Üsküdar University and NPİSTANBUL Hospital researchers partnered in the global Neuro-Technology Consortium in psychiatry at the "22nd Annual Brain Mapping and Therapeutics Conference" held in Los Angeles between February 27 and March 2, 2025. Neuro-Technology Congress".
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "Artificial intelligence and neurotechnology are widely used in the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases, and the results of the effectiveness of these treatments are increasing in the literature. The effectiveness and prevalence of Digital Therapeutics (DTx), a next-generation treatment method, is increasing in order to manage the health status of patients and improve their treatment processes."
Prof. Nesrin Dilbaz recommended the use of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment strategies in a combined manner.
Prof. Türker Tekin Ergüzel shared his study in which they analyzed 50 thousand facial images belonging to 7 different emotional states (angry, sad, happy, scared, confused, disgusted, neutral) and expressed that "In the study, emotional state analysis was performed from faces using a deep learning-based CNN algorithm."
Fırat Tarhan, a member of the Board of Directors of NPİSTANBUL Hospital and Üsküdar University, emphasized that more than 9 million digital test data are stored in a central system to create personalized treatment plans and improve patient outcomes.
This year's meeting of the Association for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT), which Üsküdar University and NPİSTANBUL Hospital have partnered with in the global Neuro-Technology Consortium in psychiatry and have participated in for more than 10 years, was held in Los Angeles between February 27 and March 2, 2025.
Üsküdar University participated in the 22nd Neuro-Technology Congress, which lasted for three days, representing the university under the leadership of President of Üsküdar University and Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan. The event featured presentations by Prof. Nesrin Dilbaz, Psychiatrist at NPİSTANBUL Hospital, Prof. Türker Tekin Ergüzel, Vice Rector of Üsküdar University, Prof. Sevim Işık from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Üsküdar University, and Fırat Tarhan (MSc), Board Member of NPİSTANBUL Hospital and Üsküdar University.
15 sessions were held at the congress
15 sessions at the "22nd Neuro-Technology Congress" addressing skull base surgery, spine surgery, epilepsy, neuro-modulation, neurodegenerative disorders, neurotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, neuro-engineering, cellular and immunotherapy, neuro-oncology, autism, neuro-psychiatric disorders, neuroradiology, functional neurosurgery, nanotechnology, neuro-photonics, sports medicine, neurotrauma and military medicine, ophthalmology and optometry, as well as the latest technologies and pharmaceutical interventions for surgical education was carried out.
Prof. Tarhan shared current scientific studies from genetics to artificial intelligence in psychiatry
In the session titled "Genomics, Pharmatech, Cell Tech, and Med Tech Applications in Psychiatry", Prof. Nevzat Tarhan shared the research carried out in a wide spectrum from genetics to artificial intelligence in psychiatry and the current scientific studies of NPİSTANBUL Hospital and Üsküdar University with his presentation titled "In psychiatry Precision Medicine from Genetics to AI".
Drawing attention to three basic topics for precision medicine, Prof. Tarhan expressed the importance of phenotyping and genotyping, neurotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications for personalized medicine applications.
Artificial intelligence and neurotechnology are widely used in the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases
Emphasizing the importance of personalized treatment strategies that aim to reach the right treatments to the right patient at the right time, Prof. Tarhan stated that "Artificial intelligence and neurotechnology are widely used in the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases, and the results regarding the effectiveness of these treatments are increasing and increasing in the literature."
Underlining the obstacles encountered in the application of these innovations to clinical practice, Prof. Tarhan stated that personalized medicine practices have transformative power in the field of mental health thanks to advances in medicine, neuroscience, genetics and artificial intelligence.
Interdisciplinary work is needed!
Noting that personalized treatment approaches based on individual genetic and neurobiological profiles aim to increase treatment effectiveness and minimize side effects, Prof. Tarhan emphasized that the number of researchers working in this field should increase and the need for interdisciplinary work for these new approaches to be fully implemented.
Prof. Tarhan shared the studies carried out at Üsküdar University and NPİSTANBUL Hospital on the integration of revolutionary tools in the field of neuropsychiatry into clinical practice.
The era of digital medicine (DTx) in health begins...
Drawing attention to the effectiveness and widespread use of Digital Therapeutics (DTx), a new generation treatment method that uses digital technologies to manage the health status of patients and improve their treatment processes, Prof. Tarhan said that DTx, which coincides with the principles of personalized medicine, generally provides personalized monitoring, education, treatment and rehabilitation services through mobile applications, virtual platforms or wearable devices, providing genetic, biomarker and lifestyle data of patients. He stated that it offers customized treatment plans taking into account.
Explaining that in this way, more accurate and faster data about the diseases of individuals are obtained, treatment processes are optimized in accordance with the person and health outcomes are improved, Prof. Tarhan shared that this field has an important potential in many areas such as the management of chronic diseases, mental health disorders and postoperative recovery.
Pharmacogenetic applications in psychiatric disorders with a special focus on depression and addiction
In the same session, Üsküdar University NPİSTANBUL Hospital Psychiatrist Prof. Nesrin Dilbaz made a presentation titled "Pharmacogenetics in Psychiatric Disorders - Depression and Addiction". Prof. Nesrin Dilbaz talked about the applications of pharmacogenetics in psychiatric diseases, especially depression and addiction. In the presentation, which was discussed as an important symptom of anhedonia, that is, decreased ability to feel pleasure, major depression (MDD) and other psychiatric diseases, Prof. Dilbaz emphasized the prevalence, pathophysiology and neurobiology of anhedonia and emphasized the important effects of this symptom on patient outcomes.
Emphasizing on the clinical effects of anhedonia, treatment strategies and pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches used to manage anhedonia, especially in depressed patients, Prof. Dilbaz also shared studies discussing the relationship between anhedonia and depression severity, suicidal thoughts and the duration of depression.
The importance of personalized treatment approaches...
In his presentation, Prof. Dilbaz emphasized the need to develop a deeper understanding to improve the functionality and quality of life of patients by advocating personalized treatment approaches and drew attention to the neurobiological basis of anhedonia and the deterioration in reward processing circuits.
Stating the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of anhedonia and recommending the combined use of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment strategies, Prof. Dilbaz stated that evidence-based strategies for clinical practices will play an important role in ensuring that patients achieve better results with this comprehensive approach.
Current and promising neuromodulation therapies in addiction...
Prof. Nesrin Dilbaz also explained her views on current and promising neuromodulation therapies in addiction with her presentation titled "Current and emerging neuromodulation therapies for addiction".
In her presentation titled "Cellular Therapies in Neurodegenerative Diseases", Prof. Sevim Işık from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Üsküdar University shared cellular therapies in neurodegenerative diseases, cellular and stem cell production and gene therapies planned to be carried out within NPCELLAB GMP, and the studies carried out in the application and research centers of our university.
Analyses of 50 thousand facial images were carried out
Üsküdar University Vice Rector Prof. Türker Tekin Ergüzel's presentation titled "Telepsychiatry & AI in Mental Health" titled "Advanced Facial Expression Recognition Using CNN and CAM Analysis" and Fırat Tarhan's presentation titled "NP Istanbul Brain Hospital and Big Data Management" were made.
In his presentation, Prof. Ergüzel shared the AIFER (Artificial Intelligence Based Facial Expression Recognition) study, in which they analyzed 50 thousand facial images belonging to 7 different emotional states (angry, sad, happy, scared, confused, disgusted, neutral) and said, "In the study, emotional state analysis was performed from faces using a deep learning-based CNN algorithm."
Two-thirds of communication is non-verbal...
Stating that research shows that two-thirds of interpersonal communication is transmitted through non-verbal elements, Prof. Ergüzel said that facial emotions serve as vital sources of information in human interactions, and that recognizing facial emotions is very important for effective interpersonal communication.
Distinguish emotions from facial expressions!
Explaining that the ability to distinguish emotions from facial expressions plays a very important role in empathizing, predicting prosocial behavior and understanding emotional intelligence, and that they associate this with the correct emotion at the level of 87 percent with the smart detection algorithm they developed, Prof. Ergüzel said that "In their future studies, they will also study the relationship between tone of voice and facial emotional state during speech. He emphasized that studies in the field of neuroscience are not limited to medical data, but also visual and auditory data are widely used in this field.
What does more than 9 million digital test data do?
Fırat Tarhan, Member of the Board of Directors of Üsküdar University and NPİSTANBUL Hospital, explained the corporate big data management process at NPİSTANBUL Hospital, the processing of the obtained medical data and their transformation into scientific works, and the use of prediction models obtained with big data in the hospital. Tarhan also shared studies on how big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been used to improve health services, which have been carried out at the hospital for many years.
NPData – Provided information about NPModel
Prof. Tarhan explained the client data obtained in the last 10 years at NPİSTANBUL Hospital, data collection methods and the size of the collected data with numerical data. Stating that large and complex data sets are integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) to provide improvements in diagnosis, treatment personalization and predictive analysis, Tarhan gave information about NPData and NPModel.
In addition, technologies such as AI-supported GE 3T MRI and advanced brain stimulation therapies are used in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases, while neurobiofeedback and functional neurosurgery methods are applied to diseases such as Parkinson's and depression, Tarhan said, adding that more than nine million digital test data are stored in a central system in order to create personalized treatment plans and improve patient outcomes, and this data is stored in a central system in order to create personalized treatment plans, and this data is used by physicians, he emphasized that it is beneficial for clients and researchers.
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)