All sorts of conditions, including muscular dystrophy, ALS, and partial spinal cord injury, result in patients losing their ability to confidently grasp objects with their hands. Regaining this important capability is usually a priority, as it is one of the biggest impediments to living a normal life. Now, researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed […]
Tag: Neurology
Exoskeleton Walks to Brain’s Commands
Powered exoskeletons are used to help people with lower limb paralysis get on their feet and allow post-stroke patients to recover faster. They’re pretty impressive devices, but people who are severely disabled, including those suffering from tetraplegia, can’t get much benefit from them. Now, a team of researchers in France has succeeded in getting a […]
New Imaging Technique Reveals Deep Tumors, Helps Attack Them
Tumors deep inside the body can be very difficult to spot, track, and study. The brain, being surrounded by a thick skull, is particularly challenging to image using light, so MRI and CT are currently the go-to imaging modalities when looking at deeply seated tissues. Now, researchers at Stanford University are reporting the development of […]
New Chip for Microwave Imaging of Body
Today’s clinicians are limited to a few imaging modalities, primarily X-ray, CT, MRI, and ultrasound. Microwaves, in principle, can also be used as a useful way to look inside the body. Microwave radiation is non-ionizing, so should be safer than X-rays, but in practice microwave imagers, because of the electronics inside, have remained bulky tabletop […]
Synchron Announces First Successful Clinical Implantation of Stentrode
Synchron, a spin-off from the University of Melbourne in Australia, has announced the first successful implantation of the Stentrode minimally invasive neural interface device in a person. The device is part of the Synchron brain-computer interface and combines the minimally invasive delivery of a vascular stent with the functionality of a neural implant. The company […]
Artificial Skin to Improve Sense of Touch, Help Study Neural Activity
At the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, researchers have created an interesting artificial “skin” that can sense touch while providing real-time haptic feedback in the form of vibrations. Because the sensors and actuators are completely embedded within this skin, it allows for near simultaneous closed-loop control of the system and makes it […]
Abbott Proclaim XR 10-Year Spinal Cord Stimulator FDA Approved for Chronic Pain
Abbott won approval for and is releasing a new spinal cord stimulator that can treat chronic pain for up to ten years without requiring a recharge. The Proclaim XR delivers a low dose version of Abbott’s unique BurstDR waveform, which supposedly delivers a signal similar to the brain’s own patterns. Instead of overdriving the pain […]
New Fluorescent Tags Developed to Track Cause of Alzheimer’s
Amyloid protein plaques, particularly ones made of beta-amyloid 42, are a prime suspect in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Soluble oligomers, in this case molecules with a few repeating peptide units, may turn out to be the main culprit. They’re known to be toxic to neurons and some recent studies have led researchers to focus […]
Implantable Nanolasers for Tissue Imaging, Neurotherapy
A variety of imaging techniques and technologies, such as optogenetics, could benefit from devices that can emit visible laser light from inside tissues. Conventional lasers are too large, while nanolasers tend to be inefficient, heating up too much, and typically require damaging ultraviolet light to power them. Now, researchers at Northwestern and Columbia Universities have […]
First Portable Brain-Computer Interface to Control Wheelchairs, TVs, Computers
Brain-computer interfaces have the potential to give severely disabled people the ability to easily control their wheelchairs, televisions, and other devices. Existing technologies suffer from a number of limitations, though, making them impractical for real-world applications. One is that non-invasive brain wave monitoring currently requires large and uncomfortable electroencephalography caps with wet electrodes, wires, and […]
Nanoelectrode Chip to Study Neuronal Network Activity of Thousands of Cells
Though the patch clamp electrode allowed neuroscientists to study electrical signals from inside neural cells, it is a tool with very limited capabilities. No more than about a dozen cells at a time can be studied, but the brain and the neural system operate on much larger scales. To help study entire neuronal networks comprising […]
Measuring Pain Levels Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy
Knowing how much pain a patient is in can help clinicians to diagnose a condition, understand the course of a disease, and set a course for treatment. While simply hearing patients out works pretty well for the general population, unconscious and non-communicative people are not properly assessed all too often. Now, researchers from MIT, Harvard, […]
FDA Clears Siemens Artis icono Angiography Systems
Siemens Healthineers won FDA clearance for the ARTIS icono angiography systems that are designed for use in a variety of procedure types. The ARTIS icono 2D/3D biplane system is intended for neuroradiology and abdominal imaging while the ARTIS icono floor has a single fluoroscope and is designed for vascular, interventional cardiology, surgical, and oncology procedures. […]
Robotic Hand Combines Amputee and Robotic Control for Assistive Solution
Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed an intelligent robotic hand to assist amputees in daily tasks. The research team used existing robotic hardware, but developed a machine learning approach to provide better control for amputees, whereby the robotic arms can better anticipate user intentions, even down to individual finger movements. […]
Prosthetic Leg with Neurofeedback Makes Walking Easier, Treats Phantom Pain
Today’s prosthetic legs come in a variety of designs, but they lack the ability to give users a natural sense of themselves. They feel simply like man-made devices strapped to the stump, as tools and not as part of the body of whoever wears them. Researchers from ETH Zurich, University of Freiburg, University of Belgrade, […]
MRI Can Now See Molecular Content of Our Brains
As we age, the molecular composition of our brain changes. This is a natural process, but it can also be associated with the presence of disease. Currently, there’s no practical way to study the molecular changes within living humans, and post-mortem studies are limited in the scientific information they can provide. Now, scientists at the […]
Nanovolcanoes Record Electrical Activity Inside Heart Cells
The electrical activity of cardiomyocytes and other excitable cells such as neurons is studied using a number of techniques. To get details about the action potentials within the interior of the cell requires either forcefully pushing microelectrodes through the cellular barrier or using electroporation, a high voltage technique that makes temporary openings in the membranes. […]
Edwards ForeSight Brain Oxygenation Sensors FDA Cleared to Pair with Hemosphere Monitor
Edwards Lifesciences won FDA clearance to integrate its ForeSight brain tissue oxymetry sensors with the HemoSphere monitoring platform. While the clearance is really for a connecting cable, the capability allows anesthesiologists to monitor the oxygen saturation of the brain during surgeries and to correlate it with hemodynamic parameters in real-time. “Understanding the relationship between the […]
Nanodiamonds Cross Blood-Brain Barrier to Image Inside, Deliver Drugs
The blood-brain barrier is nearly impenetrable to most drugs and contrast agents, making it difficult to diagnose and treat diseases afflicting the brain. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now developed a way of using nanodiamonds coated with a biopolymer to penetrate through the blood-brain barrier and deliver therapies, as well […]
Sensor Monitors Brain Aneurysms Post Treatment
Aneurysms within the brain are extremely dangerous, although there are therapies available such as stents and blood flow diverters. Even after treatment, a cerebral aneurysm can continue developing and how it heals cannot be predicted. Monitoring a treated vessel deep within the brain would provide physicians with the ability to act in situations that would […]