Endovascular procedures have drastically improved the available therapy options for a number of diseases and conditions. Catheters can now be navigated deep into the body, including the brain, but there’s still room for improvement to traverse particularly tortuous vascular anatomy. These days, most guidewires that are used to make the initia (Read more...)
Tag: Neurology
Motion Sickness Study to Mitigate Motion Sickness in Self-Driving Cars
Motion sickness is slated to become a more prominent problem once self-driving cars become a commonality. Interiors of vehicles are expected to be much different than those of today’s forward-facing cars, including blackout windows with TVs inside for playing video games and watching movies. Even those not prone to motion sickness may have tr (Read more...)
Tourette Syndrome Treated with Functional MRI
Researchers at Yale University have for the first time showed that it is possible to control the symptoms of Tourette Syndrome using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The researchers recruited twenty one 11 to 19 year-olds and used real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rt-fMRI-NF), a technology that lets patients monitor their own brain activit (Read more...)
New Optical Method for Functional Brain Imaging
Researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK and Washington University School of Medicine have developed a new non-invasive brain imaging method for studying the shape of the brain’s surface and oxygenation of brain tissues. Their discovery enables deeper brain imaging with higher resolution than prior studies with similar capabili (Read more...)
Optic Nerve Stimulation Device Could Provide Visual Aid for Blind People
Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed a new type of intraneural electrode to bypass the eyeball and send messages directly to the brain through the optic nerve. The technique could provide a visual aid for permanently blind people. Using retinal implants to treat blindness is a developin (Read more...)
Ekso Bionics Unveils EksoNR Neurorehabilitation Suit
Ekso Bionics, the California company that makes some of the most advanced exoskeletons out there, is releasing its latest neurorehabilitation suit, the EksoNR. Designed primarily to help people recovering from a stroke, the device recreates the natural movement of the legs and helps patients re-learn how to walk, sit, and do all the things they [&h (Read more...)
Transcranial Electromagnetic Treatment Halts, Reverses Alzheimer’s
A new medical device is showing that it may be possible to improve and even reverse cognitive decline in those with Alzheimer’s disease, all without drugs and with little noticeable side effects. The MemorEM system from NeuroEM Therapeutics, a company based in Phoenix, Arizona, delivers transcranial electromagnetic treatment, or TEMT, to the (Read more...)
Voltron Technology Lights Up Brain Activity in Real Time
While scientists have a variety of tools on hand to monitor and manipulate living brains, they still lack the ability to observe how large numbers of individual neurons operate in real time. Now, researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have developed a remarkable technology, published in the journal Science, that illuminates neurons just (Read more...)
Neurons Grow on Crosslinks of Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes have a host of interesting properties. They are biocompatible and electrically conductive, so have been investigated as a possible material for growing nerve tissues. To make carbon nanotubes cooperate as desired, novel forms are required and researchers at SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) and University of Trieste (Read more...)
CAVA Device Spots Nystagmus to Diagnose Dizziness
Dizziness is a common condition but its underlying causes can be very difficult to diagnose. It is usually unpredictable and doesn’t last very long, so by the time a patient presents to the physician everything checks out as normal. Detecting nystagmus (uncontrolled eye movements) is a pretty reliable way of diagnosing peripheral vestibular d (Read more...)
Wireless Brain Implant Controls Mice Using Drugs and Light
Optogenetics is a quickly evolving field that allows scientists to activate specific neurons using bursts of light. The technique may help to uncover the basis of neurological diseases and how to tame them. Using optogenetics to assess how different drugs affect the central nervous system may offer a powerful new scientific tool. To that end, [&hel (Read more...)
Imperceptible Wearable Electronics Only Microns Thin
When we think of wearable electronics, devices such as smartwatches, chest-strap heart monitors, and wrist-worn activity trackers come to mind. In the future, and one that is seemingly not that far away, wearables may look like tattoos that are only microns thick. That may be thanks to researchers from the University of Houston, University of [&hel (Read more...)
Implanted Electrodes Improve Powered Prosthetic Arms
Today’s conventional powered prosthetic arms usually have a few built-in electrodes that make contact with patient skin. These are good enough to open and close a simple claw, but for more nuanced control of prostheses with multiple degrees of freedom and individual fingers, a better approach is required. Implantable electrodes can gather a g (Read more...)
Smart Contact Lens Zooms On Demand
Though bifocal and progressive contact lenses are now widely available, they’re still “dumb” devices that require the user to adjust to them. Researchers at the University of California San Diego and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China have now developed a biomimetic soft contact lens that can be made to zoom in and out [& (Read more...)
New Technology for Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis and Management
Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a novel technology for diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS). Their work can be used to determine which damaged regions of a patient’s brain have the potential to heal themselves, and which do not. This is an exciting development for Americans at risk and already suffering from [& (Read more...)
Electrical Stimulation Improves Reaction Time, Feels Natural
Many aspects of medicine are now expanding beyond the treatment of disease, including techniques to help make us smarter, stronger, and faster. Our reaction times are often too slow for many tasks, but electrical muscle stimulation can make us grab and push things faster than our brains can will it. The problem with using this […]
World’s Most Advanced Prosthetic Now With Sense of Touch
For prosthetic arms to really work well, they must have the ability to sense the things they’re touching. The actions involved in grabbing a can of sardines, a fresh egg, or a plum at a grocery store are very different. The fingers of the hand have to squeeze just the right amount so as to […]
Decoding Physical Patterns of Our Bodies via Conformable Devices: Interview with MIT’s Canan Dagdeviren
Nature is full of physical patterns – from our breathing and the heart beating in our chests to the tides that lap the shore. The Conformable Decoders group at MIT believe that if such patterns can be “decoded,” they can provide a rich seam of information that can help in designing a variety of devices […]
Generating Hallucinations Using Optogenetics
About a decade ago, Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University developed a technology called optogenetics. It allows scientists to stimulate individual nerve cells using light beams within the brains of live and moving animals. Now, this technology has been used to generate visual hallucinations within lab mice, causing them to act as though the things (Read more...)
Unlocking Human Potential Through Brain Stimulation: Halo Sport 2
Making an impact within the consumer space with its first brain stimulator, Halo Neuroscience recently launched its fully upgraded Halo Sport 2 at a price point that makes neurostimulation even more accessible. Their first product, Halo Sport, was originally released at CES 2017, which earned them a Fast Company Award for “Most Inn (Read more...)