Alcyone Lifesciences is a medical technology company based out of Lowell, MA, which specializes in central nervous system (CNS) drug delivery platforms for targeted infusions of the brain or spinal cord. Their Thecaflex DRx System was recently awarded Breakthrough Device designation by the FDA, for spinal infusion of therapeutic medications. Medgad (Read more...)
Tag: Psychiatry
Microsoft and VA Rolling Out Xbox’s with Adaptive Controllers at Rehab Centers
If you’ve been stuck recovering in a hospital for a long period of time, you may know how delightful video games are for killing time. Injured veterans, usually people that don’t enjoy being stuck in one place and like exciting challenges, often don’t get to benefit from video games because of the disabilities that got […]
VitalMinds from Philips to Control Delirium in ICU
Patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) often suffer through delirium, including experiencing disorientation and witnessing hallucinations. Going through delirium seems to negatively affect future outcomes, in addition to being a hindrance to receiving proper medical care while hospitalized. For these reasons acute delirium should be dealt with, bu (Read more...)
Electric Stimulation Drastically Improves Memory of Older Folks
The performance of our working memory starts to go down right around the time we finish residency. The older we get, the more difficulty we have forming new memories and holding on to them for a long time. Because it’s still a mystery how the memory system of our brains works, a decline in its […]
First Drug-Free Option for ADHD Cleared in America
For the first time, children in the United States will have a non-drug option for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The FDA just cleared the Monarch external Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation (eTNS) System from NeuroSigma, a Los Angeles, California company, to treat ADHD in kids between 7 and 12 years old. The system has already (Read more...)
Scientists Discover Way to Tune Deep Brain Stimulation Therapies
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is already being used to treat all kinds of mental disorders, including depression and addiction, and some neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s. The technology is still in its early stages, since physicians have a great deal of difficulty achieving consistent results. Scientists at the Picower Institute at M (Read more...)
Light and Sound Induce Brainwaves to Clear Brains of Amyloid Plaques
Alzheimer’s disease has no cure at this point. Only a few therapies that try to slow the progression are available, but there’s a light, and some sound, at the end of the tunnel. Researchers at MIT and Georgia Tech have now shown they can reduce the buildup of amyloid plaques in mouse models of Alzheimer’s […]
Augmented Reality System Lets Severely Disabled Operate Own Robots
Robots that help severely disabled people are generally assumed to have to be super smart, capable of replacing human caretakers. Engineers at Georgia Tech decided to take a very different approach, instead empowering disabled people to control the robots that help them. The technology allows disabled people to see what the robot is seeing, si (Read more...)
Caregivers Want Robots to Take Care of Annoying Dementia Sufferers
People with dementia, as well as those that take care of them, can benefit from a bit of robotic assistance. There are a few robots on the market that are designed to help elderly people around the house, but not too much exists for those suffering from cognitive decline. While there’s been development in this […]
Brain-Computer Interface with Neurofeedback Improves Human Performance
When performing challenging and dangerous tasks, our state of mind can have great effect on whether we succeed or fail. During emergencies some people panic while others remain calm. Some people get so influenced by emotion that an easy task, such as simply running out of a building, can turn into a disaster all of […]
Unyte’s iom2 Helps You Meditate With Ease: Medgadget Review
Let’s face it, today’s fast-paced and viciously competitive world has made stress inevitable. Our brains are constantly bombarded with tasks and distractions, leaving many of us worn out. Although it is known that meditation can help many of us to step away from all our stressors and give our overactive brains a break, starting and [&he (Read more...)
Major Depression Treated with Transcranial Alternating Current Brain Stimulation
There are implantable devices out there that are very effective at treating depression in a lot of patients. These look like pacemakers and they have electrical leads stretching out, usually, to the vagus nerve, and there are transcranial direct stimulation devices with electrodes placed directly onto the brain. Of course implants have a whole host (Read more...)
Cobot, a New Robot, Approved for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Coil Positioning
Axium Robotics, a company based in Strasbourg, France, has received European and U.S. regulatory approvals for its TMS-Cobot TS MV, a robotic arm specifically developed to position the treatment coil of the MagVenture TMS system. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is used to treat major depressive disorder in patients that have f (Read more...)
Virtual Reality Room Helps Kids With Phobias Overcome Fears
Autistic kids that suffer from phobias have a particularly hard time overcoming their fears. Traditional therapies don’t work well, so researchers at Newcastle University in England have been testing an immersive virtual reality system that is already showing great promise at treating serious phobias. The Blue Room virtual reality system is a (Read more...)
QTrobot Enhances Learning Opportunities For Children With Autism
QTrobot, pronounced “cutie robot,” was developed by the Luxembourgian company LuxAI and introduced to early adopters back in 2018. It is a expressive and engaging humanoid robot designed to assist in teaching autistic children essential social skills. One may think: “How can a robot help in the management of a condition characteri (Read more...)
Pocket Sky Wearable For Seasonal Affective Disorder, Jetlag, and Shift Work Disorder
Active Wearables, a medtech startup based in Austria, has released Pocket Sky, a wearable designed to combat conditions resulting from time shifts and poor access to sunlight. The device can be worn like a pair of glasses and emits blue light to emulate sunlight, supposedly suppressing the production of melatonin. The company claims that the [&hell (Read more...)
Eye Movements May Flag Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia
A Japanese study found a significant association between visual exploration and scores on a cognitive test requiring visual search in patients with schizophrenia. Medscape Medical News
Scientists Translate Brain Signals Into Speech
Our brain signals are a window into our souls. More broadly, brain-computer interfaces that read those signals and accompanying algorithms that process the signals are the windows. Researchers at Columbia University have been working on trying to understand what our brains are thinking about, and in particular interpreting the signals produced by t (Read more...)
URGONight EEG Headband Trains Your Brain to Sleep Better: Seen at CES 2019
We all know the feeling: setting our alarm and trying to fall asleep, only to recognize that the brain has a different plan and refuses to calm down. Therefore, we end up tossing and turning, checking the time every 10 minutes to see how long we have left before we have to get up, and […]
Philips Presents Its Sleep Technologies at CES 2019
Philips is now a pure medical technology company. You may see their brand on other products still, such as TVs, but that’s all produced by other manufacturers. Though it’s focused on medicine, Philips is actively involved in the personal healthcare space, and particularly in sleep. The firm has everything from sleep trackers, wake up li (Read more...)