Magnetic Brain Stimulation Could Ease Pain: Scientific American
Treating the brain with magnets went mainstream a few years ago, when the technique proved successful at relieving major depression. Now the procedure, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), shows promise for another mysterious, hard-to-treat disorder: chronic pain.Until now, pain seemed out of reach for rTMS because the regions involved in pain perception lie very deep within the brain. The other disorders helped by rTMS all involve brain areas close to the skull. To treat depression, for example, a single magnetic coil directs a magnetic field at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the...
Source: Psychology of Pain - February 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
L300 Neurostimulation System for Foot Drop Cleared for Kids in U.S.
The FDA has granted Bioness (Valencia, CA) clearance to make available for kids with foot drop from upper motor neuron pathologies like cerebral palsy, brain injury, and stroke, the same L300 neurostimulation system that was cleared for adults in the spring of 2011. The L300 uses a below-the-knee electronic muscle stimulation cuff to contract muscles in the leg. To synchronize, a little sensor is placed in the shoe that detects movement and talks to the cuff via a wireless connection. In addition, a wireless remote is used to configure and tune the system for individual needs and comfort levels.The system can be used eithe...
Source: Medgadget - January 28, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gene Ostrovsky Tags: Rehab Source Type: blogs
The Impact of Caronia Case: What Happens Next?
Last month, in a landmark ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in United States v. Caronia, vacated the criminal conviction of a pharmaceutical sales representative who was found guilty of conspiracy to introduce a misbranded drug, under the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FDCA), because he spoke about off-label uses of a particular drug. The court held “that the government cannot prosecute pharmaceutical manufacturers and their representatives under the FDCA for speech promoting the lawful, off-label use of an FDA-approved drug.”
In a client alert written by the law firm Arnold & P...
Source: Policy and Medicine - January 17, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
The meaning of a barrel
I would like to introduce you to my barrel.It is 20 years old. One of its principal identifying characteristics is its blue color. Although I haven't done the math to determine whether or not it is of optimal dimension (a la Keppler) I have always considered that it is the precisely correct size for many purposes. Toddlers can stand it it quite well and not be overwhelmed by its height, and although that is no confirmation by differential calculus it is a pragmatic measure that I have always appreciated. So what is the meaning of a barrel? To Keppler it was an obsession based on not...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - January 3, 2013 Category: Occupational Therapists Tags: ABC Therapeutics OT stories philosophy Source Type: blogs
Dr. Greene at TEDxBrussels on TICC TOCC – Transitioning Immediate Cord Clamping To Optimal Cord Clamping
The practice of immediately clamping the umbilical cord after a baby is born was made popular in 1913. We have now discovered that this can result in up to 10x the risk of developing iron deficiency anemia. There has been a movement to end immediate clamping that is known as delayed clamping, but that does not capture the essence of what is best for baby. I prefer the term optimal cord clamping because there are times when clamping immediately is indeed what is best for baby. Normally waiting an extra 90 seconds to allow the blood in the cord to pump into baby isn’t a delay at all, but is optimal.
Watch this TEDx...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - November 18, 2012 Category: Child Development Authors: Dr. Alan Greene Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Pregnancy & Birth Prenatal TICC TOCC Top Pregnancy Top Prenatal Source Type: blogs
90 Seconds to Change the World
Tick tock. Tick tock. TICC TOCC. The difference 90 seconds can make.
At the moment of birth, only about 2/3 of the baby’s blood is in the baby. The remaining third is still in the umbilical cord and placenta. During the third stage of labor, which lasts from the delivery of the baby to the delivery of the placenta, the cord actively pumps iron-rich, oxygen-rich, stem-cell-rich blood into the baby.
Unless the cord is clamped too quickly.
Immediately clamping the umbilical cord was popularized in 1913 as one of three pillars of active management of the third stage of labor. While this intervention began in the West...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - November 12, 2012 Category: Child Development Authors: Dr. Alan Greene Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Featured Content Labor & Birth Pregnancy & Birth Prenatal TICC TOCC Top Blog Source Type: blogs
More Strange Events in Texas: Honor Student Diane Tran and Justice of the Peace Lanny Moriarty
First Lakay Roberts Now Diane Tran What is going on in Texas? With the jailing of Texas honor student, Diane Tran (see new links below), by Houston Justice of the Peace Lanny Moriarty ( https://judgepedia.org/index.php/Lanny_Moriarty, https://www.mctx.org/courts/justices_of_the_peace/justice_of_the_peace_pct_1/index.html ), the Texas educational system continues to generate controversy. Last month, I blogged on, and began organizing for, Lakay Roberts, a brave five year old girl with severe cerebral palsy in New Caney, Texas. Since March, she has not been allowed to use her walker by the very educators who should be celebr...
Source: Rethinking Patient Safety - May 30, 2012 Category: Health Management Authors: Lee Tilson Source Type: blogs
A Danish delight! Progress in treating cerebral palsy and related movement disorders?
I delivered a lecture sponsored by the Danish Neuroscience Society and the Helene Elsass Center (a wonderful new research institution in the suburbs of Copenhagen) that has developed a state-of-the-art research and treatment center focusing on cerebral palsy. I was delighted to sit down with the Center’s Director, Peder Esben Bilde, to review new training software developed by therapists and … Continue reading → (Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D.)
Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. - June 23, 2009 Category: Neurologists Authors: Dr. Michael Merzenich Tags: Autism Origins, Treatments Brain Fitness Brain Fitness Program Brain Plasticity Brain Science Brain Trauma, Injury Childhood Learning Cognitive Impairment in Children Cognitive impairments Neuroscience Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
A good life, spent usefully, to help
I was on the organizing committee and attended a National Academy of Sciences and W.M. Keck Foundation-sponsored meeting several months ago addressing the science and technology of “Smart Prosthetics”. “Smart” prosthetics use information from the brain (or deliver information to the brain) to guide or control their functionality — for example, to control an artificial limb, to restore hearing or vision, to re-animate a paralyzed trunk or arm, etc. One of the important young contributors to this meeting was a young Engineering (Biomechanics) Professor, Kevin Granata, a world authority on th...
Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. - April 19, 2007 Category: Neurologists Authors: Michael Merzenich Tags: Brain Fitness Brain Trauma, Injury BrainHQ Source Type: blogs
