Life Usually Has Other Plans
For the past week, I’ve been stressing out over an upcoming event:my return to the dating pool. I can’t say that my swim went well. First, I paced back and forth on the pool deck, eyeing the water suspiciously. Then I stuck a toe in, but quickly retreated to a safe distance. Wet! It was much too wet. Then I shook myself off, scheduled my swim, awaited my moment, and dressed for the occasion. I even took a selfie to send to my daughters before I took the plunge.In the photo, I ’m so nervous in my bathing suit, I don’t recognize the man looking back at me. There’s something wrong with his face. He d...
Source: The Splintered Mind by Douglas Cootey - November 10, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Tags: ADHD Family Goodreads Writing Source Type: blogs
Nighthawk Night Time Seizure Detection Device
A collaboration between teams of Dutch scientists has developed a monitoring and alert device designed to warn epilepsy sufferers of night time seizures. Currently, there are no accurate technologies in existence to wake people up before a seizure kicks in, which can sometimes even lead to deaths.
The new Nighthawk device is an upper arm strap-on that measures the heart rate and movement of the sleeping person, directly from the body. It is not terribly intrusive and can probably be made thinner and lighter than the current prototype.
The researchers compared their technology to a bed sensor that is currently a standard in...
Source: Medgadget - November 6, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Medicine Neurology Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
NightWatch Night Time Seizure Detection Device
A collaboration between teams of Dutch scientists has developed a monitoring and alert device designed to warn epilepsy sufferers of night time seizures. Currently, there are no accurate technologies in existence to wake people up before a seizure kicks in, which can sometimes even lead to deaths.
The new NightWatch device is an upper arm strap-on that measures the heart rate and movement of the sleeping person, directly from the body. It is not terribly intrusive and can probably be made thinner and lighter than the current prototype.
The researchers compared their technology to a bed sensor that is currently a standard ...
Source: Medgadget - November 6, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Medicine Neurology Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
Rosy Future Predicted for Cannabis Research; Lab Launched to Support Clinical Trials
Cannabis is the one growth industry in the U.S. that you can count on. Recreational use of marijuana is now legal in many states. Moreover, there's increasing attention being paid to the medical uses of cannabis-based products. An Israeli lab has been set up to provide clinical validation for cannabis medical research (see:Israeli lab set up to give clinical validation to cannabis research). Below is an excerpt from an article on this topic:Israeli firm Asana Bio Group Ltd. has invested $2.3 million in a lab that will provide clinical trial services to companies that are developing a wide range of med...
Source: Lab Soft News - October 25, 2018 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Medical Research Pharmaceutical Industry Source Type: blogs
NeuroBlate Optic Laser Probe with Fiber Optic Temperature Control FDA Cleared
Monteris Medical, makers of the NeuroBlate MRI-guided neurosurgical laser ablation system, now has FDA clearance for its NeuroBlate Optic Laser Probe. The laser probe features cooling regulated via fiber optics and is used to attack brain tumors and epileptic foci. It also has a sapphire capsule covering the laser fiber that allows for longer engagement of the laser.
Previous NeuroBlate laser ablation probes featured metal thermocouples, which would sometime heat up when inside the MRI machine. The new probe has a fiber optic heat sensor and all parts of the probe that make contact with the patient’s body are comp...
Source: Medgadget - October 24, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Neurosurgery Source Type: blogs
AireSone Junior Wearable Respiratory Monitor For Children: Interview with Adrian Ang, CEO AEvice Health
AireSone Junior is a wearable respiratory monitor for children that has been developed by AEvice Health, a spinout of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The device is attached to a child’s chest at night and listens to their breathing. An algorithm can process the audio signal, measuring the respiratory rate, heart rate, and sleep cycle, and the device notifies parents when warning signs in their child’s vitals are detected. The device is conceived for use with children who suffer from respiratory illnesses such as asthma, pneumonia, and sleep apnea.
The data are readable by parents on a smart device, and t...
Source: Medgadget - October 22, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
Brain Sensing Tech Support to Mindfulness – The Muse Review
Do you want to control your brain? The Muse brain sensing headband promises to help you get the most out of your meditation practice by giving you real-time biofeedback about what’s going on in your mind. It’s not some dystopian headset trying to alter your brain. Instead, its makers, the InteraXon team, want to train you to modify it yourself by knowing your brain activity better. Here you find our experience with the headband – even the comparison for the early and latest versions: our big fat Muse review.
Measuring brainwave activity? Really? How?
For answering that question, we have to introduce you the electroen...
Source: The Medical Futurist - October 18, 2018 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Health Sensors & Trackers Medical Professionals Patients Researchers digital health future headband health technology Innovation Medicine meditation mental health mindfulness muse review stress stress release Source Type: blogs
What the medical profession can learn from this patient
A excerpt from A Mind Unraveled: A Memoir. Copyright © 2018 by Kurt Eichenwald. Published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
I awoke in pain. Sometime during a seizure, I had fallen down the stairs outside of my bedroom and banged myself up. I suspected I broke a bone and decided to get an X-ray once I was more coherent. About an hour later, I hailed a cab and asked to go to the nearest hospital. Any doctor, I figured, could find a fracture. The cabby dropped me off at Capitol Hill Hospital.
I remember little that followed, but my father later told...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/kurt-eichenwald" rel="tag" > Kurt Eichenwald < /a > Tags: Patient Neurology Source Type: blogs
Vagus Nerve Stimulation to Reduce Post Surgical Brain Inflammation
Following a difficult surgery, some patients end up experiencing cognitive decline and delirium, which seems to arise from inflammatory changes in the brain, that are still poorly understood. This inflammation is difficult to control in a targeted way, but researchers at Duke University seem to have discovered that electrical nerve stimulation may do the trick.
The investigators have been using vagus nerve stimulation, the same method that is now common to control epilepsy, chronic pain, and drug resistant depression, among other conditions. In a study on lab mice with serious inflammation, an electronic lead was placed ...
Source: Medgadget - October 15, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Genetics Medicine Neurology Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Can I Become Addicted to My Anxiety Medication?
What is Anxiety?
Having anxiety is a difficult issue suffered by millions. It is much more than just butterflies in your stomach before going on stage or before an important event – it can be crippling and can cause severe impacts on one’s life, and you may need to be on anxiety medication to help with the symptoms.
According to anxiety.org, there are many anxiety-related disorders, and they are divided into three main categories:
Anxiety disorders
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
Trauma and stressor-related disorders
Anxiety disorders are characterized by a general feature of excessive fear (i.e. emoti...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - October 8, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Addiction Recovery Addiction to Pharmaceuticals Anxiety Drug Rehab Information Drug Treatment PTSD anxiety medication benzodiazepines Source Type: blogs
VR Helps Diffuse MRI Fears for Children and Their Parents
National Health Service physicist Jonathan Ashmore, PhD, has spearheaded the development of a virtual reality (VR) app that gives children who are nervous about their upcoming MRI an exact idea of what the procedure looks like.Children and their parents alike can be very anxious about a scheduled MRI. The inter-family anxiety can only worsen the experience for the young patient. The free app delivers a 360-degree perspective from inside the MRI so that children and fearful adults can be emotionally prepared for the experience before they undergo the scan. The app can be especially useful for evaluating epilepsy cases. It ...
Source: radRounds - September 20, 2018 Category: Radiology Authors: Julie Morse Source Type: blogs
Seizure Control Device Delivers Drugs Inside Brain
A collaboration between researchers at University of Cambridge in the UK and École Nationale Supérieure des Mines and INSERM in France has developed a device that can sense electrical brain activity and deliver a pre-loaded drug dose in response. It has already been tried on mice undergoing seizures, releasing a native brain chemical that is effective at slowing down the development of seizures. While the technology is certainly relevant to epilepsy, there’s certainly hope it may be useful for targeting brain cancers and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The flexible electronic ...
Source: Medgadget - September 5, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Materials Neurology Neurosurgery Source Type: blogs
Prior Authorizations: Will They Become Damocles Sword?
By NIRAN AL-AGBA
Niran Al-Agba, MD, FAAP
In July 2009, the family of Massachusetts teenager Yarushka Rivera went to their local Walgreens to pick up Topomax, an anti-seizure drug that had been keeping her epilepsy in check for years. Rivera had insurance coverage through MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid insurance program for low-income children, and never ran into obstacles obtaining this life-saving medication. But in July of 2009, she turned 19, and when, shortly after her birthday, her family went to pick up the medicine, the pharmacist told them they’d either have to shell out $399.99 to purchase Topomax out-of-poc...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 28, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Patients Physicians Insurance companies medical malpractice Medicine Pharmaceuitcals Prior Authorization Source Type: blogs
Cannabidiol (CBD) — what we know and what we don’t
Cannabidiol (CBD) has been recently covered in the media, and you may have even seen it as an add-in booster to your post-workout smoothie or morning coffee. What exactly is CBD? Why is it suddenly so popular?
How is cannabidiol different from marijuana?
CBD stands for cannabidiol. It is the second most prevalent of the active ingredients of cannabis (marijuana). While CBD is an essential component of medical marijuana, it also is derived directly from the hemp plant, which is a cousin of the marijuana plant. While CDB is a component of marijuana (one of hundreds), CBD by itself, does not cause a “high.” According to a...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - August 24, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Peter Grinspoon, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Health Marijuana Source Type: blogs
ECoG Post-doc opportunities with Nitin Tandon, Stan Dehaene, Nathan Crone, Xaq Pitkow & me
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH POSITIONSPONSORED BY BRAIN INITIATIVE GRANTPostdoctoral research positions are available in the lab of Nitin Tandon at Houston. This position is funded by a BRAIN Initiative U01 grant funded project that uses electro-corticographic (ECoG) recordings and fMRI on a large cohort (n=80) to evaluate psycholinguistic models of reading and speech production to create network level representation of language. Collaborators on the project include Greg Hickok, Stanislas Dehaene, Nathan Crone and Xaq Pitkow; the post-doc will benefit from a close interaction with these experts in the fields of reading, semantics...
Source: Talking Brains - August 15, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs
