[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PoNS-e1362016577311.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]We don’t think much about it, but the rich network of nerves (and musculature) on the human tongue is also a direct route to the brain. Now the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), collaborating with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the NeuroHabilitation Corporation is developing and testing the Portable NeuroModulation Stimulator, or PoNS, for treatment of brain injury and related disease: TBI, stroke, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. The PoNS is an electrode-covered oral device which is used for 20-30 minutes of stimulation therapy, called cranial nerve non-invasive neuromodulation (CN-NiNM). Specific stimulation patterns are paired... Continue Reading
Search Results for traumatic brain injury
Digital health and mitigating concussion
...soccer’s concussion possibility in ‘heading the ball’ –will join with the NFL in their research efforts. (We will not discuss the multiple hazards of rugby.) Also of note is the NIH ten-year brain mapping project. Digital health gives hope for mitigating concussion damage, brain disease Your Editors have been following progress in concussion detection and research since June 2012. Further sad confirmation of CTE, Brain injury research study: progress is ‘ordered, predictable’, NFL donates $30 million to FNIH for TBI research, Combating soldier TBI (continued), Combating TBI on the battle- and football fields, DARPA/RIT’s ‘Blast Gauge’: measuring the unseen wound.... Continue Reading
Getting into a state of BioZen (US)
From those wonderful folks who brought you the ‘Apps for the Army’ (A4A) 2010 winning T2 Mood Tracker [TA 13 Aug 10] is the BioZen. The latest development of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) connects multiple sensors–electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyography (EMG), galvanic skin response (GSR), electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), respiratory rate, and skin temperature–to a free Android app to help the user master therapeutic biofeedback. Along with physical measurements are brain wave measurements for tracking and cognitive states, with the app automatically generating graphical feedback. BioZen, The Biofeedback Mobile App (Armed With Science) BioZen... Continue Reading
Further sad confirmation of CTE
Further confirming the prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the NFL is the recent examination by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) of linebacker Junior Seau’s brain. Seau, who retired from play after 20 years and was a well-liked, cheerful figure in San Diego, committed suicide unexpectedly at the young age of 43, and his family donated his brain to the NIH for study. It is just further sad confirmation of the Boston University study [TA 6 Dec] that this progressive disorder which occurs as a consequence of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury is the NFL’s scourge. Perhaps... Continue Reading
On DARPA’s wish list: a portable brain recording device (US)
...developer to provide a Portable Brain Recording Device and App–not just any EEG + app but one that is low-cost ($30), highly portable, easily usable in the field, easy to use sensors, and downloads high-fidelity data directly to a phone or tablet without an interface. Beyond the battlefield, it’s envisioned in civilian hospitals and commercial research adaptations. Specifications are contained in SB131-002 Portable Brain Recording Device & App, 13.1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) here–read carefully all supporting material. On DARPA’s 2013 Wish List: Extreme Diving, Portable Brain Reading, And Gravity Vision (PopSci) Hat tip to TANN Ireland’s Toni Bunting.... Continue Reading
Your holiday weekend ‘short cuts’
...New Shine Necklace (AllThingsD) (This is the only mention where Sculley gets the lead!) Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have successfully developed a prosthetic hand controlled by the thoughts of a quadriplegic patient detected via electrode implants in the motor cortex part of the brain. According to The Scientist, it “rivals the way an unimpaired brain directs limb movement.” Published 16 December in The Lancet. Thoughts control robotic hand (The Scientist) A health texting provider, Televox, claims that 34% of Americans say they are more honest discussing their health problems through automatic calls, email, or text messaging, than in... Continue Reading
Tele-epilepsy and remote seizure monitoring (Netherlands)
Because epilepsy is such a distressing condition there will surely be a crock of gold waiting for whoever can produce a device that can reliably monitor the brain activity of people with epilepsy when at home, especially when asleep. Here is the latest effort from researchers in The Netherlands which, they say, has a (good) 90% success rate: Tele-Epilepsy and Remote Seizure Monitoring in the Netherlands Shimmer Research. (Whoever coined the term ‘tele-epilepsy’ should be sent to the naughty step until they say sorry!) Heads-up thanks to Toni Bunting.... Continue Reading
Hospital alarms fail to prevent injury
“Pressure-sensitive alarms that sound when a patient tries to get out of bed do not prevent falls or reduce injury, researchers have found.” This is a hospital-based study but there are implications for the use of bed monitors at home too. Hospital Alarms Fail to Prevent Injury, Study Finds New York Times.... Continue Reading
Brain injury research study: progress is ‘ordered, predictable’
This past week, brain injury once again has made sad headlines in the US this weekend with the public suicide of an NFL linebacker, following his murder of the mother of his child. Reportedly, Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs had been recently concussed, was on painkillers and had been drinking the prior evening. Thus the release of an academic research study on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive disorder that occurs as a consequence of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury such as experienced by contact sport athletes and soldiers, could not be more timely. Published in this month’s... Continue Reading
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