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Showing posts with label ▷ 2013 Dec 14. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ▷ 2013 Dec 14. Show all posts
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Def'n: Brain Gate & Brain Implant
SSTattler: Actually it talks about the brain or leg or arm neurons/nerves.
Please see early Stroke Survivors Tattler articles:
Brain Gate From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BrainGate is a brain implant system built and previously owned by Cyberkinetics, currently under development and in clinical trials, designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs, or other bodily functions, such as patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury. The Braingate technology and related Cyberkinetic’s assets are now owned by privately held Braingate, LLC. The sensor, which is implanted into the brain, monitors brain activity in the patient and converts the intention of the user into computer commands.
In its current form, BrainGate consists of a sensor implanted in the brain and an external decoder device, which connects to some kind of prosthetic or other external object. The sensor uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that sense the electromagnetic signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain, for example, the area that controls arm movement. The sensor translates that activity into electrically charged signals, which are then sent to an external device and decoded in software. The decoder connects to and can use the brain signals to control an external device, such as a robotic arm, a computer cursor, or even a wheelchair. In essence, BrainGate allows a person to manipulate objects in the world using only the mind.
In addition to real-time analysis of neuron patterns to relay movement, the BrainGate array is also capable of recording electrical data for later analysis. A potential use of this feature would be for a neurologist to study seizure patterns in a patient with epilepsy.
Please see early Stroke Survivors Tattler articles:
Brain Gate From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BrainGate is a brain implant system built and previously owned by Cyberkinetics, currently under development and in clinical trials, designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs, or other bodily functions, such as patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury. The Braingate technology and related Cyberkinetic’s assets are now owned by privately held Braingate, LLC. The sensor, which is implanted into the brain, monitors brain activity in the patient and converts the intention of the user into computer commands.
Technology
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Dummy unit illustrating the design
of a BrainGate interface
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In its current form, BrainGate consists of a sensor implanted in the brain and an external decoder device, which connects to some kind of prosthetic or other external object. The sensor uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that sense the electromagnetic signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain, for example, the area that controls arm movement. The sensor translates that activity into electrically charged signals, which are then sent to an external device and decoded in software. The decoder connects to and can use the brain signals to control an external device, such as a robotic arm, a computer cursor, or even a wheelchair. In essence, BrainGate allows a person to manipulate objects in the world using only the mind.
In addition to real-time analysis of neuron patterns to relay movement, the BrainGate array is also capable of recording electrical data for later analysis. A potential use of this feature would be for a neurologist to study seizure patterns in a patient with epilepsy.
Video: Brain Gate & Brain Implant
SSTattler: Implant on the brain or arm or leg or ...
Seven years after a motorcycle accident damaged his spinal cord and left him paralyzed, 30-year-old Tim Hemmes reached up to touch hands with his girlfriend in a painstaking and tender high-five. For more information about the trial, visit UPMC.com/BCI.
Standard YouTube License @ UPMC
Paralyzed Man Moves Robotic Arm With His Thoughts
Uploaded on Oct 7, 2011Seven years after a motorcycle accident damaged his spinal cord and left him paralyzed, 30-year-old Tim Hemmes reached up to touch hands with his girlfriend in a painstaking and tender high-five. For more information about the trial, visit UPMC.com/BCI.
Standard YouTube License @ UPMC
Saturday Comics
| For Better and For Worse Lynn Johnston - 2013/12/13  "It's daddy -- he's in the hospital !!" | Dilbert Scott Adams - 2013/12/09  "Hello, random subordinate ..." |
Garfield Jim Davis - 2013/12/13  "I only fell off the ladder twice this year!" | Betty Delainey & Rasmussen - 2013/12/12  "Marvellous handmade card without a signature!" |
** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.
*** Changed from "Pickles" to "Betty" -- "Betty" is a excellent cartoon and Gary Delainey & Gerry Rasmussen are authors/artists/cartoon-strips and they live in Edmonton.
Eclectic Stuff
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Definition: Eclectic(noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
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Hydrogel Implant Enables Light-Based Communication With Cells Inside the Body
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| Dean Reinke Deans' Stroke Musing |
This is so blasted simple.
- Find out how neurons recruit neighboring neurons to help with a task.
- Attach these implants next to the neurons needing help using the technique found in step 1.
- Turn on the light communication.
- Ask your doctor why the hell they aren't working on something so simple even an idiot can figure it out.
As researchers develop novel therapies based on inducing specific cells to do specific things, getting the right message to the right group of cells at the right time remains a major challenge. The use of light to communicate with cells has been restricted by its limited ability to pass through tissues. Now researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a way to deliver a light signal to specific tissues deep within the body. They describe their accomplishment in the current issue of Nature Photonics.
"Scientists only began investigating light-activated therapy a few years ago, but it is generating huge interest," says Wellman investigator Seok Hyun (Andy) Yun, PhD, senior author of the study. "One of the best known example is use of optogenetics – activation or deactivation of brain cells by illumination with different colors of light – to treat brain disorders. But how to deliver light deep within the brain or other tissues has been a common problem. The implant we have developed may help solve this problem."
Light passing through an optical fiber (left) can either carry in a signal that stimulates the activity of cells embedded in the hydrogel implant or bring back a signal generated by cells responding to something in their environment. (Harvard Bio-Optics Lab/Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Mass. General Hospital)
I’m Fully Supportive of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Technology!
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| Kate Allatt A Rocky Stroke Recovery |
I had this, ‘Right vertebral artery dissection and occlusion on 7/2/10 with an acute infarction of the pons. (thrombolitus of the baslar artery.’
Not great. For two weeks I was officially (medically) considered to be in a PVS state, when in fact I was in… Scary. Horrible. Traumatic.
So asked what I thought of brain interface computers, it’s no surprise that I have an opinion on this!? Wiki says,
‘The field of BCI research and development has since focused primarily on neuroprosthetics applications that aim at restoring damaged hearing, sight and movement. Thanks to the remarkable cortical plasticity of the brain, signals from implanted prostheses can, after adaptation, be handled by the brain like natural sensor or effector channels. Following years of animal experimentation, the first neuroprosthetic devices implanted in humans appeared in the mid-1990s.’
I am a MASSIVE BELIEVER IN NEUROPLASTICITY, as I am being able to unlock the mind that is trapped in the physical shell.
To educate you:
- An ‘unaware wakefulness state’ is now considered the old Persistent Vegetative State, or PVS label.
- A ‘wakefulness state’ is where the patient cannot communicate, but is a thinking, feeling individual, just like they always were. (Me!)
- But neurologists still often get the diagnosis wrong between PVS and a ‘wakefulness state’.
We need BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE technology!!
See the original article:
in
Aphasia, Five Weeks After My Stroke
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| Grace Carpenter My Happy Stroke |
SSTattler: As well, see How The Brain Works (for kids especially!).
When I woke up in the hospital after the stroke, I couldn't speak, spell or read. I could understand a lot. One of the language centers, Broca's region, had been damaged in my brain.
This video clip shows what my speech sounded like, five weeks after the stroke, in March 2010.
(Note: It's hard to follow that I was trying to say, of course! I was trying to say -- in a nutshell -- is: "my memories of those first few weeks are already fading. Your brain can't remember everything! But I also I think that I've been listening more intensely, especially the first week at MGH, because listening was all I could do." If you're bored, you could fast-forward it the end, to see my demonstration of my arm movement.)My love and thanks for my family, especially Neal, are beyond words, especially for being there at that scary time.
Standard YouTube License @ Grace Carpenter
See the original article:
in
Orthopedic Rehab Run Amok
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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
Rehabilitation may include regaining flexibility, strength, endurance, and coordination. When PTs treat orthopedic cases (e.g. broken hip) they focus on flexibility and strength. One hour treatment sessions provide some work on endurance, but therapists assume endurance will increase as clients move more at home. Coordination can be ignored because people with orthopedic injuries have intact brains.
To reduce pain and increase flexibility in the shoulder de Jong et. al. treated 46 stroke survivors (1). Subjects in the experimental group were placed in one of two positions (photo on left) and shoulder muscles were given electrical stimulation for 45 minutes twice a day every day for eight weeks. Subjects in the control group were placed in a sham position (photo on right) and forearm muscles were given electrical stimulation for the same amount of time. "In the experimental group some participants reported that they considered the intervention to be very arduous, pain and spasticity medication were prescribed more frequently, and protocol compliance was lower (p. 250)." If you have a tight shoulder can you imagine being trapped in either of the positions on the left for 90 minutes a day while your muscles were forced to contract for 45 minutes without a rest?
Shoulder flexibility and pain did not improve and neither did function during ADLs. Using electrical stimulation to force muscles to contract does nothing to retrain the brain. Assuming muscles can work together in a coordinated fashion is OK for orthopedic cases, but stroke survivors must learn to recruit and coordinate numerous muscles that have been paralyzed. PTs like de Jong typically ignore complex coordination because they treat in barren, unchanging environments that require only a few repetitive motions. Walking clients on flat floors in wide open spaces does not prepare PTs to think about the wide range of coordinated movements the upper extremities must perform. Working on one isometric contraction had very little chance of improving ADLs in stroke survivors.- de Jong LD, Dijkstra PU, Gerritsen J, Geurts A, Postema K. Combined arm stretch positioning and neuromuscular electrical stimulation during rehabilitation does not improve range of motion, shoulder pain or function in patients after stroke: a randomized trial. Journal of Physiotherapy. 2013;59:245-254.
See the original article:
in
One October Morning
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| Diane The Pink House On The Corner |
It was early October, right around the time of my deposition, and I had just finished up with Bob's morning routine: disengaging the night pump, mixing his morning meds, flushing his tube, when I heard the distinct sound of a helicopter hovering near our house.
Now this is not highly unusual. We live in downtown, in a large city, and often choppers can be seen and heard hovering near the interstate if there is a traffic accident, or around the stadium on the day of a big game, or dashing to and fro from the hospital's rooftop landing pad.
So I didn't think much of the situation and I leashed up Boomer and headed out the front door for our morning walk.
The sun was just beginning to rise and the clouds in the eastern sky glowed orange and purple and red. I looked up, toward the interstate, expecting to see the helicopter there, but it wasn't. When I turned, I was rather surprised to see a bright reddish orange helicopter hovering directly above our garage in our backyard. Which was curious, to say the least.
But I still didn't think much about it. And Boomer and I headed east, down our block, on our usual route toward the alley. We were walking at an old dog's pace, Boomer stopping to sniff and pee along the way, when the helicopter flew from the back of our house to the street and turned east and followed us.
How I Regained My Speech, Starting with Two Little Words
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| Joyce Hoffman The Tales of a Stroke Patient |
An excerpt from my book, "The Tales of a Stroke Patient":
This no-talking situation was really starting to get to me, big time. I thought, What if I didn't say another word for the rest of my life? What if I had to motion to things constantly and nobody paid attention? What if there was an emergency and I couldn't call for help?
The what-if questions were making me anxious and depressed. I didn't have one thought about what I should do. But then I realized something that shook my innards to the core. I was becoming invisible to others. And that feeling of invisibility, that I couldn't go on this way forever, became my modus operandi to do something about it.
About three weeks into Rehab X, it was just about lunchtime and I had concluded my morning therapy. The Transport guy delivered me to my room and I nabbed a CNA to help me into bed. I was going to take a quick power nap before therapy would resume again. I could smell the food in the hallways but by this time, I had gotten used to not eating. I just applied another layer of Vaseline to my cracked lips -- the same hand to squeeze the tube and apply it--when an LPN walked in unannounced.
Do Not Talk to My Parrot!
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| Jackie Poff Stroke Survivors Tattler |
"I'll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher, leave the bill on the counter, and I'll mail you a check. Oh, by the way don't worry about my dog Spike. He won't bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT, under ANY circumstances, talk to my parrot! I MUST STRESS TO YOU: DO *NOT TALK* TO MY PARROT!!!"When the repairman arrived at Wanda's apartment the following day, he discovered the biggest, meanest looking dog he has everseen. But, just as she had said, the dog just lay there on the carpet watching the repairman go about his work. The parrot, however, drove him nuts the whole time with his incessant yelling, cursing and name calling.
Finally the repairman couldn't contain himself any longer and yelled,
"Shut up, you stupid, ugly bird!"To which the parrot replied.....
"Get him Spike!"
See - Men just don't listen!
Apology, Rant, Retrospect, and Goals for 2014
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| Jo Murphey The Murphey Saga |
I've been pretty scares from the blogging world for the past two months in writing, reading, and responding to all of your blog posts, and I apologize for that.Life has really gotten the better of me. Part of me wants to bury my had in the sand, but that's against my nature. But the though is nice and tempting.
I tend to lead by example. That's my approach to life and ministering, but it's hard.
Financially, we are at a place where I never wanted to be again...borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. The cushion we had in case of emergencies and unforeseen necessities, is gone. Prolonged illnesses can do that- husband's terminal disease and my stroke. Come in January 2014, we will be in debt again with no way of circumventing it. So much for my debt free life style. SIGH! I did enjoy it.
If You Knew……
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| Amy Shissler My Cerebellar Stroke Recovery |
This blog is awesome. A year ago she wrote the post that I have linked and I think about it all the time. I mean it’s a year later and I’m still thinking about it. She asks in the post “If you knew a stroke was coming, would you have done things differently?” If I knew that at 30 years old my life would be completely turned upside down then I don’t know. I was 30 when this happened and the doctors that “treated” me completely f’d up my life and other than finishing school, I didn’t get to do anything that I had planned for my life. I really don’t know, maybe I’ll never know. I’m glad I have the education that I have but if I knew I wouldn’t be able to use it in practice would I have gone to PT school? I don’t know that I would’ve. Do you think you would have done things differently?
See the original article:
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Still Too High - But Stroke Deaths Are Falling
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| Jeff Porter Stroke of Faith |
Even though stroke is the leading cause of permanent disability in the United States, stroke deaths have been declining.
Not to say that stroke rates are still too high - especially with the young. And strokes - often preventable - still claim too many lives.
Still, this article showed at least a glimmer of good news about how U.S. stroke deaths fell 30 percent over the past decade:
- It is possible that the most important reason for the decline is the success in lowering Americans' blood pressure, which is the biggest stroke risk factor, he said. Other reasons for the decline may include reductions in smoking, improved cholesterol levels and better treatments for stroke patients.
- "We don't know how much all of the sources are contributing," Howard said. "Certainly, we want it to keep going down. But if we don't understand why the numbers are decreasing, we can't work toward that trend."
- Howard said the 30 percent decline in stroke deaths in the last 11 years is "a big deal, so you could argue that our battle is won. But I think [there's still] a lot to be accomplished in this area."
Yes. A lot remains to be accomplished.
See the original article:
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What About Recoverers Guilt?
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| Barb Polan Barb's Recovery |
People generally know the term “survivors guilt,” referring to guilt felt by some people who survive a trauma that results in another person dying or suffering some other way.
A common example to explain the emotion is what’s felt by someone who misses a plane that ends up crashing. The one who missed the plane feels guilty that others died while he/she lived. "Why was I saved when the others were not?" The guilt is exacerbated if the survivor knew one of the dead; additionally if he/she had had negative feelings toward the dead before the plane departed. For example, a child who screams, “I wish you were dead,” to a parent who subsequently dies in a car accident, often feels guilt. All of us know, though, that the child’s anger had nothing to do with the parent’s death.
Similarly, if I and someone else have strokes, and the other dies, I can feel survivors guilt. "Why did I live while the other died?" A survivor can feel it despite not being responsible for the other’s death.
Stroke survivors frequently help me look at situations in a novel way. Recently, one used the phrase “recoverers guilt,” and it opened my eyes to a concept that is counter-intuitive: Do stroke survivors who recover well feel guilty about others who don’t?
Daniel Wolpert: The Real Reason for Brains
http://www.ted.com Neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert starts from a surprising premise: the brain evolved, not to think or feel, but to control movement. In this entertaining, data-rich talk he gives us a glimpse into how the brain creates the grace and agility of human motion.
Standard YouTube License @ TED
Statistics from September 1 / 2011 to December 8 / 2013
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| John C. Anderson Stroke Survivors Tattler |
Stroke Survivors Tattler
Statistics from September 1 / 2011 to December 8 / 2013
# | Analytics | % | Blogspot | % |
----+-----------------+------|-----------------+------+
1. | United States | 40% | United States | 41% |
2. | Canada | 35% | Canada | 34% |
3. | United Kingdom | 7% | China | 7% |
4. | Australia | 3% | Ukraine | 3% |
5. | India | 2% | United Kingdom | 2% |
6. | Germany | < 1% | Germany | < 1% |
7. | Philippines | < 1% | France | < 1% |
8. | France | < 1% | Poland | < 1% |
9. | New Zealand | < 1% | Russia | < 1% |
10. | Singapore | < 1% | Australia | < 1% |
----+-----------------+------|-----------------+------+
Total Countries = 131 | 100% | | 100% |
2. SSTattler Blogspot tools based "Web Hits per (physical web) Country"
I tried statistics 1) Analytics (from Goggle) and 2) simple hits by Blogspot (from Goggle) for more than 2 years in the past history. Analytics is a great software program but it concentrate on "money/..."; Blogspot tools is very simple and it will tell you the total (physical web) countries. I prefer to display the Blogspot total physical countries - on the right-column near the top but I've still got Analytics for SSTattler - just e-mail SSTattler11@gmail.com if you need it.Right-Column ---->
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| Monthly Graph - Nov 8th to Dec 8th 2013 TOTAL Pageviews from Sep/1/2011 |
RMR: Rick and Dr. Popsicle
Uploaded on Sep 29, 2010
Rick learns how to survive being submerged underwater in a car with his old friend from the University of Manitoba, Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht.
Standard YouTube License @ The Rick Mercer Report
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