‘Intelligent bedside terminals’ installed at the upcoming NHS National Rehabilitation Centre in Loughborough are designed to help patients engage in their ongoing rehabilitation.
New research finds that neurosurgery students receiving AI-augmented, personalized feedback from a human instructor have better surgical performance, risk management and skill transfer.
In an unconventional, but promising approach to treat neurological conditions like Parkinson, researchers use nanoscale magnetic pull to rebuild lost conncections between brain cells.
An ultra-thin implant could repair injuries to the spinal cord with carefully controlled electrical current. This could help restore movement and revert loss of sensation, the researchers hope.
Using a keyhole surgery approach, surgeons have found a new way to access previously difficult-to-reach brain regions with faster recovery times. With the help of 3D modelling technology, the neurosurgeons succeeded in removing complex tumours from the cavernous sinus through the eye socket, avoiding complex brain surgery and enabling their patients to make a quicker recovery.
As Emergency Departments (EDs) get ever busier, focus has fallen on the role artificial Intelligence (AI) can play in supporting patients and clinicians in delivering urgent care. The topic took centre stage in a session looking at the ethics of AI in the ED at the annual congress of the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) in Copenhagen.
Giving separated blood plasma improves outcomes in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or shock, whereas unseparated or “whole” blood may be best for patients with traumatic bleeding.
By detecting nerve connections in the injured spinal cord, a newly developed radiotracer could help diagnose injuries more precisely, monitor recovery, and evaluate therapy effectiveness.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) increases dementia risk, but the reasons are poorly understood. Now, a study explores the role of the brain's blood vessels as drivers of Alzheimer's disease.
A new blood test that detects a specific brain protein may help doctors determine the type of a stroke faster and allow them to start safe treatment for people before they get to the hospital.
Traumatic brain injury can lead to post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). Researchers focus on a specific brain receptor to better understand and prevent PTE in at-risk patients.
Helping the brain repair itself after a stroke: A new study based on unique tissue samples from Denmark's Brain Bank may pave the way for new treatments that support brain regeneration.
Researchers are developing a new in vitro model for stroke. If successful, this could significantly reduce reliance on animal models in stroke research by up to 1,000 animals each year across the UK.
Promising technology for patients with spinal cord injuries: A new study paves the way for complex touch sensation through brain stimulation, using an extracorporeal bionic limb.
More than just a sports injury: A new study shows that head trauma may activate latent viruses, leading to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Monitoring brainwaves and diagnosing neurological conditions could benefit from a novel 3D printing technology, which applies liquid ink onto a patient’s scalp to measure brain activity.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects children differently than adults, a new study shows. The researchers found that paediatric patients are more prone to damage of the smallest brain vessels.
After a Covid-19 infection, patients may suffer from a variety of symptoms, including difficulty concentrating (“brain fog”). New research now linked the condition to impaired lung function.
New insights gained from 3D cell cultures of breast and prostate cancer grown on the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory could lead to a way to treat not just these but all cancers.
Robots could help guide self-managed rehabilitation for stroke and brain injury survivors. A new project explores the potential of the technology for restoring upper limb mobility.
Acute kidney injury not only affects the kidneys, but can also impact brain health, leading to an increased risk for developing dementia. This is according to a new study from Sweden.
Just a concussion? Head injury can lead to persistent symptoms, yet CT scans often fail to identify these cases. Researchers explore the potential of diffusion tensor imaging for better diagnostics.
A crucial component in joints, cartilage is notoriously difficult to repair. Now, US researchers have developed a promising bioactive material to regenerate cartilage in knee joints.
US researchers applied an injectable new therapy, which harnesses fast-moving “dancing molecules,” to repair damaged human cartilage cells within just 4 hours.
Handheld point-of-care diagnostics, magnetic endoscopy, AI-enhanced robotic surgery, smart patient information management, wireless minimally invasive surgery systems, and much more: At the Medical Taiwan Health & Care Expo in Taipei this summer, visitors had the opportunity to see innovative medical products and solutions across a wide range of specialties. We took a closer look at selected…
As demand for innovative healthcare solutions is at an all-time high, Medical Taiwan once again attracted a record number of visitors for its 2024 edition. The show’s organizer, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), proudly reported an increase in attendance by 10% compared with the previous year. During the three-day event in Taipei, the audience was treated to a wide range…
A new research project focuses on creating a 3D printed device to grow a human spinal cord organoid for the study of spinal cord injury and subsequent drug testing.
In lab models of stroke, a research team showed that laser therapy improved blood flow in the brain and decreased stroke injury by stimulating the production of nitric oxide.
Structural differences in male and female brains might explain why women are more prone to concussions and experience longer recovery from the injury than men, according to a new preclinical study.
A tiny, flexible electronic device that wraps around the spinal cord could represent a new approach to the treatment of spinal injuries, which can cause profound disability and paralysis.
A new bioelectronic sensor enables continuous monitoring of bladder function. This could be a game-changer for people with paralysis, spina bifida, bladder cancer or end-stage bladder disease.
After a stroke, patients often experience uncontrollable spasms of their arms and hands. Engineers have developed a glove-like wearable medical device that offer relief for the condition.
Neuroscientists recently discovered that low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) can reduce lesion size and reverse motor deficits in TBI and ischemic stroke mice, demonstrating its therapeutic potential.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham have designed and developed a novel diagnostic device to detect traumatic brain injury (TBI) by shining a safe laser into the eye.
Stroke survivors regaining motor abilities they thought lost, blind persons developing echolocation – is the brain really able to reorganize in this way? A new study offers a different explanation.
University of Oxford researchers demonstrated that neural cells can be 3D printed to mimic the architecture of the cerebral cortex. This could be used in patients after brain injuries.
Plastics are a part of everyday life, and an increasingly concerning factor of global environmental pollution. They also have infiltrated our bodies as microparticles (MPs) and nanoparticles (NPs), found even in placentas supporting foetal life. And they are in our blood. Now, researchers in Spain have developed a new method to detect and measure nanoparticles in human peripheral blood that is…
Surgical robots are becoming widespread in operating theatres, delivering accuracy and safety. An overview of the main systems, principal operators, the market and European initiatives in this field.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is an immunotherapy treatment that re-engineers a patient’s own T-cells to help them attack malignant tumour cells. It has been very effective in the treatment of blood cancers, including certain types of leukaemia and lymphoma. However, two serious side effects are common as a result of the treatment: cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune…
Damage to the brains of patients operated on for brain tumors may be assessed by measuring biomarkers in the blood pre- and postoperatively, a new study from the University of Gothenburg shows.
Researchers have succeeded in introducing a vascular system into tiny living and beating model human heart muscles, an achievement which it's hoped will accelerate progress toward the ultimate goal of repairing damage from heart disease.
Using an organ from a donor who underwent cardiac death, Stanford Medicine surgeons transplanted a heart while it was beating - the first time such a procedure has been achieved.
Genes are full of clues about a person's health and might also show the way for stroke recovery.
A study led by Dr. Ryosuke Tsuchimochi and Professor Jun Takahashi examined the effects of combining cell transplantation and gene therapy for axonal outgrowth in the central nervous system.
US researchers have developed a way to use MRI scanning to map body cell metabolism, opening up new possibilities for detecting cancers and revealing if a tumor is responding to treatment.
Cambridge researchers have developed a new type of neural implant that could restore limb function to amputees and others who have lost the use of their arms or legs.
Experiencing three or more concussions is linked with worsened brain function in later life, according to new research. However, negative effects may already appear after the first injury.
It was previously assumed that bones lacked lymphatic vessels.Now, new research not only locates them within bone tissue, but demonstrates their role in bone and blood cell regeneration.
White matter hyperintensities (WMH) on the brain seen on MRI represent a biomarker associated with a 50/50 risk of death within five years after a first incident acute ischemic stroke (AIS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA).
US researchers have developed a test to detect loss of myelin - a key contributor to many neurological diseases including multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, stroke, and dementia.
A new study could one day help health workers determine whether bacteria of the species Streptococcus pneumoniae, which cause meningitis, are resistant to antibiotics.
Reseachers have developed a novel microneedle for injecting therapeutics into the eyes, potentially solving one of the major challenges of treating eye diseases.
In patients with serious and long-term Covid-19, disturbed blood coagulation is often observed. Now, Swedish researchers found a connection between harmful amyloid production and Covid-19 symptoms.
Advances in image post-processing and contrast-enhanced techniques have widened the scope of possibilities for MRI and ultrasound vascular imaging, experts showed in a dedicated course at the ECR Overture.
A major advance demonstrates first multi-organ chip made of engineered human tissues linked by vascular flow for improved modeling of systemic diseases like cancer.
A brain-computer interface array featuring microneedles affixed to a flexible backing allows arrays of micro-scale needles to conform to the contours of the brain.
Scientists at the Spanish Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) have led the development of a new 3D ultrasound method that improves the assessment of cardiovascular risk in healthy individuals.
According to new research, whole-spine MRI commonly demonstrates isolated thoracolumbar injuries in children with suspected abusive head trauma.
In both the mice and organoids, cytokines suppressed tumor growth after treatment, and defense cells migrated to the brain region affected by the tumor, alerting the immune system to its existence.
Researchers have studied the Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS). For that they compared brain scans before and after spaceflight.
Some ten years ago, it was unthinkable that virtually all company data was stored in the cloud. Now it’s what almost every company does. However, the increasing complexity of corporate IT infrastructures also comes at a price. The sheer size and complexity of the systems makes it difficult to keep track of everything that is going on digitally. And this leads to more and more successful…
Wearable technology has become an important part of medicine, from tracking vital signs to disease diagnosis. In surgery, wearable technologies can now assist, augment, and provide a means of patient assessment before, during and after surgical procedures. Wearable technologies are applied before the patient even reaches the operating room, for example in prehabilitation, i.e. pre-treatment…
A commonly available imaging technique can identify stroke patients most likely to benefit from a procedure to restore blood flow, a potential breakthrough in care that could save thousands of lives every year
For the first time, researchers have used human data to quantify the speed of different processes that lead to Alzheimer’s disease and found that it develops in a very different way than previously thought. Their results could have important implications for the development of potential treatments.
Researchers at Durham University are working on a new infrared light therapy that might have the potential to help people with dementia. In the approach, people wear a specially adapted helmet which delivers infrared light deep into the brain for six-minutes per treatment. This stimulates mitochondria that generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the biochemical reaction in the…
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a completely new stimulation method, using ultra-thin microelectrodes, to combat severe pain. This provides effective and personalised pain relief without the common side effects from pain relief drugs. The study, which was conducted on rats, has been published in the research journal Science Advances.
Post-mortem CT (PMCT) increasingly supports pathologists, radiologists and forensic investigators particularly in cases of gunshot fatalities, mass casualties, decomposed and concealed bodies, fire deaths, diving deaths, non-accidental injury cases, and road traffic deaths, in which CT can indicate a pattern of injuries. In Dublin this August, the post-mortem (autopsy) technique was discussed…
Researchers have found a possible explanation for why some patients recover much more poorly from brain injury if they later become infected.
Extremely premature infants are at a high risk for brain damage. Researchers at the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna have now found possible targets for the early treatment of such damage outside the brain: Bacteria in the gut of premature infants may play a key role.
A novel therapy engineered by Northwestern Medicine investigators improved progression-free and overall survival for patients with newly diagnosed malignant gliomas, according to results from a recent phase I clinical trial.
Cécile Geneviève is one of the few women who lead research and development (R&D) at a major company and her increasingly female team reflects women’s growing interest in the field. But while gender balance is an important criterion, it takes a broad palette of skills to innovate to alleviate pain for millions of patients, she explained in an interview with Healthcare in Europe.
Artificial intelligence (AI) could match the impact of PACS on radiology. Covid-19 stimulated the development and testing of AI diagnostic-aiding tools in radiology, an unintended consequence of the pandemic. More image data sets have been created to train AI software – an unexpected benefit for radiology research.
The effects of Covid-19 on the brain can be accurately measured with positron emission tomography (PET), according to research presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2021 Annual Meeting. In the study, newly diagnosed Covid-19 patients, who required inpatient treatment and underwent PET brain scans, were found to have deficits in neuronal function and…
An artificial intelligence (AI)-driven system that automatically combs through brain MRIs for abnormalities could speed care to those who need it most, according to a new study. “There are an increasing number of MRIs that are performed, not only in the hospital but also for outpatients, so there is a real need to improve radiology workflow,” said study co-lead author Romane Gauriau, PhD,…
At a cost of $38 billion a year, an estimated 5.3 million people are living with a permanent disability related to traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the United States today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The physical, mental and financial toll of a TBI can be enormous, but new research from the University of Georgia provides promise. In a new study, researchers at…
Before Wilhelm Röntgen, a mechanical engineer, discovered a new type of electromagnetic radiation in 1895, physicians could only dream of being able to see inside the body. Within a year of Röntgen’s discovery, X-rays were being used to identify tumors. Within 10 years, hospitals were using X-rays to help diagnose and treat patients. In 1972, computed tomography (CT) scans were developed. In…
Osteoarthritis affects more than 30 million adults and is the fifth-leading cause of disability in the United States. In a new study, scientists have discovered the cellular pathway that leads to the joint disease and have identified a commonly used anti-depressant — paroxetine — that inhibits this pathway.
Someone has a stroke every 40 seconds in the US, resulting in death every 4 minutes. Stroke is the leading cause of disability from a medical condition. When it happens, blood clots or bleeds kill a part of the brain – it goes dark – and can no longer control part of the body. People stop being able to walk, see, talk, or control their hand or arm the way they once did. Although treatments…
Abbott has received 510(k) clearance for the first rapid handheld traumatic brain injury (TBI) blood test, which will help clinicians assess individuals with suspected mild TBIs, including concussions. The test will run on Abbott's handheld i-STAT Alinity platform. Tests results are available within 15 minutes after plasma is placed in the test cartridge. TBIs, including concussions, are an…
In the past few decades, researchers have identified biological pathways leading to neurodegenerative diseases and developed promising molecular agents to target them. However, the translation of these findings into clinically approved treatments has progressed at a much slower rate, in part because of the challenges scientists face in delivering therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB)…
Getting computers to “think” like humans is the holy grail of artificial intelligence, but human brains turn out to be tough acts to follow. The human brain is a master of applying previously learned knowledge to new situations and constantly refining what’s been learned. This ability to be adaptive has been hard to replicate in machines. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute have used a…
Researchers have discovered that microglia cells constantly survey the brain to prevent spontaneous seizures.
Just a few doses of an experimental drug can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists. The drug, called ISRIB, has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome, prevent noise-related hearing loss,…
You don’t need to stand up to stand out. A few decades ago, a little boy believed he could tend to patients in spite of being in a wheelchair – and he did. During the EANS 2020 virtual meeting, Prof. Dr. Thomas Kapapa explained how he breaks barriers and helps promote diversity every day in his clinical practice in Germany and Malawi.
The Focused Ultrasound Foundation (FUS) has published its 2020 State of the Field Report, a 63-page annual update detailing new potential indications, laboratory research, clinical trials, treatments and growth in worldwide procedures performed in 2019.
An up-and-coming gene therapy for blood disorders. A new class of medications for cystic fibrosis. Increased access to telemedicine. These are some of the innovations that will enhance healing and change healthcare in the coming year, according to a distinguished panel of clinicians and researchers from Cleveland Clinic. In conjunction with the 2020 Medical Innovation Summit, Cleveland Clinic…
A method for detecting traumatic brain injury at the point of care has been developed by scientists at the University of Birmingham. Using chemical biomarkers released by the brain immediately after a head injury occurs, researchers are able to pinpoint when patients need urgent medical attention. This saves time in delivering vital treatment and avoids patients undergoing unnecessary tests where…
Injuries in the nervous system of patients with severe COVID-19 are revealed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). In a study of 185 patients, researchers at Karolinska Institutet (KI) and Karolinska University Hospital show an affection of microscopic blood vessels and inflammation in the brain, meninges and nerves. The results are published in Radiology.
The drug nimodipine could prevent nerve cells from dying after brain surgery. Pharmacists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), in cooperation with neurosurgeons at University Hospital Halle (Saale) (UKH), have developed a new method that enables the drug to be administered directly in the brain with fewer side effects. Their findings were published in the European Journal of…
Researchers have developed an AI algorithm that can detect and identify different types of brain injuries. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London, have clinically validated and tested the AI on large sets of CT scans and found that it was successfully able to detect, segment, quantify and differentiate different types of brain lesions. Their results,…
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and Loma Linda University Health have demonstrated the promise of applying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the efficacy of using human neural stem cells to treat a brain injury—a first-ever “biomarker” for regenerative medicine that could help personalize stem cell treatments for neurological disorders and improve…
Sepsis—the body's own immune response gone against it—is a major health problem worldwide. It is basically a "hyper" immune response by the body to infection or injury, and is characterized by hyperinflammation, immune system paralysis, cell death, liver and kidney failure, blood clots, and even hemorrhage. An estimated 30 million people suffer from sepsis every year, of which 20%…
Diseases of the brain are often associated with typical vascular changes. Now, scientists at LMU University Hospital Munich, Helmholtz Research Centre for Environmental Health and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have come up with a technique for visualising the structures of all the brain's blood vessels – right down to the finest capillaries – including any pathological changes. So…
Brain imaging of pathological tau-protein “tangles” reliably predicts the location of future brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s patients a year or more in advance, according to a new study by scientists at the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center. In contrast, the location of amyloid “plaques,” which have been the focus of Alzheimer’s research and drug development for decades, was found…
A protein newly discovered by scientists in China is aiding in the dramatic reversal of stroke-like damage in laboratory animals and may one day rescue humans from neurological injury, the research team is predicting.
Thanks to a four-limb robotic system controlled by brain signals, a patient with a cervical spinal cord injury could walk and control both arms for the first time in a proof of concept. Developed by CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), the system is driven via the long-term implant of a semi-invasive medical device to record brain activity.
Whilst researchers acknowledge ultrasound, when used as a tool to assess intracranial pressure in an emergency, is not a replacement for current gold standard invasive approaches, they believe it has enormous potential as a non-invasive and fast, cost-effective, and patient-friendly way to assess possible brain injury at a patient’s bedside. Consultant anaesthetist Dr Chiara Robba, a specialist…
Researchers have created better biosensor technology that may help lead to safe stem cell therapies for treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and other neurological disorders.
Swarms of nanoparticles which are 15,000 times smaller than a pinhead may be able to deliver vital drugs to the brain, offering new hope to patients in the early stages of a stroke. The research, carried out at The University of Manchester, shows that tiny vesicles called liposomes, just 100 nanometres in diameter can translocate through the damaged blood brain barrier following stroke. And that…
Non-invasive brain stimulation is to be trialed for the first time alongside advanced brain imaging techniques in patients who are minimally conscious or in a vegetative state. The study builds on promising results from the Centre for Human Brain Health at the University of Birmingham which suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation can improve the success of rehabilitation for non-responsive…
An international research group at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics developed a brain imaging method for improved and early assessment of stroke. Their study presents a methodology which monitors calcium ion fluctuations in the brain using a molecular functional MRI approach.
Sunburn and happy memories are not the only things we can bring home from a holiday. Sometimes parasites, fungi, viruses or bacteria from distant countries accompany our return, later to become noticeable in unpleasant ways, often to pose a real health threat. At the German Radiology Congress in Leipzig, Dr André Lollert and colleagues ventured into the world of tropical and travel medicine.
We all know someone affected by the battle against cancer. And we know that treatments can be quite efficient at shrinking the tumor but too often, they can’t kill all the cells, and so it may come back. With some aggressive types of cancer, the problem is so great that there is very little that can be done for the patients.
Inside the body, disease and injury can leave behind quite the mess — a scattering of cellular debris, like bits of broken glass, rubber and steel left behind in a car accident. Inside the central nervous system (CNS), a region that includes the brain and spinal cord, it is the job of certain cells, called microglia, to clean up that cellular debris. Microglia have counterparts called…
Specialists are seeing more and more repetitive stress injuries (RSI) from overuse of smartphones and tablets – the main instigators of emerging conditions like texting thumb and selfie elbow, notes UT Southwestern rehabilitation specialist Dr. Renee Enriquez. “With all overuse injuries, rest is the most important part of recovery. Complete rest is best, but since technology is a required…
A world where machines can be controlled by thought alone – such is the promise of so-called brain-computer interfaces (BCI). BCIs are both hardware and software communication systems that read brain and nerve signals, convert those into electrical signals and translate human thoughts into machine commands. Developers of BCIs rely on artificial intelligence, neural network models and big data…
In recent years, clinicians have increasingly focused on vitamin D deficiency. Studies show that previous reference values – particularly for Vitamin D3 – were most probably set too high. Liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) can help achieve more precise measurements of vitamin D levels than previously established immunoassay procedures, explains Dr Torsten Binscheck-Domass,…
Glioblastoma brain tumors can have an unusual effect on the body's immune system, often causing a dramatic drop in the number of circulating T-cells that help drive the body's defenses. Where the T-cells go has been unclear, even as immunotherapies are increasingly employed to stimulate the body's natural ability to fight invasive tumors. Now researchers have tracked the missing T-cells in…
When light streams through her window in just the right way, Milena Canning will sometimes stoop to pick up a shiny coin she has noticed on the wooden floor of her Glasgow-area home. But her hand comes up empty – the 'coin' is just a dancing sunbeam, a quirk of perception in Canning's extraordinary world.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has received funding through a public/private partnership for the first-ever clinical trial investigating a stem cell therapy for early treatment and prevention of complications after severe traumatic injury. The proposed Phase 2 trial is underwritten with $2 million from the Medical Technology Consortium (MTEC) and $1.5 million…
Ethicists from the University of Basel have outlined a new biosecurity framework specific to neurotechnology. While the researchers declare an outright ban of dual-use technology ethically unjustified, they call for regulations aimed at protecting the mental privacy and integrity of humans. The journal Neuron has published the study. The term “dual-use” refers to technology that can be used…
People sometimes joke that easy tasks are “not brain surgery.” But what happens when it actually is brain surgery? How old is too old to be a neurosurgeon? In a new Mayo Clinic Proceedings study, most neurosurgeons disagreed with an absolute age cutoff, but half favored additional testing for neurosurgeons 65 and older. Some professions, including commercial pilots, FBI agents and air traffic…
Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a peptide that could lead to the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The discovery, published in Nature Communications, may also provide a means of homing drugs to diseased areas of the brain to treat AD, Parkinson’s disease, as well as glioblastoma, brain injuries and stroke. “Our goal was to…
A new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers found that measures of connectivity within specific cerebral networks were strongly linked to long-term functional outcomes in patients who had suffered severe brain injury following a cardiac arrest. A description of the findings, published in October in the journal Radiology, suggests that mapping and measuring such connectivity may result in highly…
Scientists drilling down to the molecular roots of Alzheimer’s disease have encountered a good news/bad news scenario. A major player is a gene called TREM2, mutations of which can substantially raise a person’s risk of the disease. The bad news is that in the early stages of the disease, high-risk TREM2 variants can hobble the immune system’s ability to protect the brain from amyloid beta,…
Scientists have helped provide a way to better understand how to enable drugs to enter the brain and how cancer cells make it past the blood brain barrier.
Bill Kochevar is the first recipient of implanted brain-recording and muscle-stimulating systems reanimates limb that had been stilled for eight years.
Researchers have identified a new mechanism by which inflammation can spread throughout the brain after injury. This mechanism may explain the widespread and long-lasting inflammation that occurs after traumatic brain injury, and may play a role in other neurodegenerative diseases.
Moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury is a known risk factor for diseases that gradually destroy the brain - such as late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Now, a new study links mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion, in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer's to accelerated brain deterioration and mental decline associated with the disease.
Neural stem cells have been found in epileptic brain tissue - outside the regions of the brain where they normally reside. In a group of patients who underwent surgery for epilepsy, over half had stem cells where healthy individuals do not have them, according to a study from Sahlgrenska Academy.
Stroke and spinal cord injury patients often require gait rehabilitation to regain the ability to walk or to help strengthen their muscles. Wearable “robot-assisted training” is quickly emerging as a method that helps improve this rehab process.
Despite their different triggers, the same molecular chain of events appears to be responsible for brain cell death from strokes, injuries and even such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have pinpointed the protein at the end of that chain of events, one that delivers the fatal strike by carving up a cell's DNA. The find, they say, potentially…
For epilepsy patients and attending physicians, it has been a challenge to correctly assess the frequency and severity of epileptic seizures without inpatient recording equipment. A consortium coordinated by the epileptologists of the University Hospital Bonn is now developing a mobile sensor that can detect seizures. A warning signal is designed to summon relatives or attending physicians to…
A novel technique to use the body’s natural sodium (salt) content to provide a more detailed picture of tissue health and disease is to be pioneered by MRI experts at The University of Nottingham.
Physicians and biomedical engineers from Johns Hopkins report what they believe is the first successful effort to wiggle fingers individually and independently of each other using a mind-controlled artificial “arm” to control the movement.
Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and EPFL, Lausanne have succeeded in restoring motor function following spinal cord injury. The researchers were able to show that coordinated muscle movement is the result of alternating activation patterns emanating from the spinal cord. Newly-developed implants, which use electrical stimulation to mimic these signals, were used to…
Touch a hot stove, and your fingers will recoil in pain because your skin carries tiny temperature sensors that detect heat and send a message to your brain saying, "Ouch! That's hot! Let go!" The pain is real and it serves a purpose, otherwise we'd suffer greater injury. But for many people with chronic pain, that signal keeps getting sent for months or years, even when there is no…
Patients who have lost their hand functions due to injuries or nerve-related conditions, such as stroke and muscular dystrophy, now have a chance of restoring their hand movements by using a new lightweight and smart rehabilitation device called EsoGlove developed by a research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Royal Philips and Banyan Biomarkers, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a multi-year joint development agreement to develop and commercialize a new handheld blood test to detect and evaluate mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) - also known as concussion - at the point of care. The new handheld test will be based on Philips’ Minicare I-20 system. The financial details of the…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) may be triggered by the death of brain cells that make the insulation around nerve fibers, a surprising new view of the disease reported in a study from Northwestern Medicine and The University of Chicago.
When a Lake Malawi cichlid loses a tooth, a new one drops neatly into place as a replacement. Why can't humans similarly regrow teeth lost to injury or disease?
Juries in criminal cases typically decide if someone is guilty, then a judge determines a suitable level of punishment. New research confirms that these two separate assessments of guilt and punishment – though related - are calculated in different parts of the brain. In fact, researchers found that they can disrupt and change one decision without affecting the other.
Philips Minicare delivers rule-in/rule-out readings for heart attacks in 10 minutes. It takes a lot of hard work to make things easy. Biomedical experts at Royal Philips have spent more than 10 years developing a simple test for the emergency department that, in less than 10 minutes, may indicate whether a patient suffering chest pains is having a heart attack.
NIH-funded study highlights the possible role of glial brain cells in neurological disorders.
Retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall established memories. In humans, amnesia is associated with traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurological conditions. Whether memories lost to amnesia are completely erased or merely unable to be recalled remains an open question. Now, in a finding that casts new light on the nature of memory, researchers from the RIKEN-MIT…
A new imaging technique can identify the specific changes in neural communication that can disrupt functional connectivity across the brain as a result of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
Women may have a more difficult time than men in recovering from concussion, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.
A research team from the University of Houston has created an algorithm that allowed a man to grasp a bottle and other objects with a prosthetic hand, powered only by his thoughts.
Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center project a national influx of patients who will need immediate treatment.
Damage to the spinal cord rarely heals because the injured nerve cells fail to regenerate. The regrowth of their long nerve fibers is hindered by scar tissue and molecular processes inside the nerves. An international team of researchers led by DZNE scientists in Bonn now reports in Science that help might be on the way from an unexpected quarter: in animal studies, the cancer drug epothilone…
Evidence is scant on the cooling of comatose patients who have suffered cardiac arrest, stroke or traumatic brain injuries; nevertheless, new methods for cooling patients are continuously being developed.
The risk of terrorist attacks, nuclear-radiological hazards, power outages and epidemic-pandemic infections as well as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and fires are increasing worldwide. Mass casualty incidents, or MCIs, provide a constant reminder of why hospitals need a plan in place to be able to function optimally during and after a catastrophe.
In a study that began in a pair of infant siblings with a rare heart defect, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified a key molecular switch that regulates heart cell division and normally turns the process off around the time of birth. Their research, they report, could advance efforts to turn the process back on and regenerate heart tissue damaged by heart attacks or disease.
In the meantime, the Compamed Spring forum has become as much a part of the furniture as the Compamed in Düsseldorf - the leading international specialist trade fair for suppliers to the medical technology industry which has been held every year in November since 1992.
Loading high performance functions on highly portable ultrasound systems puts life-saving tools in the hands of trauma physicians, John Brosky reports.
A UK hospital is assessing trauma patients by taking them directly for CT scans rather than to the A&E department. Piloted at King’s College Hospital, this new approach to assessing patients with life-threatening injuries aims to speed up diagnosis by conducting CT simultaneously with patient resuscitation and stabilisation.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the main cause of accidental death in Europe and all highly developed countries, accounting for around 40% of all accidental mortality.
A Birmingham hospital is pioneering a new procedure which aims to maintain and improve the quality of organs for transplantation in recipients on the waiting list.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the world’s biggest public health problems. In the USA, for example, about 1.7 million people sustain TBI every year, costing healthcare $76.5 billion. Yet, the public knows little of the significance of TBI and also it once received the nickname ‘silent epidemic’ by the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
‘Epilepsy In Our Time’, a video diary, explores life with epilepsy from the perspective of those living with the condition on European Epilepsy Day 2012. The disease is the most common serious brain disorder worldwide, affecting 6 million people in Europe.
Johns Hopkins neurologists report success with a new means of getting rid of potentially lethal blood clots in the brain safely without cutting through easily damaged brain tissue or removing large pieces of skull. The minimally invasive treatment, they report, increased the number of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) who could function independently by 10 to 15 percent six months…
We may be able to live longer due to medical advances, but what of the ability to live independently in old age? According to DeStatis, the German Federal Statistical Office, by 2050 there will be a deficit of 260,000 caregivers – and Germany is not alone in this.
Comprehensive additional training is necessary in Germany, to specialise in paediatric radiology, and only seven among the country’s 35 university hospitals provide paediatric radiology professorships. Thus, there are only about 80 specialists in this field and very few work in private practice
Uncontrollable convulsions, tremor or spasms can considerably impair the lives of neurodegenerative disease patients. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) – for which tiny electrodes are implanted in the brain to stimulate the target areas continuously with electrical impulses – can significantly reduce the movement disorder.
Anti-seizure medication is not successful in all patients, while in others such medication can have side effects. In recent years significant technical advances have delivered better imaging results, which, combined with growing demand for a surgical solution from patients whose medications do not control seizures, or those not wanting to take medication constantly, has led to an increase in…
Jean-Louis Vincent, Chairman of the Dept of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, welcomes visitors to this year’s International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine.
Today’s first European Epilepsy Day sees the launch of Epilepsy In Our Time, an exploration of the lives of five people living with epilepsy across Europe today, through their own video diaries. Lloyd, Marion, Monica, David and Julie invite you to take a look at their personal experiences of living with epilepsy and their hopes for the future.
Malignant diseases rank second in mortality rates in Germany. These patients thus receive a major proportion of ambulant and hospital care, with apparent socioeconomic consequences. To optimise treatment planning, for all solid tumour entities it is mandatory to delineate or stage the primary extent of tumour invasion and spread prior to therapy as precisely as possible.
When in 1992 Dr Luigi Marzio Biasucci, head of the Sub-intensive Care Unit at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy, published with his team the first paper on C-reactive protein (CRP) in unstable angina, few people believed in the diagnostic power of biochemical features to measure the effects or progress of disease, illness, or a condition. Today, biomarker tests are part…
Neurosurgery has seen enormous progress, which should benefit as many patients as possible. However, according to Prof. Hanno Millesi MD, director of the Millesi Centre for Surgery of Peripheral Nerves, Wiener PrivatKlinik (WPK), a private hospital in Vienna, Austria, ‘methods are perceived incorrectly, because they are often confused with problematic predecessors, and sensible methods are…
Children will surprise you, and unfortunately they can sometimes hold big surprises for radiologists. At ECR 2010 four radiologists offered a series of pediatric cases in a session entitled, « Pediatric non-traumatic emergencies: What we must know!, » which covered children from head to toe, demonstrating that symptoms thought to be routine can mask more serious conditions
A novel molecular imaging technology aimed at rapid diagnosis of cell death in organs such as the brain and heart has been licensed by The Medical College of Wisconsin, USA, to GE Healthcare. The method uses imaging probes with a radiopharmaceutical compound. Under the license GE will further evaluate and develop the technology and will have an option to commercialize it.
In many ways the brain works like a hard disk. If the plug is pulled, important data is damaged and the system has to be rebooted.
“My dream is that children with neurological motion disorders will travel through virtual worlds with the help of a robotic gait orthosis. For example, they might explore a farm, smelling the country air and hearing the chickens cluck; while this is happening, the robot would provide them with physiological gait training”, said Professor Paolo Bonato, Director of the Motion Analysis…
Surgeons at the Department of Neurosurgery Ulm University/Günzburg District Hospital have begun to use the newly installed BrainSuite iMRI, a digitally integrated neurosurgical operating theatre (OT) that combines image-guided surgery (IGS), high-field intra-operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (iMRI), visualisation and comprehensive OT data management.
We will use the grasping reflex - one of the first reflexes a baby utilises - without thinking for the rest of our lives. However, for those who suffer spinal cord injury of the cervical region, the upper extremities are affected along with the ability to grasp.
The number 1 fair for people with special needs, those requiring care and the chronically ill the REHACARE 2008, takes place from 15 to 18 October, Halls 3 to 7 of the Düsseldorf Trade Fair.The event will host 800 exhibitors from 30 countries presenting assistive devices and services to facilitate independent living.
Terry Shivo was 27 when she collapsed. Paramedics found neither respiration nor a pulse. Almost three months later her eyes had opened, but she was not conscious. She has a sleep/wake circle and sometimes appeared to smile - she was in a vegetative state.
High-Density-Lipoprotein-Cholesterol is a so-called "good" cholestoral because it seems to protect the vessels from fat deposits. Hereby they can prevent atherosclerosis. The Whitehall II Study in the UK searched for the specific connection between low level of HDL and dementia risk and published now their results.
By Professor Gennady Souchkevich, Deputy Director of the Moscow Research and Clinical Institute of Emergency Children's Surgery and Trauma.
Where are the most high-tech start-ups? That`s an easy one: Silicon Valley. But who comes in a close second? Surprisingly: Israel. Further: Israel ranks Number 1 in terms of availability of scientists and engineers and Number 2 in quality of higher education. The result of this impressive track record is a wide range of successful enterprises and products, particularly related to the life…
Surgery in the lower pelvic region often involves injury to or severing of nerve tissue. As in chronic diseases of the nervous system, the result can be pain, sensory disturbances or loss of function. Up to now the poor view of the nerves, partially formed of fine interwoven networks, has been one of the major problems – exacerbated by the strict division of skills between neurologists and…
British researchers detected near-normal brain activity in patients who are believed to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) by using functional MRI. The findings may help doctors' to diagnose patients that might have a chance for recovery, but the researchers warn to over-intertpret their resulsts.
A special exhibition in Paderborn's Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) is demonstrating the use of state-of-the-art computer technology in medical science. With more than 100 exhibits, a third of them interactive, it runs until May 1, 2007. EH correspondent Holger Zorn was one of the first visitors
From November 26 to December 1, 2006, the Windy City - Chicago, Illinois - was the destination for radiologists from all over the world.
The value of diffusion-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging techniques.
Working in tandem, two new technologies — SpiroDynamics and FRC INview — measure pressure and volume directly from a patient's lung.
A new biodegradable solution has stopped bleeding in animals' wounds within seconds, according to a report in the journal Nanomedicine.
Infants born very prematurely have a high probability of experiencing behavioural and neuro-cognitive impairments during childhood and adolescence.
The fundamental role of inflammation in almost all disease processes has been increasingly recognised over several years.
Researchers open up new opportunities for cellular and molecular MR imaging.
The 25th International Symposium of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, to be held at the Congress Centre in Brussels, will see us celebrate our Silver Anniversary, when we will reflect on 25 years of meetings that have encouraged the presentation, discussion, and debate of intensive care medicine, and when we also look forward to what the next 25 years may bring.
Injury to the brain and spinal cord cause permanent damage because, unlike bone and skin tissues, they lose the ability to repair themselves soon after birth.
