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.
Swiss scientists report that they have developed a gene therapy that was proven in mice to stimulate nerve regrowth across spinal cord injuries and guide nerves to reconnect to their natural targets.
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.
Exosuits are adding a new dimension to rehabilitation and human augmentation options for people with limited movements after sustaining injury. High-tech sensors, actuators, controllers and soft textiles are advancing the possibilities of exosuits, with 3D printed components further enhancing the power and accuracy of the devices. The latest innovations were outlined by exosuit expert Professor…
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 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.
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.
By employing artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to formulate therapeutic proteins, researchers promoted tissue regeneration.
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…
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.
A team of engineers and clinicians has developed an ultra-thin, inflatable device that can be used to treat the most severe forms of pain without the need for invasive surgery. The device, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, uses a combination of soft robotic fabrication techniques, ultra-thin electronics and microfluidics.
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…
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
Neurons of the central nervous system (CNS) shut down their ability to grow when they no longer need it; this is commonly accepted knowledge. This occurs normally after they have found their target cells and established synapses. However, recent findings show that old nerve cells have the potential to regrow and to repair damage similar to young neurons. The underlying mechanisms for this…
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…
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…
A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota have, for the first time, fully 3D printed an array of light receptors on a hemispherical surface. This discovery marks a significant step toward creating a “bionic eye” that could someday help blind people see or sighted people see better. The research is published in Advanced Materials, a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering…
Bill Kochevar is the first recipient of implanted brain-recording and muscle-stimulating systems reanimates limb that had been stilled for eight years.
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.
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…
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.
The research objective of Dr.-Ing. Laura De Laporte, junior group leader at DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen, is to develop a minimally invasive therapy for spinal cord injury. Her goal and her scientific approach to develop an injectable material with the ability to provide biochemical and physical guidance for regenerating nerves across the injury site, was selected…
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…
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.
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.
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…
By Heidi Heinhold
“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…
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.
Czech Republic - The second successful hemicorporectomy (translumbar amputation) was carried out several months ago by surgeon Frantisek Antos and team at the Bulovka Faculty Hospital, Prague.
The second successful hemicorporectomy has been done several months ago by Frantisek Antos and his surgical team from Faculty hospital Bulovka.
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…
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
The value of diffusion-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging techniques.
A new biodegradable solution has stopped bleeding in animals' wounds within seconds, according to a report in the journal Nanomedicine.
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.