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Electrical brain stimulation technology may prevent migraine attacks

Migraine pain sits at the upper end of the typical pain scale - an angry-red section often labeled "severe." At this intensity, pain is debilitating. Yet many sufferers do not get relief from - or cannot tolerate - over-the-counter and commonly prescribed pain medications.

2 May 2012

Potential hazards of performing MRI in patients with cardiac pacemaker

Great care should be taken when performing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with a cardiac pacemaker. Henning Bovenschulte and his co-authors review recent findings in the latest issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.

30 Apr 2012

U of U develops small implantable middle-ear microphone

Cochlear implants have restored basic hearing to some 220,000 deaf people, yet a microphone and related electronics must be worn outside the head, raising reliability issues, preventing patients from swimming and creating social stigma.

30 Apr 2012

Simple wrist sensor could gauge severity of epileptic seizures

In this week's issue of the journal Neurology, researchers at MIT and two Boston hospitals provide early evidence that a simple, unobtrusive wrist sensor could gauge the severity of epileptic seizures as accurately as electroencephalograms (EEGs) do - but without the ungainly scalp electrodes and electrical leads.

27 Apr 2012

New technology delivers electrical signals from brain directly to muscles

A new Northwestern Medicine brain-machine technology delivers messages from the brain directly to the muscles -- bypassing the spinal cord -- to enable voluntary and complex movement of a paralyzed hand. The device could eventually be tested on, and perhaps aid, paralyzed patients.

20 Apr 2012

Researchers describe how they combine two pieces of technology to create neuroprosthesis

An artificial connection between the brain and muscles can restore complex hand movements in monkeys following paralysis, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

19 Apr 2012

UCSF scientists solve mystery of how selective hearing works

The longstanding mystery of how selective hearing works - how people can tune in to a single speaker while tuning out their crowded, noisy environs - is solved this week in the journal Nature by two scientists from the University of California, San Francisco.

19 Apr 2012

Deep brain stimulation has long-lasting effects in patients with severe depression

People with severe depression are constantly despondent, lacking in drive, withdrawn and no longer feel joy. Most suffer from anxiety and the desire to take their own life. Approximately one out of every five people in Germany suffers from depression in the course of his/her life - sometimes resulting in suicide. People with depression are frequently treated with psychotherapy and medication.

5 Apr 2012

Non-invasive brain stimulation cuts time to improve speech in stroke patients

One of the most frustrating challenges for some stroke patients can be the inability to find and speak words even if they know what they want to say. Speech therapy is laborious and can take months. New research is seeking to cut that time significantly, with the help of non-invasive brain stimulation.

2 Apr 2012

Simple placebo pill can track footprints of prior antidepressant use

Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) often undergo multiple courses of antidepressant treatment during their lives. This is because the disorder can recur despite treatment and because finding the right medication for a specific individual can take time.

27 Mar 2012

DBS allows surgeons to control tremors with brain 'pacemaker'

For nearly 30 years, Tom Rogers' left hand would shake when he tried to use it, making even simple tasks such as drinking a glass of water, writing a check, or making a sandwich challenging. The tremor eventually became so disruptive that he lost use of his dominant hand. Rogers sought care and learned that his tremor was a symptom of Parkinson's disease, yet felt he was suffering from something different.

27 Mar 2012

Novel interventional radiology procedure zaps around complicated pancreatic tumors

Results of a study presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 37th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., signal a light at the end of the tunnel for individuals with inoperable locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). A new procedure called irreversible electroporation or IRE uses microsecond electrical pulses to force open and destroy tumor cells around a vast and delicate network of blood vessels of the pancreas.

27 Mar 2012

Novel device for measuring pelvic floor muscle strength

It is estimated that urine loss affects 30% of women at some point in their lives. Despite this high incidence rate, up until now clinical evaluation of patients suffering from this problem has been based on tactile examination, a subjective procedure that is not carried out in a consistent way by different medical professionals.

26 Mar 2012

Real-time, non-invasive test to detect heart attack

What if your doctor could tell you in real-time, with a non-invasive test as to whether or not you might be having an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or in simpler terms, a heart attack?

23 Mar 2012

Peripheral nerve stimulation may help manage neuropathic pain in injured soldiers

An peripheral nerve stimulation technique may be a valuable new approach for relief of severe neuropathic (nerve-related) pain in injured soldiers, reports an article in the March issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

22 Mar 2012

Electroconvulsive therapy and how it works in severe depression: Study

Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, has been used in severely and persistently depressed patients from their disabling mood state for more than seven decades. Researchers have searched for the reason why this technique sometimes works in these patients.

20 Mar 2012

Health Canada approves Boston Scientific's Blazer Open-Irrigated RFA Catheter

Boston Scientific Corporation today announced Health Canada approval of the Blazer Open-Irrigated Catheter, the Company's latest radiofrequency ablation (RFA) catheter designed to treat a variety of arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, ventricular tachycardia and other supraventricular tachycardias.

15 Mar 2012

FDA approves Botox injections for overactive bladder

When you think of Botox injections, you probably think of getting rid of unwanted wrinkles around the eyes or forehead, but recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved using the injections to help patients with neurological conditions who suffer from incontinence, or an overactive bladder.

14 Mar 2012

Zynex announces acquisition of NeuroDyne Medical

Zynex, Inc., a provider and developer of non-invasive medical devices for electrotherapy and stroke rehabilitation, neurological diagnosis and cardiac monitoring, announced the acquisition of substantially all the assets of NeuroDyne Medical, Corp., through its subsidiary Zynex NeuroDiagnostics, Inc., with an effective date of March 9, 2012.

12 Mar 2012

Biologists identify how and where the brain processes FM sweeps

In both animals and humans, vocal signals used for communication contain a wide array of different sounds that are determined by the vibrational frequencies of vocal cords. For example, the pitch of someone's voice, and how it changes as they are speaking, depends on a complex series of varying frequencies. Knowing how the brain sorts out these different frequencies-which are called frequency-modulated (FM) sweeps-is believed to be essential to understanding many hearing-related behaviors, like speech.

9 Mar 2012