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Study shows promising results in deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression

New data from a study of patients with treatment-resistant depression who underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subcallosal cingulate region (SCG or Cg25) of the brain shows that this intervention is generally safe and provides significant improvement in patients as early as one month after treatment. The patients also experienced continued and sustained improvement over time.

21 Jul 2008

Researchers measure movements smaller than one-billionth of a meter in ion channels

Each thought or action sends a million electrical signals pulsing through your body. At the heart of the process of generating these electrical impulses is the ion channel.

10 Jul 2008

Seizures in newborns can be detected with bedside brain-activity monitors

Compact, bedside brain-activity monitors detected most seizures in at-risk infants, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed. That means the compact units could assist clinicians in monitoring for electrical seizures until confirmation with conventional EEG (electroencephalography), the researchers assert in an article published in the June issue of Pediatrics.

2 Jul 2008

New device blocks stomach nerve signals - alternative to existing bariatric surgeries

A new implantable medical device, developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic researchers, shows promise as a reversible and less extreme alternative to existing bariatric surgeries, according to findings published in the current issue of the journal Surgery.

26 Jun 2008

Researchers develop brain-machine interfaces that learn with the brain

Devices known as brain-machine interfaces could someday be used routinely to help paralyzed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just their thoughts. Now, University of Florida researchers have taken the concept a step further, devising a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals into movement but also to evolve with the brain as it learns.

24 Jun 2008

Study uncovers how Ritalin works in brain to boost cognition, focus attention

Stimulant medications such as Ritalin have been prescribed for decades to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and their popularity as "cognition enhancers" has recently surged among the healthy, as well.

24 Jun 2008

FDA approves implantable electronic device that stimulates the diaphragm

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it approved the NeuRx DPS RA/4 Respiratory Stimulation System, an implantable electronic device that stimulates the diaphragm and allows certain spinal cord injury patients to breathe for at least four hours a day without a mechanical ventilator.

19 Jun 2008

People with tune deafness able to detect a wrong note unconsciously

People with tune deafness aren't able to tell when a musician accidentally strikes the wrong note in a song, but their brains know the difference. Researchers from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found that people with tune deafness, an auditory processing disorder in which a person with normal hearing has trouble distinguishing notes in a melody, are able to detect a wrong note unconsciously.

11 Jun 2008

Wireless vision implant

About 30 million people around the world have grown legally blind due to retinal diseases. The EPI-RET project has sought for a technical solution for the past twelve years to help these patients. This work has resulted in a unique system - afully implantable visual prosthesis.

29 May 2008

Study suggests caution on a new anti-obesity drug in children

A new class of anti-obesity drugs that suppresses appetite by blocking cannabinoid receptors in the brain could also suppress the adaptive rewiring of the brain necessary for neural development in children, studies with mice have indicated.

7 May 2008

New concept sends medical images via cellular phones

A process to transmit medical images via cellular phones that has been developed by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem researcher has the potential to provide sophisticated radiological diagnoses and treatment to the majority of the world's population lacking access to such technology.

29 Apr 2008

Deep brain stimulation may help people with treatment resistant major depression

Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, Brown University, and Massachusetts General Hospital will present results of a long-term outcome study that builds on previous promising research, which has shown that deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a potentially effective treatment option for people with treatment resistant major depression.

29 Apr 2008

Bionic eye promises to restore sight to the blind

A team of eye specialists at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital ave fitted "bionic eyes" to two men in their 50s to partially restore their eyesight.

22 Apr 2008

New hybrid hearing aid/cochlear implant device

A new hybrid hearing aid/cochlear implant device designed for patients who can benefit from both is being evaluated by UT Southwestern Medical Center otolaryngologists, as part of a multisite, national study.

17 Apr 2008

Bottom-up fabrication of tiny wires may help detect cancer and other diseases

Bottom-up manufacturing may hold the key to production of tiny medical devices capable of testing for multiple molecules like viruses or cancer markers, according to an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.

10 Mar 2008

New system improves hearing in patients with cochlear implants

The doctoral thesis of Isaac Manuel Álvarez Ruiz has been developed in the Departments of Department of Signal Theory, Telematics, and Communication, and Department of Surgery and its Specialties of the University of Granada, and directed by Professors Ángel de la Torre Vega and Manuel Sainz Quevedo.

6 Mar 2008

Youngest patient worldwide to have auditory implant in the brain stem

A team of ear, nose and throat specialists and neurosurgeons at the University Hospital of Navarra, led by doctors Manuel Manrique Rodríguez, specialist in ear, nose and throat surgery and Bartolomé Bejarano Herruzo, specialist in paediatric neurosurgery, have successfully operated on a 13 month-old girl from Murcia, who had been born deaf due to the lack of auditory nerves.

27 Feb 2008

Larynx preservation preferred over total laryngectomy

Patients with locally advanced laryngopharyngeal cancers who receive radical chemoradiation have significantly better voice outcomes during the 12 months following treatment when compared with patients who have undergone a total laryngectomy and surgical voice restoration, according to a study in the February 1 issue of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

5 Feb 2008

Deep brain stimulation may improve memory

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, which is used to treat Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders, is now being studied for its potential to treat a variety of conditions.

4 Feb 2008

Sleep plays a critical role in the brain's ability to learn

Most people know it from experience: After so many hours of being awake, your brain feels unable to absorb any more-and several hours of sleep will refresh it.

21 Jan 2008