Could prosthetic limbs one day be controlled by human thought?

For almost two decades, Stanford electrical engineering professor Krishna Shenoy and neuroscientists in his Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory have been working on implantable brain sensors that allow them to record and decipher the electrical activity of neurons that control body movement. The long-term goal: to build prosthetics that amputees and those with paralysis can control with their thoughts. Currently, the […]

Continue reading »

FDA approves treatments for heart failure caused by rare disease

(HealthDay)—Vyndaqel (tafamidis meglumine) and Vyndamax (tafamidis) capsules have been approved to treat adults with cardiomyopathy caused by transthyretin mediated amyloidosis (ATTR-CM), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today. Recommended dosage is four 20-mg capsules of Vyndaqel once daily or a single 61-mg capsule of Vyndamax once daily, according to the manufacturer. The two drugs, which are the first approved […]

Continue reading »

Suicide attempts by self-poisoning have more than doubled in teens, young adults

A new study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Central Ohio Poison Center found rates of suicide attempts by self-poisoning among adolescents have more than doubled in the last decade in the U.S., and more than tripled for girls and young women. The study, published online today in the Journal of Pediatrics, evaluated the incidence and outcomes from intentional suspected-suicide […]

Continue reading »

Conception by IVF may increase risk for rare childhood cancer

(HealthDay)—There is a small association between conception by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and childhood cancer, particularly hepatic tumors, according to a study published online April 1 in JAMA Pediatrics. Logan G. Spector, Ph.D., from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues used data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinical Outcomes Reporting System on IVF cycles that resulted […]

Continue reading »

Deep stimulation improves cognitive control by augmenting brain rhythms

In a new study that could improve the therapeutic efficacy of deep-brain stimulation (DBS) for psychiatric disorders such as depression, a team of scientists shows that, when DBS is applied to a specific brain region, it improves patients’ cognitive control over their behavior by increasing the power of a specific low-frequency brain rhythm in their prefrontal cortex. The findings, published […]

Continue reading »

Cancer pain can be eased by palliative radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is, along with chemotherapy and surgery, one of the three main components of cancer treatment. It is often misunderstood and carries negative connotations. As radiation oncologists and assistant professors at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and the University of British Columbia, we frequently work to dispel patients’ concerns about radiation —concerns that radiation treatment will […]

Continue reading »

Weight stigmatization by medical professionals is preventable, researcher says

Anti-fat stigmatization is a common problem in Canada’s health-care system, but one that is preventable, says Dr. Patty Thille, assistant professor of physical therapy in the College of Rehabilitation Sciences. “There are strong stereotypes around bodies that are thin or bodies that have visible fat,” Thille says. “And we know from qualitative studies that people experience poor treatment in health-care […]

Continue reading »
1 2 3 4 6