November 18th, 2011 by Medgadget in News, Video
Tags: BeagleBoard, Blind, Kinect, Kinecthesia, Microsoft, Penn, rehab, Students, Tactile feedback, University of Pennsylvania, Visually Impaired, Xbox, Zeitgeist Young Minds
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Two computer science students from the University of Pennsylvania, Eric Berdinis and Jeff Kiske, have hacked together a very impressive tactile feedback system for the visually impaired using a Microsoft Kinect device and a number of vibration actuators. The Kinecthesia is a belt worn camera system that detects the location and depth of objects in front of the wearer using depth information detected by the Kinect sensor. This information is processed on a BeagleBoard open computer platform and then used to drive six vibration motors located to the left, center and right of the user. The video below shows a demo of the system in use and gives a quick explanation of its operation.
The students came up with the idea for the Kinecthesia when Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
November 17th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in News, Opinion
Tags: BBC, Breakthrough, Cardiology, Cardiovascular, CBS, Cure, Early, Heart Health, Heart Muscle Damage, Hype, Journalist, Los Angeles Times, media, NBC, News, Stem Cell Research, Too soon
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Journalist Larry Husten, on his Cardiobrief blog, writes, “Hype Aside, Hope for Stem Cell Therapy May Be Emerging From Hibernation.”
It was one of the only notes of caution we saw in our limited sampling of news stories about an analysis of an experimental stem cell intervention in 14 people – only 8 of whom were followed for a year. Husten wrote:
“Two small studies of cardiac stem cells for the treatment of heart failure have shown promise, but ABC News, CBS News and other media outlets are throwing around words like “medical breakthrough” and “heart failure cure.” ABC News correspondent Richard Besser was so enthusiastic that anchor Diane Sawyer commented that she had never seen him “so excited.” The first author of one of the studies, Roberto Bolli, said the work could represent “the biggest advance in cardiology in my lifetime.”
The reality may be somewhat more prosaic.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
November 15th, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in News, Opinion
Tags: 19 Kids and Counting, 20, Advanced Maternal Age, Babies, C-sections, Celebrities, Children, Complications, Doctors, Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway, Duggar Family, High Risk Pregnancy, Mothers, Pregnancy, Premature Labor, TLC, TV Show
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OMG, Michelle Duggar is pregnant again. Is she competing with the wife of Feodor Vassilyev? Vassilyev was pregnant 27 times between 1725 and 1765 and gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. 67 children survived infancy making her the woman who had the most documented number of children in the world. Vassilyev had a history of multiple births. What’s Duggar’s excuse?
I’ve written about Duggar before out of genuine concern and received over 2,000 comments on the Basil and Spice website. Many were unkind. People like Duggar because of her affable personality but want to ignore the facts: with each subsequent pregnancy, her life becomes fraught with danger. Her last pregnancy was extremely high-risk, complicated by pre-eclampsia and the emergency premature delivery of her daughter who only weighed 1.3 pounds at birth. It was a very close call. According to Answers.com, the Duggar family gets paid an estimated $25,000 to $75,000 per episode on the reality television show on Channel TLC. So, is it perhaps the show’s ratings that have prompted this 45 year old mother of 19 children to have yet another child? Is it the Baby-Doll syndrome where women have multiple children because they like the baby doll effect of having a newborn? I’m still scratching my head. However, I would be remiss if I did not, as an obstetrician offer some advice (albeit unsolicited) regarding the dangers of extreme parity (aka a great number of pregnancies). It was the same advice I offered almost 2 years ago: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
November 15th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in News
Tags: Advice, Containers, Disposal, Dos and Don'ts, FDA, Medical Waste, Medicine, Needles, Patient Education, Press Release, Public Policy, Safety, Sharps, Syringes, Website
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All medical offices must dispose of medical waste in a safe manner. I closed my office at the end of September, but my last medical waste pickup is the first Friday of December. My dear husband is going to open the office and wait for them.
How have you told patients over the years to deal with their medical waste? Needles? Syringes? JP drains they pull out or that fall out before they get back for follow up?
Last week the FDA sent out a press release announcing the launch a new website for patients and caregivers on the safe disposal of needles and other so-called “sharps” that are used at home, at work and while traveling. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
November 14th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News
Tags: Cardiology, Chest Pain, Chicago, Deactivate, Death, Do it yourself, Operating, Pacemaker, Paramedics, self-surgery, Surgery, Uncomfortble
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A 47-year-old Chicago man died after trying to remove his own pacemaker. He’s not the first to try self-surgery, as it turns out.
The Chicago Tribune described this most recent attempt at self-surgery:
“Chicago Fire Department paramedics were called after the man told a worker in the home that he was experiencing chest pains and asked them to call an ambulance.
“The man returned to his room, where he remained until paramedics arrived, police said. When they did, he complained to them about chest pains and was taken to the ambulance where he fell unconscious, police said.
“As paramedics were trying to revive him, they discovered Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
