Dynamic Controls out of Christchurch, New Zealand, has developed a system by which wheelchair users can control their iPhone using the chair’s own joystick.
Additionally, the iPhone can display important information about the wheelchair, such as the battery charge state, speed, seat adjustment, and heading direction.
All this is communicated via Bluetooth between the iPhone and the wheelchair. The new version of the iPortal system will be unveiled at Rehacare 2010 in Dusseldorf, Germany, next month.
Did you know that physical activity can reduce your risk for memory loss and dementia? I had the chance to speak to ABC’s Let’s Talk Live team about important lifestyle choices that can keep the mind healthy and active. The good news is that you really can teach an old dog new tricks, and those new tricks can stimulate growth of new brain cells. Watch the video and check out the Alzheimer’s Association website for more information about dementia prevention:
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a multi-symptom, multi-system syndrome that remain poorly understood. As I have mentioned previously , it was called reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) when I first learned about it. I still catch myself calling it RSD.
For a complete review of CRPS, please refer to my previous post on the topic. This post is to look at an article published in the February issue of the journal Annuals of Internal Medicine (full reference below).
A research team at the Pain Research Institute at the University of Liverpool note that there is some evidence for “for immune activation in the affected limb, peripheral blood, and cerebrospinal fluid.” Read more »
Have Caltech scientists discovered an area of the brain evolved since the development of currency? The headline effectively suggests that, but the truth is probably a bit more nuanced.
The research team responsible for these findings consists of Benedetto de Martino, a Caltech visiting researcher from University College London and first author on the study, along with Caltech scientists Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics, and Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology.
The study involved an examination of two patients whose amygdalae had been destroyed due to a very rare genetic disease; those patients, along with individuals without amygdala damage, volunteered to participate in a simple experimental economics task. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
We found out today that we are going to ship out tomorrow. My feelings are certainly mixed. There is an incredible amount of work to be done here – we have only contributed to the first wave of what is necessary. This may sound strange, but I cannot remember the details of much of what we did the first three days, when we were functioning on hyperdrive in a battlefield setting. My recollections become detailed after the third day, when we were able to see only four or five patients at a time, and we stopped triaging amputees to the operating room.
Now the hospital has been substantially augmented. Teams of foreign (to Haiti) surgeons have left to go home, because the operations to be performed now are largely orthopedic and plastic surgery, as well as specialty cases. Sadly, there are scores of patients with spinal fractures who are paralyzed, and little can be done for them this far out from the initial injury. Children continue to break our hearts. I had a small child who is a triple amputee offer me his cracker with his remaining hand. One can only pray that the memories he carries of this tragedy are erased swiftly, that he is assisted in his rehabilitation, and that his life improves. All of these will, of course, be hard to achieve. Read more »
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Dynamic Controls out of Christchurch, New Zealand, has developed a system by which wheelchair users can control their iPhone using the chair’s own joystick.
Have Caltech scientists discovered an area of the brain evolved since the development of currency? The headline effectively suggests that, but the truth is probably a bit more nuanced.
