Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Comparing US healthcare costs with Europe
"The doctors decided that if I were to survive I would need a heart transplant. I was then put on the top of a list for transplant recipients in the mid-west region. Within a couple of days, fortunately, I was able to get a heart and I had wonderful treatment at all three hospitals.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
New research to aid stroke victims
Stroke-damaged brains could be repaired using adult stem cells from teeth, a
leading stroke physician says.
Associate professor Simon Koblar, from the University of Adelaide and
Adelaide's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, is leading a research project that
suggests dental pulp stem cells extracted from teeth may prove far more beneficial for brain repair than other stem cells.Next...
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
How our brains build social worlds
neuroscience? We think that two people performing
together in this way are best described as a single,
complex system rather than as two systems interacting.
We also believe the same kinds of description should be
applied generally to the brain activity that occurs
when two people interact, because their brains also
become a single complex system. Next...
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Challenging The New York Times: Is FOXP2 really a "speech gene"?
Friday, November 27, 2009
Kirk Douglas
11/25/2009 - Kirk Douglas (stroke survivor) - 2009 Thanksgiving Meal for the Homeless Served by The Los Angeles Mission and Hosted by Kirk & Anne Douglas - Los Angeles Mission - Los Angeles, CA. USA © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos
Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/Kirk-Douglas/pictures/2009-Thanksgiving-Meal-for-the-Homeless-Served-by-the-Los-Angeles-Mission-and-Hosted-by-Kirk-Anne-Douglas-412060#ixzz0Y7OPwABx
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Health Research Institute, have uncovered new information about the mechanism by which brain cells die following a stroke,
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020
If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain waves by 2020.
The scientists anticipate that consumers will adapt quickly to the idea, and indeed crave the freedom of not requiring a keyboard, mouse, or remote control for surfing the Web or changing channels. They also predict that people will tire of multi-touch devices such as our precious iPhones, Android smart phones and even Microsoft's wacky Surface Table. Next..
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Words, Gestures Are Translated by Same Brain Regions, Says New Research: Findings May Further Our Understanding of How Language Evolved
Speech Defects (Aphasia, Dysphonia, and Stuttering)
Because speech is essential to human communication, anything that interferes with it can be isolating and emotionally distressing. Primary mutism, in which a person cannot speak due to absent vocal cords or another structural defect, is rare. More commonly, difficulty speaking is secondary to other conditions, including paralysis, deafness, retardation or other mental disorders, and larynx cancer. In certain cases, a person knows how to speak but has difficulty forming words.
Three often encountered disorders are: Aphasia (from the Greek, meaning "without speech"), in which brain damage impairs a person's ability to speak and/or understand spoken or written words. Sudden aphasia usually is due to a stroke or a head injury, whereas the likely cause of slowly developing aphasia is a brain tumor or progressive dementia.
next..............
http://www.healthlessonsonline.com/speech-defects/
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Abigail Breslin to Play Helen Keller on Broadway
Little Miss Sunshine herself is headed for the Great White Way. Abigail Breslin has officially been tapped to play Helen Keller in the Broadway revival of William Gibson's 'The Miracle Worker.'
The show, scheduled to open March 3 with previews beginning February 12 at Circle in the Square Theatre, will be produced by David Richenthal, longtime friend of Gibson, and directed by Kate Whoriskey. Breslin, a 13-year-old New York native, will also be joined onstage by Alison Pill, playing the role of Helen's unwavering teacher Annie Sullivan.NEXT................
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
NextUp.com Text to Speech Software
Clemmons, NC (PRWEB) September 23, 2009 -- With health care coverage a hot-button issue in recent weeks, one topic that continues to make headlines is the fact that health insurers are repeatedly willing to cover devices and options that cost patients thousands of dollars, yet those same insurers will not cover the modestly priced, everyday alternative gadgets that are proving far more useful to those battling illnesses or other afflictions day to day. The issue is a familiar one for the software creators at NextUp Technologies (http://www.Nextup.com), which specializes in Text to Speech software for PC users everywhere. The company's top two software titles NextUp Talker and TextAloud are bestsellers in part because they have been adopted and championed by those with illnesses or disabilities, and because they are not only affordable solutions (both titles are priced at under $100), they simply work better than machines or devices that often cost hundreds or thousands of dollars....Next......
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Accessibility Changes Lives
Accessibility changes lives. I don’t mean “changes lives” like buying a new house might change your life … accessibility changes lives so completely it’s almost impossible to imagine if you haven’t been there. I am completely bedridden with my disability; I can’t sit up enough to use a wheelchair, so I spend 24 hours a day lying in a hospital bed set up in my living room. I can’t hold up a book or magazine long enough to read. I can’t open the curtains during the day because my eyes are too sensitive to light. I can’t paint or draw because I don’t have the stamina and strength. I can’t listen to music for more than 5 minutes or so, because of the sensory overload. Pretty much all that I can do is passive activities: listen to talk radio and audio book CDs, watch a little TV, talk to people on the phone. With my accessible computer setup I can do almost anything I can imagine. I’ve used it to compose and play music. I browse and shop on the internet. I run support groups via mailing lists. I advocate for myself and others. I take care of all my finances and banking. I meet new friends who have then become RL friends who visit my physically. And, of course, I have created and maintain this blog and several others. My life is interesting and productive, and full of things I can’t wait to do. I think we need more information around showing people with disabilities using technology, so able-bodied people can get a glimpse of how much this really changes lives. I’m going to make a series of posts about it - this is just the beginning. This series won’t be specific to people using technology on Mac computers or Apple products. For just this one series, I’m going to include everything I can my hands on that shows the effects of accessible, partially accessible, and inaccessible technology, including showing and discussing how difficult it is for us to work around inaccessibility. For a start, I want you to go and read about why closed captioning makes a big difference to online video. Go read it now, and then come back. Now imagine that 99.9% of all the videos on the internet are like that for you; that they make no sense without the captions. That’s one thing that happens to people who’ve lost most or all of their hearing, and those who have an auditory processing disorder or disability such as aphasia.
This is the first post in a series about assistive technology. I want to show you why accessibility, adaptive technology, assistive technology, and other disability-friendly practices matter. Really matter.
If it wasn’t for my accessible computer setup, that would be my entire life. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure that life would be worth living.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Insurers Fight Speech-Impairment Remedy
SAN FRANCISCO — Kara Lynn has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., which has attacked the muscles around her mouth and throat, removing her ability to speak. A couple of years ago, she spent more than $8,000 to buy a computer, approved by Medicare, that turns typed words into speech that her family, friends and doctors can hear.
Under government insurance requirements, the maker of the PC, which ran ordinary Microsoft Windows software, had to block any nonspeech functions, like sending e-mail or browsing the Web.
Dismayed by the PC’s limitations and clunky design, Ms. Lynn turned to a $300 iPhone 3G from Apple running $150 text-to-speech software. Ms. Lynn, who is 48 and lives in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said it worked better and let her “wear her voice” around her neck while snuggling with her 5-year-old son, Aiden, who has Down syndrome.
Medicare and private health insurers decline to cover cheap devices like iPhones and netbook PCs that can help the speech-impaired, despite their usefulness and lower cost...NextStudent-athlete works his way back from brain injury
Hit in the face by a line drive, Matt Cook (shown with father Tom and mother Ann) spent four weeks in the hospital. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff/File 2007) 
Sunday, July 19, 2009
WALTHAMSTOW: Ex-footballer admits attempted murder of teenager
She was left with paralysis down one side of her body as well as a condition known as aphasia, meaning she was unable to communicate.
But she has since recovered and nine months after the attack, she was able to tell officers that Celaire, now calling himself McNish, had admitted unintentionally killing Miss McDermott.
Miss Hoyte told detectives she had found court papers relating to Celaire's 2002 trial and that he had confessed the killing when she confronted him.
His acquittal for murder was subsequently overturned at the Court of Appeal and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Next...
Friday, July 17, 2009
U-M program helps stroke victim recover
by Lisa Carolin | The Livingston Community News
Wednesday June 24, 2009, 4:35 PM
Terri Thompson was working out at a gym with her sister in January 2007 when her world suddenly changed.
Thompson, 49, of Putnam Township, suffered a stroke and, although she received medical attention quickly, she couldn't move her right arm and leg, and she couldn't speak. Next..
GE Healthcare And Its Partners Launch Major Stroke Campaign With The Support From China's Ministry Of Health
22 Jun 2009 , Beijing, China : GE Healthcare and China’s Ministry of Health announced today the official kick off of the “Stroke Prevention and Control Project” organized by the Chinese Association of Geriatrics Research, the Chinese Health Development Foundation and GE Healthcare. The project aims to build a national stroke prevention and control network in China in an effort to reduce stroke incidence and mortality rates, improve people's health and quality of life as well as to reduce the stroke-related cost burden for the country. Next..
Acquired Childhood Aphasia
Aphasia is an acquired condition. In other words, it occurs in children whose language skills had been developing normally. The language loss or impairment follows damage to the brain caused by, for example, tumour, head injury, stroke or infection. The aphasic child may have a partial or total inability to NEXT..
http://ithinkeducation.net/?p=4843
Next
Medical breakthroughs are bringing new hope to people with traumatic brain injuries September 6, 2008, was a clear-blue Indian summer day in Nebraska. Jennifer Ruth sat in the stands and watched her 12-year-old son, Derek, run with the football. She was unconcerned when he was tackled in a routine play. But as he fumbled the ball, she remembers seeing his right arm drop oddly, almost in slow motion. “He never does that” flickered through her mind. The coach noticed a glazed look on Derek’s face in the team huddle. He pulled him aside and asked him for the date, score, and his brothers’ names. Derek answered correctly. Then, minutes later, he screamed, “My head,” pulled off his helmet, and collapsed.
Derek was taken to a trauma center and went into surgery. After several weeks in the ICU and months of therapy, he is regaining his physical and cognitive abilities. At first, he could only give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down response to questions; now he reads at a sixth-grade level and tackles algebra problems NEXT...
Selective aphasia in a brain damaged bilingual patient [Neurophilosophy]
N THE 1860s, the French physician Paul Broca treated two patients who had lost the ability to speak after suffering strokes. When they died, he examined their brains, and noticed that both had damage to the same region of the left frontal lobe. About a decade later, neuropsychiatrist Carl Wernicke described a stroke patient who was unable to understand written words or what was said to him, and later found in this patient’s brain a lesion towards the back of the left temporal lobe. Next..
ViVA / Potential Advantages for Aphasiacs
As the average age of humans increases, a person will face the increased likelihood of developing at least one chronic condition that may have an impact on his/her cognitive abilities (Czaja, Gregor, & Hanson, 2009). Aging can have physical, cognitive, and eve Next...
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Health Talk: Foreign Accent Syndrome
Imagine a Caucasian speaking English with an exotic Chinese accent. Strange as it sounds, patients with the Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) do just this.FAS is a rare brain disorder often caused by a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or multiple lesions. Only around 50 cases have been reported since 1941.
Obama's Slip On Jay Leno Show and My Aphasia
by Phil Staudt
blog.philstaudt.org
March 21, 2009
