Harper vows action for vets with ALS: "OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is pledging to provide help to Canadian war veterans fighting a deadly disease after Global News reported this week on the plight of former soldiers afflicted with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) but who are blocked from receiving medical benefits.
“We’re aware of some concerns on how veterans who have ALS may be handled and I’ve certainly been insisting our officials look into how we can fix some people’s problems,” Harper said.
“So you’re going to see some action on that in the not-too-distant future.”
Harper has instructed Veterans Affairs to address the difficulties for veterans with ALS. While it is unclear exactly what that means, it is understood the goal is to eliminate the lengthy court battles caused by this case-by-case rule.
Harper was responding to the plight of veterans such as 42-year-old Brian Dyck, whose disease has progressed so rapidly he’s not sure how much longer he’ll live.
“During the quiet times, I definitely shed a few tears,” Dyck said. “It’s hard.”
His claim to Veterans Affairs was denied even though research in the United States has found soldiers are 60 per cent more likely to die of ALS than civilians, and those who served in the first Gulf War — as Dyck did — increase their chances even more.
For the past two years, U.S. veterans have been covered by a regulation that presumes a link between the disease and military service.
In Canada, assessments are done on a case-by-case basis.
Dyck appealed last week and is expecting another ruling soon.
Dyck and his wife, Natali, were overjoyed by news of the prime minister’s pledge.
“We were overwhelmed with emotion and both started to cry,” said Natali.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Harper+vows+action+vets+with/3541839/story.html#ixzz0zq12KZ57
Friday, September 17, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Researchers Translate Thoughts into Speech, Potentially Allowing "Locked-In" Patients to Communicate | Popular Science
Researchers Translate Thoughts into Speech, Potentially Allowing "Locked-In" Patients to Communicate | Popular Science: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
By measuring the electrical signals made in certain parts of the brain when its thinking of certain words, researchers could create a means to translate thoughts into speech.
In an effort to unlock the speech capacity in patients who cannot speak because of so-called “locked-in syndrome,” University of Utah researchers have successfully demonstrated that they can translate brain signals into words using electrode grids placed beneath the skull. Sort of.
The method leaves a lot of room for improvement, but it does prove out some technology that could make thought-to-speech technology more reliable for patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries or illnesses that render them unable to communicate with others. Using two grids of 16 microelectrodes placed over two regions of the brain known to generate human speech, the team was able to record brain signals for 10 useful words – yes, no, hot, cold, thirsty, hungry, goodbye, hello, more and less – and use that data to discern between any two words a patient was thinking between 76 and 90 percent of the time.
But when they tried to distinguish between all ten words at the same time, that success rate dropped to between 28 percent and 48 percent. That’s better than chance – which would be one-in-ten or just 10 percent – but less than reasonably useful.
The electrodes used were non-penetrating, meaning they sit between the patient’s brain and skull, but do not actually poke into the brain. That means they are closer and more sensitive to specific brain waves than externally worn EEG caps, but are less invasive than penetrating electrodes. These electrodes can pick up on weak electrical signals within the brain, meaning they are more nuanced than other brain monitoring sensors and could possibly provide the technological sensitivity needed to get reliable thought-to-speech translation working.
But first the researchers will have to refine their translation techniques to raise the success rates from one-in-four to something more like three-in-four, and ideally be able to distinguish between more than just 10 words. To get to that point, the next round of tests will involve larger, 11-by-11 arrays containing 121 electrodes each. Those larger implants should yield much more brain signal data that could in turn improve translation accuracy to the point that thought-to-speech translation could become a viable clinical solution.
By measuring the electrical signals made in certain parts of the brain when its thinking of certain words, researchers could create a means to translate thoughts into speech.
In an effort to unlock the speech capacity in patients who cannot speak because of so-called “locked-in syndrome,” University of Utah researchers have successfully demonstrated that they can translate brain signals into words using electrode grids placed beneath the skull. Sort of.
The method leaves a lot of room for improvement, but it does prove out some technology that could make thought-to-speech technology more reliable for patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries or illnesses that render them unable to communicate with others. Using two grids of 16 microelectrodes placed over two regions of the brain known to generate human speech, the team was able to record brain signals for 10 useful words – yes, no, hot, cold, thirsty, hungry, goodbye, hello, more and less – and use that data to discern between any two words a patient was thinking between 76 and 90 percent of the time.
But when they tried to distinguish between all ten words at the same time, that success rate dropped to between 28 percent and 48 percent. That’s better than chance – which would be one-in-ten or just 10 percent – but less than reasonably useful.
The electrodes used were non-penetrating, meaning they sit between the patient’s brain and skull, but do not actually poke into the brain. That means they are closer and more sensitive to specific brain waves than externally worn EEG caps, but are less invasive than penetrating electrodes. These electrodes can pick up on weak electrical signals within the brain, meaning they are more nuanced than other brain monitoring sensors and could possibly provide the technological sensitivity needed to get reliable thought-to-speech translation working.
But first the researchers will have to refine their translation techniques to raise the success rates from one-in-four to something more like three-in-four, and ideally be able to distinguish between more than just 10 words. To get to that point, the next round of tests will involve larger, 11-by-11 arrays containing 121 electrodes each. Those larger implants should yield much more brain signal data that could in turn improve translation accuracy to the point that thought-to-speech translation could become a viable clinical solution.
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