Natural therapy: Developed

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Monday, August 12, 2013

New Tool to Detect Delirium Developed

The condition, which occurs in as many as one in five hospitalized patients, tends to develop rapidly and can lead to higher death rates and increased health care costs.

The new tool is designed to be simple, efficient and accurate in helping to assess and treat patients at risk of developing delirium, the scientists said. The tool also can be used to identify patients who might be most suitable for new targeted interventions to prevent delirium, the authors reported.

The study will be published online August 7, 2013 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

"It's estimated that up to one third of hospital-acquired delirium cases could be prevented with appropriate interventions, but those interventions are resource-intense and can't be applied to everyone," said lead author Vanja C. Douglas, MD, an assistant professor of clinical neurology in the UCSF Department of Neurology and holder of the Sara & Evan Williams Foundation Endowed Neurohospitalist Chair.

"Our objective was to develop a tool to predict delirium using elements that could be assessed quickly in the fast-paced environment of a hospital," Douglas said. "The new tool can be completed by a nurse in two minutes, and provides a clinically useful and practical alternative to existing delirium prediction models."

Delirium, an often serious disturbance in a patient's mental abilities, results in confused thinking and decreased awareness of one's environment. The precise sequence of events that take place in the body and brain which results in delirium is not well understood, the researchers noted. It is believed that the combination of an aging brain and acute illness creates an imbalance of neurotransmitters that leads to the confusion and disorientation of delirium. Adding powerful medications like narcotics to the mix can compound the problem.

Established risk factors for delirium include:

Older age; Preexisting cognitive dysfunction; Dehydration; Severe illness; Vision and hearing impairment; Electrolyte abnormalities; Overmedication. In the new UCSF study, some 374 patients took part -- each was older than 50 and not delirious when admitted to the hospital. The patients were predominately white and lived at home.

The research was conducted during 2010 and 2011 at UCSF and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

On admission, the patients underwent a structured interview involving questions related to their baseline cognitive function, residence, type of pain, visual and hearing abilities, among other factors. Each patient's nurses rated them on a scale from "not ill" to near the point of death.

All the patients were assessed for changes in cognition for six days or until they were discharged.

The scientists devised a tool they termed "AWOL," a mnemonic standing for age (A); unable to spell "world" backward (W); not fully oriented to place (O); and moderate to severe illness severity (L).

The researchers found that subjects with higher AWOL scores were more likely to become disoriented and develop delirium. They also found that conversely, those with low AWOL scores were at relatively low risk of developing delirium, meaning that the AWOL tool could stratify patients into high- and low-risk groups.

Once identified, patients at greater risk of delirium should be triaged to an inpatient unit specializing in delirium prevention, the researchers said.

The authors noted some study limitations: non-English speaking patients were excluded for logistical reasons as well as patients with profound aphasia or those in alcohol withdrawal when admitted.

The authors also pointed out that prior research on delirium has focused on patients over age 70 since old age is a known risk factor. But for their study, the authors said they included patients aged 50 or older "because hospital-acquired delirium still occurs in this age group." Indeed, in the study, 8 percent of patients 50-69 years old became delirious.

"It is imperative to be able to recognize those patients admitted to the hospital with medical conditions who are at risk for delirium so that they can be the focus of targeted prevention and treatment," said senior author S. Andrew Josephson, MD, director of the UCSF Neurohospitalist Program and holder of the Carmen Castro Franceschi and Gladyne K. Mitchell Neurohospitalist Distinguished Professorship.

Source-Eurekalert

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

App to Help Smokers Kick the Bud Developed

by Sheela Philomena on? June 15, 2013 at 2:20 PM Medical Gadgets A new app to help smokers quit smoking has been created by scientists. App to Help Smokers Kick the Bud Developed <br /><br />
Craving to Quit, an app for iPad or iPhone, was developed by goBlue Labs, based at 5 Science Park, which was founded by Dr. Judson Brewer, medical director of the Yale Therapeutic Neuroscience Clinic, the New York Daily News reported.

Mindfulness, a technique rooted in Buddhism and other traditions, proved effective in a smoking-cessation study Brewer conducted in 2009.

In Brewer's four-week study, 88 smokers with an average age of 46, smoking a pack a day, used either mindfulness training or the American Lung Association's Freedom From Smoking program.

At the end of treatment, 36 percent of the group that learned mindfulness training had quit versus 15 percent using FFS.

After 17 weeks, the success rate was 31 percent vs. 6 percent.

The results are published online in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Source-ANI

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Friday, July 12, 2013

Nasal Spray That Could End Painful Dentist Injections Developed

by Sheela Philomena on? July 05, 2013 at 4:55 PM Dental News A nasal spray prepared by American scientists could help do away with painful anaesthetic injections for most dental procedures. Nasal Spray That Could End Painful Dentist Injections Developed
According to researchers at the University of Buffalo, the spray- Kovacaine Mist- was as effective as standard anaesthetics in four out of five patients, the Independent reported.

Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation told the publication that patients anxious of the dentist are, in theory, likely to have poorer oral health than those who get regular check-ups.

Carter said that this nasal spray could be a very promising addition to any dental practice.

The product has passed phase two clinical trials in the USA and safety trials with the US Food and Drugs Administration could be complete by the end of the summer.

According to the manufacturer, St Renatus LLC, final product approval in the USA could be achieved by next year.

Source-ANI

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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sensor Chip That Detects Disease in Blood Drop Developed

A new study describes how Reginald Farrow and Alokik Kanwal, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and their team have created a carbon nanotube-based device to noninvasively and quickly detect mobile single cells with the potential to maintain a high degree of spatial resolution, reports Science Daily.

"Using sensors, we created a device that will allow medical personnel to put a tiny drop of liquid on the active area of the device and measure the cells' electrical properties," said Farrow, the recipient of NJIT's highest research honour, the NJIT Board of Overseers Excellence in Research Prize and Medal.

"Although we are not the only people by any means doing this kind of work, what we think is unique is how we measure the electrical properties or patterns of cells and how those properties differ between cell types."

Source-IANS

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

Skin for Robots Developed

by Sheela Philomena on? General Health News Artificial skins and sensor technologies to augment "sensitivity" in robots have been engineered by European scientists. Skin for Robots Developed
The new capabilities, and a production system for building touch-sensitivity into different robots, will improve the way robots work in unconstrained settings, as well as their ability to communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans, reports Science Daily.

The European Union-funded project 'Skin-based technologies and capabilities for safe, autonomous and interactive robots' (ROBOSKIN) developed new sensor technologies and management systems which give robots an artificial sense of touch, until now an elusive quality in robotics.

The artificial skin is modelled largely on real skin, which has a tiny network of nerves that sense or feel changes like hot/cold or rough/smooth.

The electronic sensors collect this so-called 'tactile data' and process it using application software which has been front-loaded to include some basic robot behaviours which can be added to over time.

"We opted for programming through demonstration and robot-assisted play so the robots learn as they go along by feeling, doing and interacting," said project coordinator Professor Giorgio Cannata of Genoa University, Italy.

"We had to generate a degree of awareness in the robots to help them react to tactile events and physical contact with the outside world," he adds.

Source-IANS

View the original article here

DM

Monday, August 12, 2013

New Tool to Detect Delirium Developed

Saturday, July 20, 2013

App to Help Smokers Kick the Bud Developed

Friday, July 12, 2013

Nasal Spray That Could End Painful Dentist Injections Developed

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sensor Chip That Detects Disease in Blood Drop Developed

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Skin for Robots Developed