Brain Composer: 'Thinking' Melodies onto a Musical Score
Brain-computer interfaces, known as BCI, can replace bodily functions to a certain degree. Thanks to BCI, physically impaired persons can control special prostheses through the power of their minds, surf in internet and write emails. Under the title of "Brain Composer", a group led by BCI expert Gernot Müller-Putz from TU Graz's Institute of Neural Engineering shows that experiences of quite a different tone can be sounded from the keys of brain-computer interfaces.
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New Diagnostic Tool Spots First Signs of Parkinson's Disease
Researchers have developed the first tool that can diagnose Parkinson's disease when there are no physical symptoms, offering hope for more effective treatment of the condition. There are currently no laboratory tests for Parkinson's and by the time people present to a neurologist with symptoms, nerve cells in their brains have already suffered irreversible damage.
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PupilScreen Aims to Allow Parents, Coaches, Medics to Detect Concussion, TBIs with a Phone
University of Washington researchers are developing the first smartphone app that is capable of objectively detecting concussion and other traumatic brain injuries in the field: on the sidelines of a sports game, on a battlefield or in the home of an elderly person prone to falls. PupilScreen can detect changes in a pupil's response to light using a smartphone's video camera and deep learning tools
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Stroke Patient Improvement with a Brain-Computer Interface
University of Adelaide researchers have shown that it is possible for stroke patients to improve motor function using special training involving connecting brain signals with a computer. In a "proof-of-principle" study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the researchers described how this brain-computer interface (BCI) produced a 36% improvement in motor function of a stroke-damaged hand.
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New App Uses Smartphone Selfies to Screen for Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer has one of the worst prognoses - with a five-year survival rate of 9 percent - in part because there are no telltale symptoms or non-invasive screening tools to catch a tumor before it spreads. Now, University of Washington researchers have developed an app that could allow people to easily screen for pancreatic cancer and other diseases - by snapping a smartphone selfie.
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Artificial Intelligence Predicts Dementia Before Onset of Symptoms
Imagine if doctors could determine, many years in advance, who is likely to develop dementia. Such prognostic capabilities would give patients and their families time to plan and manage treatment and care. Thanks to artificial intelligence research conducted at McGill University, this kind of predictive power could soon be available to clinicians everywhere.
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Self-Powered Paper-Based 'SPEDs' may Lead to New Medical-Diagnostic Tools
A new medical-diagnostic device made out of paper detects biomarkers and identifies diseases by performing electrochemical analyses - powered only by the user's touch - and reads out the color-coded test results, making it easy for non-experts to understand. The self-powered, paper-based electrochemical devices, or SPEDs, are designed for sensitive diagnostics at the "point-of-care," or when care is delivered to patients, in regions where the public has limited access to resources or sophisticated medical equipment.
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