Sunday, September 24, 2006
Inventions to help stroke victims
Saturday, 23 September 2006, 23:21 GMT
By Jane Elliott
One device tears toilet paper
When Owain Morgan needed to come up with a design to help people who had suffered a stroke, he turned to his own family for inspiration.
His grandmother and uncle had both had strokes and talking to them he realised something as simple as a device to help them tear toilet and kitchen paper with one hand could make a big difference to their lives.
"It didn't really occur to me before talking to them that this might be a problem for people - that something so simple could help," said 18-year-old Owain, an apprentice from South Wales.
There are more than 450,000 people living in the UK who, as a result of a stroke, need to rely on others to help with simple everyday tasks like these.
Challenge
In a bid to raise awareness of the problem and do something to help those who have had a stroke, the UK defence and aerospace group, BAE Systems set their apprentices the challenge of designing devices to make lives easier.
The teams had either to develop a mechanical aid to help people who had paralysis of a limb to do everyday activities, or design an electrical aid to help those with speech problems (dysphasia) communicate in everyday situations.
Strokes can leave people with disabilities
The entries were whittled down to a shortlist of four.
Project manager John Flemming said his group of apprentices had come up with a device to aid the rehabilitation of muscular movement.
They worked with physios at Bucknall Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, who are currently trialling the invention.
"The idea was to help rehabilitate both the arm and the shoulder by helping to reintroduce tension back through use.
"It will then help reduce muscle wastage as well as reducing the chances of the patient suffering from oedema."
Lucy Thatcher, who co-ordinated her team's entry, said their device was designed to help patients to communicate more easily with their carers.
She said both carer and patient could be given an LED (Light Emitting Diode) box that would alert the carer when there was a problem.
Attaching four symbols, such as the picture of a cup or an emergency symbol to both devices, could allow the patient not only to say they needed help, but why.
"This could be particularly useful in the first stages when the patients' dysphasia can be the most severe.
"It allows the patient to buzz if there is an emergency and allows the carer to rush in if it is an emergency and to know, if not, what their needs are," said Lucy.
Kitchen aid
Another team, under project manager Carl Dodd, designed a board with a multitude of kitchen implements designed to make chopping, grating, mashing and paring possible with just one hand.
Chopping is difficult with only one hand
"We knew nothing about stroke when we started, but we did lots of research and now we know lots about it.
"We went out with questionnaires and asked people what would be useful for them.
"We designed the devices and when we had finished them we took them to one of the ladies who was helping us for her to trial them.
"She made her comments and then we changed them."
Professor Alan Wing, professor of human movement in the department of psychology, at the University of Birmingham, said many people were unaware of the long-term effects of stroke on the body and that these devices could help improve their quality of life.
"All these devices have been devised with the view of enhancing the freedom of choice and independence of the person who has had the stroke. This is very important.
"Hopefully, after the competition, some of these designs will then be developed and be available for use.
"There is one school of thought that says people who have had strokes should not be given devices like this too early on, but six months after a stroke the recovery is slowing down and these devices could be very helpful," he said.
Results
Alex South, volunteer co-ordinator at The Stroke Association, said it was delighted with the range of devices produced.
"Stroke is the leading cause of severe disability in the UK and each device would go some way in helping to improve the life of a stroke survivor.
"All of the teams involved have gained a lot from the challenge and have learnt more about what it is like to actually live with the effects of stroke."
The winning team will be announced on 29 September.
During the year BAE Systems also hopes to raise £850,000 for the Stroke Association.
Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5323536.stm
By Jane Elliott
One device tears toilet paper When Owain Morgan needed to come up with a design to help people who had suffered a stroke, he turned to his own family for inspiration.
His grandmother and uncle had both had strokes and talking to them he realised something as simple as a device to help them tear toilet and kitchen paper with one hand could make a big difference to their lives.
"It didn't really occur to me before talking to them that this might be a problem for people - that something so simple could help," said 18-year-old Owain, an apprentice from South Wales.
There are more than 450,000 people living in the UK who, as a result of a stroke, need to rely on others to help with simple everyday tasks like these.
Challenge
In a bid to raise awareness of the problem and do something to help those who have had a stroke, the UK defence and aerospace group, BAE Systems set their apprentices the challenge of designing devices to make lives easier.
The teams had either to develop a mechanical aid to help people who had paralysis of a limb to do everyday activities, or design an electrical aid to help those with speech problems (dysphasia) communicate in everyday situations.
Strokes can leave people with disabilities The entries were whittled down to a shortlist of four.
Project manager John Flemming said his group of apprentices had come up with a device to aid the rehabilitation of muscular movement.
They worked with physios at Bucknall Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, who are currently trialling the invention.
"The idea was to help rehabilitate both the arm and the shoulder by helping to reintroduce tension back through use.
"It will then help reduce muscle wastage as well as reducing the chances of the patient suffering from oedema."
All these devices have been devised with the view of enhancing the freedom of choice and independence of the person who has had the stroke
Professor Alan Wing
Lucy Thatcher, who co-ordinated her team's entry, said their device was designed to help patients to communicate more easily with their carers.
She said both carer and patient could be given an LED (Light Emitting Diode) box that would alert the carer when there was a problem.
Attaching four symbols, such as the picture of a cup or an emergency symbol to both devices, could allow the patient not only to say they needed help, but why.
"This could be particularly useful in the first stages when the patients' dysphasia can be the most severe.
"It allows the patient to buzz if there is an emergency and allows the carer to rush in if it is an emergency and to know, if not, what their needs are," said Lucy.
Kitchen aid
Another team, under project manager Carl Dodd, designed a board with a multitude of kitchen implements designed to make chopping, grating, mashing and paring possible with just one hand.
Chopping is difficult with only one hand "We knew nothing about stroke when we started, but we did lots of research and now we know lots about it.
"We went out with questionnaires and asked people what would be useful for them.
"We designed the devices and when we had finished them we took them to one of the ladies who was helping us for her to trial them.
"She made her comments and then we changed them."
Professor Alan Wing, professor of human movement in the department of psychology, at the University of Birmingham, said many people were unaware of the long-term effects of stroke on the body and that these devices could help improve their quality of life.
"All these devices have been devised with the view of enhancing the freedom of choice and independence of the person who has had the stroke. This is very important.
"Hopefully, after the competition, some of these designs will then be developed and be available for use.
"There is one school of thought that says people who have had strokes should not be given devices like this too early on, but six months after a stroke the recovery is slowing down and these devices could be very helpful," he said.
Results
Alex South, volunteer co-ordinator at The Stroke Association, said it was delighted with the range of devices produced.
"Stroke is the leading cause of severe disability in the UK and each device would go some way in helping to improve the life of a stroke survivor.
"All of the teams involved have gained a lot from the challenge and have learnt more about what it is like to actually live with the effects of stroke."
The winning team will be announced on 29 September.
During the year BAE Systems also hopes to raise £850,000 for the Stroke Association.
Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5323536.stm
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Sunday, September 17, 2006
Hemophilia Drug May Work on Strokes
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 24, 2005
A drug that keeps hemophiliacs from bleeding to death could also prove to be the first effective treatment for the most lethal and crippling type of stroke, the kind caused by a burst blood vessel in the brain, researchers are reporting today.
In an international study, the researchers said, stroke victims given the drug - recombinant activated factor VIIa, a clot-forming drug sold as NovoSeven - were one-third less likely to die and three times as likely to survive without severe disability.
But Dr. Stephan A. Mayer, a stroke specialist at Columbia University Medical Center who led the study, said that the drug needed more study and that it would be at least two years before the maker, Novo Nordisk, applied for Food and Drug Administration approval for this purpose.
Most of the 700,000 strokes in the United States each year are caused by a clot that cuts off the flow of blood to the brain. Over the past decade, the clot-busting drug T.P.A., or tissue plasminogen activator, has been effective in treating many of them.There has been no effective treatment for the 10 percent to 15 percent of strokes caused by bleeding in the brain.
More than half the victims die within a year, and only one in five recover well enough to regain mobility.
The researchers tested NovoSeven, which has been on the market since 1999 as a treatment for hemophilia, against bleeding strokes. The findings are reported today in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study was financed by Novo Nordisk; Dr. Mayer gets consulting fees from the company.
The study was conducted at 73 hospitals in 20 countries. Researchers assigned 399 patients to get the drug or a placebo. Patients who took the drug within four hours of the onset of a stroke had about half the amount of bleeding in their brain.
After three months, 18 percent of those who took the drug had died, compared with 29 percent of those in the other group.
The drug had side effects. Seven percent of patients who received it suffered heart attacks or strokes caused by blood clots, compared with 2 percent of those in the other group. But most recovered.
"The benefit definitely outweighs the risk," said Dr. Marc R. Mayberg, chairman of the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association. Dr. Mayberg had no role in the study.
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/health/24stroke.html
Related links:
Novo Nordisk
NovoSeven
European Medicines Agency
FDA
NovoSeven for Traumatic Coagulopathy
NovoSeven Drug information
Published: February 24, 2005
A drug that keeps hemophiliacs from bleeding to death could also prove to be the first effective treatment for the most lethal and crippling type of stroke, the kind caused by a burst blood vessel in the brain, researchers are reporting today.
In an international study, the researchers said, stroke victims given the drug - recombinant activated factor VIIa, a clot-forming drug sold as NovoSeven - were one-third less likely to die and three times as likely to survive without severe disability.
But Dr. Stephan A. Mayer, a stroke specialist at Columbia University Medical Center who led the study, said that the drug needed more study and that it would be at least two years before the maker, Novo Nordisk, applied for Food and Drug Administration approval for this purpose.
Most of the 700,000 strokes in the United States each year are caused by a clot that cuts off the flow of blood to the brain. Over the past decade, the clot-busting drug T.P.A., or tissue plasminogen activator, has been effective in treating many of them.There has been no effective treatment for the 10 percent to 15 percent of strokes caused by bleeding in the brain.
More than half the victims die within a year, and only one in five recover well enough to regain mobility.
The researchers tested NovoSeven, which has been on the market since 1999 as a treatment for hemophilia, against bleeding strokes. The findings are reported today in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study was financed by Novo Nordisk; Dr. Mayer gets consulting fees from the company.
The study was conducted at 73 hospitals in 20 countries. Researchers assigned 399 patients to get the drug or a placebo. Patients who took the drug within four hours of the onset of a stroke had about half the amount of bleeding in their brain.
After three months, 18 percent of those who took the drug had died, compared with 29 percent of those in the other group.
The drug had side effects. Seven percent of patients who received it suffered heart attacks or strokes caused by blood clots, compared with 2 percent of those in the other group. But most recovered.
"The benefit definitely outweighs the risk," said Dr. Marc R. Mayberg, chairman of the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association. Dr. Mayberg had no role in the study.
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/health/24stroke.html
Related links:
Novo Nordisk
NovoSeven
European Medicines Agency
FDA
NovoSeven for Traumatic Coagulopathy
NovoSeven Drug information
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Stopping Brain Bleeding
September 6 - It sounds frightening and bleeding in the brain is a scary type of stroke. But, now a new therapy is working wonders.
Intracerebral hemorrhaging, or brain bleeding, is a scary type of stroke. It makes up 15 percent of all strokes, and there are no effective treatments for it. Ninety percent of patients are dead within a month if it's a large hemorrhage in a deep brain structure. But now, a new therapy seems to stop the bleeding in its tracks.
These houses are the fruits of Clifford Golatt Jr.'s labor. For more than 20 years, he worked as a brick mason. But he went from laying bricks to laying in a hospital bed after having a stroke five months ago.
"Just went dead all of sudden," Golatt says. "That's when I knew I was having a stroke, you know. I told them I was having a stroke, and they thought I was telling a fib, but I wasn't."
Clifford suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage, a type of stroke that's often fatal and has no effective treatments.
"It's about the most frustrating situation you can imagine," Christiana Hall, M.D., a neurologist at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, tells Ivanhoe.
Dr. Hall is one researcher from 100 sites worldwide studying the clotting drug NovoSeven. If it is given within the first few hours after a stroke, it seems to stop the hemorrhage in its tracks.
"The earlier we can get to patients with hemorrhage, the better opportunity they will have for recovery," Dr. Hall says.
Golatt's scan at the time of stroke and after showed the hemorrhage had hardly grown. He was part of the study and doesn't know yet if actually received NovoSeven or a placebo drug. But he was paralyzed on the right side of his body when he came into the hospital. Five days later, he was able to lift that side. And now he's walking!
"The new treatment, I don't know what it was about, but I think I'm doing great," Golatt says.
Even though he would really like to be back building houses, he admits, "I think I was one of the lucky ones." Just being able to walk alongside houses without his cane and with his best friend Marilynn is enough for now.
A small previous study showed NovoSeven led to better patient outcomes and reduced the number of deaths. If the current study also proves it's effective, it could become FDA approved for widespread use, much like how the drug TPA has become the gold standard for ischemic stroke patients with a clot.
NovoSeven is already an approved treatment for some hemophiliacs.
Source: ABCnews
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=health&id=4535073
Intracerebral hemorrhaging, or brain bleeding, is a scary type of stroke. It makes up 15 percent of all strokes, and there are no effective treatments for it. Ninety percent of patients are dead within a month if it's a large hemorrhage in a deep brain structure. But now, a new therapy seems to stop the bleeding in its tracks.
These houses are the fruits of Clifford Golatt Jr.'s labor. For more than 20 years, he worked as a brick mason. But he went from laying bricks to laying in a hospital bed after having a stroke five months ago.
"Just went dead all of sudden," Golatt says. "That's when I knew I was having a stroke, you know. I told them I was having a stroke, and they thought I was telling a fib, but I wasn't."
Clifford suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage, a type of stroke that's often fatal and has no effective treatments.
"It's about the most frustrating situation you can imagine," Christiana Hall, M.D., a neurologist at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, tells Ivanhoe.
Dr. Hall is one researcher from 100 sites worldwide studying the clotting drug NovoSeven. If it is given within the first few hours after a stroke, it seems to stop the hemorrhage in its tracks.
"The earlier we can get to patients with hemorrhage, the better opportunity they will have for recovery," Dr. Hall says.
Golatt's scan at the time of stroke and after showed the hemorrhage had hardly grown. He was part of the study and doesn't know yet if actually received NovoSeven or a placebo drug. But he was paralyzed on the right side of his body when he came into the hospital. Five days later, he was able to lift that side. And now he's walking!
"The new treatment, I don't know what it was about, but I think I'm doing great," Golatt says.
Even though he would really like to be back building houses, he admits, "I think I was one of the lucky ones." Just being able to walk alongside houses without his cane and with his best friend Marilynn is enough for now.
A small previous study showed NovoSeven led to better patient outcomes and reduced the number of deaths. If the current study also proves it's effective, it could become FDA approved for widespread use, much like how the drug TPA has become the gold standard for ischemic stroke patients with a clot.
NovoSeven is already an approved treatment for some hemophiliacs.
Source: ABCnews
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=health&id=4535073
