> With age, the "plasticity" that allows experience to mold the brain so easily declines. But it doesn't disappear. At any age, learning a challenging new set of skills such as instrumental music is likely to return cognitive dividends, says Harvard University neurologist Gottfried Schlaug. And…
Sitting in a room at Virginia Hospital Center again. Woke up this morning not feeling quite right, an unsettled stomach. Got out of bed to get my medication and a shower, but fell before I got to the bathroom. All the tests that were run at the Healthplex (CT, X-Ray,…
> BBC - Teaching stroke patients to sing could helping them recover http://bit.ly/bymQnm Favourite music could help too http://bit.ly/wGAyS — Ed Yong (@edyong209) February 21, 2010 [https://twitter.com/edyong209/statuses/9431457376] Also seen on Twitter via @ralphsierra. All I know is it's…
> Neurologists have built an ultrasound device which uses focused sound waves to destroy stroke-causing blood clots in brains. The procedure is non-invasive—requiring no drugs or surgery—and is already being tested on patients. The machine and procedure allows doctors to "surround the head with an array of…
Watched The Graduate last night and was surprised to see how a wet suit was used in the scene of Ben's 21st birthday to much the same effect as the diver's suit in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Both movies use the suit to great…
The local news did a segment [http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/Device_Gives_Stroke_Patients_New_Hope_Washington_DC.html#] on the device that helps me walk, the hospital where I learned to use it, and the therapist who taught me how to use it. A nice job all…
> Sometime this year, ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom--where, we might recall, CT-scanners, MRI-scanners, and monoclonal antibodies were 'invented'--will inject human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into the retina of a patient suffering macular degeneration, a leading cause of near-blindness in the elderly. Currently, there are nearly 2…
> Through literature, she learned how stories are built and told, and translated that to listening to, and better understanding, patients. She could let them tell their own stories without interruptions and see how people described their symptoms as part of the larger story of their life. Dr. Charon was…