Medical things

2022-10-25

Parkinson's test via skin swabs?

A potential skin-swab test for Parkinson's is pretty accurate in the lab

Parkinson's disease has, hitherto, had no lab test and doctors have to infer it from symptoms - usually after it is well-established.

A new test relies on changes in the chemical mix of sebum, which has earlier been linked to the disease. And it takes barely 3 minutes. What a game changer!

A shout-out to Ms Joy Milne, a Scottish woman who helped the researchers, thanks to her super-keen sense of smell.

Read all about it here.

2011-07-28

Snake oil or useful supplements?

Scientific evidence for health supplements

This balloon chart tries to visualize which dietary supplements might actually have tangible health benefits.

In 2011, it specified that the 'popularity' was determined by the number of google searches. The chart keeps getting updated, so use the link. Items in yellow/orange have low evidence, but promising results.

2011-08-19

Telepresence Robotics

This is really exciting, and, what's more, may see the light of day soon. [2023-06: Wonder what happened to this?]

"...it is it's ability to detect head movement and facial gestures that are important. Coupled with the inexpensive Rovio it can give those with limited mobility a mobile set of eyes and ears to explore their home or any place else in the world there's a Rovio they can connect to.

Note, for those people that do not have head movement capability I will be adding an alternate interface that uses only the EPOC's ability to detect subtle muscle tension in the face and scalp and it's ability to detect some strong brain activity patterns, without relying on head movement. However, I can't say that interface will be effective until I have had some real trials with real people."

This looks like a really cool Kickstarter: control robots with your mind: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robots/robodance-5-telepresence-robotics-for-all-esp-the

Could be good for the disabled or people who have trouble getting around.

pretty cool! I visited Jiang Tong University in Shanghai in May, they were doing something similar, but a little more productive .. helping paraplegic people go about doing simple tasks with robotic arms

2011-07-15

Avoid antibacterial soaps

Avoid antibacterial soaps. Here's why:

Moira MacNeill: Sales of bug-resistant hand soaps and other antibiotic cleansers make for resistance to those products, which then creates hospital infections. [Should we] ban the stuff?

Award-winning science journalist Maryn McKenna: Great question. Those antimicrobial gels are pretty much never a good idea. Here's why: We don't really need them. Soap, or the alcohol in an uncomplicated hand gel, does the job of removing or killing bacteria without the need for extra antibacterial compounds. What those compounds do, actually, is to create a kind of resistance analogous to what antibiotics do. It is actually possible for bacteria to become resistance to antibacterial compounds, making them less effective.

Source: Chat on Scientific American