Samsung Develops Gadget to Detect Strokes

In recent news, engineers at the Samsung Electronics Creative Lab (C-Lab) have developed an Early Detection Sensor & Algorithm Package (EDSAP) that has the ability to detect strokes.

“The resulting headset is equipped with sensors that transfer data to algorithms that allow you to observe your brainwaves on your Smartphone, tablet or upright computer to make sure you are not at risk.”

Interestingly, this device could potentially save lives by ensuring that people obtain proper medical attention in a timely manner.  Samsung claims that it’s even more efficient than hospital equipment as it analyzes brainwaves more rapidly and detects more detail due to a rubber-like ultra-conductive material.

Apparently, the headset is merely a prototype and the sensors will actually function effectively in any type of headgear such as barrettes or even eyeglasses.

There is no word on when this device could be available to the general public; however they do suggest that this technology could lead to other applications such as monitoring heart muscle activity.

Despite the fact that the device is not approved or regulated, it is refreshing that companies like Samsung are spending some of their efforts on developing gadgets other than newer models of Smartphones and Tablets.

Until then…

“A stroke, sometimes referred to as a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), cerebrovascular insult (CVI), or colloquially brain attack is the loss of brain function due to a disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This disturbance is due to either ischemia (lack of blood flow) or hemorrhage. As a result, the affected area of the brain cannot function normally, which might result in an inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, failure to understand or formulate speech, or a vision impairment of one side of the visual field.”

Warning Signs:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
  
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or understanding.
  
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
  
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
  
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

Some Statistics:

• In 2010, worldwide prevalence of stroke was 33 million, with 16.9 million people having a first stroke. 
• Stroke was the second-leading global cause of death behind heart disease, accounting for 11.13% of total deaths worldwide.
  
• Stroke is the No. 4 cause of death in the United States, killing nearly 129,000 people a year.
  
• Stroke kills someone in the U.S. about once every four minutes.
  
• African-Americans have nearly twice the risk for a first-ever stroke than white people, and a much higher death rate from stroke.
  
• Over the past 10 years, the death rate from stroke has fallen about 35 percent and the number of stroke deaths has dropped about 21 percent.
  
• About 795,000 people have a stroke every year.
  
• Someone in the U.S. has a stroke about once every 40 seconds.
  
• Stroke causes 1 of every 20 deaths in the U.S.
  
• Stroke is a leading cause of disability.
  
• Stroke is the leading preventable cause of disability.

Samsung developing wearable headset to detect strokes
Stroke
American Heart Association

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Tranexamic Acid May Prevent Death From Head Injury

Researchers of the CRASH-2 Intracranial Bleeding Study have uncovered the possibility that tranexamic acid may be able to prevent people from dying of head injuries. This hypothesis was derived from the examination of 270 adult trauma patients with traumatic brain injury and with, or at risk of, significant extracranial bleeding within 8 hours of injury. Results of the study were persuasive enough that a CRASH-3 study is needed to test the reliability of this drug among patients with head trauma.

Tranexamic acid, otherwise known as Lysteda or Cyklokapron in the U.S., is often prescribed for excessive bleeding. “It is an antifibrinolytic that competitively inhibits the activation of plasminogen to plasmin, a molecule responsible for the degradation of fibrin. Fibrin is the basic framework for the formation of a blood clot in hemostasis.” In addition to its value for treating trauma patients, it has been used to treat cases of excessive menstrual bleeding, to reduce blood loss during orthopedic surgery, as a mouthwash following dental surgery, as well as in obstetrics, cardiac surgery, hemophilia and hereditary angioedema.

If approved, tranexamic acid could be used immediately following trauma when bleeding typically progresses and causes more and more brain damage by reducing the breakdown of blood clots and decreasing the amount of bleeding into the brain thereby preventing brain damage and even death.

“Although the results are not definitive they provide hope about the potential effectiveness of this simple drug for head injury patients. If such an inexpensive and widely practicable treatment were found to improve patient outcomes after head injury this would have major implications for clinical care” Said Dr Pablo Perel.

Hopefully, CRASH-3 trials will unveil conclusive results so that such a simple treatment could be incorporated immediately following traumatic brain injuries to increase survival rates and reduce disability, not to mention avoiding extensive and challenging rehabilitation.

Potential of Simple Injection On Patients With Head Injury
Tranexamic acid

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Statins May Improve Outcomes For Stroke Patients

Research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has uncovered data suggesting that cholesterol-lowering drugs, known as statins, may help clot-busting drugs treat strokes.

Already, statins are well-known for lowering cholesterol, however they have also been recognized for producing other beneficial effects, such as maintaining the health of cells that line our blood vessel walls and increasing our production of nitric oxide, which dilates our blood vessels.

Researchers studied 31 patients that suffered an ischemic stroke, in which a clot blocks blood flow to part of the brain. It was observed that 12 of the 31 subjects already prescribed statins to control cholesterol, experienced more rapid and complete return of blood flow to the blocked areas of the brain.

"We've known that patients on statins have better stroke outcomes, but the data in this study suggest a new reason why: Statins may help improve blood flow to brain regions at risk of dying during ischemic stroke," says senior author Jin-Moo Lee, MD, PhD, director of the cerebrovascular disease section in the Department of Neurology. "If that turns out to be the case, we may want to consider adding statins to the clot-busting drugs we normally give to acute stroke patients."

To study this possibility, patients experiencing an ischemic stroke were treated with a clot-busting drug and followed up with an MRI. This scan was performed during treatment and again three hours later to assess the effectiveness of the clot-busting drug to restore blood flow to the blocked areas.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time someone has looked at the effects of statins on restoration of blood flow using brain tissue-based measurements instead of looking at the opening of blood vessels," says lead author Andria Ford, MD, assistant professor of neurology. "It's harder to do, but we feel it gives us more accurate measurements."

In only a short 3 hour window, twelve of the patients that were already being treated with statins averaged about 50% restored blood flow to affected areas of the brain, whereas the remaining 19 patients that were not already being treated with statins only averaged roughly 13% restored blood flow.

In addition, physicians tested these patients using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, which evaluates speech, movement, attention and sensation, upon arrival at the hospital and at one month following their stroke. These results also demonstrated that patients treated with statins showed more improvement in their scores when assessed a month after their stroke occurred.

Although results appear promising, researchers have not yet determined whether regular doses of statins or merely treatment of stroke with statins produces such results. Further investigation may prove to have a positive impact on society’s number one disabler.

Cholesterol Drugs May Improve Blood Flow After Stroke

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Antidepressants Could Reduce the Effects of Stroke

The Buck Institute for Age Research has been studying the possibility that antidepressants and mood stabilizers, like lithium for example, could have positive effects on stroke victims. The growth of new neurons has been known to diminish the effects of a stroke as well as dramatically improve impaired functions after a stroke, while those types of medications have been found to encourage neurogenesis in rodents.

"What this study shows more convincingly than in the past is that the production of new neurons after stroke is beneficial in rodents," said Buck faculty member and senior author David Greenberg, MD, PhD. "Assuming that neurogenesis is also beneficial in humans, drugs approved by the FDA for other purposes and already shown to promote new neuron growth in rodents might be worth studying as a potential treatment for stroke in humans. For example, antidepressants are often used to treat post-stroke depression, but their potential for improving outcome from stroke itself is less certain."

Researchers compared the size of a stroke and the recovery from stroke in genetically altered mice that either had the ability to grow new neurons or not. It was discovered that mice without the ability to grow new neurons suffered strokes 30% larger; whereas the mice with the ability to grow new neurons showed dramatic improvement of motor functions following a stroke.

Although this new research sounds very exciting, Greenberg cautions that people should not attempt to treat themselves until clear evidence is made official as testing has not been rigorous enough to determine if negative effects exist or whether these positive effects can be seen in humans. Testing these medications that stimulate the growth of neurons could lead to other exciting discoveries for many other age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.

“Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and is the leading cause of serious long-term disability in this country. Treatments for stroke are limited. Clot busting drugs, which have to be given within hours of the stroke, have been of great benefit to a small number of patients, but stroke is not usually diagnosed in time for them to be used.”

What is a stroke?

A stroke (sometimes called a cerebrovascular accident (CVA)) is the rapidly developing loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain, caused by a blocked or burst blood vessel. This can be due to ischemia (lack of glucose and oxygen supply) caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage. As a result, the affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech, or inability to see one side of the visual field.

What factors lead to a higher risk of stroke?

• advanced age
  
• hypertension
  
• a previous stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA)
  
• diabetes
  
• high cholesterol
  
• cigarette smoking
  
• atrial fibrillation

What are the symptoms of stroke?

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the central nervous system include:

• hemiplegia and muscle weakness of the face
  
• numbness
  
• reduction in sensory or vibratory sensation

Generally, the symptoms affect one side of the body and the side affected is typically opposite to the affected brain area.

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the brain stem include:

• altered smell, taste, hearing, or vision
  
• drooping of eyelid and weakness of ocular muscles
  
• decreased reflexes (gag, swallow, pupil reactivity to light)
  
• decreased sensation and muscle weakness in the face
  
• balance problems and nystagmus (involuntary eye movement)
  
• altered breathing and heart rate
  
• weakness in sternocleidomastoid muscle with an inability to turn the head to one side
  
• weakness in tongue (inability to protrude and/or move from side to side)

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the cerebral cortex include:

• aphasia (inability to speak or understand language from involvement of Broca's or Wernicke's area)
  
• apraxia (altered voluntary movements)
  
• visual field defect
  
• memory deficits (with damage to the temporal lobe)
  
• hemineglect (a deficit in attention to and awareness of one side of space is observed when there is damage to the parietal lobe)
  
• disorganized thinking, confusion, hypersexual gestures (with damage to the frontal lobe)
  
• anosognosia (persistent denial of the existence of a, usually stroke-related, deficit)

Symptoms of a stroke that affects the cerebellum include:

• trouble walking
  
• altered movement coordination
  
• vertigo and or disequilibrium

What are the long-term effects?

Disability affects 75% of stroke survivors enough to decrease their employability. Stroke can affect patients physically, mentally, emotionally, or a combination of the three. The results of stroke vary widely depending on size and location of the lesion. Dysfunctions correspond to areas in the brain that have been damaged.

Some of the physical disabilities that can result from stroke include:

• paralysis
  
• numbness
  
• pressure sores
  
• pneumonia
  
• incontinence
  
• apraxia (inability to perform learned movements)
  
• difficulties carrying out daily activities
  
• appetite loss
  
• speech loss
  
• vision loss
  
• pain
  
• coma
  
• death

Some of the mental disabilities that can result from stroke include:

• anxiety
  
• panic attacks
  
• flat affect (failure to express emotions)
  
• mania
  
• apathy
  
• psychosis
  
• depression (characterized by lethargy, irritability, sleep disturbances, lowered self esteem, and withdrawal)
  
• emotional lability (a rapid switch between emotional highs and lows and an inappropriate expression of emotions
  
• speech problems
  
• dementia
  
• attention and memory problems
  
• anosognosia (persistent denial of the existence of a, usually stroke-related, deficit)
  
• hemispatial neglect (inability to attend to anything on the side of space opposite to the damaged hemisphere)
  
• seizures

All resulting affects of stroke are dependent on the severity of brain damage.

Antidepressants as Treatment Immediately Following a Stroke?
Stroke

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FeelingBetterNow.com

This website diagnoses and recommends a specified treatment of nine major mental disorders, from depression to post-traumatic stress disorder. It was designed by Dr. Sam Ozersky and other leading mental health experts that form Mensante Corp. This website that has been around since January 2006 diagnoses, treats, and follows up when a risk of mental illness is detected from answers to an online survey. It seems to be designed for the workforce. The site is actually endorsed by the Canadian College of Family Physicians.

This seems like yet another desperate attempt at making psychology the science that it will never be. Although the idea is similar to the administration of psychological inventories it lacks a very important element, namely professional interpretation and explanation. Besides the fact that this puts many well-educated professionals out of work, the job would be placed in the hands of those seriously lacking in experience. Also, what about computer error? After putting so much effort into studies and work in the field, I could never support or put any faith in such an invention unless it is used with extreme caution. I suppose it could prove to be valuable for some when used as a "guide", but it will hardly replace any existing practices. The fact that it might provide comprehensive information in one place may be it's best feature.

Of course, the greatest benefits are most likely to be seen in the money saved due to increased productivity and decreased payouts in disability claims because in the end that is the real aim of this approach is it not?

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