Brain Stimulation Shown to Restore Limb Mobility in Stroke

Well patenting it, so no expectation that this become a freely available protocol. 

Brain Stimulation Shown to Restore Limb Mobility in Stroke  

By Alan, on June 19th, 2018

(Media News, Flickr)

19 June 2018. Mild electronic stimulation to specific brain regions is shown to restore upper limb movements in lab animals induced with stroke, with similar brain signals in humans also identified as targets. The findings of a medical research and engineering team at University of California in San Francisco appear in yesterday’s issue of the journal Nature Medicine (paid subscription required).

Researchers from the neural engineering lab led by neuroscience professor Karunesh Ganguly are seeking better rehabilitation options for people recovering from stroke, who often struggle with goal-directed movements of their hands and arms. Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, cutting the oxygen needed by brain cells to function. The vast majority (85%) of strokes are caused by blood clots, while many other strokes are caused by blood vessel leakage in the brain. Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke each year, with paralysis and weakness in the limbs among the results. Recovery, often in rehabilitation clinics, can take months or years of continuous exercises.

The researchers, with colleagues from other UC-San Francisco labs and medical centers in the area, focused on low-frequency oscillations, nerve cell activity in the motor cortex, the brain’s region that controls voluntary muscle movement. These nerve signals are believed to coordinate muscle activity to make movements smooth and efficient. In tests with lab rats, the team measured low-frequency oscillations when the animals reached for food pellets, both before and during the reaching activities.

The researchers then induced strokes in the lab animals, and again measured brain signals, which show low-frequency oscillations diminishing after a stroke. In addition, as the rats recovered and their upper limb movements improved, low-frequency oscillations also recovered, with a strong correlation found between these brain signals and recovery of limb functions.

Ganguly and colleagues used electrodes implanted in the brains of the rodents to measure their low-frequency oscillations, and with the same electrodes delivered mild electronic stimulation to the damaged area of the motor cortex. The researchers timed delivery of the electronic stimulation to immediately before the rats made a reaching movement. The results show reaching movements aided by electronic stimulation are 60 percent more accurate than unassisted movements.

The team also sought evidence of the role played by low-frequency oscillations in humans recovering from a stroke. The researchers analyzed recordings of low-frequency oscillations from the brain of a person with epilepsy who also suffered a stroke. The team found fewer low-frequency oscillations from this individual than in two other persons with epilepsy who did not have a stroke.

The authors believe their findings can accelerate development of brain implants to stimulate low-frequency oscillations for stroke recovery, which enhance current brain signals rather than introducing an artificial stimulus. “We are not creating a new frequency,” says  Ganguly in a university statement, “we are amplifying the existing frequency. By amplifying the weak low-frequency oscillations, we are able to help organize the task-related neural activity. When we delivered the electrical current in step with their intended actions, motor control actually got better.”

University of California filed for a patent on the technology in June 2017, listing Ganguly and co-authors Tanuj Gulati and Dhakshin Ramanathan as inventors.

Skin patch with microneedles proves effective alternative to injections

With just a bit of innovation this could be used to monitor INR levels and not need to go to the clinic to get a blood draw. A great stroke association would direct some of their employees to solve this rather than waiting for SOMEONE ELSE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.  A few patents like this could provide a continuing stream of money to fund research. But that will never occur with the fucking failures of stroke associations we have now.
https://www.mdlinx.com/internal-medicine/top-medical-news/article/2017/01/04/5

KTH Royal Institute of Technology News

It’s only a matter of time before drugs are administered via patches with painless microneedles instead of unpleasant injections. But designers need to balance the need for flexible, comfortable–to–wear material with effective microneedle penetration of the skin. Researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm say they may have cracked the problem.

In a study the research team from KTH reports a successful test of its microneedle patch, which combines stainless steel needles embedded in a soft polymer base – the first such combination believed to be scientifically studied. The soft material makes it comfortable to wear, while the stiff needles ensure reliable skin penetration.

Unlike epidermal patches, microneedles penetrate the upper layer of the skin, just enough to avoid touching the nerves. This enables delivery of drugs, extraction of physiological signals for fitness monitoring devices, extracting body fluids for real–time monitoring of glucose, pH level and other diagnostic markers, as well as skin treatments in cosmetics and bioelectric treatments.

Frank Niklaus, professor of micro and nanofabrication at KTH, says that practically all microneedle arrays being tested today are “monoliths”, that is, the needles and their supporting base are made of the same – often hard and stiff – material. While that allows the microneedles to penetrate the skin, they are uncomfortable to wear. On the other hand, if the whole array is made from softer materials, they may fit more comfortably, but soft needles are less reliable for penetrating the skin.

“To the best of our knowledge, flexible and stretchable patches with arrays of sharp and stiff microneedles have not been demonstrated to date,” he says.

They actually tested two variations of their concept, one which was stretchable and slightly more flexible than the other. The more flexible patch, which has a base of molded thiol–ene–epoxy–based thermoset film, conformed well to deformations of the skin surface and each of the 50 needles penetrated the skin during a 30 minute test.

A successful microneedle product could have major implications for health care delivery. “The chronically ill would not have to take daily injections,” says co–author Niclas Roxhed, who is research leader at the Department of Micro and Nano Systems at KTH.

In addition to addressing people’s reluctance to take painful shots, microneedles also offer a hygiene benefit. The World Health Organization estimates that about 1.3 million people die worldwide each year due to improper handling of needles.

“Since the patch does not enter the bloodstream, there is less risk of spreading infections,” Roxhed says.

The report, Flexible and Stretchable Microneedle Patches with Integrated Rigid Stainless Steel Microneedles for Transdermal Biointerfacing, was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Increasing neurogenesis with fluoxetine, simvastatin and ascorbic Acid leads to functional recovery in ischemic stroke

Good if you are a rat. Whom will do the followup research on this? This will never be followed up since we have NO stroke leadership we can bring these simple questions to. Every stroke survivor for the next 50 years is going to be screwed because nothing is going to get done until WE take over all the stroke associations.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25612744

Corbett AM, Sieber S, Wyatt N, Lizzi J, Flannery T, Sibbit B, Sanghvi S¹.

Author information

Abstract

Less than 8.5% of ischemic stroke patients receive clot-busting drugs within the narrow time needed to reduce injury. Thus, there is need for an easily-accessible delayed post-stroke drug treatment to improve functional recovery. Various combinations of fluoxetine, simvastatin, and ascorbic acid were given to healthy rats to assess impact on neurogenesis versus controls. Fluoxetine combined with simvastatin and ascorbic acid produced a 19-fold increase in neurogenesis versus controls in healthy rats; fluoxetine alone produced 10-fold increase. We next tried a couple of drug combinations versus control in endothelin-induced stroked rats. Combined fluoxetine/ simvastatin/ascorbic acid treatment, given to stroked rats 20-26 hours after stroke induction and continued for 31 days, produced strong recovery as measured by Montoya staircase test (mean recovery to 85% of pre-stroke function) and Forelimb Asymmetry test (mean recovery to 90% of pre-stroke function). Fluoxetine and ascorbic acid without simvastatin only produced ~50% of recovery produced by the 3-drug combination. Our results indicate that combined treatment of Fluoxetine, simvastatin and ascorbic acid represents a promising delayed stroke treatment that greatly improves functional recovery in rats and warrants further study in human patient populations. This work formed the basis for a patent submission (US20130065924A1) Composition and method for treatment of neurodegeneration.

PMID:

25612744

[PubMed - in process]

Patent - METHODS FOR TREATING INFLAMMATION

This one is so general that it would patent the use of aspirin/NOACs to combat inflammation.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2015/0335739.html

Title:

METHODS FOR TREATING INFLAMMATION

Document Type and Number:

United States Patent Application 20150335739

Kind Code:

A1

Abstract:

The invention provides methods and compositions for inhibiting, reducing or slowing inflammation or inflammatory diseases, for reducing sequestration or collecting or localization of macrophages, for treating a disease caused all or in part by or characterized by inflammation such as, for instance, chronic inflammation, for inhibiting, slowing, reversing or preventing atherosclerosis, and for increasing insulin sensitivity, decreasing or inhibiting resistance to insulin, or treating diabetes by inhibiting, inhibiting the biological activity of or antagonizing an axonal guidance protein. The methods may feature administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of an agent effective to inhibit or reduce the biological activity of an axonal guidance protein or a receptor of the axonal guidance protein, or an analog, derivative or combination thereof. The disease may be, for instance, one of atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, autoimmune syndromes and obesity where macrophage accumulation in adipose tissue is known to promote insulin resistance.

METHOD OF MANAGING A BRAIN STROKE

Wow, trying to patent the process of treating a stroke patient which has been occurring this way for years. Unintelligible diagrams in PDF at the link.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2015/0327817.html

United States Patent Application 20150327817

Kind Code:

A1

Abstract:

The present invention relates to a medical method of managing a cerebrovascular insult, the method comprising the following steps in this order:

• • a) placing a patient on a patient support unit;
  • b) positioning a mobile tomographic imaging system in a predetermined position relative to the patient support unit with the patient placed on the patient support unit;
  • c) imaging at least part of the patient's brain using an imaging unit of the tomographic imaging system, the imaging comprising in particular generating an image describing the functioning of the patient's blood vessel system;
  • d) determining, in dependence on the result of the imaging,
    • whether the patient support unit should be rotated relative to the tomographic imaging system with the patient placed on the patient support unit so that the patient is free of the imaging unit in order to conduct a medical intervention on the patient's blood vessel system, or
    • whether the patient support unit may remain in its position relative to the tomographic imaging system with the patient placed on the patient support unit.

Tech Tats: The Future of Wearables?

I could easily see this being used for stroke survivors, by adding a nano needle patch you should be able to monitor INR and cholesterol levels. A great stroke association would have hundreds of patents supplying money to be used in research. That's if we had any stroke leadership at all. Which we don't.

Tech Tats: The Future of Wearables?

A forlorn girl sits at the bottom of a staircase in her household. An adult comes by with a small plastic case, opening it to reveal a rectangle sheet. The adult applies the sheet to the girl’s arm and holds a cloth over it. The cloth is pulled away and a small circuit board-like array with glowing green dots is stuck to the girl’s deltoid. The adult pulls out her smartphone, where the girl’s vitals are displayed.  
“Rather than going to the doctor once a year to get your physical, this Tech Tattoo can be something that you just put on your body once a year and it monitors everything that they would do in a physical and sends that to your doctor, and if there’s an issue, they could call you,” said Eric Schneider, a creative technologist with Chaotic Moon, the developer of Tech Tats, in a video.
“It can look at early signs of fever, your vital signs, heartrate, everything that it needs to look at to notify you that you’re getting sick, or your child is getting sick.”
According to Vice’s Motherboard, the tattoo uses electroconductive paint to transfer data from temperature sensors to an ATiny85 microcontroller.
While the focus is currently on the medical field, Schneider floats the idea of using the Tech Tat as a way to revolutionize the banking industry. Rather than carrying wallets around, credit cards and identification information can be stored right on one’s skin.
Speaking with TechCrunch, Chaotic Moon CEO Ben Lamm said, “The future of wearables is biowearables.” He added that the company is in talks with partners to bring Tech Tats to market.
Chaotic Moon is a software company based in Austin, Texas.

Human Antibodies and Specific Binding Sequences Thereof for use in Stroke and Ischemia or Ischemic Conditions

Well shit, a patent application for this. A great stroke association would make sure that all research sponsored would be freely available to all.  This isn't even research it's something slightly unethical trying to tie up ideas before they have even been proven.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2015/0104460.html

United States Patent Application 20150104460

Kind Code:

A1

Abstract:

Specific binding members, particularly human antibodies, particularly recombinant antibodies, and fragments thereof, which are capable of binding to and recognizing neurons in the CNS and eliciting responses in CNS neurons are provided. The antibodies are useful in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions associated with nerve damage, injury or degeneration and neurodegenerative disease, and in particular in the treatment or alleviation of stroke or cerebral ischemia. The antibodies, variable regions or CDR domain sequences thereof, and fragments thereof of the invention may also be used in therapy in combination with chemotherapeutics, immune modulators, or neuroactive agents and/or with other antibodies or fragments thereof. The antibodies or active fragments thereof may be used in therapy for stroke or cerebral ischemia alone or in combination with thrombolytics such as TPA. Antibodies are exemplified by the antibodies IgM12 and IgM42 whose sequences are provided herein.

Problems of Patent Financed Drug Research #43,783, Ignoring Non-Patentable Treatments

This I'm sure will also become a problem for stroke treatments. I'm sure fish oil is not patentable. Something for that great stroke association to figure out. Maybe crowdfunding?
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/problems-of-patent-financed-drug-research-43783-ignoring-non-patentable-treatments?
In principle we might think that researchers should be examining the most promising options for treating disease. But the patent system only provides incentives to pursue treatments that are expected to lead to a patentable drug. Therefore we may see many potentially effective treatments ignored, as appears to be the case with the cancer treatment featured in this Pro Publica piece.

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Where's the Crowding Out Crowd When You Need Them?
written by Last Mover, April 23, 2014 4:50

Sock puppets for the medical industrial complex will never frame the issue this way - as a trade-off between treatments that command extortionist payments per dose compared to non-patent alternatives. They will never admit the former crowds out the latter.

Instead they will claim that resources used to develop patented drugs are over and above that available for alternatives in a phony "let many flowers" bloom context that saves the maximum number of lives with the total resources available.

They will be wrong. Many will die or live a shorter life because of resources lured into producing rent seeking patented drugs and treatments that save fewer lives than the many lives that could have been saved by the same resources used far more productively to produce both kinds of drugs and treatments absent monopoly rent profit.

Any other time the sock puppets would be crowing how government crowds out the private sector, but when it comes to how government patent protection abuse crowds out efficient health care with over the top bloated monopoly profit they conveniently go mute.

Patent - Systems and methods for enhancing or affecting neural stimulation efficiency and/or efficacyaP

I'm sure your doctor also knows all about patents and the fact that your recovery is already patented and probably payments due to someone. This one is totally appalling.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=23&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=stroke&OS=stroke&RS=stroke
Abstract Systems and methods for enhancing or affecting neural stimulation efficiency and/or efficacy are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system and/or method may apply electromagnetic stimulation(eStim?) to a patient's nervous system over a first time domain according to a first set of stimulation parameters, and over a second time domain according to a second set of stimulation parameters. The first and second time domains may be sequential, simultaneous, or nested(eStim with two pads being controlled?). Stimulation parameters may vary in accordance with one or more types of duty cycle, amplitude, pulse repetition frequency, pulse width, spatiotemporal, and/or polarity variations. Stimulation may be applied at subthreshold, threshold, and/or suprathreshold levels in one or more periodic, aperiodic (e.g., chaotic), and/or pseudo-random manners. In some embodiments stimulation may comprise a burst pattern having an interburst frequency corresponding to an intrinsic brainwave frequency, and regular and/or varying intraburst stimulation parameters. Stimulation signals providing reduced power consumption with at least adequate symptomatic relief may be applied prior to moderate or significant power source depletion.
What the hell are they trying to say?

Brain Power: McCallie teen awarded patent for revolutionary stroke treatment design

Great idea. But once again proving that stroke medical personnel  don't even know that a ton of neurons  keep dying after circulation is restored. Its almost as if they have never heard of the neuronal cascade of death. From 2009. Would you see any other doctor that is 4 years out-of-date?
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/nov/30/brain-power/ 
Christian's device prototype also uses a catheter-into-artery approach, but instead aims to drill through the clot before any attempt to remove it is made. Once through, it can supply the barren, neglected side of the artery with direly needed blood flow in as little as five minutes.

But is this just showering the downstream arteries and capillaries with debris? 

Methods for treatment of brain injury utilizing biologics

Ok, the stupidity of patenting drug delivery is here for all to see. This is the guy that is trying to push Enbrel/etanercept as a stroke treatment.  He now has included nasal delivery and delivery thru the skin in the patent. This patent needs to be invalidated. The only drug delivery he doesn't try to patent is intravenous and oral.  A great stroke association would object to this.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. 
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2013/0224197.html
A method of using biologics to treat chronic brain injury or spasticity due to stroke, trauma and other causes. Preferred embodiments include perispinal, parenteral, transepidermal or intranasal use of TNF antagonists. The TNF antagonists include TNF receptor fusion proteins, TNF monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), humanized TNF mAbs, fully human TNF mAbs, chimeric TNF mAbs, domain TNF antibodies, mAB fragments, anti-TNF nanobodies, dominant negative TNF constructs and TNF inhibitory single chain antibody fragments. One of the preferred embodiments of this invention is the perispinal administration of etanercept for treatment of mammals following stroke. The use of Trendelenburg positioning, catheters, pumps, or depot formulations are included.

INTRAVENOUS OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID COMPOSITIONS & METHOD OF USE

This is truly disgusting. A research finding  for stroke shows this as a promising approach and some one patents it.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2013/0137770.html

Abstract:

The invention encompasses intravenous pharmaceutical compositions containing omega-3 fatty acids and methods of treating traumatic brain injury, traumatic spinal cord injury and/or stroke using these pharmaceutical compositions.

Etanercept(Enbrel) and IBMs' Watson

This is from a technology site so take what they are saying with a grain of salt. Video training on how to apply it. Still seems more like a puff piece.
Patented by Amgen.
http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-03-26/ibm_s_watson_making_diagnosis_and_treatment_recommendations.html
According to an article in the March 2013 edition of Atlantic magazine titled “The Robot Will See You Now," IBM’s super computer Watson has teamed up with Memorial Sloan/Kettering Hospital to make diagnosis and treatment recommendations. IBM Watson has been programmed with 600,000 pieces of medical evidence from over two million pages of medical text as well as the entire English version of Wikipedia all stored in 15 terabytes of RAM (15 trillion bytes of memory). This is roughly equivalent to the information contained on a bookshelf that is 19 miles long.

“Computer-driven, evidence-based advice like that provided by IBM’s Watson gives validity to the off label use of prescription drugs” states Rolando Rodriguez, M.D., Neurosurgeon at Neurological Wellness Center. “The perispinal administration of the drug etanercept (Enbrel) to patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI) has the potential to enable a significant recovery in memory, mood, speech and physical function,” stated Dr. Rodriguez. “Doctors and nurses are drowning in information with new research popping up daily. They often don’t know what to do and are guessing as well as they can,” said Samuel Nussbaum, WellPoint’s Chief Medical Officer.

A general consensus is emerging among healthcare professionals that to effectively address the many problems in the present healthcare system in America will require a fundamental redesign, a transformation in which existing modalities are replaced by new care delivery paradigms. The expansion of computer medical decision support systems like that provided by IBM's Watson has emerged as one of the areas where there is broad support among the medical community. The proliferation of biomedical information will continue to accelerate taxing the cognitive abilities of physicians as they struggle with the weight of new research findings, clinical guidelines, and recommendations of best practices. Computerized medical decision support systems certainly have the potential to produce better outcomes, increase productivity, lower costs and reduce the occurrence of adverse events.

Perispinal injections of the drug Enbrel are an excellent example. “The medical research is clear: a single injection has the potential to produce a life-changing recovery in persons afflicted with stroke or traumatic brain injury with little to no risk to health, yet the procedure is only slowly starting to gain traction with mainstream medicine,” states Dr. Rodriguez. IBM’s Watson has the potential to be a major game changer in the field of medicine. When physicians’ diagnoses and treatment decisions are evaluated with computer-assisted 20/20 hindsight WellPoint’s Samuel Nussbaum said that “health care professionals make accurate treatment decisions in lung cancer cases only 50% of the time.” “The dictates of a capitalistic healthcare system preclude a drug like Enbrel from ever gaining FDA approval for the treatment of stroke or TBI. The estimated cost for repurposing Enbrel for treating stroke and TBI is $100 million. Considering just one to eight doses are required for the complete treatment, I can be confident this drug will never be approved for stroke or TBI” said Augusto Ramirez, M.D., of Neurological Wellness Center. Neurological Wellness Center offers a complete two-hour course on Alzheimer's treatment, stroke treatment and traumatic brain injury treatment covering all aspects of perispinal injection technique at their center in Managua Nicaragua.

For many, flying to Managua Nicaragua to receive this personalized training is an enormous expense and inconvenience. To overcome this problem, Neurological Wellness Center, under the direction of Augusto Ramirez, M.D., created Perispinal Enbrel Step-By-Step Instructional Video and accompanying e-book.

Neurological Wellness Center’s perispinal Enbrel is profoundly effective as an Alzheimer’s treatment, stroke treatment and TBI treatment. The complete treatment recommendation: for stroke is one 25mg injection of Enbrel every four days for a total of four doses over 16 days; for TBI is one 25mg injection of Enbrel every four days for a total of eight doses. This compares with Amgen/Pfizer’s FDA-approved dose schedule for moderate plaque psoriasis of 50mg twice weekly for three months followed by 50mg weekly for life. The Neurological Wellness Center’s maximum recommended dose for Alzheimer’s disease is 25mg/week for life.

The drug Enbrel is available now. Enbrel received FDA approval in 1998. Its safety profile is well understood. For Enbrel to effectively treat Alzheimer’s, stroke and TBI, it must be administered to the back of the neck precisely between the cervical vertebrae C-5 and C-6. (I wouldn't allow just any doctor to inject me at this location)This perispinal injection allows Enbrel to enter the brain by lymph drainage assisted by gravity. Fortunately for the millions of people now afflicted with Alzheimer’s, stroke and TBI, a video is now available online detailing in step-by-step fashion how to administer a perispinal injection of Enbrel,” said Dr. Rolando Rodrigues.

European Patent Office Issues Its Intention to Grant Genervon Biopharmaceuticals a European Patent on Methods of Treating Neuronal Disorders Using MNTF Peptides and Analogs Thereof

I'm not sure what research was behind this so ask your doctor. Your doctor knows everything. I'm not sure I like patenting stroke methods. 

European Patent Office Issues Its Intention to Grant Genervon Biopharmaceuticals a European Patent on Methods of Treating Neuronal Disorders Using MNTF Peptides and Analogs Thereof

The European Patent Office notified Genervon of its intention to grant a European patent on Methods of Treating Neuronal Disorders using MNTF peptides and analogs thereof. Genervon will proceed to have the patents for EPO application No. 07867451.2 issued, bringing the portfolio of Genervon’s issued Composition of Matters and Use patents to 46.
This patent will grant the intellectual property rights to the use of GM600 in the preparation of a medicament for the therapeutic treatment of neuronal diseases and disorders including stroke, cerebral ischemia, spinal cord injuries (SCI), Huntington’s disease (HD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Alzheimer’s disease by intravenous delivery.
Genervon has discovered a novel endogenous embryonic stage family of 9 human master regulators of the nervous system. The company has developed one of the master regulators, named GM600, for disease modification in neurodegenerative diseases and for neuroprotection. A Phase 1 clinical trial in human volunteers by bolus intravenous administration was completed and GM600 is very safe and tolerable at very high multiple doses. A GM600 serial number is assigned to each indication. GM602 and GM608 are assigned to ischemic stroke and Parkinson’s disease, respectively, which are in Phase 2 clinical trials. GM604 is assigned to ALS indication, with promising and comprehensive mechanisms of action.
GM600 provided neuroprotection against soluble inflammatory factors from CNS human patients’ cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) in vitro by the following percent increase of neuronal cells: Stroke (205%), ALS (175%), MS (246%), AD (191%), HD (271%), PD (198%). GM600 has shown very efficacious effects in animal models in many neurodegenerative and acute injury models.
The discovery of endogenous embryonic stage human master regulators is changing the drug development paradigm from hitting a single gene/pathway to a comprehensive and dynamic multi-factorial approach to treat complex neurodegenerative diseases. Genervon is at the forefront of a drug development paradigm shift that is beginning to be appreciated.
Genervon Biopharmaceuticals LLC (www.genervon.com) is an innovative clinical stage biopharmaceutical company providing breakthrough biological drugs for some of the world’s critical unmet medical needs.

Migraine or stroke? Diagnostic test could provide answer

Could be quite useful, especially for those hypochrondriacs. You'll need classic stroke symptoms so your doctor can't mistake your obvious stroke; don't do the headache or vertigo ones: YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! 

Migraine or stroke? Diagnostic test could provide answer

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati are behind a startup that’s developing a medical device to help emergency doctors diagnose a severe type of headache that could be a warning sign for stroke.
Xanthostat Diagnostics’ device would analyze cerebral spinal fluid to determine if patients are suffering from sentinel subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), a painful headache that can signal a stroke. If undiagnosed — or even sometimes when they’re diagnosed — these major hemorrhagic strokes can lead to death.

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Each year, roughly 1 million patients show up in emergency rooms with symptoms such as severe headache, nausea and dizziness. Emergency doctors must then determine the patient’s medical issue from among the three most likely: severe headache, meningitis or SAH, according to the University of Cincinnati (UC).“While there are only about 30,000 cases of SAH in the U.S. annually, the significant chance for the catastrophic or even fatal outcome that can result from misdiagnosis of these million patients annually make this one of the most important diagnostic decisions faced by emergency room physicians,” said Fred Beyette Jr., a UC professor and member of the Xanthostat team.
Doctors typically perform a spinal tap to obtain cerebral spinal fluid that is then subjected to a chemical assay to diagnose SAH. The problem with the chemical assay is that it takes several hours to deliver results and the presence of blood in the spinal fluid sample decreases the test’s accuracy.
Visual inspection of spinal fluid by physicians is another option, but that can be imprecise and is also subject to inaccuracy.
Xanthostat’s test would be an improvement on current practices because it delivers results faster and isn’t as susceptible to accuracy problems caused by blood, according to UC.
UC received a patent on Xanthostat’s core technology last year. The company has transitioned its diagnostic technology from a research-based proof-of-concept to a functional prototype.
Beyette and a UC spokeswoman didn’t respond to inquiries.

ACETYL-CARNITINE FOR USE IN A METHOD FOR INCREASING NEUROGENESIS IN NEURAL TISSUE

Another patent that will probably take away some of our possibilities for rehab.
http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/en/WO2011157642
(EN) ACETYL-CARNITINE FOR USE IN A METHOD FOR INCREASING NEUROGENESIS IN NEURAL TISSUE
(FR) ACÉTYL-CARNITINE UTILISÉE DANS UN PROCÉDÉ PERMETTANT D'ACCROÎTRE LA NEUROGENÈSE DANS LE TISSU NEURONAL

(EN)The invention described herein is directed to the use of acetyl L- carnitine, or propionyl L-carnitine, or a salt thereof, for preparing a medicament for increasing neurogenesis in neural tissue; in which said increased neurogenesis is useful for preventing central nervous system disorders due to ageing or genetic predisposition.
(FR)L'invention concerne l'utilisation d'acétyl L-carnitine, ou la propionyl L-carnitine ou un sel de ceux-ci, pour préparer un médicament permettant d'accroître la neurogenèse dans le tissu neuronal; ladite neurogenèse accrue servant à prévenir des troubles du système nerveux central dus au vieillissement ou à une prédisposition génétique.