Scientists plan expansion of cutting-edge wearable massage technology, Myovolt, used by Olympic athletes

 Way down in the article they mention stroke, so have your research analysis person at your hospital start following this. Oh you don't have a research analysis person? They get all management fired; especially the board of directors.

Scientists plan expansion of cutting-edge wearable massage technology, Myovolt, used by Olympic athletes

Marta Steeman05:00, Sep 14 2021

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Co-owners of wearable massage technology Myovolt Dr Dianne Jones and Steve Leftly plan to develop it further for in-home therapeutic use. They developed it first to help enhance the performance and recovery of top athletes.

Two research scientists are looking to raise several million dollars to expand production of their wearable massage technology used by members of the New Zealand Olympic gold-winning men’s eight rowing team.

The product, Myovolt, is used to boost the warm-up of muscles, reduce soreness after competitions and heavy workouts and to increase flexibility.

Electronic and wearable tech experts Steve Leftly and Dr Dianne Jones are the brains behind Myovolt, the vibration technology worn as a sports pad strapped to a part of the body.

Leftly said some members of the gold-medal winning men’s rowing eight and other members of the New Zealand Olympic team used Myovolt in their build-up to the Tokyo Olympics and for recovery after their events.

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Paralympian Cody Everson, co-captain of the Wheel Blacks, had been using their technology for a couple of years.

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Cody Everson, co-captain of the Wheel Blacks, uses Myovolt pads.

Now Leftly and Jones, who live in Christchurch, are turning their focus to the international rehabilitation market and therapeutic use of the technology in the home.

Myovolt had a consumer ready version for sale as well as other versions suitable for high-end athletes and medical or therapeutic uses.

They were bringing in a digital version of the Myovolt pad next year, enabling the person wearing it to receive information about their recovery as it was worn, and they were planning to create a lower back pain management device.

“We’ve got some pretty deep expertise in developing other wearable technologies, so we’re in a good position once we expand this business to bring other wearable therapeutic technologies under our umbrella within Myovolt,” Leftly said.

For many years they had worked on other wearable technology components for big companies like Adidas, NASA, Apple, the US Air Force and BAE.

One of their celebrated devices were the “hot pants” worn by the 2012 British Olympic cycling team. They were track pants with thermal threaded panels built into them, which they also supplied to the New Zealand and Australian Olympic cycling teams and to some US Olympic winter sport teams.

Leftly said they were at the cutting edge of the innovation, developing the first version of it in 2015 and then showing it in 2017 at the Consumer Electronics Show, a leading, annual global tech event.

“We created this space with wearable vibrations, so we’ve got the most advanced version of this technology out there.”

They were using a very specific range of frequencies to mimic what a medical device version of the technology did.

“We have basically taken that medical device and miniaturised it into this soft wearable strap.” The device produced a gentle hum massage.

“There are other companies that are starting to come in with wearable thermal products and others that have some vibration added into them. They don’t have any clinical backing or any clinical research behind them.”

Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Some members of the New Zealand men’s rowing eight used Myovolt in their build-up to the Tokyo Olympics. Team members Hamish Bond (centre), flanked by Tom Murray and Tom Mackintosh, celebrate winning New Zealand's first men's rowing eight Olympic gold medal since 1972.

They had to keep developing and improving to stay ahead of the game in a fast growing area.

They had been conducting clinical trials of the technology with medical and sports universities and research clinics in the United States for quite a wide range of uses outside of sports.

A couple of those were for musculoskeletal conditions like diabetic neuropathy, a type of nerve damage resulting from diabetes that can affect the mobility and function of legs and feet and other parts of the body, and for stroke rehabilitation.

Those studies were starting to be published showing good results and that was allowing them to get the technology into the high performance sports area much easier, Leftly said.

They had been testing their products for various conditions and knew they could enhance them and tailor them for a specific condition.

They were interested in producing easy to use in-home devices that could deliver that stimulation frequently, may be daily or more often as needed, in addition to say physiotherapy once a week at a clinic outside the home.

They planned two capital raisings for later this year and next year to invest in more R&D, expand the team and products for the rehabilitation of a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions and mobility problems. 

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Jones said they had only scratched the potential of the technology.

“To take us to the next level in either the sports market or the wider one we are interested in, we need to expand our team, bring in some expertise, bring in investment and that’s what we are working on,” she said.

“We do feel our technology has got a lot of potential to provide a big impact and be a large company in this space. So we are ambitious, and we hope to get it there,” Leftly said.

 

 

 

Coronary Calcium Score for the Prediction of Asymptomatic Coronary Artery Disease in Patients With Ischemic Stroke

The first question to ask your stroke hospital. Do they have anyone in charge of research analysis and creation of stroke interventions from such research? IF NOT, THEY ARE COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT AND HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING A STROKE HOSPITAL.

Coronary Calcium Score for the Prediction of Asymptomatic Coronary Artery Disease in Patients With Ischemic Stroke

Hye-Yeon Choi¹, Soo Jeong Shin², Joonsang Yoo^2,3, Kijeong Lee⁴, Dongbeom Song², Young Dae Kim², Hyo Suk Nam², Kyung Yul Lee², Hye Sun Lee⁵, Dong Joon Kim⁶ and Ji Hoe Heo^2,7*

• ¹Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Seoul, South Korea
• ²Department of Neurology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
• ³Department of Neurology, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea
• ⁴Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Eunpyeong St. Mary Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea
• ⁵Biostatistics Collaboration Unit, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
• ⁶Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
• ⁷Integrative Research Center for Cerebrovascular and Cardiovascular Diseases, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Yonsei University Health System, Seoul, South Korea

Purpose: 

Many patients with ischemic stroke have concomitant coronary artery disease (CAD). However, it remains unclear which stroke patients should undergo evaluation for asymptomatic CAD, and which screening tools are appropriate. We investigated the role of coronary artery calcium (CAC) score as a screening tool for asymptomatic but severe CAD in acute stroke patients. We determined the selection criteria for CAC screening based on risk factors and cerebral atherosclerosis.

Materials and Methods: 

The present study included consecutive patients with acute stroke who had undergone cerebral angiography and multi-detector computed tomography coronary angiography. Severe CAD was defined as left main artery disease or three-vessel disease. Enrolled patients were randomly assigned to two sets; a set for developing selection criteria and a set for validation. To develop selection criteria, we identified associated factors with severe CAD regarding clinical factors and cerebral atherosclerosis. CAD predictability of selection criteria with the CAC score was calculated.

Results: 

Overall, 2,658 patients were included. Severe CAD was present in 360 patients (13.5%). CAC score was associated with CAD severity (P < 0.001). In the development set (N = 1,860), severe CAD was associated with age >65 years [odds ratio (95% confidence interval), 2.62 (1.93–3.55)], male sex (1.81 [1.33–2.46]), dyslipidemia (1.77 [1.25–2.61]), peripheral artery disease (2.64 [1.37–5.06]) and stenosis in the cervicocephalic branches, including the internal carotid (2.79 [2.06–3.78]) and vertebrobasilar arteries (2.08 [1.57–2.76]). We determined the combination of clinical and arterial factors as the selection criteria for CAC evaluation. The cut-off criterion was two or more elements of the selection criteria. The area under the curve (AUC) of the selection criteria was 0.701. The AUC significantly improved to 0.836 when the CAC score was added (P < 0.001). In the validation set (N = 798), the AUC of the selection criteria only was 0.661, and that of the CAC score was 0.833. The AUC of the selection criteria + CAC score significantly improved to 0.861(P < 0.001).

Conclusion: 

The necessity for CAC evaluation could be determined based on the presence of risk factors and significant stenosis of the cervicocephalic arteries. CAC evaluation may be useful for screening for severe CAD in stroke patients.

Introduction

Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of long-term mortality in patients with stroke (1). The annual risk of myocardial infarction in patients with ischemic stroke is ~2.2% (1, 2). The presence and extent of asymptomatic stenosis in coronary angiography is strongly predictive of major cardiovascular events. Previous studies identified significant (≥50%) stenosis of the coronary artery in 20–41% of patients with stroke via autopsy, coronary angiography, or multi-detector computed tomography angiography (MDCTA) (3–7). Therefore, coronary screening may be necessary for stroke patients at high risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, it still remains uncertain which group of patients with stroke should undergo evaluation for asymptomatic CAD, and which evaluation tools are most appropriate for coronary screening in such patients.

Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease and CAD shares several risk factors with cerebral atherosclerosis (8). In fact, previous studies have demonstrated a significant association between CAD and atherosclerosis of the cervicocephalic arteries including the vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) and carotid arteries (4, 6, 9, 10). These findings suggest that CAD may be predicted to some extent by the presence of cerebral atherosclerosis and vascular risk factors.

Previous studies have indicated that coronary artery calcium (CAC) is superior to risk factor-based prediction of CAD and coronary events (11–14). Additionally, other studies reported that CAC scores are associated with the severity of CAD (15). In a large prospective population cohort registry, the risk of coronary events increased as the CAC score increased (12). This study aimed to investigate the role of the CAC score as a screening tool for the diagnosis of asymptomatic but severe CAD in patients with acute stroke. We also sought to determine the selection criteria for CAC screening in patients with stroke based on the presence of risk factors and cerebral atherosclerosis.

More at link.