Brain Electrodes Help Injured Man To Speak Again 88
An anonymous reader writes "A man beaten and left for dead has recovered the power of speech thanks to the use of electrodes to stimulate brain activity. 'Experts called the results encouraging but cautioned that the experimental treatment must be tried in more patients before its value can be assessed. The researchers are already proceeding with a larger study. Before the electrodes were implanted, the man was in what doctors call a "minimally conscious state." That means he showed only occasional awareness of himself and his environment. In a coma or vegetative state, by contrast, patients show no outward signs of awareness.'"
Other possible applications of this tech? (Score:4, Interesting)
Medicine is whack. 90% of the time (admittedly bullshit statistic) doctors literally put band-aids on patients, tell them that life is painful, and send them on their way. I used to process medical documents into an EMR system, and although I am not medically trained, the most common solutions to back-pain seemed to be life-style changes, dope (perscription opiates), and invasive (life-threatening) surgery.
I have often wondered if, in the future, it will be possible to get a brain-implant that shuts off offending portions of the CNS. Instead of adjusting the body to deal with mental anguish (pain), why not adjust the body. I'm hoping by the time I need back-surgery for the 2 broken disc that are giving me pain already, it is going to be brain-surgery instead.
Any medical professionals care to share the feasability of brain-implants as a way of treating pain or other conditions not limited to the CNS, as TFA suggests the tech's use is for?
Re:So what's this mean for Terri Schiavo's doctors (Score:1, Interesting)
And until recently, that's what "medicine" and "science" thought was the case with the young man in the story.
But now he's up and talking.
Think about it.
I hope they find the bastards who beat him (Score:3, Interesting)
Then we could use them as experimental subjects to develop a reliable treatment for others. If the treatment makes them recover, send them to prison for more beatings. Rinse and repeat.
Re:Helping cripples is good (Score:3, Interesting)
Mutations in DNA are not responsible for cancer. Cancer is the result of the cellular machinery that regulates mitosis going wonky. The best hypothesis that I have heard is that the telomeres that regulate the number of times a cell can replicate its DNA lose count or go into an endless loop. The DNA itself in a cancerous cell may or not be mutated from the original DNA of the organism, it is not related to the cancer itself. A cell with DNA identical to the original zygote of the organism may still go cancerous.
My own personal theory is that there is no cure for cancer and there never will be. Cancer is defined as uncontrolled growth, which is pretty damn close to a perfect definition of life itself. The ability to heal - regeneration of tissues like skin epidermis, stomach epithelial cells, and many other regenerative tissues in the body are constantly walking the fine line on the edge of cancer. In my opinion a cure for cancer is guaranteed death, I prefer the ability to heal and digest food with the risk of cancer that must come with these abilities.
P.S. The strongest carcinogen known to man is estrogen. Seriously. All anthropogenic contaminants that are carcinogenic are xenoestrogenic in their biological activity. This is consistent with my theory that cancer is an inevitable side effect of life and in fact integral to the machinery of life itself.
Limitations (Score:2, Interesting)