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Coming Soon: A Robotic Device To Help Stroke Patients Restore Movement

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A team of researchers from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have developed a new robotic device that can provide movement therapy to stroke patients and help recover mobility. According to them, robotic devices can become an important part of stroke rehabilitation for survivors. A stroke occurs due to damage caused to the brain because of interruption of blood supply. It is a medical emergency and can cause trouble walking and speaking as well as lead to paralysis or numbness of arms and legs. 

A stroke may often cause muscle over-activity, physical impairment or lead to some sort of disability which requires therapy and exercises to restore movement. This is where robotic devices can come into play and prove helpful as new tools for therapists that are cost-effective and less labour-intensive.

The new study shows that a robotic tool can help in assessing muscle over-activity and movement dysfunction in stroke patients. The newly-developed rehabilitation robotic system was found to quantitatively measure the three degree-of-freedom (DOF) impedance of human forearm and wrist in minutes. With the help of the impedance estimation device and using the distal internal model based impedance control (dIMBIC)-based method, the team was able to accurately characterize the 3 DOF forearm and wrist impedance including inertia, damping, and stiffness, for the first time.

These results were published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. Researchers believe that these findings lead to the development of robot-assisted rehabilitation at workplace accident rehabilitation hospitals as well as in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The research was led by Professor Sang Hoon Kang of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at UNIST in collaboration with Professor Pyung-Hun Chang of DGIST and Dr. Kyungbin Park of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The team hopes that their findings will promote further wrist and forearm motor control studies and complement the diagnosis of the alteration in wrist and forearm resistance after a stroke by providing objective impedance values including cross-coupled terms.

Source: http://food.ndtv.com/health/coming-soon-a-robotic-device-to-help-stroke-patients-restore-movement-1711013

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This drug may reduce harmful inflammation in stroke patients

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Researchers have found that an anti-inflammatory drug — licensed for treating rheumatoid arthritis — may help patients in the early stages of stroke to reduce harmful inflammation.

The study follows earlier research that shows the drug given as an intravenous therapy reduces inflammation in stroke and sub-arachnoid haemorrhage patients.

According to the researchers, stroke is the most common cause of disability in adults and a leading cause of death worldwide.

“Though strokes affect different people in different ways, for many people they have a devastating effect on their long-term health and wellbeing. Excessive inflammation after a stroke is known to be harmful and predicts a worse outcome in patients,” said co-author Craig Smith, Professor at The University of Manchester.

For the study, published in the journal Stroke, researchers recruited 80 participants.

They were given six doses of the drug or placebo over three days. The first dose was given within six hours after the onset of the stroke symptoms.

The drug — Kineret — was given as a small injection just under the skin without giving the patients any identifiable adverse reactions.

Inflammatory markers were measured in the blood before treatment began and during study treatment and the study looked at ischemic strokes only.

“We have shown that Kineret injections, started within six hours of stroke onset significantly reduces levels of inflammation in patients,” said co-author of the study Craig Smith, Professor at The University of Manchester.

It is one of biologic agents transforming treatment in a range of illnesses, the researcher said.

The protein Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is part of the body’s defences and naturally produced to combat a range of illnesses. However, researchers have previously shown IL-1 increases inflammation and brain injury following a stroke.

Kineret works by blocking the actions of IL-1 which is released into the body following injury caused by a stroke.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/this-drug-may-reduce-harmful-inflammation-in-stroke-patients-2094087

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