159 results about "EXTREMITY TREMOR" patented technology

A method for treating spasticity of a subject is provided, including driving a current into a nerve of the subject that includes one or more sensory fibers, and configuring the current so as to inhibit propagation of action potentials in one or more of the sensory fibers, so as to treat the spasticity. In a preferred embodiment, the sensory fibers include one or more Ia sensory fibers, and configuring the current includes configuring the current so as to inhibit propagation of the action potentials in at least one of the Ia sensory fibers.

Apparatus and methods for non-invasive electrical stimulation of the brain through skin surface stimulation of the peripheral nervous system as a treatment for movement disorders. Skin surface electrodes are positioned at predetermined peripheral surface stimulation sites on the skin surface using a variety of neural imaging techniques. A pulsatile electrical current is generated at the stimulation sites through a variety of standard electrical stimulation devices. Stimulation of the peripheral surface stimulation sites translates to electrical stimulation of a specific area of the brain.

A method useful for evaluating abnormal body tremors wherein a subject is positioned onto a support surface and one or more components of the load exerted by the subject upon the support surface are measured. Simultaneously, the cardiac activity of the subject is also recorded and the time interval between each consecutive heartbeat is computed. The measured load output is modified to normalize the weight of the subject and then plotted against a modified frequency wherein each time interval between heartbeats represent a unit of time and a selected equal number of force measurement samples are interpolated between each heartbeat. The frequency spectrum analysis of such a modified power spectrum graph yields information about body tremor which can be compared to a prior analysis of the same subject or to the same analysis of a standard. The standard is created using the identical method upon, preferably, a sufficient number of subjects known to be free of abnormal body tremor to yield an average measure useful for comparison and diagnostic purposes.

The subject invention utilizes MEMS devices and wireless data transmission means to monitor and sense certain patient conditions or reactions, such as changes in pressure, patient movements, and tremors. These sensor devices include but are not limited to MEMS gyroscopes, MEMS accelerometers, and MEMS pressure sensors. The data from the sensor means is then preferably wirelessly transmitted to a second MEMS device to treat or alter the medical condition that has been monitored.

A once-a-day oral milnacipran modified release formulation has been developed. The formulation comprises an extended release dosage unit (optionally containing the immediate release portion) coated with delayed release coating. The milnacipran composition, when administered orally, first passes through the stomach releasing from zero to less than 10% of the total milnacipran dose and then enters the intestines where drug is released slowly over an extended period of time. The release profile is characterized by a 0.05-4 hours lag time period during which less than 10% of the total milnacipran dose is released followed by a slow or extended release of the remaining drug over a defined period of time. The composition provides in vivo drug plasma levels characterized by Tmax at 4-10 hours and an approximately linear drop-off thereafter and Cmax below 3000 ng / ml, preferably below 2000 ng / ml, and most preferably below 1000 ng / ml. The composition allows milnacipran to be delivered over approximately 24 hours, when administered to a patient in need, resulting in diminished incidence or decreased intensity of common milnacipran side effects such as sleep disturbance, nausea, vomiting, headache, tremulousness, anxiety, panic attacks, palpitations, urinary retention, orthostatic hypotension, diaphoresis, chest pain, rash, weight gain, back pain, constipation, vertigo, increased sweating, agitation, hot flushes, tremors, fatigue, somnolence, dyspepsia, dysoria, nervousness, dry mouth, abdominal pain, irritability, and insomnia.

The invention provides a method, and dosage form therefor, of treating impaired motor function associated with Parkinson's disease, anti-Parkinson's drug treatment, e.g. L-Dopa therapy, and / or dementia associated with Parkinson's disease. The invention includes the combined administration of an NMDA receptor antagonist and an antidepressant, e.g., the combination of amantadine and citalopram or venlafaxine, or an NMDA receptor antagonist and an anxiolytic agent, e.g., amantadine and buspirone or trazodone, for the amelioration of undesired tremors, akinesia, dyskinesia, or bradykinesia associated with one or more different disorders or diseases. The drugs can be included in a single dosage form. One embodiment includes a combination dosage form containing each drug in controlled release forms. Another embodiment includes a combination dosage form providing a controlled release of an NMDA receptor antagonist and a rapid release of a neuroactive agent after administration to a subject.

An active tremor control system for stabilizing against alternating perturbations includes: an inertial sensor for sensing angular motion about a first axis of an object induced by alternating perturbations; an inertial mass independent of the object; and an actuator coupled to the object and the mass and responsive to the inertial sensor for selectively applying a torque to the object representative of the sensed angular motion such that the angular motion about the first axis induced by the perturbation is cancelled, the actuator concurrently applying a reactive torque, equal and opposite to the to the applied torque, to the mass.

Method and neuroprosthetic device for monitoring and suppression of pathological tremors in a user through the neurostimulation of the afferent pathways to the brain, which comprises wearable elements placed over the parts of the body affected by tremor, wherein said wearable elements (1) have sensors selected from bioelectric sensors (3) generating a bioelectrical signal characterization of tremor, biomechanical sensors (4) generating a biomechanical signal characterization of tremor and a combination thereof, a programmable electronic device (9) comprised of a control, acquisition and processing module of the characterization signals, and a signal generator for the afferent stimulation based on the bioelectrical, biomechanical or combination of both signal characterization and stimulation electrodes (8) which transmit the neuromodulation signals to the afferent pathways projecting into the central nervous system to modulate the activity of the neural structures responsible for tremor generation.

A handheld device for canceling unintentional muscle movement. The device includes a base comprising a handgrip for a user to hold, a gripping element linked to the base for releasably connecting the handheld device to an object, a sensor that detects movement of the base, a controller linked to the sensor, and at least one actuator that operates under control of the controller to cause movement of the gripping element in a direction that at least partially counteracts the detected movement of the base.

A light weight, wearable, and balanced active tremor control system including a mount; a proof mass frame moveable with respect to the mount; at least one actuator on the proof mass frame for imparting a force on the mount; a motion sensor for detecting movement of the mount due to tremors; and a controller for driving the actuator in response to the motion sensor.

A pharmaceutical composition includes a therapeutically effective amount of exo-R-mecamylamine or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, substantially free of exo-S-mecamylamine in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Preferably the amount is about 0.5 mg to about 20 mg. Medical conditions are treated by administering a therapeutically effective amount of exo-R-mecamylamine or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, substantially free of its exo-S-mecamylamine, said amount being sufficient to ameliorate the medical condition. The medical conditions include but are not limited to substance addiction (involving nicotine, cocaine, alcohol, amphetamine, opiate, other psychostimulant and a combination thereof), aiding smoking cessation, treating weight gain associated with smoking cessation, hypertension, hypertensive crisis, Tourette's Syndrome and other tremors, cancer (such as small cell lung cancer), atherogenic profile, neuropsychiatric disorders (such as bipolar disorder, depression, an anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, a seizure disorder, Parkinson's disease and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), chronic fatigue syndrome, Crohn's disease, autonomic dysreflexia, and spasmogenic intestinal disorders.

A non-invasive monitoring system using radiated energy to identify cardiac and respiratory waveforms in patients is discussed. The monitoring system illuminates a subject in radiated energy and then detects the reflected radiated energy caused by respiratory and / or cardiac functions. The detected reflections are used to plot a two-dimensional waveform. The waveforms represent the rise and fall of a detected signal (the reflected energy) over time and are indicative of the small movements of the patient's chest and abdomen that are associated with cardiac and respiratory function. Different implementations of the monitoring system use laser or ultrasonic energy to capture breathing and cardiac waveforms for analysis. The waveforms may be used to diagnose the effectiveness of prescribed sleep medication, perform remote line of sight monitoring from a remote location, identify crying waveforms for babies and infants, identify cardiac waveforms in a non-invasive manner and identify seizure and tremor activity.

A once-a-day oral milnacipran pulsatile release composition has been developed that releases the drug in spaced apart “pulses”. The dosage forms are comprised of first, second and optional third dosage units, with each dosage unit having a different drug release profile. This dosage form provides in vivo drug plasma levels characterized by Cmax below 3000 ng / ml, preferably below 2000 ng / ml, and most preferably below 1000 ng / ml. The composition provides pulsatile release of milnacipran to produce a therapeutic effect over approximately 24 hours, when administered to a patient in need, resulting in diminished incidence or decreased intensity of common milnacipran side effects such as sleep disturbance, nausea, vomiting, headache, tremulousness, anxiety, panic attacks, palpitations, urinary retention, orthostatic hypotension, diaphoresis, chest pain, rash, weight gain, back pain, constipation, vertigo, increased sweating, agitation, hot flushes, tremors, fatigue, somnolence, dyspepsia, dysoria, nervousness, dry mouth, abdominal pain, irritability, and insomnia.

Designs for modular microsurgical robotic devices and systems are provided, which could include one or multiple master-slave units coupled to a central microscope-based suspension structure. One of the main objectives is to provide robotic assistance during tasks which require long-term user concentration and high precision. The microsurgical robotic devices pay attention to motion scaling and tremor filtration in a 6 Degrees-of-Freedom (DOF) master-slave setup with force feedback. An extra DOF is included to actuate a 1-DOF instrument tip. Embodiments of this invention can be used in the medical environment as well as in other areas such as printed circuit board repair, watch and jewelry making, laboratory tasks, or other areas which require high precision over extended periods of time.

The invention discloses a wearable robot for detecting and suppressing tremor of human arms and a method for suppressing the tremor thereof. The robot comprises a wearable exoskeleton system, a tremor excitation system, a tremor movement detection system and a signal processing and control system. The invention provides a comprehensively utilized 'three closed loop' mixed tremor suppression strategy based on the biological force loading technology and the functional neuromuscular stimulation technology. When the tremor patients carry out daily activities such as writing, raising arms and the like, the tremor movement detection system senses the movement information of the arms and isolates tremor movement signals from normal movement signals through the 'two-stage' adaptive prediction filtering algorithm; the 'three closed loop' tremor movement suppression control strategy is adopted to respectively control a functional neuromuscular stimulation device and a DC motor system to generate tremor movement with the same amplitude and 'opposite' phase positions so as to achieve the aim of suppressing arm tremor of the patients and improve the quality of lives of the tremor patients.

An apparatus consistent with the present invention comprises a sensor for receiving a signal representing eye tremor and a processor for monitoring eye tremor while receiving the signal. A method consistent with the present invention includes receiving a signal representing eye tremor, comparing the received signal representing eye tremor to at least one reference value, and classifying a patient's brain stem function using the comparison of the received signal representing eye tremor to at least one reference value. An embodiment consistent with the present invention includes an ocular micro tremor (OMT) sensor and associated signal processing hardware and software for clinical analyses.

A light weight, wearable, and balanced active tremor control system including a mount; a proof mass frame moveable with respect to the mount; at least one actuator on the proof mass frame for imparting a force on the mount; a motion sensor for detecting movement of the mount due to tremors; and a controller for driving the actuator in response to the motion sensor.

Method and apparatus are provided for therapeutic administration to body parts digitally generated electromagnetic fields with trapezoidal, square, triangular and sawtoothed and other complex temporal field waveforms that are microcontroller controlled for a range of amplitude, frequency, and dc offsets; the apparatus providing programmed sequences of radiation waveforms. Multiple electromagnetic antennas establish a variety of field configurations for exposure of various body parts in the treatment of a wide range of afflictions including exfoliation of calcium deposits causing improvements in arthritis and other rheumatic diseases—osteoarthritis, nervous interconnection (neuropathies), etc., the treatment of tremors and seizures, migraine, hypertension, lower back pain, urinary incontinence, and premenstrual tension. Temperature sensors within the antennas are provided to limit the temperatures therein.

The present invention relates to the co-administration of two neurotransmitter agonists to patients with motor disorders, for the purpose of symptom reduction. In particular the present invention provides methods and compositions for alleviation of akinesia, rigidity and / or tremor associated with Parkinson's disease.

Various embodiments of the present invention describe mechanisms configured to monitor, track, and manage symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). According to particular exemplary embodiments, a system includes sensors configured to monitor motion exhibited by a user having symptoms of Parkinson's disease, a processor configured to determine whether the motion constitutes a tremor episode, and memory configured to maintain data associated with the tremor episode, a severity rating associated with the tremor episode, and medication intake information. In exemplary embodiments, the effectiveness of a user's medication intake can be determined based on data displayed regarding severity rating variations over time in relation to medication intake.

The invention discloses a hand tremor detection method. The hand tremor detection method is characterized in that hand tremor detection includes finger tremor detection, wrist tremor detection and arm tremor detection; the hand tremor detection is completed through a hand tremor detection system, and the hand tremor detection system comprises a hand tremor detection module which is composed of a handwriting input module, a handwritten data acquisition module, a handwritten data storage module and a handwritten data processing module. The hand tremor detection method includes the steps: firstly, executing hand tremor detection drawing activities through the handwriting input module, secondly, acquiring handwritten data generated from the hand tremor detection drawing activities executed by a detected person through the handwritten data acquisition module, and finally, performing hand tremor detection index calculation through the handwritten data processing module. The hand tremor detection method can achieve more comprehensive and meticulous quantitative hand tremor detection and is simple and feasible.

The invention relates to a wearable human arm tremor detection device and a signal processing method thereof. The device comprises a tremor signal detection system and a tremor signal processing system; wherein, the tremor signal detection system comprises an elbow joint tremor detection system, a wrist joint tremor detection system and a hand tremor detection system; the detection systems adopt independent modular structures; DSP processor units in the detection systems are connected with own sensor modules, wireless communication units and power supply units; the tremor signal processing system comprises a DSP central processing unit and a wireless communication unit as well as a display, which are connected with the DSP central processing unit; the DSP processor unit in the detection system is connected with the DSP central processing unit in the tremor signal processing system by the wireless communication unit. The tremor signal processing method adopts the 'two-stage' adaptive filtering algorithm to obtain the normal movement information and the tremor movement information of the arms of the patients. The device adopts the elbow-wrist-hand type wearing structure and detects the arm tremor information of the tremor patients in real time.

The invention provides a method for quantitatively evaluating the symptoms of tremor of a patient with Parkinson's disease according to the approximate entropy and the cross approximate entropy, belonging to the fields of health care and pattern recognition. The method is characterized by comprising the following steps of: collecting the data of specified tremor of the thumb, collecting the data of specified tremor of the index finger, and grading the specified tremor of the thumb and the specified tremor of the index finger according to a UPDRS (unified Parkinson's disease rating scale); preprocessing the data of tremor; separating a sample training set from a sample testing sample; calculating the approximate entropy and the cross approximate entropy of the data of tremor; constructing the model of a classifier, and verifying the effectiveness of a method. The regularity and the synchronization of the tremor of the patient with Parkinson's disease are disclosed effectively according to the approximate entropy and the cross approximate entropy, and the symptoms of tremor can be accurately and quantitatively classified according to the tremor amplitude, the tremor frequency and other characteristics of the patient. The method is used for objectively evaluating the symptoms of tremor of the patient with Parkinson's disease, and can be applied to the fields of treatment and rehabilitation assessment of the patient with Parkinson's disease and the like.

An apparatus and method of collecting elements of and assembling various portions of ocular micro motions such as ocular micro-tremor (OMT) movements of the eye, and correlating them directly with OMT waveforms acquired from both known and unknown states of cognition and cognitive function. Comparing newly acquired waveforms from patients with undiagnosed cognitive dysfunctions, permits an individual or caregiver the ability to identify those unknown issues or cognitive states based on matching or relating statistically elements of their waveform with categories of other known cognitive processing normals and abnormals, functional and dysfunctional individuals. It also allows for measuring the effects of therapeutic agents (psychological or pharmacological) by relating them to measurable changes in cognitive function as a result of correlated changes in waveforms.

The invention features sublingual film formulations of dopamine agonists and methods of treating Parkinson's disease, tremors, restless leg syndrome, sexual dysfunction, and depressive disorders therewith.