Impaired

Debra Winger Wants Indians Abroad To Help Visually Impaired

Debra Winger, the Hollywood actress who is promoting eye care will be approaching Indians living abroad to help the visually impaired people living in India. Even though the country has a very high number// of visually impaired people, 80% of them can be cured, according to Debra Winger. Winger, who at the age of 17 met with an accident that left her temporarily blind, but she came ou...

Identifying brain lesions with impaired consciousness

According to a new study it is indicative that systolic blood pressure is a good indicator for diagnosing brain lesions in patients with impaired consciousness. This means doctors may now have a better way// to estimate patients, as opposed to using expensive and time-consuming imaging technology. Researchers studied the vital signs of 450 patients who were admitted to an emergency roo...

Sense of smell impaired in alcoholics

A study published in the March issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research reported that alcohol abuse can dampen the sense of smell. Researchers from the University Clinics of Innsbruck studied the sense of smell in 30 alcoholics and 30 healthy people who were matched for age, gender and smoking status. They used "Sniffin' Sticks", which are pen-like devices that dispense...

Brain Function can be impaired by Flavonols

Based on findings of a recent study researchers say Cocoa flavonols, shown// to benefit heart health, may also have an impact on the brain. Cocoa flavonols were found to increase blood flow to key areas of the brain. In a study on 16 healthy young women, researcher tested the brain’s activation during cognitive tasks using functional MRI. The participants were asked to consume a flavon...

Lead exposure plus high blood pressure Leads to impaired mental ability

Exposure to lead in early childhood and adolescence may contribute to hypertension-related decline that can impair a person's cognitive abilities. // Both lead exposure and hypertension have been associated with cognitive impairments in older adults. The study indicates that the interaction between lead exposures early in life combined with high blood pressure in working age adults ma...

Early Intervention Required For The Hearing Impaired

A child called Sonam was born with a hearing in both ears in India, but she is now able to respond to sounds after completing her first year as result of a successful cochlear implant when she was only eight months old//.Sonam's parents detected their daughter's shortcoming when she was three months old. But they did not lose heart and were fast to act. And now four months down the line, she be...

Visually impaired prefer specially enhanced TV

A scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute (SERI) found that increasing the contrast of details of certain sizes made television watching more enjoyable to the visually impaired. // The U.S. study provides information that could help develop an electronic device to help millions suffering eye diseases. People who may benefit from such a device include those suffering from macular deg...

Hi-tech Walking Stick Developed For Visually Impaired

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has developed a high-tech stick to make walking and commuting easier for the country's nine million blind population. // Called "smart cane", the stick will help the visually impaired to easily commute in city buses, walk inside a room without knocking into things and take a safe passage in case of an emergency. The technology has...

A Visually Impaired Patient Pioneers The 'Seeing Machine'

Elizabeth Goldring, a 61-year-old woman who gradually lost her eyesight to juvenile diabetes, has managed to urge scientists and device makers to create// a "seeing machine" that will enable her and thousands like herself to see despite failing visual acuity. The idea was born when Ms Goldring was examined with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope, when she was able to read a word for the...

No Link between Scuba Diving and Impaired Lung Function

Researchers at the German Naval Institute have found that scuba divers do not have an increased decline in lung function, which is contrary to some reports.// The study was conducted on 468 military scuba divers in addition to a comparison 'control' group of 122 military submariners, all of whom were men. The results of the research have been published in the July 2006 issue of the Jo...

Allergic Rhinitis Associated with Impaired Sleep Quality

CHICAGO - Patients with allergic rhinitis, such as that caused by hay fever and other allergies, have more difficulty sleeping and more sleep disorders// than those without allergies, according to a report in the September 18 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, a theme issue on sleep. Allergic rhinitis, which occurs when pollen or other allergens irritate and inflame the nasal pas...

Newly Discovered Immune Defense May Be Impaired In CF Airways

A recent University of Iowa study reveals a new immune defense mechanism in normal airways and may help explain why people// with cystic fibrosis (CF) are particularly susceptible to bacterial lung infections. The findings also may point the way to new approaches for treating the disease. The UI study shows how two enzymes generate and use reactive oxygen species (ROS) to destroy bacte...

Sleep Deprivation may Lead to Impaired Memory, Says Study

Researchers from the Princeton University have stressed the importance of adequate sleep, the lack of it could lead to impaired memory. This was found when researchers studied// rats that were deprived of sleep for 72 hours. Elizabeth Gould, lead researcher, said: "The decrease in neuron production coincided with an increase in the major rodent stress hormone, corticosterone. We know...

Uric Acid Levels Tied to Impaired Thinking in the Elderly

Even mildly elevated levels of uric acid in the elderly are associated with slower thinking and memory problems, according to a report by researchers at Yale and Johns// Hopkins Schools of Medicine in Neuropsychology. The researchers found that elderly individuals with uric acid levels at the high end of the normal range had the lowest scores on tests measuring mental processing speed,...

Hearing Impaired Student Captures International Performance Award

Yew Choong Cheong, a West Virginia University student who plays and studies classical piano despite a loss of hearing, recently won the 2007 International Young Soloists//Award given by VSA arts. The international, nonprofit organization was founded in 1974 by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to create a society where all people with disabilities learn through, participate in and enjoy t...

A Boon to Hearing Impaired-Gene Transfer

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered a way to transfer genes, which they hope will restore hearing, into diseased tissue of the human inner ear . This important step brings scientists closer to curing genetic or acquired hearing loss. Dr. Jeffrey Holt, associate professor of neuroscience and otolaryngology at UVa, and his research team, including Dr....

Helpline Launched for Hearing Impaired

A helpline was launched here Saturday for providing assistance to children suffering from hearing disabilities. Social Service Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), launched the Shishu Sravana Helpline, which will provide information about the nearest hospitals where treatment facilities are available for children with hearing disabilities. "This is basic...

Impaired Odour Identification Predicts Cognitive Decline for the Elderly

Older adults having difficulty in identifying common odours may be at a higher risk of cognitive impairment-a decline in thinking, learning, and memory abilities-which is a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, suggests a study. Dr. Robert S. Wilson and his colleagues at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, studied 589 older adults, who did not have cognitive impairment in 1997. T...