Neuroscientists often use electroencephalography (EEG) as an inexpensive way to record electrical signals in the brain. Though it would be useful to run these recordings for long periods of time, that usually isn’t practical: EEG recording traditionally involves attaching many electrodes and cables to a patient’s scalp.
Now engineers at Imperial College in London have developed an EEG device that can be worn inside the ear, like a hearing aid. They say the device will allow scientists to record EEGs for several days at a time; this would allow doctors to monitor patients who have regularly recurring problems like seizures or microsleep.
“The ideal is to have a very stable recording system, and recordings which are repeatable,” explains co-creator Danilo Mandic. “It’s not interfering with your normal life, because there are acoustic vents so people can hear. After a while, they forget they’re having an EEG.”
By nestling the EEG inside the ear, the engineers avoid a lot of signal noise usually introduced by body movement. They can also ensure that the electrodes are always placed in exactly the same spot, which, they say, will make repeated readings more reliable.
Since the device attaches to just one area, it can record only from the temporal region. This limits its potential applications to events that involve local activity. Tzzy-Ping Jung, co-director of the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Advanced Neurological Engineering, says that this does not mean the device will not be valuable.
“Different modalities will have different applications. I would not rule out the usefulness of any modalities,” says Jung. “I think it’s a very good idea with very promising results.”
New from Heyday, Redress: The Inside Story of the Successful Campaign for Japanese American Reparations, by John Tateishi. The book is the story of a community reckoning with what it means to be both culturally Japanese and American citizens; how to restore honor; and what duty it has to protect such harms from happening again. This book has powerful implications as the idea of reparations shapes our national conversation.
Dear Epilepsy, Hi, how are you? I hope you’re good because I’m not. Why you ask? Because of you. You have taken my freedoms away and have left me with bruises and scars. You give me headaches everyday. You give me people staring when I have a seizure. The whispers, their freak outs, the pounding heart, the body tremors, the fear, the memory loss, ugh don’t get me started on that. People think I’m just stupid for not remembering things but it’s because of you. Because of you my memory sucks, I can’t remember things I learn in class but I’m still getting good grades, I’m trying to push you away but you keep trying harder to stay in my life. You make me sad. I can’t drive, I live in fear of having a bad seizure every day I wake up and every night before I close my eyes to sleep. As much as I hate you, I think about you a lot. You give me unwanted attention. You’ve made my family life awkward. My family finds you awkward so they don’t talk to me about it, they ignore my cries for help. They don’t understand that I have to take medication to try to get rid of you that makes me more moody at times, and they just make it worse. I’m tired of feeling tired all the time. I just want to live a normal life, like it was before what happened at Kairos. I was so pure until you came in my life. You make people talk about me faking you because you don’t make me fall over and convulse like they think that’s what epilepsy is, but you’re far from it, you’re real, a real monster. But I just want to tell you now, I will get rid of you, you will die soon and you won’t be able to bother me anymore. No matter how much you try to make my life harder I’m just going to continue to push through because I am stronger than you and someday I will prove that. Have a good day cause I hope I won’t be seeing you in my life in the near future. Sam
Ok, quick rule of thumb to tagging posts for the safety of photosensitive epileptics.
Does you post contain flashing lights, heavy glitching, or anything else that is likely to cause a seizure from looking at it?
Tag it with flashing lights
Does your post warn about one of the above in a movie or video or tv show or game without including visual examples that would make the post fall into the above category?
Tag it with epilepsy
In summary: is it important for us to see it? Tag it with epilepsy. Is it important that we DONT see it? Tag it with flashing lights.
Basically, the epilepsy tag is for information related to epilepsy, the lights/flashing tag(s) are for warning those with epilepsy!
Epilepsy is hard. Some of you maybe newly diagnosed, others might be long term Epilepsy Warriors. Either way, Epilepsy sucks. It comes with dark days and bright days. And some days, the ones plagued with seizures and side effects and comorbidities, it probably seems like it will never get better.
But I was diagnosed with drug resistant Epilepsy at 4 ½. I’ve had regular seizures for nearly 25 years, and every day I deal with the migraines, processing issues, memory loss and stigma that comes with it. But I have also earned a Bachelor’s degree, a minor degree, a brown belt in Japanese JiuJitsu, and I’ve traveled by myself multiple times as well as living myself.
Nothing is impossible. You can accomplish anything. It might be harder, and it might take some out of the box thinking, but it can be done. Just stay positive.
Fellow epileptics, I have some fantastic news for you. There’s an add-on that makes the internet safer for us. It’s called Epilepsy Blocker. The creator had me test it out, give feedback, he made adjustments, and it works great. It may even help those with migraine disorders that are triggered by the same thing that messes with those of use with photosensitive epilepsy (mine is a case of being absurdly sensitive).
This is the only add-on I’ve encountered made specifically for those of us with epilepsy. It’s not a well known add-on, but I hope to see that change.
I finally got my notebook back. So here’s last week’s update. This has a connection to Liar and is the sequel to The Kiss Of Death, so please read that first.
I am a scientist.
I have been investigating a virus with no cure.
Sort of like Epilepsy.
Is called the “Truthful Virus”.
My inspiration was my daughter.
She had Epilepsy and Truthful Virus.
A very rare case.
She dies from a seizure.
I found a cure for the T-Virus.
I call it T-Virus for short.
The cure was a purple liquid I put together.
You have to take it everyday as soon as you wake up.
I found this girl with the T-Virus.
I followed her.
She looked like my daughter.
She acted like my daughter.
She had a boyfriend like my daughter.
She was wearing the same outfit that my daughter died.
She was going to the same place that my daughter died at.
A few weeks ago, Mordecai started having repeated, moderate seizures. He is only 18 months old, and in fantastic health otherwise (as far as I knew). But seizures are a terrible thing to watch, and in the moment there was not much I could do. He has been tested for multiple causes, none of which came back with any answers. He is now taking phenobarbital, and it has successfully surpressed the seizures, but we still do not know the source. Best case scenario would be that he is just epileptic, and will stay on the meds forever…and that’s that. But if something bigger is causing it, it would be quite serious and need to be treated.
Next Mordecai needs to get an MRI and CSF to figure out what is going on. Potentially after that, there will be additional treatment costs. The goal that I have listed on this page covers a portion of what this next step will cost.
All of this has been quite stressful, and because of other circumstances, I am nearing the threshold of vet bills that I can manage at the moment.
I am picking up as much extra work as I can. But I want him to get all the treatment he needs as soon as possible.I made this page as a place to donate if you can.Anything and everything is helpful. Sincerely, thank you for taking the time to read this.
And please know, I am open to freelance work if you are interested in commissioning some art for the holiday season. I am currently booked doing pet portraits, custom paintings, and graphic design work for various clients. If you’re interested, e-mail me at [email protected].
*Note: I am new to writing poetry so not the best person to come to for writing tips on poetry. I am mostly sharing this for feedback/to gauge interest.
Standing at the edges of the rocky cliffside,
Pressed in by safety rails and curious tourists,
Myself overcome with that same curiosity,
The vision of the morning sun blooming,
Into an open sky, hues of orange and pink,
And brightened to a clear and placid blue,
An odd and passing flash of emptiness,
Soon forgotten as I embrace the scene.
Months later, traveling behind the wheel,
In the bland white Mazda my father bought me,
Which took me to the canyon, one thousand miles,
A journey along the highway to see a friend,
Who now, I have not spoken to in six years,
Opening my eyes I see the strangers crowded,
Pressed around and tapping at the broken glass,
A second seizure to interrupt my aimless journey.
Six years and now I cannot travel aimlessly,
Walking I have awoken on the barren roadside,
Paramedics materialize and press on me in shops,
So now I lay in bed, waiting for the fragmentation,
Disintegration and disruption in my consciousness,
My dreams sometimes settling on some spot,
Atop a canyon’s edge, one thousand miles away,
Before I was aware of the sickness in my brain.
Sick, but as yet unaware of any latent danger,
In the bland white Mazda my father bought me,
Unaware of the rippled scars on my fingers,
The faded scars that mark my knee and cheek,
That six years on serve as constant reminders,
I cannot travel aimlessly or journey to far off canyons,
But instead lay in bed imagining life’s journey,
Come to a halt, a battered, broken Mazda on the highway.
We here at Little Cat Diaries want you and your pets to have a great holiday season. There are special hazards that the holidays bring, and some that are always present. It’s important to know them all. This video from Cole & Marmalade’s human, Chris, is a great one that touches most of the bases. Remember that some darn fools…
