Digital Scryer

No this isn’t powered exo-armor a la Iron Man, it’s more of a flexible support frame to help the disabled stand and walk again. I found the article today after my fiance and I were discussing a guest speaker she recently interviewed, and it piqued my interest. My comments are in bold italics and the article can be found here.

There is new hope for people who have been paralyzed with the invention of a so-called orthopedic “armor”, which is defying doctors’ prognoses by allowing patients to both stand and walk.

I hardly think that this is a fair statement. Doctor’s prognoses in these situations is that the people will never walk again under their own power or without assistance. Kinda sensationalistic if you ask me.

This piece of sculpture is designed to fit its customer perfectly. Made of a plastic-like material and placed around a steel skeleton, the simple device is called “armor for the disabled”.

I’m glad they put “armor” in quotes as it wouldn’t really protect much.

Just one small step contradicts everything the doctors have been telling Aleksey Filatov ever since he was paralyzed in a car accident.

It’s not really contradicting, as the doctors in question probably never said “You’ll never walk again, even with help from an exo-frame of some kind.”

He still can’t feel his feet, but with his armor he can walk on them.

“Unlike similar devices this device is very light and it doesn’t take a lot of time to put it on. It helps to get into the car and use the wheelchair much less. It can also be worn under trousers,” Aleksey says.

The fact that it’s lightweight is amazing, as is the fact that it’s portable enough to be worn under your pants.

“Armor” Production Begins With Making A Plaster Cast

The invention is the brainchild of another disabled man, also called Aleksey. Eight years of being confined to bed left him determined to prove the doctors wrong.

“The armor is not going to help you jump or play football. But they can allow you to do some things which were previously inaccessible. To allow people to stand up is very important. It helps to solve the psychological problems of the disabled,” says Aleksey Nalogin, inventor of the armor for the disabled.

Now THIS I vastly agree with. Innumerable studies have shown how bolstering the psychological condition helps ALL kinds of patients, especially paralyzed ones. The hope and drive to keep going and function properly truly does make the healing process work. I’ve seen too many paralyzed people fight their way back into functioning after their doctors told them they’d never be able to speak again, let alone move, to believe otherwise.

Now his armor is available to anyone who needs it. Aleksey’s invention is already helping children, and the doctors say the armor has shown impressive results.

The fact that this is widely available is most amazing. The act of pantomiming proper movement encourages the growth and function of nerve cells, and this can only help more.

“The beauty of Aleksey’s invention is that each piece of armor is handmade to fit the patient perfectly. After production the armor is adjusted on the patient several times to guarantee the best medical effect. That’s something similar devices made on the production line cannot do,” says sports doctor Dmitry Kiselev.

What sucks about this is that mass production is what allows things to be done cheaply. Every piece having to be custom made is going to drive the prices up and the availability down. Some engineers should tackle this and figure out a way to cheaply and easily make the frame more customizable so that it can be just as useful if mass produced.

Aleksey says being disabled in Russia is difficult. Public transport and streets are not fully equipped for those who are physically impaired, but the inventor says this armor is a step towards making Russia disabled-friendly.


Not just Russia my friends, the whole world. My Grandpa was a paraplegic and I can only imagine how this device would have helped him. Now let’s see this idea grow and spread, not get shelved like so many others.

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Technorati Tags: Armor, Brainchild, Car Accident, exoarmor, exoframe, Flexible Support, Invention, Iron Man, Lightweight, New Hope, Orthopedic, Paralysis, Paralyzed, Paraplegic, Plaster Cast, Prognoses, Quadriplegic, Sculpture, Steel Skeleton, Support Frame, Wheelchair

I was looking at this article from the Alternative Medicine Blog about Metabolic Syndrome X today when researching reasons that my friend couldn’t lose weight. My comments are in bold italics.

Syndrome X also known as metabolic syndrome is a condition that has at its center insulin resistance and at least 3 of the other 5 diagnostic criteria. These other criteria according to Steinbaum (2004) are:

Insulin resistance is a big part of obesity and diabetes, the potential for it scares the heck out of me.

-Abdominal obesity, waist circumference of 40 inches or more for men, 35 inches or more for women.
-Elevated triglycerides, >150mg/dL
-Lowered HDL cholesterol, <40mg/dL men, <50mg/gL women)
-Hypertension, >130/85mmHg
-And elevated fasting glucose levels. >110mg/dl (but this number was lowered to
100mg/dL since Steinbaum wrote her paper)

These are all symptoms that I personally have had at one time or another, except hypertension.

Insulin resistance happens when target tissue are unable to respond adequately to proper insulin level. Because these cells are unresponsive, B-cells of Langerhans secrete more insulin, starting a viscous cycle because as resistance worsens, secretion increases.

I’ve read many times in the works of Dr. Joseph Mercola, that one of the main causes of insulin resistance is too many grains or grain based foods in our diets.

Steinbaum (2004) calls the overproduction of glucose by the liver, the impaired peripheral glucose utilization, and the increased production of fatty acids the “hallmarks of metabolic syndrome”.

Once the beta cells can no longer maintain the high rate of insulin production, we find an increase in hepatic glucose production in both, the fasting state and after a meal, with decreased glucose absorption, eventually leading to type II diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is the less scary of the diabetes, being preventable and even “curable” with proper diet and exercise.

The abnormal fatty acid metabolism and increased abdominal obesity also lead to an increase in glucose production. The intra-abdominal adipose tissue does not react to insulin. Because of that, it undergoes lipolysis creating free fatty acids. Once in the liver, these free fatty acids churn up glucose production and for triglycerides. Everything I just described, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and visceral body fat are found in syndrome X. Moreover, this mechanism is ultimately responsible for coronary disease.

A vicious cycle; insulin resistance makes you fatter, getting fatter increases insulin resistance.

One theory connects hyperinsulinemia with cardiovascular disease because of an increase in the hypercoagulable state and because insulin affects thrombosis. Impaired glucose tolerance and hyperinsulinemia contribute to impaired fibrinilysis. This can be observed by increased levels of plasminogen activation inhibitor-1 antigen (PAI-1) and tissue plasminogen activator antigen (t-PA). PAI-1 prevents clot dissolution by inhibiting t-PA and research shows that these factors contribute to coronary artery disease.

More reasons that heart disease is our number one killer.

According to Garvey and Hermayer, (1998) the clinical implications are the following:

There is not one single standardized test for the metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome should lead to careful screening and monitoring of other co-conditions.
Patients with metabolic syndrome require more aggressive treatment for the cardiovascular risk profile.

This makes sense. Monitoring other co-conditions is of great importance, especially when you’re on your way to being healthy.

Drug therapy to avoid worsening of metabolic syndrome

Primary goal of treatment is to normalize all abnormalities that are associated with metabolic syndrome.

From my POV, embracing natural treatments/diet and exercise to gain control of these symptoms is the best way to go, at least in the long run.

Beste Gesundheit,

Werner

For a couple of great books on how to beat Metabolic Syndrome X check out Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Disease or The Metabolic Syndrome Program: How to Lose Weight, Beat Heart Disease, Stop Insulin Resistance and More

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Technorati Tags: B Cells, Beta Cells, Diabetes Type 2, Dr Joseph Mercola, Fatty Acid Metabolism, Fatty Acids, Glucose Levels, Glucose Production, Glucose Utilization, Insulin Level, Insulin Production, Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, Metabolic Syndrome X, Proper Diet, Syndrome X, Type Ii Diabetes, Waist Circumference

Hey all we just put up our new Yeast Infections Treatment Page here: http://www.digitalscryer.com/yeast-infections-treatment/ so if you have any yeast related conditions, stop on by and check it out.

DigitalScryer’s Yeast Infections Treatment Page

Also you can see our catalog here: http://www.digitalscryer.com/yeast-infections-treatment/catalog/

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The Method of Loci (plural of the Latin word “locus” meaning “place”) is one of, if not the oldest forms of mnemonic enhancement out there. It was used by ancient Greek scholars to memorize 10,000 word poems and narratives and such.

The Method Of Loci, picture credit in top right of image.

Basically it works like this; You imagine as vividly as you can, a place or route to a place that you’re very familiar with. The hallway of your house, or the road to school or something else that’s very familiar to you. While mentally visiting this place or route, you identify a series of landmarks.

If your target is your bedroom, landmarks you might identify are your computer, your bed, your pillows, your dresser, or your mirror etc.

Then you can come up with a vivid and concrete list of things you want to remember. Names of world leaders for example, or a grocery list. Once you’ve completed this, you then associate each item on the list with a landmark in your place.

For example if you wanted to remember to buy coffee from the store, you might see the image of your brand of coffee reflected in your bedroom mirror. Or your pillows stuffed with coffee if that’s the way you wanted to go. These extremely vivid associations serve to greatly enhance your memory regarding these things.

To practice this skill, and learn to do it quickly, build your mental loci map and then have a friend read you a short (10 or so) list of random words. As quickly as you can, associate each word to a landmark in your mental map. Then check and see how you did. Practicing in this way can allow you to become very quick at memorizing large amounts of information.

Cicero.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of the greatest minds Rome ever produced, claimed that the Method of Loci was developed by accident by a poet called Simonides of Ceos. Simonides was the sole survivor of the collapse of a dining hall where he was attending dinner. Everyone there who died had been horrible mangled, crushed beyond recognition. This method allowed Simonides to remember everyone who was attending and where they were seated so that their grateful families could properly lay them to rest.

I couldn’t find any images of Simonides, so here’s The Hulk instead.

His ability to do this led him to realize that anything could be remembered in a similar fashion. From that point on, the Method of Loci was used by many Greek and Roman orators to give long speeches or recite long verses of poetry without having to read from notes. This method dates back to circa 500 b.c. and was the most popular memory system until circa 1650 when other mnemonic systems, such as the peg system, came into popular use.

So to conclude, the Method of Loci is EXCEEDINGLY powerful, but takes practice, practice, practice! Also remember to make all of your visualizations as completely ridiculous as you can so you have an easier time remembering them.

For a good book on increasing your memory and mental power, and even preventing cognitive declines like Alzheimer’s, check out the Mighty Memory System today! It’s a downloadable book that allows immediate access.

UNLEASH IT!

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Technorati Tags: Ancient Greek Scholars, Bedroom Mirror, Ceos, Dining Hall, Grocery List, Hallway, Landmark, Landmarks, Latin Word, Locus, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Method Of Loci, Narratives, Random Words, Sole Survivor, Word Poems, World Leaders

The first article on my new blog, Yeast Infections Treatment. Check it out here!

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