Category Archives: Medicine

Spinal Cord Regrowth May Be Possible- but not tomorrow.

August 8, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 10 Comments

The ability to grow brain and spinal cord nerve cells is present at birth- and starts to disappear just like that as we age. So, when we incur an injury to the spine or the brain- the axons (as discussed earlier) can’t regenerate. It is thought that since these areas are replete with nerves and nerve fibers, they send signals to stop new connections from forming. By stopping new pathways from forming, our brain can’t be confused with by incorrect signals that could result from the new pathways.

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Medicine, Technology

Happy trails to you…

August 4, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 2 Comments

I daydream. I know you think that’s bad- our whole culture has decided that this is just a lazy habit. In today’s pell-mell pace, we just can’t afford ourselves the opportunity to take things slow. That’s just wrong.

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Medicine, Technology

Stem cells still promise more than they deliver

August 3, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 2 Comments

The problem- stem cell therapy works- we think. The problem- we still can’t do the proper research. The problem- physicians are using it on patients anyway.

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Medicine, Technology

TBI- traumatic brain injury- NFL, US Armed Forces, Vehicular Accidents…

July 29, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 9 Comments

Even though the brain, with the consistency of custard, is sealed inside the skull (and surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid), it constantly adjusts to stress (both physical and mental). As I said earlier, the NFL is beginning to recognize that its players undergo numerous brain injuries. (Oh, so many plays on words come to mind.). As a result, they are now subjecting recruits to a series of brain tests. No, they are not expecting them to be budding creators. They are seeking baseline brain function- so, when and if- they reach the big leagues and get hurt, there will be a comparison to determine if the brain is injured.

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Economy, Medicine, Technology

Telemedicine is no longer the future for CHF patients

July 28, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

Telemedicine has been a ‘whiz-bang’ concept for some time. I remember working with AT&T right after their breakup from the baby bells (almost 20 years ago). We were working on the initial stages of a telemedicine system they would market. (The real issue was there were insufficient/inaccurate devices upon which we would initially rely.)

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Medicine, Technology

New tests to discern Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

July 27, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 4 Comments

We are hearing more and more about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) nowadays, primarily as a result of the improvised explosive devices (IED) in Iraq and Afghanistan hurting our troops.Â But, even the intransigent NFL recognizes the problem (football helmets are not precluding brain trauma).Â And, last month, a batter’s broken bat knocked out Carlos Ruiz, the Phillies’ fully-helmeted catcher, who was then put on the disability list for 15 days. (He is slowly coming back to full form.)

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Medicine, Technology

Stem Cell Research to Treat Parkinson’s Disease

July 26, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 11 Comments

Our skin, part of the integumentary system, is the human’s largest organ. This system comprises some 12 to 16% of our total body weight. There are four or five layers of skin all over our body- and, one of the layers in both types of skin is the stratum germinativum- a layer of stem cells.

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Business Management, Medicine

What should we do as leaders and managers?

July 23, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 2 Comments

Come on, you didn’t think I was going to just wail on our local governments, did you?Â No, we, as business leaders,Â are often just as guilty as our governments are in the execution of our plans.

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Medicine

A Followup to yesterday’s blog- about misleading headlines and articles

July 19, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 1 Comment

OK. Let’s use an article disseminated today by the Associated Press, written by Lindsey Tanner. (Tanner may not have chosen the headline- but the article is not quite kosher, either.). Here’s the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38301219/ns/health-cancer/

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Medicine

Dopamine is indicted in our food cravings and our inability to move on after love is lost…

July 8, 2010 Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. 3 Comments

I first blogged about dopamine on 1 June. Now, there’s more research demonstrating other aspects of our lives that it affects. However, some of the researchers were not looking at the issues from a dopamine point of view. [Their loss is my gain- or yours in your quest for knowledge.]

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