Easier to Use and More Flexible, Lingraphica 7 Provides One-Click Icon Search and Fast Message Creation Princeton, New Jersey (June 30, 2010). Lingraphica, maker of the Lingraphica speech-generating device for aphasia, announces the release of its even more user-friendly Lingraphica 7, crafted by designers in response to feedback from both speech-language pathologists and Lingraphica users.

New One-Click Navigation mode allows users to navigate through the icon vocabulary with one simple click of a mouse, which makes finding icons and creating messages fast and intuitive.

The smart spell help enables the Lingraphica to suggest corrections for words that are misspelled, taking the worry out of spelling.

A new Icon Editor allows users, caregivers, and health-care professionals to customize their own icon vocabularies by easily creating new icons and changing existing ones.

Additional grammar, math, reading, and memory exercises have been added to the hundreds already included on the Lingraphica, making it easier for users to work independently to improve their language skills.

The mouth-position practice videos have been expanded to include blends, additional words with targeted phonemes, and phrases associated with dysphagia. The 700-plus videos make it easier for adults with apraxia to practice speech production.

Videos of standard oral-motor exercises illustrate cheek, tongue, palate, lip, and jaw movements that help strengthen the oral musculature, providing easy, focused practice and rehabilitation.

All new Lingraphicas will be shipped with the new version. Existing customers who have owned the Lingraphica for a year or less are entitled to a free update. Those who have owned a Lingraphica for longer will need to pay a small fee. Existing customers are encouraged to contact Lingraphica to order the update.

“We know that even with all the new features, each patient has his or her own way of using the Lingraphica. That’s why we remain committed to configuring each device before it goes out the door to mesh perfectly with a particular user’s needs,” explains Lingraphica’s CEO Andrew Gomory. “We have created the device that patients and their speech-language pathologists told us they wanted. And we’re dedicated to making the Lingraphica a great experience for every single user.”

Lingraphica-The Aphasia Company™ is the leading provider of speech-generating devices for people whose ability to speak or understand words has been impaired by a stroke or brain injury. With the Lingraphica they can communicate with picture icons that speak words and phrases in a natural human voice, or they can practice speech using videos and language exercises. The Lingraphica is Medicare reimbursable. It is available for a no-obligation trial. Lingraphica also offers the SmallTalk Aphasia, Dysphagia, and Oral Motor Exercises apps on Apple’s App Store. For more information call 888-APHASIA (888-274-2742) or visit www.lingraphica.com.

Author: Candy Kugel and Buzzco Associates

A new DVD was created by Candy Kugel and Buzzco Associates, Inc. in conjunction with the NAA and aphasia centers in West Texas, California, Canada and singer/composer, Marc Black.

Award –winning actress Allison Janney provides the superb narration. It is a
must have resource for people with aphasia, their loved ones, health
professionals and health related facilities. Treat yourself to a preview by Clicking HERE .

Below is Aphasia Hope Foundation’s upcoming Professional Forum Series for 2010

January – Maura Silverman, MS, CCC-SLP; Triangle Aphasia Project, North Carolina

February – Kristine Lundgren, PhD., CCC-SLP; Boston University School of Medicine

March – Nan Musson, MA, CCC-SLP; BC-NCD-A, VA Medical Center, Gainesville, FL

April – Mary Beth Clark, MS/CCC

May – Claire Penn, Ph.D., CCC-SLP; ETH University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

June – Anne Ver Hoef, MA, CCC-SLP; Alaska

July – Roberta J. Elman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BC-NCD; Aphasia Center of California

August – Carole Pomilio, MA, CCC-SLP; Speech Language Teacher, Kyrene Schools, Arizona

September – Audrey Holland, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BC-NCD; University of Arizona

October – Leonard LaPointe, Ph.D., CCC-SLP; Florida State University

November – Margaret Forbes, MS, CCC-SLP; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

December – Anita Halper, MA, CCC-SLP, BC-NCD; Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

You can ask questions of our current month’s Professional by clicking here.

Author: Medical News Today

Concentric Medical announced the FDA clearance and commercial release of the Merci(R) L5 Retrieval System in the United States. Concentric Medical is presently the only company offering devices cleared by FDA for clot removal in ischemic stroke patients. The Merci L5 Retrieval System offers another option for patients, especially those who have “failed” intravenous clot dissolving drug therapy or who could not be treated within the three hour limit.

The Merci L5 Retrieval System is the newest design, incorporating a cylindrical helix with attached filaments. The filaments provide an additional mechanism for securing the clot during retrieval. This device was investigated as part of the Multi MERCI trial, a major multi-center, prospective trial conducted in the United States and Canada. Results will be reported at the International Stroke Conference on February 9th, 2007, by Wade Smith, MD, PhD, Principal Investigator and Professor of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco.

“The clearance of the Merci L5 Retriever in the United States is further evidence of Concentric Medical’s leadership in developing new options for stroke patients,” said Gary Curtis, President and CEO of Concentric Medical. “This next-generation Merci Retrieval System provides another example of Concentric Medical’s continuous innovation and dedication to putting stroke in reverse.”

The Merci Retriever is a “corkscrew-type” device that is delivered into the brain using standard catheterization techniques. A small puncture in the groin is used to introduce the Merci Retriever into an artery leading to the brain. Upon reaching the targeted area, the Merci Retriever is designed to restore blood flow by engaging, capturing and removing the blood clot.

Stroke Facts

Stroke is the number one leading cause of disability and is the third leading cause of death worldwide. It is estimated that there are 750,000 strokes in the United States each year, of which 85 percent are ischemic. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked by a blood clot, which can impair brain function and cause severe disability or death.

About Concentric Medical

Located in Mountain View, California, and founded in 1999, Concentric Medical is dedicated to “Putting STROKE in Reverse”. The company manufacturers and markets the Merci Retrieval Systems, the only interventional devices cleared by the FDA for clot retrieval in acute ischemic stroke. Concentric Medical has a full pipeline of new products to continue to advance the treatment options for ischemic stroke patients. The Merci Retrieval System is available in over 225 centers in North America and in leading stroke centers around the world. Concentric Medical estimates that over 4,500 patients have been treated with the device. More information about Concentric Medical and its products can be found Concentric Medical.com .

Read an amazing story about this life-saving device by Clicking Here .

URL: Medicalnewstoday.

Author: Ask.com

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) – Methamphetamine appears to lessen damage to the brains of rats and gerbils that have suffered strokes, a new study by a group of University of Montana scientists shows.

“Methamphetamine is a drug that has been shown to exacerbate stroke damage or make it worse when administered before a stroke,” Dave Poulsen, a UM research assistant professor, said in a news release. “But we have seen roughly 80 to 90 percent protection of neurons when administered after a stroke.”

During the study, Poulsen and his team kept thin slices of rat hippocampus – the part of the brain used for memory and learning – in culture for nine days. The slices were then deprived of oxygen and glucose for 1 1/2 hours, mimicking stroke conditions.

The team used a special dye to reveal the damage.

When low doses of meth were administered, the scientists saw less damage in the stroke slices than the non-stroke slices.

“Don’t ask me how – we are trying to figure that out,” Poulsen said. “But methamphetamine is clearly protective.”

The researchers found that small amounts of meth created a protective effect, while higher doses increased damage.

They also learned that lower doses of the drug helped lessen damage up to 16 hours after a stroke. This discovery was significant because the current leading clot-busting drug used for strokes must be administered within three hours, said Poulsen, a faculty member of UM’s Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The researchers also used live gerbils in their study. The animals that suffered strokes became twice as active and agitated as normal gerbils. But those given a low dose of meth were calmer, and dissection showed that their neurons were as intact as those in animals that hadn’t had strokes.

In contrast, nontreated animals that suffered strokes showed profound neuronal loss.

Poulsen said he stumbled upon the apparent protective aspect of meth while helping other UM researchers study the toxicity of the drug on the lungs.

“The reality of it is, we initially used meth and stroked the animals to try to increase the damage, and surprisingly the cultures looked better,” he said. “We repeated it four times, and it worked again and again.”

The work is preliminary, and more research is needed to confirm and expand the findings; however, Poulsen said someday humans may use meth to lessen stroke damage. Read More .

Author: Medical News Today

People at high risk of stroke due to blocked blood vessels in the brain benefit from successful stent placement, according to a study published in the February 6, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Before now it’s been unclear whether people with severe artery blockage, an important cause of stroke, had a higher subsequent stroke risk after angioplasty and stent placement than people with moderate blockage,” said study author Wei-Jian Jiang, MD, with the Beijing Tiantan Hospital at the Capital University of Medical Sciences in Beijing, China. “This study shows people with severe blockage do not have a higher subsequent stroke risk after stent placement.”

For the study, researchers in Beijing evaluated 213 people who had received a stent, which is an expandable wire form used to open up a narrowing or totally obstructed blood vessel. Stents are inserted in the blood vessels through an artery-opening procedure called angioplasty. Of the group, 121 people had severe artery blockage of more than 70 percent, while 92 people had moderate blockage of 50 to 69 percent. Their ages ranged from 20 to 79.

The study found the risk of stroke for people with severe blockage was 7.2 percent at one year after stent placement and 8.2 percent at two years after placement. That compares to the moderate blockage group, which had a 5.3-percent risk of stroke at one year after stent placement and 8.3 percent at two years after placement.

“There was no significant difference in the risk of stroke between the two groups after stent placement,” said Jiang. “These similar results suggest while patients with severe blockage benefit from stents, patients with moderate blockage may not, since our study shows the degree of artery blockage isn’t a predictor of stroke risk after stent placement.”

Jiang says a clinical trial is needed to determine the benefits of stents in people with severe artery blockage before it can be used as a routine procedure.

The study was supported by The Ministry of Health of The People’s Republic of China.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 20,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit www.aan.com .

American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
1080 Montreal Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55116
United States
www.journal of the American Academy of Neurology.org .

Article URL: www.medicalnewstoday.com.

Author: Barbara Weinbaum

Lingraphica Awarded Three-year CARF Accreditation
Princeton, New Jersey — January 22, 2009 — CARF International announced that Lingraphica has been accredited for a three-year period to supply speech-generating devices for persons with aphasia.

This accreditation, the first for Lingraphica, is the highest that can be awarded to an organization and shows Lingraphica’s conformance to CARF standards. To receive a three-year accreditation, an organization goes through a rigorous peer review process and demonstrates to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.

Lingraphica, maker of the Lingraphica speech-generating device and SmallTalk apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, is a for-profit organization with offices in Princeton, New Jersey. It has been providing speech-generating devices nationally since 1991.

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.

For additional information, contact Lingraphica.com or at 888-APHASIA, 888-274-2742

Author: Prevention.com

If you or someone you’re with develops any of these stroke symptoms, call 911 immediately:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body

Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or trouble understanding speech

Sudden trouble seeing with one or both eyes

Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination

Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

“Call for emergency help even if the symptoms seem to fade away,” says David Wiebers, MD, of the Mayo Clinic. “Ministrokes, or TIAs, fool a lot of people. You might lose vision in one eye for 5 to 10 minutes, then it returns. There’s no pain, so you have a false sense of security. But you should still be evaluated.”

Print, read or email the original article by clicking here.

Author: Stroke Connection Magazine

The Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act (STOP Stroke, H.R. 477) took a major step toward becoming law when it was passed by the full House of Representatives by voice vote on March 27. The STOP Stroke Act, which was introduced by Reps. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Chip Pickering (R-MS) in January, would help ensure that stroke is more widely recognized by the public and treated more effectively by healthcare providers.

“The House vote brings us closer to closing gaps in the awareness and treatment of a deadly disease that afflicts about 700,000 Americans each year and threatens quality of life.” Said Larry Goldstein, M.D., chair of the American Stroke Association Stroke Council. “In recognizing the severity of this disease and the need to improve care, the House has taken a bold step in addressing this issue head-on. Now it’s up to the Senate to act quickly and pass the STOP Stroke Act during this session.”

In the Senate, the STOP Stroke Act was re-introduced by Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) on March 27. The STOP Stroke Act will provide states with the resources needed to implement coordinated stroke systems of care. It also authorizes a national public awareness campaign, a grant program to train medical professionals in newly developed tools and therapies, and a national clearinghouse to collect stroke data and share best practices.

To take action and urge your Senator to co-sponsor the STOP Stroke Act, join the “You’re the Cure” network today. Visit: “The Cure” .

Author: Jason Mosheim

While the underlying causes of aphasia and dementia are distinctly different, the two conditions have a number of similarities. Clinicians may use the same therapy techniques for both patient populations, but the treatment goals will vary.
The root deficit of aphasia is a problem with access to the language system. Patients also may present with some cognitive deficits.

“This is a population with brain damage,” said Scott Rubin, PhD, CCC-SLP, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. “It affects language as well as some of the things that might go along with brain damage, like attention and memory problems.”

Rather than having trouble with words, patients with dementia may primarily have difficulty understanding and defining concepts. Primarily an intellectual disorder, dementia is rooted in cognitive deficits.

“We need to think about what we’re treating,” Dr. Rubin told ADVANCE. Clinicians cannot concentrate only on language and neglect subtle conceptual issues.
Both patient populations may use circumlocution to search for words or concepts. However, this self-cueing technique reveals differences between the two conditions. Patients with aphasia eventually may reach their target, while those with dementia frequently end up much further away from it.

“The person with aphasia can maintain the conceptual underpinning for the target, activate the related lexical memory, and then access the word,” said Dr. Rubin. “People with dementia diverge from their original conceptual idea to different thoughts and intentions, so it may be harder to get at the root of what they’re trying to convey.”

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