Introduction to Physiotronics [TM]

This week I spent a bit of time with Dr. J. C. Chiao, of University of Texas at Arlington, learning about the field of Physiotronics [TM], which covers the area of Implantable Wireless Medical Devices and Systems. With the recent suicide of my wife due to chronic pain, from Intracranial Hypotension caused by leaking Cerebralspinal Fluid (CSF Leak), the information on An integrated wireless body network for chronic pain management. The system provides a wireless closed loop for neurorecorders to recognize pain signals and neurostimulators to inhibit pain is of great personal interest. Page two and six are the pain related ones.

Perception of pain requires propagation of Neural Signal Action Potentials (APs) via communication between neurons (Nociceptors) over Nociceptive afferent fibers (Aδ, C).

Dr. Chaio's group is currently doing animal trails, with rats, of their APRI [TM]: Automatic Pain Recognition and Inhibition which is a closed-loop On-demand feedback system that is measuring the actual nerve signals that transmit pain to the brain. To my knowledge all other current techniques use only subjective methods of those in actual pain, such as the Mosby Pain Rating Scale, or fiddling with the knobs of a TENS unit far to much as Karen often did. The closed loop system will allow for less pain medication to be injected, and being automatic allow the user to get on with having a life.

I do have one significant concern, due to my bias of not wanting to puncture the spinal dura, which is what causes Intracranial Hypotension, is currently the neural sensors require physical contact with the pain sensing nerve. I'm hoping this does not cause erosion of the dura leading to a CFS Leak. This may be nothing but my personal parainoia.

Also I'm not sure Dr. Chiao, and the medical field at large, understand the importance of the ratio encoding of the nervous system. Something I researched extensively when working with Dr. Flanagan on an update to his Neurophone [TM] years ago. You can read my old research here: Mind9.

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This weekend is your last chance to vote for my device in the Dare to Dream Medical Device Contest: How do we make this device happen?. If you are having trouble voting in the device contest from a phone use this link and vote for #5, "Intracranial Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure Regulator". See here for more information.

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Is consciences itself influencing your Embedded System?

This week [Sept. 20th 2013] I spent a fascinating evening with Bob Jahn and Brenda Dunne of the former Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory, who are now running the International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL). Bob Jahn is Emeritus Professor of Aerospace Sciences and Dean Emeritus of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences of Princeton University. He was founder and director of PEAR from its inception in 1979 until its closing in 2007, with Brenda serving as its laboratory manager. Bob is now Chairman of ICRL and Brenda serves as its President.

Bob and Brenda over 28 years investigated psi from an engineering point of view. That is, the primary subject of their human/machine experiments was not the human, but the machine. This shift in emphasis required different experimental designs based on the accumulation of very large databases from a relatively small group of human operators, manipulation of physical variables rather than psychological ones, and data processing and statistical techniques drawn from engineering practice.

The way we pose our questions can frequently affect the answers we get.

PEAR experiments involved many different types of Random Event Generators. For our discussion here I assume the REG is based on the decay of a radioactive element. It is impossible to know when a radioactive particle will be emitted from a mass. The unpredictably of this emission form a random event that is coupled into a logic system to record such events.

Lets assume we have a simple apparatus of three bins in which a collection of balls can accumulate. The bin on the left is called the 'low-side', middle bin the 'baseline' and the bin on the right is called the 'high-side'.

The Random Event Generator determines which of the three bins the balls will fall into. Over a long enough period of time, without any outside influences, the three bins will accumulate the same number of balls.

Now the fascinating part to me is that untrained operators (that is people that claim no special abilities of any kind) can influence which bin gets the most balls. It gets even more interesting that the device can be influenced remotely from the present, past or future! Time and distance are a construction of our current physical understanding of the world, however they are not a requirement of Nature. In their studies they did determine that this is a wave-based phenomenon and not particle based.

What I found strangest of all (as if this all isn't strange enough) is that the influence on the devices were gender specific. Males who could see the device had the best outcomes of getting the balls to fall into the bins of their choosing. Females regardless of their choice tended to have the balls fall into the 'high' bin. Bonded couples (that is dating or married heterosexual couples) had a seven fold increase in the balls falling into the bin of their choosing. Pairs of males or pairs of females had no better outcomes than an individual operator of the same gender.

PEAR accumulated billions of bits of data from the REGs of many types and found the same outcomes over 28 years of study.

So what do we do with this knowledge? At this point I have no idea. However maybe the next time the customer complains that something was not working perhaps we should ask them what they were thinking at the time of the anomaly...

Dare to Dream Medical Device Contest: How do we make this device happen?

On August 7th, my wife of twenty years committed suicide.

For twenty-four year she battled with Chronic Pain, that she ultimately lost to suicide, when she could take the pain from Intracranial Hypotension, caused by leaking Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF Leak), no longer.

I refuse to let Karen's death be in vane, see about donating her spine: http://blog.softwaresafety.net/2013/08/my-wifes-suicide.html.

Now I need your help. I know some of you work in the medical device field. Now do we make this device happen (I know it is a slow process), see below?

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[Bob you] have been selected as a finalist for the Dare-To-Dream Medtech Design Challenge. Please see the announcement and who else made the list at:

http://www.mddionline.com/article/10-finalists-announced-dare-dream-medtech-design-challenge-slideshow.

10 Finalists Announced For Dare-to-Dream Medtech Design Challenge (slideshow).

Editors have already scored the submissions. Now it's up to readers.

##** Get your friends, co-workers and family to vote on your entry. **##

The scores will be added to reader votes and a grand prize winner and two runners up will be announced Oct. 1.

This one is mine: Intracranial Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure Regulator.

Vote on which of the ten designs you'd like to see become reality here:

http://www.mddionline.com/article/10-finalists-announced-dare-dream-medtech-design-challenge-voting.

If you are having trouble voting in the device contest from a phone use this link and vote for #5, "Intracranial Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure Regulator":

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2L7no9rcr7qpPai4L4ASqw%3D%3D&h=iAQHT72JN

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When I saw this contest announced I thought it was a good way to get the issue of Intracranial Hypotension in front of the group of people, Nerds like me, that design medical devices, so that someday this group will have a solution to IH.

Wining the contest will get IH in front of even more people. However wining is that not important to me, I'll be donating the proceeds to IH research. What I want accomplish is getting IH in front of the people that can do something about it. I know some of you work in the medical device field. Now do we make this device happen (I know it is a slow process)?

See animation of pump here:

http://www.newscaletech.com/applications/fluidics.php

http://www.newscaletech.com/doc_downloads/Positive_Displacement_Microfluidic_Pump.pdf

http://www.ams.com/eng/Products/Piezo-Motor-Drivers

Karen's complete medical history is here http://www.kpaddock.com.

Updates on her facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/karen.s.paddock

Thank you for your help.