Awesome Boston Based Non-Profit: Helping Hands Monkey Helpers

 We recently learned of the Helping Hands Monkey Helpers non-profit based in Boston and are impressed with their awesome work. According to their website, Helping Hands “helps adults with spinal cord injuries and other mobility impairments live more independent and engaged lives…by providing them, free of charge…with a highly trained capuchin monkey to help with their daily tasks.” Since 1979, Helping hands has been carefully matching monkey helpers with disabled recipients giving them “the priceless gifts of greater independence, companionship, and hope.” 

Check out the video below to meet Mary Kay Young and her monkey helper Amy.

Click here for the Helping Hands website: http://www.monkeyhelpers.org/

Beyond the Tasks from Helping Hands Monkey Helpers on Vimeo. 

New Research at Tufts U. Sheds Light on Neuroscience, Possibilities for Spinal Cord Injury Treatments

Unlike tissues such as skin and bone, the cells of the central nervous system in an adult are notoriously resistant to healing. (Photo Credit: www.Now.Tufts.Edu)Spinal cord injury has always been a complicated area in neuroscience. However, recent research by Professor Eric Frank’s molecular physiology lab at Tufts University has made a breakthrough in understanding the central nervous system. Since 2005, the lab has been exploring the growth of nerve cells and its effects.  Researchers Pamela Harvey and Laura Wong have found that artemin protein can stimulate the growth of sensory nerve fibers to regenerate. Based on this finding, Wong has done further experiments to show that the new neurons can make organized connections with their counterparts inside the spinal cord and the brain stem under the stimulus of artemin. Wong remarks, “All the regeneration in the world isn’t going to make any difference if they don’t reconnect. You are still not going to get any function.” Although it seems that artemin can improve the situation after nerve cells are damaged, further evidence is needed to prove it can work on humans.

More information is available at: http://now.tufts.edu/articles/hope-spinal-cord-injuries

Paralyzed Former ASU Star Hahn Selected in 34th Round of MLB Draft

Cory Hahn and Sun Devil Teammates (photos courtesy of Arizona.Diamondbacks.MLB.com) When Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall announced the 34th round selection, he excitedly picked Cory Hahn, the former center fielder from ASU. Hahn was a talented baseball player who has developed fame during high school with Mr. Baseball honors and was even selected in 26th round in 2010. He later attended ASU where he hoped to strengthen his ability by playing for the Sun Devils to join the Major Leagues in the future. Unfortunately, during his third game, Hahn damaged his spinal cord and became paralyzed after a collision while sliding into second base. Although he couldn’t achieve his dream as a Major League player, his enthusiasm for baseball drove him to become a student coach with the Sun Devils. Because Hahn has been such an inspirational figure, Hall remarked, “It was a very emotional selection for us to make. But it’s not about us. It’s really about Cory and his family.”

Check out more information on the Diamondbacks website at:

http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130609&content_id=50088556&c_id=ari  

Introducing "Robohand": A Cheap and Effective Alternative for Children with Hand Disabilities

Richard Van As (left) and Ivan Owen (right) tinkering away (photo credit: DigitalTrends.com)What happens when a South African carpenter with a mangled hand meets a special effects artist and puppeteer from Bellingham, Washington? Well, in Richard Van As and Ivan Owen’s case, their chance meeting via YouTube has led to over 100 children with hand disabilities receiving an affordable and effective mechanical hand.

The two first teamed up, initially collaborating on Skype, to create a prototype to help Van As after a rogue table saw in his home workshop destroyed several fingers on his right hand. Owen was in a unique position to help as he had previously built a puppet hand with tendon-like steel cables allowing for dexterity and bending. While finalizing their first prototype, Van As got a call from a mother looking for the same thing to help her 5-year-old son Liam who had been born with no fingers on his right hand. The two immediately got to work. As Owen describes Liam’s first trial with his new hand, “He bent his wrist and made the fingers curl. You could see the light bulbs go off and he looked up and said, ‘It copies me.’ It was really an incredible moment.” And so “Robohand” was born.

Van As and Owen’s Robohand allows anyone to download the design and make a hand with no more than a 3-D printer and around $150 in parts. As hand prostheses can cost thousands of dollars and since there aren’t even that many options available for children, Robohand is certainly a welcomed creation. 12-year-old Leon McCarthy can certainly attest to the awesomeness of Robohand; after using his for the first time he exclaimed, “Look, it’s working, the Frankenstein hand is functioning! I am holding my lunch bag.”

To learn more about Robohand and the story behind it, check out the below link for Steve Henn and Cindy Carpien’s article on NPR: 

NPR: “3-D Printer Brings Dexterity to Children with No Fingers.”

Also, check out Liam and his Robohand in action below!

Boston Children's Tests "MyPassport" App to Connect Doctors with Patients and their Families

Dr. Hiep Nguyen hard at work at Boston Children's (photo credit: Boston Globe at Boston.com)Dr. Hiep Nguyen of Boston Children’s Hospital has made it his mission to bridge the gap between medical providers and their patients’ families. Nguyen led the development of a new iPad and smartphone app called MyPassport, which is currently being tested at Children’s. MyPassport seeks to centralize all patient information, present it in an easily digestible way, and allows families to organize their questions before doctors’ 3PM rounds. Also, with it’s databases showing pictures and names of doctors, nurses, patients, and their families, MyPassport can help facilitate and humanize the provider-patient relationship. We applaud Dr. Nguyen and his dedicated team in their efforts to develop this app and make it available to as many patients as possible. 

To read more, check out the below link from Boston.com...

“At Boston Children’s Hospital, a prototype mobile app delivers medical info directly to patients,” by Globe Columnist Scott Kirsner