An ingenious chair for disabled children who have frequent spasms could be available for use within the next few years. Funding from children’s charity Action Medical Research has supported researchers working on its development.

The unique chair moves with children during spasms. It gives these disabled children relief from discomfort and, for the first time in their lives, the confidence they need to sit independently — bringing new-found freedom both to the children and to their parents or carers, who would normally sit them on their laps.

The team of researchers at the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering is seeking funding to begin manufacture of the chair, as well as further research into its potential benefits. Action Medical Research awarded a grant in 2008 for the three year research project.

Trials have shown severely disabled children using the chair were able to adjust their posture without going into a spasm, and use body movements to help them communicate.

The researchers have evolved a new kind of design technique that has allowed them to develop the ground-breaking chair.

“These unique chairs move with children during spasms, keeping the children’s upper body almost upright and allowing their hips and knees to extend. The children are returned to their resting position as they relax” Professor Orpwood describes.

The researchers plan further studies to gather more evidence on how the chairs affect children’s lives.

Further information on the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering: www.bime.org.uk/

A 2-day course for UK health professionals working with families of disabled children. 

21st and 22nd January, 2013 

Bonhill House, London, EC2A 4BX 

Delegates from outside the UK are also welcome. 

Cost: £350.00 

For more information and to book your place contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Note: These 2-day courses are also available at your venue.

Exposure to radiation from cell phones during pregnancy affects the brain development of offspring, potentially leading to hyperactivity, Yale School of Medicine researchers have determined. 

By Karen N. Peart, Yale News, March 15, 2012 - 

The results, based on studies in mice, are published in the March 15 issue of Scientific Reports, a Nature publication.  

"This is the first experimental evidence that fetal exposure to radiofrequency radiation from cellular telephones does in fact affect adult behavior," said senior author Dr. Hugh S. Taylor, professor and chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences. 

Taylor and co-authors exposed pregnant mice to radiation from a muted and silenced cell phone positioned above the cage and placed on an active phone call for the duration of the trial. A control group of mice was kept under the same conditions but with the phone deactivated. 

The team measured the brain electrical activity of adult mice that were exposed to radiation as fetuses, and conducted a battery of psychological and behavioral tests. They found that the mice that were exposed to radiation tended to be more hyperactive and had reduced memory capacity. Taylor attributed the behavioral changes to an effect during pregnancy on the development of neurons in the prefrontal cortex region of the brain. 

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is a developmental disorder associated with neuropathology localized primarily to the same brain region, and is characterized by inattention and hyperactivity. 

Read more here