Tag Archives: Multiple Sclerosis

Doctors say more MRI scanners would help MS patients

Doctors say more MRI scanners would help MS patients

Page last updated at 09:54 GMT, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 10:54 UK

By Maddii Lown
Newsbeat reporter MRI scan

Doctors want more to be done to speed up the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Around 2,500 people are diagnosed with MS every year with about half of those thought to be between 18 and 30.

The MS Society says it has noticed an increase in calls to its help-line from people worried about symptoms of the disease.

Common MS symptoms

  • Double or blurred vision
  • Numbness or tingling in any part of the body
  • Tiredness
  • Temporary blindness
  • Fatigue and dizziness
  • Distortion or loss of sense of touch
  • Limb weakness, spasticity and pain
  • Incontinence
  • Constipation
  • Cognitive impairment

The Department of Health says 90% are diagnosed using MRI scans and that they are working on how best to improve diagnosis.

It comes after a report by the Neurological Alliance which says people with neurological conditions are waiting too long for a diagnoses.

JLS star: Fame makes caring for MS mum tougher

JLS star: Fame makes caring for MS mum tougher

Monday, 8 October 2012 06:28 UK

 By Dave Howard
Newsbeat reporter JLS star Oritsé Williams says becoming a celebrity has made it harder to care for his mother, who has multiple sclerosis.”I’m constantly calling nurses and carers to find out how mum is,” he says.He says there is barely time “just to have a simple conversation on the phone”.

Oritsé says it was hard caring for his mother when he was a teenager

He says it is very different from when he was 11 and his mother’s main carer.

Gadget lets you control computer with your eyes

A researcher in London has created a low-cost device which allows wearers to use their eye movements to control a computer

By Tom Levitt, for CNN
September 24, 2012 — Updated 0848 GMT (1648 HKT) |
A researcher in London has created a low-cost device which allows wearers to use their eye movements to control a computer

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • New low-cost glasses allow you a wearer to control gadgets, even objects with their eyes
  • Eye-tracking equipment could help Multiple Sclerosis and other brain disorders
  • Technology could start a new era of hands-free computing

(CNN) — Take two video-game console cameras and one pair of horn-rimmed glasses and for around $30 you have a device that will allow you to control a computer or, potentially, even a wheelchair with your eyes.

Previously, if you wanted to buy similar eye-tracking equipment it would have cost you upwards of $8,000. Now, scientists in London have pioneered a device, the GT3D, using components anyone of us can buy from the shopping mall.