‘Seeding’ practice for C-section babies ill-advised: experts – Thought-controlled prosthetic limbs possibly within reach

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SYDNEY, Feb 24, (Agencies): Thought-controlled prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs and computers may be available within a decade, say Australian scientists who are planning to conduct human trials next year on a high-tech implant that can pick up and transmit signals from the brain. Animals have already been tested with the device, called a stentrode, which is the size of a matchstick and planted inside a blood vessel near the brain. It uses a web of small electrodes to pick up neuron signals from the brain and converts them into electrical commands that may one day, the scientists hope, allow paralyzed patients to control a bionic limb or wheelchair.

Breakthrough “The big breakthrough is that we now have a minimally invasive brain-computer interface device which is potentially practical for long-term use,” said Terry O’Brien, head of medicine at the Department of Medicine and Neurology at the University of Melbourne. The current method for accessing brain signals requires complex open-brain surgery and becomes less effective over several months, which means it is rarely applied, he said. The stentrode is less invasive because it can be inserted through a vein in a patient’s neck and placed in a blood vessel near the brain.

The animal trial was on the functionality of the stentrode to pick up neuro signals, not the converting of the electronic signals into movement of bionic limbs, which is established technology. Dr Ganesh Naik, from the University of Technology Sydney, who is not involved in the project, said animal trials did not always translate into successful human trials. “If it functions as it should at the (human) trial, it will be a massive breakthrough,” said Ganesh. Other potential uses for the stentrode include monitoring the brain signals of people with epilepsy to detect an oncoming seizure. If successful, the device could also allow a patient to communicate through a computer, said Professor Clive May from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, who is working on the project.

“People would need to be trained in how to think the right thoughts to make it work, like learning to play music. You need to learn it, but once you do, it becomes natural,” May said. The device was developed by Melbourne University, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. The project is funded by both the Australian government and the US military, which sees potential benefits for paraplegic veterans.

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The increasingly popular practice of swabbing newborns delivered by caesarean section with fluid from the mother’s vagina may not be safe, doctors and researchers cautioned Wednesday. Known as “vaginal seeding”, the treatment is given to compensate for the lack of exposure to natural, beneficial microbes found in the vaginal tract and thought to boost the health of the infant. Previous studies have shown that caesarean delivery is linked to a modest increase in the risk of obesity, asthma and some autoimmune diseases. But it is still uncertain whether swabbing C-section babies with the mother’s vaginal secretions offers protection, the experts noted in the medical journal BMJ.

“There is simply no evidence to suggest it has benefits — and it may carry potential risks,” lead author Aubrey Cunnington, a researcher in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, said in a statement. The potential downside, she said in the editorial, is the transfer of harmful bacteria that provoke no symptoms in the mother, thus going undetected, or for which she may not have been tested. These include B streptococcus, the most common cause of severe neonatal infections, along with herpes or gonococcus, the bacteria responsible for the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhoea.

“These pathogens would probably also be transferred on a vaginal swab,” the authors cautioned. Many countries, including Britain, do not routinely screen all women for these dangerous bacteria in pregnancy, the editorial noted. In many developed countries, more than a quarter of babies are now delivered by caesarean section. A study published earlier this month in Nature Medicine reported on a clinical trial in which doctors swabbed C-section newborns with fluids from the mother’s vagina.

Monitoring the infants for 30 days, the researchers found that they had some, but not all, of the bacteria — collectively known as the microbiota — that would have been present had they been born naturally. The study drew no conclusions, however, on long-term health benefits. The microbiota is the community of microbes that colonises our bodies, outnumbering our own cells by 10 to one. It varies across different parts of the body, and form one person to another. Interest among researchers and doctors has surged in the potential for manipulating the microbiota to promote health and treat disease.

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