Maybe I'm just cynical but this seems suspiciously like snake oil. Seems impossible to exclude the placebo effect and the improvements are self reported (more or less).
CK2, what makes you think that FDA cleared only means it’s “extremely similar to other approved devices”?
I think you may be confused, or are repeating something you heard in a Netflix documentary.
First, “fda cleared” means your device is “substantially equivalent” to another cleared or granted device. You can’t be cleared based on another approved device, since approval means the other device received a PMA. Second, substantial equivalence is actually quite lenient. I know, because I’ve helped clear over 50 devices.
Finally, a cleared device still can require a lot of testing. Frequently FDA requires our clients to run multimillion dollar studies to validate their devices.
MIT uses a weird class numbering system. Instead of CS101, they call it 6.0002.
The first digit is the school that offers it, then after the decimal point they have their number of classes. (EECS is unusual in that it has four digits after the decimal point, most every other course has just three.) In general, classes that are required start with 001 and increment up, such that 001 is the intro course, 002 follows from that, etc. Then electives start around 015 or so.
Course 1 is Civil Engineering, Course 2 is Mechanical engineering, Course 3 is materials science, etc. 6 is Electrical and Computer engineering.
So 2.009 is a mechanical engineering course, in this case one for students towards the end of their time. It's called Product Engineering Processes, where you create a new product from beginning to production.
https://www.eecs.mit.edu/academics/subject-numbering/ says that they changed things from when I understood it, again. Looks like they completely renumbered every single class so they could create a simple validator because no number was reused between old and new.
6.0002 is now 6.100B (the B is deconflict) but most everything else went to four digits, with the last digit a 0 for undergrad and a 2 for graduate school taking the same class. e.g. 6.6830 is the undergraduate Computer Vision class and 6.6832 is the graduate Computer Vision class.
I have essential tremor. Hearing about new treatment options is exciting. At one time my pediatric neurologist basically said the only kind of treatment had real nasty side effects, and most recently the prescription pill I tried also presented side effects that weren't worth it.
I'm going to look into this when I can. would love to try it if it's financially feasible.
ETA: Looking at their website and all the models in the photos are older people...
As someone diagnosed with ET since high school that's kind of funny.
There are some indications that specific beta-carbolines (harman/norharman) could be a causative factor in genetically predisposed people. Coffee, tobacco smoke and fried/grilled food are the most significant sources.
Well, one adjustment is that it looks like any high temperature process resulting in a maillard-type reaction can elevate these. So I suppose roasted vegetables are going to have elevated levels as well. Darker crusty breads more than lighter breads, etc. Smoking and coffee are higher risk factors than food, although idk if that's accounting for rate/volume of consumption.
A (very) quick look at this says that the compounds are doing the damage, but the real problem is that some people don't metabolize them as quickly as others, and they build up. These are neurotoxic at higher concentrations and cross the blood-brain barrier, so if you aren't clearing them out then I guess you're exposing your cerebellum to more of them for a longer duration.
Studies suggest that people with ET have higher levels of these beta-carbolines in their blood than control patients, in some cases (like familial tremor) even if their diet and lifestyle doesn't look it should be risk.
I've never tried a fasted state like that unfortunately so I couldn't say.
My pediatric neurologist at the time actually suggested trying some wine (with adult supervision of course) because some people seemingly respond well to that. But I've of course tried all kinds of alcohol by now years later and none seem to do the trick.
Another doctor more recently also suggested trying CBD (non THC) but no obvious improvement from that either, although I really only ever tried one type of CBD supplement and maybe it wasn't the right dosage.
My elderly mom has (had?) familial essential tremor and did two ultrasound brain lesion treatments: one for each hand.
The treatment was very effective. She went from not being able to eat soup without making a mess and barely being able to use touch screens (let alone write) to no visibly noticeable tremor. They had her draw a before and after spiral and it was an amazing improvement.
But the side effects were rough. She had trouble walking for weeks after the first treatment, though it eventually resolved with time and physical therapy. She had speech (cadence, slurring, word-finding) issues after the second treatment that she's currently doing therapy for.
It was a really big quality of life improvement for her but I don't know if she would have done it if she were not retired or didn't have a strong family support network.
This is the kind of technology application that I can get behind. What a wonderful project and great to see the original person with the idea so skeptical that it could work, be outvoted and then see their idea come to life.
Very interesting, I worked on something very similar for tremors, just didn’t take it to a product or a startup for reasons. Glad to see someone did it
Right concept (vibrating stimulation) wild design choices. You don't need to stimulate the fingers for this type of treatment to be effective (wrist is enough).
Having built a pulsed vibration wristband for someone with Parkinson's, just a few notes. For Parkinson's patients:
- there's a small-ish window in the disease progression where pulsed vibration is able to help a person regain some intentional motor control
- the device doesn't stop the tremors
- the pulsed vibration does let the brain's control signal come through stronger, so drawing/typing/moving the mouse is more intentional.
- this is no more effective than the results of levidopa/carbidopa treatment, and the levidopa/carbidopa typically calms the overall tremors
- as Parkinson's progresses, these devices become useless, and if the patient qualifies for deep brain stimulation, it's worth looking into (regain years of useful life if you're lucky).
I haven't tested the device on people with essential tremor, so I don't have anything smart to say there.
You can make a very unsophisticated version of this without a lot of hardware:
- small microcontroller with 3v outputs (XIAO's are perfect)
- 3v sealed eccentric mass motors (aliexpress $1/ea)
- elastic wristband
- usb battery
- software to pulse the motors for about 200 miliseconds for an on off sequence of about 8 times, then rest for about a second and repeat.
this person above i think is saying over time as the disease progresses(gets worse) , it stops working as well ... which is sad... but at least maybe for folks in this stage of the disease there's a way to restore some amount of normal.
Interesting, it’s not a closed loop with the tremors nor the bioelectrical signal?
I’m curious to know why they had to “choose a disease” for the market tests. some treatments are symptomatic and don’t need to select the exact disease they are going to market for.
No closed loop needed. Apparently the brain/nerve circuit just needs a regular input stimulus to let more of output signal get through. Someone in neurobiology may have better answers for the why.
In general I would not recommend driving a motor (even a small one) directly with a microcontroller GPIO pin. Those pins aren't designed to sink much current and you'll at best get a very weak response, because although the MCU is 3V that's only going to be maintained with negligible load on the pin. At worst flyback may destroy your microcontroller because the motor is an inductor and will cause a reverse voltage spike when turned off.
A slightly more robust approach that costs just a few pennies more is to use a BJT (i.e. an NPN transistor) to drive the motor and add a flyback diode (a reverse biased diode across the motor's windings) and a little .1uf capacitor.
You could also use a FET to drive it. Just be aware most common ones don't fully turn on at 3V gate voltage and will still present a significant resistance in the circuit which is why I would probably use a BJT.
I completely agree. if you're going to produce these, do real power management, . However, if you're doing this as one off experiment, driving one tiny eccentric motor at a time for short pulses via a XIAO (ESP32) or RP2040/2350 was fine (we had over a year of use without an issue). YMMV.
I actually built a wearable that used these motors a long time ago, which is why I was particularly interested. What i found is that connecting the 3.3V rail directly to the motor gave a much easier-to-feel vibration than the GPIO pin, which is what caused me to learn about their really low current limits. However the current sunk also varies by microcontroller.
I've had very slight hand tremors for as long as I can remember. I used to think it's impossible to stretch out your hand and hold it completely steady.
A few months ago maybe I've started using more and more MSG (glutamate) on my food (maybe two teaspoons a day now), and it's pretty much gone, plus fine motor control in general (say guitar playing) is noticeably improved.
I'm also taking care to limit my vitamin A and nickel intake, but this one seems to be mostly related to the glutamate.
52 comments
[ 0.21 ms ] story [ 57.8 ms ] threadah, "Today, Encora is focused on building a national sales force and working to secure coverage from insurers."
not that they tested or approved it
it's an often marketed phrase that's meaningless
I think you may be confused, or are repeating something you heard in a Netflix documentary.
First, “fda cleared” means your device is “substantially equivalent” to another cleared or granted device. You can’t be cleared based on another approved device, since approval means the other device received a PMA. Second, substantial equivalence is actually quite lenient. I know, because I’ve helped clear over 50 devices.
Finally, a cleared device still can require a lot of testing. Frequently FDA requires our clients to run multimillion dollar studies to validate their devices.
Ok, maybe you're not reviewing the entire article, but at least the subtitle.
The first digit is the school that offers it, then after the decimal point they have their number of classes. (EECS is unusual in that it has four digits after the decimal point, most every other course has just three.) In general, classes that are required start with 001 and increment up, such that 001 is the intro course, 002 follows from that, etc. Then electives start around 015 or so.
Course 1 is Civil Engineering, Course 2 is Mechanical engineering, Course 3 is materials science, etc. 6 is Electrical and Computer engineering.
So 2.009 is a mechanical engineering course, in this case one for students towards the end of their time. It's called Product Engineering Processes, where you create a new product from beginning to production.
So 6.0002 is pronounced "six triple oh two"?
6.0002 is now 6.100B (the B is deconflict) but most everything else went to four digits, with the last digit a 0 for undergrad and a 2 for graduate school taking the same class. e.g. 6.6830 is the undergraduate Computer Vision class and 6.6832 is the graduate Computer Vision class.
I'm going to look into this when I can. would love to try it if it's financially feasible.
ETA: Looking at their website and all the models in the photos are older people...
As someone diagnosed with ET since high school that's kind of funny.
Are there any studies with results showing this as a suitable way to reduce tremors?
See e.g. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12311-015-0751-z
My grandfather on the other end of the spectrum and who also had it didn't do those things either.
A (very) quick look at this says that the compounds are doing the damage, but the real problem is that some people don't metabolize them as quickly as others, and they build up. These are neurotoxic at higher concentrations and cross the blood-brain barrier, so if you aren't clearing them out then I guess you're exposing your cerebellum to more of them for a longer duration.
Studies suggest that people with ET have higher levels of these beta-carbolines in their blood than control patients, in some cases (like familial tremor) even if their diet and lifestyle doesn't look it should be risk.
As in, 36 hours+ without food (just water, electrolytes if you want), do the symptoms improve or worsen?
My pediatric neurologist at the time actually suggested trying some wine (with adult supervision of course) because some people seemingly respond well to that. But I've of course tried all kinds of alcohol by now years later and none seem to do the trick.
Another doctor more recently also suggested trying CBD (non THC) but no obvious improvement from that either, although I really only ever tried one type of CBD supplement and maybe it wasn't the right dosage.
And people still believe anything doctors say.
Alcohol is not a good treatment for anything except acute methanol poisoning, and maybe as a topical disinfectant/antiseptic.
Long-term alcohol use will cause tremors, and many alcoholic beverages contain comparatively large amounts of beta-carbolines.
The treatment was very effective. She went from not being able to eat soup without making a mess and barely being able to use touch screens (let alone write) to no visibly noticeable tremor. They had her draw a before and after spiral and it was an amazing improvement.
But the side effects were rough. She had trouble walking for weeks after the first treatment, though it eventually resolved with time and physical therapy. She had speech (cadence, slurring, word-finding) issues after the second treatment that she's currently doing therapy for.
It was a really big quality of life improvement for her but I don't know if she would have done it if she were not retired or didn't have a strong family support network.
https://github.com/edison-vs-tesla/Parkinsons_Therapy_Glove
You can make a very unsophisticated version of this without a lot of hardware:
Hopefully these folks will price it affordably.Any experience in applying the device to tremors caused by other issues?
I’m curious to know why they had to “choose a disease” for the market tests. some treatments are symptomatic and don’t need to select the exact disease they are going to market for.
In general I would not recommend driving a motor (even a small one) directly with a microcontroller GPIO pin. Those pins aren't designed to sink much current and you'll at best get a very weak response, because although the MCU is 3V that's only going to be maintained with negligible load on the pin. At worst flyback may destroy your microcontroller because the motor is an inductor and will cause a reverse voltage spike when turned off.
A slightly more robust approach that costs just a few pennies more is to use a BJT (i.e. an NPN transistor) to drive the motor and add a flyback diode (a reverse biased diode across the motor's windings) and a little .1uf capacitor.
You could also use a FET to drive it. Just be aware most common ones don't fully turn on at 3V gate voltage and will still present a significant resistance in the circuit which is why I would probably use a BJT.
A few months ago maybe I've started using more and more MSG (glutamate) on my food (maybe two teaspoons a day now), and it's pretty much gone, plus fine motor control in general (say guitar playing) is noticeably improved.
I'm also taking care to limit my vitamin A and nickel intake, but this one seems to be mostly related to the glutamate.
https://padiracinnovation.org/News/2024/07/the-hexosamine-bi...
why not just sell the damn thing but don’t market it for parkinson’s.
These are the values MIT teaches young entrepreneurs who want to solve real problems and help real people?
It’s unexamined capital-optimizing society extracting garbage.
Go help people. Make enough money to keep the business growing.
Let the VC piggies keep funding founders whose primary motivation is billionaire status.