IEEE Pulse最新文献

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), machines have been the gold standard for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. But many patients either can't or won't fully comply with the treatment. Because treatment of any kind-even treatment considered inferior to CPAP-is considered better than no treatment at all, specialists have been working to develop oral appliances and other novel devices to open up narrowed airways without forcing pressurized air into patients. Among the new treatments are mandibular advancement devices (MADs), palatal extenders to deliver "airway orthodontics," tongue stabilizers, surgical treatments to reduce sino-nasal obstructions, an alerting earpiece that prompts sleepers onto their sides, a neurostimulation retainer to move the tongue forward, and an oral device designed to restructure the airway.

Sleep is fundamental to health and productivity, with insufficient rest linked to rising economic losses. Advances in wearables and non-contact sensors have transformed sleep monitoring from hospital-based polysomnography to everyday tracking via watches, rings, and beds. While consumer devices capture broad patterns, dedicated and FDA-cleared systems now approach clinical accuracy for disorders like sleep apnea. Embedded electronics and AI are driving the emergence of digital biomarkers, enabling personalized insights and long-term monitoring. This article reviews the evolution of sleep sensors, their convergence with clinical practice, and their growing role in preventive health.

Flipping the Script: How New Drugs are Disrupting Sleep Apnea Care examines the impact of emerging pharmaceutical interventions on treating obstructive sleep apnea, particularly in relation to weight loss drugs and other options.

Adequate and quality sleep is increasingly being recognized as an integral part of mental health, development and immune response. These questions are of vital importance to health of communities everywhere. This essay aims to highlight research opportunities for sleep research and its potential impact in low and middle income countries.

The continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine is a long-time staple in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but not all patients can or want to use the pump-hose-and-mask apparatus. Innovators are responding with alternative neurostimulation devices to treat moderate to severe OSA.

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition that may affect up to 1 billion people worldwide. But discomfort with CPAP machines has kept many patients from complying with therapy. Now, companies are investing in machine learning, personalized pressure delivery algorithms, fabric masks, and digital health strategies to increase therapy adherence and help patients sleep more soundly.

This IEEE Pulse Industry Corner interview features Dr. Anders Sideris, CEO of Somnair, discussing his journey from practicing ENT surgeon to medical device innovator in the sleep medicine space. Dr. Sideris, an Australian-trained physician who completed his medical education in 2015, identified significant gaps in sleep apnea treatment during his clinical practice in Sydney. This clinical insight and engineering training culminated in the founding of Somnair, leveraging the Johns Hopkins ecosystem to develop new technologies addressing the unmet needs of sleep apnea patients who remain untreated by current therapeutic options.

Degrading long-term health, destroying relationships, and frequently defying detection, obstructive sleep apnea is becoming the next pandemic, but if continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) fails then patients need not despair. Jim Banks looks at the evolution of surgical treatments, and how they might further improve in the future.

Despite major advances in medicine and technology, mental health outcomes have declined globally over the past several decades. Fortunately we are in the early phases of exponential growth neurotech similar to Moore's Law. These emerging neural devices may provide a solution to the growing mental health crisis. Clinical data shows promising outcomes from technologies such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) leading to exponential improvement in performance improvements and cost reductions. As a result, neurotechnology could follow a similar path to personal computing going from a handful of niche markets to ubiquity over the next decade. Indeed, next generation therapeutic brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)-particularly minimally invasive implants-could become mass-market solutions for regulating mental states. The future may be one where neural devices help individuals thrive in an increasingly complex world, not by augmenting human intelligence but by enhancing emotional well-being and preserving the most precious aspects of our humanity.

Every year in the U.S., over 400,000 spinal fusion surgeries are performed to treat scoliosis, degenerative disk disease, and spinal stenosis. The dissection phase of the spinal fusion surgery relies on three handheld tools: a monopolar cautery, a Cobb elevator, and a suction. Despite having two operators, the reliance on four hands for only three tools makes the spinal exposure inefficient and time-consuming. Allowing one surgeon to operate all three devices to perform dissection on both sides greatly reduces the operation time, thereby alleviating health risks for both patients and surgeons. We developed a novel device integrating suction and retraction functionalities by incorporating a deployable suction tip directly into the Cobb elevator. Designed with feedback from neurosurgeons, the device incorporates novel mechanics and automation to address an unmet need in spinal exposure. Motorized angulation and extension mechanisms enable rapid and precise deployment of the suction tip without disrupting the surgeon's ability to maintain muscle retraction. This combined, one-handed device will reduce the surgeon's physical and mental fatigue, the number of personnel needed to perform the procedure, and the time under anesthesia for elderly patients.