Indian researchers have developed a pain-free cholesterol test that uses digital cameras instead of needles. (Photo: Andrew Ferguson via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Checking your cholesterol could soon be as simple as snapping a picture of your hand.

Folks with an aversion to needles will welcome news that researchers in India have developed a cholesterol test which uses a digital camera instead of needles.

N.R. Shanker and his colleagues from the Sree Sastha Institute of Engineering and Technology write about their new, non-invasive  cholesterol test in a recent edition of the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.

A snap shot of the back of a patient’s hand, taken with a digital or mobile phone camera, is cropped to focus on the finger creases  where  cholesterol tends to be concentrated and can be detected by the camera, according to researchers.

Using a special image processing computer program they developed, researchers compare the patient’s hand image to thousands of similar pictures  contained within a large database.

The database images represent varying degrees of cholesterol levels and each image is linked to a measurement that had been taken with a standard cholesterol blood test.

Indian researchers say the creases between fingers on the back of the hand can indicate a person’s cholesterol levels. (Photo: David DeHetre via Flickr/Creative Commons)

If the non-invasive test shows  a patient has a higher-than-normal total cholesterol level,  a more extensive cholesterol blood test is administered to determine the specific levels of good (HDL) vs. bad (LDL) cholesterol in the patient’s blood stream.

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance  the body produces to help keep it healthy.  According to the National Institutes of Health, cholesterol makes hormones, vitamin D and substances that help digest food.

Our bodies produce two types of cholesterol, LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and HDL (high-density lipoprotein).

Too much bad cholesterol can build up as plaque – a thick, hard deposit the artery walls.  Continued buildup of this plaque can develop into a condition called arteriosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries, putting a person at risk of heart disease, stroke or heart attack.

Good cholesterol, according to the American Heart Association, is thought to protect against heart attack.

Some researchers even believe that HDL can remove excess cholesterol from arterial plaque, slowing down its buildup on the walls of your arteries.

High levels of LDL cholesterol can be caused eating a diet that’s high in saturated fats or it could be genetic in nature passed along within a family from generation to generation.

High LDL cholesterol levels lead to plaque build up on artery walls (Image: CDC)

Your bad cholesterol levels can also increase if you live a sedentary lifestyle.

Exercise can cause LDL levels to drop while levels of  good (HDL) cholesterol rise.

So if you find that you have an elevated level of LDL cholesterol, bringing it back down to normal may be as easy as eating a healthy diet and getting some exercise.

A woman uses the BrainGate system to mentally control a robotic arm and reach for a drink. (Photo: The BrainGate Collaboration)

Almost 15 years after being paralyzed by a stroke, a 58-year-old woman was able to reach for, pick up and take a sip of a drink, by using her thoughts to operate a robotic arm.  Up until then, the woman had depended upon caregivers to do this for her.

As technology continues to meld man with machine, BrainGate – a multidisciplinary team of researchers – has spent years developing these human/robotic-type systems.

While the team’s innovations show significant promise for people with brain injuries and disorders, the technology is years away from practical use.

The research team has recently been developing and testing an element of their system called the BrainGate neural interface system.  It’s a brain-computer interface (BCI) device which allows the brain to control various robotic elements and other similar pieces of equipment.

A new report, published in Nature, examines clinical trials of the device, which focus on the system’s durability and its potential for long-term use.

Part of the BrainGate system is implanted in the brain to capture the neural signals that control intentional movement.

“Years after the onset of paralysis, we found that it was still possible to record brain signals that carry multi-dimensional information about movement and that those signals could be used to move an external device,” said Dr. Leigh Hochberg, the clinical trials lead investigator.

The group’s neural interface system has a baby aspirin-sized sensor that monitors brain signals. The sensor is implanted into the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls movement.  The brain signals picked up by the sensor are then fed into a computer system outfitted with specially-designed software and hardware which turn the brain signals into digital commands, which in turn drive external devices such as robotics systems.

The latest trial research studied two stroke patients, the 58-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man.  Both study subjects were unable to speak or move their limbs because of brainstem strokes they suffered years ago.  During the experiment, both were taught to perform complex tasks with a robotic arm by imagining the movements of their own arms and hands.

Dr. John Donoghue, who leads the development of BrainGate technology, is especially encouraged by the woman’s ability to use the BrainGate neural interface system because her stroke happened nearly 15 years ago and her sensor was implanted more than five years ago.

The research team was concerned neurons in the motor cortex might die or stop generating meaningful signals after years of disuse and that, after years since implantation, the sensor might break down and become less effective at enabling complex motor functions

The BrainGate research team’s ideal system would be wireless, fully automated and able to provide decades of stable operation. However, to achieve that goal, they must continue trial studies and test the technology in more individuals.

UItimately, BrainGate hopes to develop a system which reconnects the brains of those suffering from paralysis directly to their paralyzed limbs, rather than with robotic ones.