“Staring at a computer screen, Mark focuses deeply, his arms resting by his side. His right index finger trembles ever so slightly on top of a pillow, and then an alert rings out from the screen in front of him, a message to a caregiver that he needs assistance.

Without ever clicking a mouse or touching a screen, Mark selected this command on his computer simply using signals from his brain. Mark, whom CNN agreed to identify using only his first name for privacy reasons, has an implant inside his brain that is translating his neural activity to commands on a computer.

Mark is only the 10th person in the world implanted with this particular type of brain-computer interface, or BCI. He’s participating in a human trial with a company called Synchron and underwent the procedure in August, after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – sometimes called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease – in 2021.

The hope is that the technology in Mark’s brain could assist him and others like him who are losing their motor function.”

From CNN.

“Marc Gauthier can now step into an elevator without his body stiffening and freezing in place. He can take a 3-mile lakeside stroll without stopping. He can stand up out of a chair with ease. For Gauthier, 63, who has been living with Parkinson’s disease for almost three decades, these everyday activities were a challenge — until now.

‘Walking in a store would be really difficult, impossible before, because of the freezing of gait that would often happen in those environments. And now, it just doesn’t happen anymore. I don’t have freezing anymore,’ Gauthier, who lives near Bordeaux, France, said in a news briefing, speaking in French that was translated to English.

In a new study, Gauthier was surgically implanted with an experimental spinal cord neuroprosthesis to correct walking disorders in people with Parkinson’s disease. Step by step, he said, it has helped him get his stride back.”

From CNN.

“On Wednesday, Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy from a suburb of Washington, became the first person in the world with sickle cell disease to begin a commercially approved gene therapy that may cure the condition.

For the estimated 20,000 people with sickle cell in the United States who qualify for the treatment, the start of Kendric’s monthslong medical journey may offer hope. But it also signals the difficulties patients face as they seek a pair of new sickle cell treatments.

For a lucky few, like Kendric, the treatment could make possible lives they have longed for.”

From New York Times.

“Also known as kala-azar, visceral leishmaniasis is the world’s deadliest parasitic killer after malaria.

It causes fever, weight loss, spleen and liver enlargement, and, if not treated, death. Kala-azar is transmitted by the bite of infected sandflies and is endemic in 80 countries, mainly in Eastern Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. One billion people are at risk globally and Eastern Africa has currently the highest number of cases. As for other vector-borne diseases, climate change is changing the epidemiology of leishmaniasis and could lead to its expansion to new areas. An estimated 50,000 to 90,000 new cases occur worldwide annually, and half are children under 15 years of age.

In Africa, the current treatment for visceral leishmaniasis includes painful injections given at hospital daily for 17 days, a treatment that may also present rare but life-threatening side effects, including to the heart, liver, and pancreas. In contrast, the new molecule under study in Ethiopia, called LXE408, is administered in the form of oral pills and is expected to be safer than the current treatment.”

From World Health Organization.