UCLA Launches Trial of Wearable ADHD Therapy for Children Exposed to Alcohol in the Womb

The AHA! Team — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 05:07:59 +0000

University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences via News-Medical – Researchers at UCLA Health are launching the first clinical trial to test whether a wearable device that delivers gentle nerve stimulation during sleep could ease ADHD symptoms in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. Children exposed to alcohol in the womb have a heightened risk of developing ADHD-like symptoms including hyperactivity, impulsivity and executive function deficits such as difficulty paying attention, remembering, and organizing their behavior. Prenatal alcohol exposure affects about 5% of children in the U.S. with the majority developing these symptoms. These children are frequently less responsive to conventional pharmaceutical treatments for ADHD, such as psychostimulants, which can make the symptoms more disabling. The two-year clinical trial, led by UCLA adjunct professor of child psychiatry Joseph O’Neill, will study whether a neurostimulation therapy may be an effective, at-home treatment option for these children. Known as trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS), the noninvasive therapy uses electrode patches attached to a small device that delivers gentle electric stimulation of the trigeminal nerve while the child sleeps. Parents place the electrode patches on the child’s forehead before bed, with the device left on overnight. This stimulation activates brain regions associated with attention and executive function. TNS device in 2019 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the first external TNS device in 2019 after studies showed it safely improved ADHD symptoms in children ages seven to 12. However, its effectiveness for treating ADHD symptoms specifically for children with prenatal alcohol exposure has not been studied. ADHD symptoms are highly disabling for children with prenatal alcohol exposure and difficult to manage for families. And these symptoms often fail to respond to standard treatment, such as drugs like methylphenidate, in children exposed to alcohol in the womb. There is a pressing need for expanded therapeutic options for these children. So, we are looking forward to testing this very safe novel therapy that has been effective in unexposed children with ADHD.” – Joseph O’Neill, UCLA adjunct professor of child psychiatry $350,000 grant from the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Funded by a $350,000 grant from the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the pilot clinical trial will involve 30 children ages eight to 12 with exposure to alcohol during gestation. Parents will be provided a Monarch eTNS device developed by the Los Angeles-based company NeuroSigma, Inc. to be used nightly for four weeks. The parents will keep track of the child’s executive function, sleep habits, negative side effects and any adverse events. Both parents and children will rate tolerability as well as their satisfaction with treatment. If the treatment is determined to be feasible and effective, the study would proceed to a randomized crossover clinical trial. The NIAAA is set to provide up to $2.1 million for the three-year trial. “I am thrilled to be a part of this innovative study that I hope will provide relief for both children and their families who suffer from the negative consequences associated with prenatal alcohol exposure because these children have so much to offer to society,” said study co-lead Mary O’Connor, professor emerita of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. The recruitment period for the trial is currently open. Interested families may contact the study by emailing ChildBrainStudy@mednet.ucla.edu, calling (310) 267-2710, or taking the online screener at https://bit.ly/TNS-PAE Source: University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences To read the original article click here.

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Eyelid Wearable Can Predict and Alert to Epileptic Seizure

The AHA! Team — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 09:00:10 +0000

John Jeffay via Israel21c – Blink Energy’s tiny device, fitted to one eyelid, monitors and analyzes blink patterns to detect or diagnose a wealth of health conditions. A tiny patch is fixed to your eyelid. It monitors your blink pattern and sends a warning to your smartphone that you’re about to have an epileptic seizure. Or that you’re about to fall asleep at the wheel. Or else it measures your REM (rapid eye movement) to help diagnose sleep disorders or Parkinson’s disease or a range of neurological conditions. This isn’t science fiction. This is the next step forward in the world of wearable technology. And according to Yariv Bar-On, CEO at Israel-based Blink Energy, it’s a gamechanger. The wearables market has been dominated, so far, by smartwatches and fitness trackers. The first Apple Watch was launched in April 2015, and wearable technology now includes jewelry that tracks your steps and notifies you of an incoming call, VR headsets for gamers, earbuds, smart glasses with Internet access, smart clothing integrated with electronic devices and a range of health monitors. But the world’s first eyelid wearable device opens up a whole new world of opportunity. Blink patterns Blink Energy’s device weighs just 0.4 grams (0.014 ounces) — less than half the weight of a paperclip – and is fitted to one eyelid. You barely notice it, says Bar-On. “After two minutes you forget it’s there.” But it’s performing an important function by monitoring blink patterns, which provides AI with a wealth of data. “There is one type of muscle that closes the eye, and another that opens it,” says Bar-On, an optometrist and entrepreneur. “There’s a ratio between those two muscles when they are working, and we can, with AI machine learning, identify abnormalities in the patterns of blinks.” Smartwatches and other devices measure eye movement indirectly, by collecting related data. Bar-On says they are only 80 percent accurate. His blink patch provides, for the first time, a way of readily measuring eye movement directly. He says he hopes to launch the company’s first product commercially within two years, at what he describes as an “affordable” price. Starting with epilepsy The possibilities for such technology, developed with his small team of engineers in Haifa, northern Israel, are many. The patch, held onto the eyelid with a disposable adhesive strip that lasts for 10 or 20 uses, can provide data about eye health or eye strain during the course of everyday activities. It can detect drowsiness at the wheel and has other possible uses in health and wellbeing. But the company had to start somewhere. And that somewhere is epilepsy. Bar-On wants to lessen the anxiety that people with epilepsy suffer. “My goal would be to bring epileptic patients more confidence in their daily life,” he tells ISRAEL21c. “You just wear it outside the house, knowing you don’t have to think about when the next seizure might be. The Blink device will indicate a few seconds before a seizure. But it’s not so much the detection as the fact that the wearer doesn’t have to worry about when the next seizure will be,” he says. “Knowing that the device will do that, instead of you having to, makes a big difference. Epileptic patients feel when the seizure is coming, but we can dramatically reduce the anxiety levels, which in themselves contribute to a seizure.” Blink Energy has yet to test its device on epileptic patients. The patch exists as a prototype, but there are still refinements needed before it’s ready for market. Eye mavens Bar-On cofounded Blink Energy four years ago with Nadav Cohen, a specialist in optics and vibrations, and Ziv Rotfogel, an ophthalmologist at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, central Israel. “We wanted to see how we can look at the eye movement or the physiological signals that can be detected from the eye and develop a product that is beyond what it is on the market today,” he says. At first their focus was on using the blink movement to power the patch – which is why they chose the name Blink Energy. “We made a pivot almost two years ago and we developed our own sensor biomarker [which measures biological activity] with communication capabilities but without generating its own power,” he says. The product will recharge inside its own box, just like a pair of earbuds. “It’s not a me-too technology. It’s more like a really game-changing technology. I believe that in the next five to 10 years to come you’ll see many people walking down the street wearing an eyelid patch,” Bar-On predicts. “The adoption rate of wearable tech or smart wearables is already immense. This is just the start.” Blink Energy has received funding from the Israel Innovation Authority and by Israel-based MindUP, which invests in healthcare innovation. For more information, click here. To read the original article click here.

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UCLA Launches Trial of Wearable ADHD Therapy for Children Exposed to Alcohol in the Womb

Eyelid Wearable Can Predict and Alert to Epileptic Seizure