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If you don't find clowns weird enough, then you might want to check out the naked clown calendar that is raising money for MS. This would be a calendar of naked clowns, not a naked calendar with clowns on it. In case you were wondering.

As reported here, Apple Inc. is redesigning iTunes music software to make it easier for blind people to use. This was done at the urging of the Massachusetts Attorney General, but without legal action being brought against Apple. Whether or not you use iTunes, it is noteworthy that it is taking this action "voluntarily" and we can hope that others will do the same.

The device, called the Glove and invented by two Stanford biologists, is used by the San Francisco 49ers during games and at practice for players' health. But its applications are far broader: from treating stroke and heart attack victims to allowing soldiers to remain in the field longer under intense heat. And maybe even MS!

"We learned that you can actually reverse that muscle fatigue in a short amount of time," co-inventer Heller said. "And if you cool muscles during rest, you get a much greater recovery than if you rested without cooling."

The use of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) has increased recently with devices utilized to assist people experiencing foot drop. There has been an increase in the public’s awareness of these devices and their use in people living with multiple sclerosis. This article is a good overview.

This site has a plethora of reviews of wheelchairs, cushions, and other assistive technologies. There are other interesting compendiums of info on things like lemon-laws for wheelchairs, going from cane to wheelchair, vans, and travel info.

A group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has invented a wheelchair with all the self-navigating abilities of a GPS device.

Only instead of being inhibited by the need for a satellite signal like a GPS device, MIT said Friday, the location-aware wheelchair uses Wi-Fi and can work indoors.

Just like with a GPS navigator, the wheelchair has programmed favorites. Better yet, it works by voice recognition so you don't have to type in a request.

People using intermittent catheters no longer need to re-use their catheters due to a new Medicare policy effective April 1, 2008. The change affects nearly 1 million individuals living with spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and spina bifida, as well as those who have other permanent conditions requiring bladder management or experience urinary incontinence or retention.

The Transverse Myelitis Association & Johns Hopkins ProjectRESTORE sponsored 2008 Rare Neuroimmunologic Disorders Symposium was held in Seattle, WA from July 16th to July 19th.

There were many interesting talks, which you can see here, in particular, you can see the talk given about the Accelerated Cure Project Repository here.

My friend who works at Nuance, sent us a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, their voice recognition software, so we could play around with it.

So I installed it and gave it a quick whirl. My impressions were favorable. I had tried a previous version, and had been rather unimpressed. This version installed easily (although it reported several errors that I chose to ignore) and seemed to work without any training. It was easy to figure out what to do, and when I had problems, I was able to figure out how to do what I wanted using their built-in help.

I was disappointed that swear words weren't included, and that training them as new words didn't seem to work :-) But otherwise it was pretty good. I'm a fast typist, so I won't be trading in my keyboard, but if I had problems using a keyboard I'd definitely want a program like this. (I guess John McCain never heard of this type of software).

The basic package looks like it starts at about $100. If you call them, ask for Rachel Elias - that's the friend who sent the demo copy.

Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof has been paralyzed for the past 20 years. Thanks to a new device called ReWalk he now walks down the street with a dim mechanical hum. That is the sound of an electronic exoskeleton moving the 41-year-old's legs and propelling him forward.

You can learn more about ReWalk at the Argo Medical Technolgies site.