[WaPo]
[Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine]
[Medtronic]
[Eureka]
[University of Rochester Medical Center]
[Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies]
[University of British Columbia]
[Public Library of Science]
Archives: 3/2007
[WaPo]
[Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine]
[Medtronic]
[Eureka]
[University of Rochester Medical Center]
[Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies]
[University of British Columbia]
[Public Library of Science]
Interesting research coming out of the University of Arkansas, where investigators have coated nanotubes with platinum nanoparticles to create the most sensitive glucose biosensor to date.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas have fabricated and tested a novel biosensor that detects glucose close to real time and with much greater sensitivity than other comparable, biocompatible sensors.
“To manage and control diabetes, patients must continuously monitor blood-glucose levels,” said Jining Xie, research assistant professor of electrical engineering. “So they understand the importance of a device that provides rapid response.”
The UA sensor, designed and developed by Xie and researchers in the department of electrical engineering, is made of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which are coated with platinum nanoparticles between 1 and 5 nanometers in diameter. The researchers tested sensors with and without the platinum nanoparticles, and discovered that the carbon nanotubes with platinum exhibited a substantially higher sensitivity than those without platinum.
“At this stage of the research, we believe that the improved electro-chemical performance is due to the platinum nanoparticles,” Xie said. “We are currently investigating mechanisms to optimize this performance.”
Conducted in the university’s Nanomaterials Research Laboratory, the research was performed by Xie and Vijay Varadan, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering. Shouyan Wang, post-doctoral fellow, and Lavanya Aryasomayajula, graduate assistant, also contributed to the project.
Tests revealed that for every square centimeter tested, a typical platinum-coated nanotube-based glucose sensor had a sensitivity of around 50 micro Amps per mili mole. Micro Amps refer to levels of electrical current. In this case, mili moles are units that describe molecular concentrations of glucose. The sensitivity value of the researchers’ device is among the best results reported for glucose biosensors.
Xie said their goal is to further increase the sensitivity value of 52.7 micro Amps per mili mole. Equally important, the UA biosensor has a response time of 15 to 30 seconds, which renders it capable of providing glucose screenings close to real time.
The researchers attributed the improved sensibility to various factors related to the application of platinum to the multi-walled nanotubes. Most importantly, the platinum nanoparticles created a larger electro-active surface area on the carbon nanotubes. Xie said the larger surface area allowed the carbon nanotubes to act as a glucose-oxidase reservoir, which helped create uniform immobilization and high loading of glucose oxides for sensing. In addition, the platinum nanoparticles enhanced electron transfer and facilitated better physical and chemical bonding between glucose oxides and carbon nanotubes.
The researchers’ findings were published in the February issue of Nanotechnology, an Institute of Physics Publishing journal.
Press release from the University of Arkansas . . .
Abstract . . .
Admittedly, this is another cool story about robots in our bodies, but we wouldn’t exactly call it a medical first. Plus, its probably time to retire the “Fantastic Voyage” references.
Some 40 years after the release of the classic science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage, researchers in the NanoRobotics Laboratory of École Polytechnique de Montréal’s Department of Computer Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering have achieved a major technological breakthrough in the field of medical robotics. They have succeeded for the first time in guiding, in vivo and via computer control, a microdevice inside an artery, at a speed of 10 centimetres a second.
Under the direction of Professor Sylvain Martel, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Micro/Nanosystem Development, Construction and Validation, and in collaboration with researchers at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), the Polytechnique team has succeeded in injecting, propelling and controlling by means of software programs an initial prototype of an untethered device (a ferromagnetic 1.5- millimetre-diameter sphere) within the carotid artery of a living animal placed inside a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system.
Encouraged by these results, staff at the Polytechnique NanoRobotics Laboratory are currently working to further reduce the size of the devices so that, within a few years, they can navigate inside smaller blood vessels.
“Injection and control of nanorobots inside the human body, which contains nearly 100,000 kilometres of blood vessels, is a promising avenue that could enable interventional medicine to target sites that so far have remained inaccessible using modern medical instruments such as catheters,” Professor Martel explained. “In collaboration with our scientific partners, Polytechnique researchers have begun developing several types of micro- and nanodevices for novel applications, such as targeted delivery of medications to tumour sites and diagnoses using navigable bio-sensors.”
The results of this scientific breakthrough were published by Professor Martel and 10 co-authors from École Polytechnique de Montréal and the CHUM on March 14 in the scientific journal Applied Physics Letters.
Press Release . . .
Abstract . . .
Zephyr, a company in New Zealand, has some great products that combine “smart fabric sensor technology with novel algorithms”, to create some innovative medical technologies.
The first product today is the Zephyr Bioharness, which can wirelessly transmit vital signs to a central location for tracking and monitoring. Sure we’ve covered similar products before (here, here, and here), but we appreciate a little friendly competition between medical manufactures.
Using Zephyr’s wireless Smart Fabric technology, the comfortable and robust BioHarness provides comprehensive bio telemetry data of vital signs over time. Produced as part of an existing garment or offered as a stand alone device, the BioHarness enables field-based research into human performance and condition.
Next up, is the Zephyr ShoePod Diabetic insert which they claim can help detect early signs of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
Developed in conjunction with leading diabetes foot research teams, the ShoePod Diabetic provides an early warning system for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN), a condition affecting 60 per cent of diabetics. Using specialized ShoePod sensing technology, ShoePod Diabetic detects those conditions that lead to foot ulceration and amputation.
The ShoePod Diabetic is a thin Smart Fabric shoe insole which measures temperatures, coupled with a wireless data transmitter and recorder. Graphical diagnostic tools enable accurate comparative analysis, providing early warning of foot ulceration due to DPN. Developed in conjunction with leading diabetes foot research teams, the ShoePod Diabetic is durable, small and lightweight. It is the first diagnostic product able to be used without restricting the wearer’s everyday activity.
Measures temperatures Small and lightweight (<50g) Wireless connectivity to mobile phones Log up to one weeks’ data Real time and trend analysis software Animated play back Records detail for comparisons and later analysis
Product Page . . .
(hat tip: Engadget)
University of North Carolina researchers, lead by Mark Sobsey, are the first to scientifically document that filters made of concrete, gravel, and sand can significantly reduce the incidence of diarrheal diseases, the leading cause of death in many third world countries.
Sobsey and researchers in UNC’s School of Public Health compared rates of diarrhea and the condition of drinking water in homes in two villages near Bonao, Dominican Republic. They monitored about 150 households without filters for four months, assessing the rate of illness. Then, about half the houses were given biosand filters – concrete containers that hold gravel and sand. All households were monitored for another six months. The team’s initial analysis showed the filter reduced diarrheal disease among household members by an estimated 30 percent to 40 percent, including in highly vulnerable young children less than 5 years old. At the end of the study, filters were given to all participating homes.
“These kinds of filters have been used in the developing world since the 1990s, but there was only anecdotal evidence that they actually improved health,” said Christine Stauber, a UNC doctoral candidate who helped direct the project in the Dominican Republic. “It was really exciting to collect scientific evidence in an objective study that showed the filters actually worked, at least in these communities.”
Preliminary results of the study were presented in February 2007 at the third annual Thirsting to Serve Water Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich.. More detailed findings will be presented and published later this year.
“This kind of field evidence provides the basis for encouraging more widespread promotion and use of these filters to reduce the global burden of diarrheal disease,” Sobsey said. “Diarrhea is one of the major causes of disease and death in developing countries.”
Dr. Gloria Ortiz, a UNC postdoctoral fellow, also helped direct the project in the Dominican Republic. She recently visited the villages and said residents told her that the filters make a great difference in their lives.
“They told me they no longer need to worry about sick children who have to miss school, or about taking the children to the doctor or finding money to buy medications to treat diarrhea,” she said. “Many told me that since they’ve been using the filters, no one in their house had gotten a single case of diarrhea. This is a tremendous step in improving their health and well-being.”
International Aid, a non-profit humanitarian healthcare agency, cited the UNC study while announcing a major safe water initiative that focuses on the distribution and use of a filter that uses the gravel and sand technology, but is housed in a plastic, rather than concrete container. The new filter weighs about 15 pounds, compared to about 300 pounds for the concrete filters.
“We didn’t use the lightweight filters in our research,” Sobsey said, “but we’re happy to know companies and agencies are embracing the proven technology of biosand filters and are looking for ways to improve and increase the usage. We know clean water not only improves, but saves lives.”
Press Release . . .
Countless nervous first year medical students have Dr. Pugh to thank for making their first venture into the world of sensitive exams a bit easier with her patented digital uterus and robotic rectum.
Reuters:
Dr. Carla Pugh seems an unlikely patron of porn shops.
But that’s exactly where Pugh, an assistant professor of surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, procured some of the male body parts she uses to train medical students about human anatomy.
Pugh, 41, has patented technology that combines portions of fully formed anatomical mannequins with computers to teach medical students to do exams on the body’s most private and sensitive areas — genitalia, breasts and rectums.
These are the exams, she said, that students are often most afraid of and that many medical school instructors, themselves often long-time practicing physicians, still find to be a source of embarrassment.
“We’ve got big issues in the U.S. with sexuality,” Pugh said in an interview during a break from teaching first-year medical students. “These guys have to be able to do it and act professional, so that adds a lot of pressure.”
Getting supplies to build the models was no easy task. Medical education has largely glossed over such training, limiting demand for products in the industry. In some cases, erotica was the only option, she said.
From the manufacturer:
Until now, objective assessment of technical and hands-on clinical skills was virtually non-existent in the area of female pelvic exams because you cannot measure what you cannot see. That’s why we developed the METI Pelvic ExamSIM. By creating a platform that offers truly objective and measurable feedback, learners and instructors alike can know first-hand if they are proficient and ready to perform sensitive female pelvic examinations. Using patented Touch-Sensitive™ technology, the ExamSIM opens the mind’s eye to provide a greater overall learning experience.
The Pelvic ExamSIM was designed to be a powerful teaching tool to support the goals and objectives of individual programs. The METI philosophy for integrating the ExamSIM into a given program is not about replacing learning platforms that are working, but rather supporting those platforms to create a more complete learning experience.
The METI Pelvic ExamSIM uses minimal equipment to achieve a high degree of learning. The basic system components include a female pelvic cavity (mannequin), interchangeable internal anatomy and a laptop Computer Workstation. Using these basic components, instructors have the ability to realistically represent the female pelvis and provide learners with a hands-on introduction to the female anatomy prior to practicing on a real patient. Learners can practice both bimanual pelvic and rectal exams on the mannequin and the sensors inside the pelvic cavity provide direct feedback to the Computer Workstation. This complete system provides immediate feedback to the instructor and the learner on how accurately the examination is being performed, increasing both skills acquisition and confidence in the process.
Link @ Reuters
Product Page…
Patent . . .
Dr. Pugh’s ExamSIM Validation Paper . . .
Health Care System for Aging Nerve Cells
[Max Planck Society]No Carrier Necessary: This Drug Delivers Itself
[University at Buffalo]Spat erupts between medical journals
[Financial Times]FDA approved Soliris (eculizumab) for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
[Eureka!]Swell gel could bring relief to back pain sufferers
[The University of Manchester]New synthetic self-assembling macromolecules mimic nature
[Virginia Tech]Brondell Breeza Anti-Stench Toilet Seat Wafts Those Stinky Sins Away
[Gizmodo]Be More Than You Can Be
[Wired]
Modern military gear provides soldiers with an unprecedented level of protection and abilities, but at the cost of increased weight and heat retention. However, with exoskeletons and the new thermal vest being tested at the University of Portsmouth, neither may be a problem for long.
The vests use a combination of air, liquid and new applications of old technologies such as converting paraffin wax into liquid in chambers within the vests to absorb heat from the body.
The thermal vests – manufactured by an undisclosed United States-based military contractor – are expected to be used within two years by men and women on the frontline of the Iraq war.
Currently, soldiers in Iraq do not wear thermal cooling vests. But temperatures in Iraq can reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius – and troops wearing heavy and dense biological and chemical protection suits are prone to heat-illness. The condition can seriously impair decision-making and judgement. In extreme cases, heat-illness can result in death.
University of Portsmouth thermal physiology scientist Mark Newton said the thermal vests would allow soldiers to perform their tasks better for longer periods of time.
“I can’t reveal too much as we don’t own the vests – they belong to an undisclosed military contractor. But what I can say is that the cooling power generated by these garments will make a difference for soldiers operating in extreme climates such as those experienced in Iraq,” Mr Newton said.
“Heat-illness can be very severe and can kill people. We know that decision-making is also affected and impaired as your core temperature is elevated. This kind of technology and its application is really about how best to utilise and maintain your manpower, so people can perform better and over a longer period of time than what might otherwise be the case given certain extremes of climate.”
The thermal vests are being tested on subjects in full combat fatigues at the newly-opened multi-million pound sports science facility at the University of Portsmouth – the Spinnaker Building.
The Spinnaker Building facilities include leading-edge laboratories, an integrated swimming flume, and two British Olympic Medical Centre accredited climatic chambers. UK Sport will use these facilities to help top athletes acclimatise at temperatures similar to those they will experience at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where temperatures are expected to soar above 30 degrees Celsius with 70 per cent humidity.
ScienceDaily . . .
Press Release . . .
Radiology is a difficult field in which the more images you see that are interpreted properly, the better you’ll get. The hard part is getting access to those images, and getting an accurate description of what is going on. The solution up until now has been expensive references, but Frank Gaillard is looking to unite all radiologists with his wiki, radiopaedia.org. The aim of radiopaedia is to:
The aim of Radiopaedia.org is to develop an online text where information is up to date and relevant to the needs of radiology staff, both registrars and consultants. In addition, the wiki format will allow discussion of topics and resolution of areas of confusion. There are many worthwhile online resources already, however most are not collaborative and therefore lack the ability to respond to users needs.
If you’re a radiologist and you have an exciting case to share with the world, head on over there right now!
Note: The image shown is of a boxer’s fracture, an injury that this editor experienced first hand. (pun intended)
(Hat Tip: ScienceRoll)
